LFP - Large-Format-Printing
Four Vendors Earn Buyers Laboratory Pick Awards In The Scanner And Wide-Format Categories
Monday 22. June 2009 - Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), the worlds leading independent tester of document imaging products, announced its prestigious Spring 2009 "Pick" awards in the scanner and wide-format categories today.
EASTMAN KODAK
KODAK Scan Station 500
Outstanding Network Scanner
HEWLETT-PACKARD Company
HP Scanjet 7000
Outstanding Workgroup Scanner
EPSON
Epson GT-S80
Outstanding Departmental Scanner
CANON INC.
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF755
Outstanding Wide-Format Colour Inkjet Multipurpose Printer
Kodaks Network Scanner Makes the Right Connection
The KODAK Scan Station 500 earned a Spring 2009 BLI “Pick” for “Outstanding Network Scanner” because of its excellent productivity, smaller than average file sizes and superb overall feature set. “The Scan Station 500 scanned every test document BLI threw at it without experiencing a single misfeed,” said BLI Test Technician Joe Ellerman. “We cant say that about many other scanners tested.” Indeed this unit scanned business cards, credit cards, multi-part forms and long documents up to 34″ without any problems. Adding to its overall value, the Scan Station 500 has multiple USB ports for scan-to-USB functionality or for attaching additional accessories, sends recorded messages as WAV attachments and offers a higher than average ADF capacity, all for a competitive price.
“Kodak is dedicated to simplifying the way individuals use document imaging technology. The Scan Station 500 can help everyone in the organization improve customer responsiveness, shorten cycle times and improve information accuracy,” said Hauke Fast, EAMER Product Marketing Manager, Distributed Capture, Kodak Document Imaging. “We’re extremely pleased to receive the Buyers Laboratory, Inc. Pick award for Outstanding Network Scanner.” The award is testimony to the innovation found in the Scan Station 500, enabling users to simply press a button to easily send high-quality images of scanned documents to multiple destinations simultaneously, including network drives, FTP sites, printers, e-mail, fax and portable USB drives, and even send a personalized voice message with those images.”
HP Scanjet 7000 Tops The Charts
With excellent marks in the majority of performance categories tested, including reliability, media handling, productivity and file size, the highly reliable HP Scanjet 7000 secured a Spring 2009 BLI “Pick” for its outstanding showing in BLIs tests. “The HP Scanjet 7000 is fast, reliable and incredibly affordable,” said BLI Research Editor Lisa Reider. “Add excellent media-handling capabilities, standard Kofax VRS and RoHS compliance and you have a scanner suitable for any workgroup environment.” Additional highlights of this 40-ppm model include support for a broad array of file formats, digital stamping, barcode detection and ultrasonic multi-feed detection technology.
Epson GT-S80: High Performance, Low Price
The 40-ppm (80 ipm) Epson GT-S80 earned a Spring 2009 “Pick” award for “Outstanding Departmental Scanner” for its exceptional overall performance during BLIs lab test evaluation. Some of the more notable features include its ability to scan a variety of documents, including long documents up to 36″, and generate smaller than average file sizes. The GT-S80 also stood out for its very good overall image processing capabilities, with auto colour detection and moiré reduction, and its very good overall ease of use. “Epsons first introduction to the departmental scanner market proved to be a winner, with above average colour scan speeds and simple setup procedures, all for a lower than average price,” said Reider.
Canon ScanFront 220eP Earns Kudos For eCopy ShareScan Integration
Canons relationship with eCopy, Inc. has spawned the ScanFront 220eP, which has been honoured with a BLI “Outstanding Achievement Award” for its integration with eCopy ShareScan. This 24-ppm (26 ipm) colour scanner leverages the same easy to use design as the 26-ppm (36 ipm) ScanFront 220P, which won a “Pick” for “Outstanding Network Scanner” in Spring 2008 and adds the advanced scan functionality of eCopy, which is also a BLI “Pick” winner in the document capture/routing solution category. . The integration of software solutions is a growing trend in the network scanner market, but not many have the wherewithal to offer the broad scan functionality available with eCopy ShareScan.
With eCopy ShareScan software, which includes eCopy Quick Connect and eCopy Desktop, the ScanFront 220eP scans to a variety of locations and folders, with a virtually unlimited number of scan profiles accessible directly from its full-colour touch-screen display. Several connectors, including one for direct integration with Microsoft Exchange, are standard, while optional connectors enable users to leverage the investments they may have made in more than 100 back-end solutions. Multiple ScanFront 220e/P scanners can be managed via a single eCopy ShareScan server; separate PCs for each unit are not required. This expansive network scan functionality helps the Canon ScanFront 220eP fit into virtually any network scanning environment.
“We are delighted and honoured to receive an Outstanding Achievement Award from BLI for our integration of eCopy ShareScan software with the imageFORMULA ScanFront 220eP network scanner,” said Jim Rosetta, Canon U.S.A.s vice president and general manager, Imaging Systems Group. “By embedding the eCopy software into the ScanFront 220eP network scanner, we are able to better deliver seamless, secure and simple document sharing and distribution capabilities to our customers.”
Canon imagePROGRAF Offers Unbeatable Blend of Speed, Value, Quality and Ease of Use
Demonstrating that it can capably satisfy the printing needs of not only the technical marketplace, but also those of general business and entry-level graphic arts users, the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF755 has been awarded BLIs Spring 2009 “Pick” for “Outstanding Wide-Format Colour Inkjet Multipurpose Printer.”
“With unrivalled productivity, a wealth of time-saving software utilities and excellent ease of use, Canon has further raised the bar in the competitive multi-purpose inkjet wide-format marketplace,” said BLI European Lab and Research Manager David Sweetnam. Sweetnam went on to praise the cost-saving features of the device, including the drag-and-drop custom nesting Free Layout utility within the GARO print driver and its economy print feature, which was found in BLI tests to offer significant savings with minimal drop in quality. These features, combined with the units aggressive hardware pricing and low running costs, make it very strong value. The unit is also notable for its space-saving front-loading roll design, which allows it to be positioned against a wall in environments with space constraints.
Yuichi Miyano, – Director, Large Format Solutions for Canon Europe, told BLI:
“The iPF755 is our latest 36″ large format printer and is a result of our constant innovation to bring industry-leading products to the market. When developing this product, we looked at what our customers needed and developed features to meet those needs. For productivity we now have one of the fastest speeds available on the market. For improved usability, users can control the print from the front and change inks whilst printing, and to track the cost of ownership, we have included an accounting package. The design is compact and can fit anywhere, making this LFP suitable for any size of office.”
“The BLI Pick award, is a testament to the product design and is another sign that we are meeting the ever-changing needs of our customers in this challenging environment.”
BLI regularly acknowledges the very best performers with its semi-annual “Pick” awards. The awards are given to products that perform best in BLIs unique tests, which evaluate a wide range of the most important performance factors for buyers, including reliability, ease of use, productivity and value, among others. For complete test reports and test results on any of these products, call +44 (0) 118 977 2000 for subscription information.
Stay tuned for upcoming Buyers Lab “Pick” award announcements in the following categories:
June 5: 21- to 30-ppm and 31- to 40-ppm Copier MFPs
June 8: 41- to 69-ppm and 70- to 90-ppm Copier MFPs
June 9: Monochrome Printers
June 11: Colour Printers
June 15: Special Awards