When comparing Epson WorkForce ES-200 vs TaoTronics Handheld Portable scanner, the Slant community recommends Epson WorkForce ES-200 for most people. In the question“What are the best portable document scanners under $300?” Epson WorkForce ES-200 is ranked 2nd while TaoTronics Handheld Portable scanner is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Epson WorkForce ES-200 is:
Due to the lack of a battery, it's even smaller in size than it's bigger brother, the Epson ES-300W. The scanner fits in a small bag and can conveniently be taken anywhere, since it measures only 11.3" x 3.5" x 2.0" and weighs very little — just 2.4 lbs.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Very portable due to its small size
Due to the lack of a battery, it's even smaller in size than it's bigger brother, the Epson ES-300W. The scanner fits in a small bag and can conveniently be taken anywhere, since it measures only 11.3" x 3.5" x 2.0" and weighs very little — just 2.4 lbs.
Pro Very fast scanning
When powered by AC, and with a 200 PPI(pixels per inch) scan quality, the ES-200 can scan 23 pages per minute, according to real-life tests by Wirecutter that were run on a scanner with identical parameters — the ES-300W. This scanner is 3 times faster than the average portable scanner.
Pro Affordable
Since the ES-200 does not include a battery and it does not support Wi-Fi connections, it's much more affordable than many other portable scanners. If you know you will always be able to connect the scanner via USB to your computer, then this budget scanner might be a great option for you.
Pro Extremely accurate text analysis
The ES-200 comes with ABBYY software, meant for turning your paper documents into editable text. Scanners don't always read the text correctly, some of them only get 3/4 of the words right. This model is identical in parameters to the Epson ES-300W, which was tested and didn't make a single mistake — it read 100% of the words correctly. It's capable of reading fonts down to 4p in size, with a few mistakes when reading smaller fonts. If you scan documents with font sizes 6p and up, you will not have to make any manual corrections.
Pro Great for scanning difficult surfaces, such as books
Unlike most scanners, this TaoTronics can scan almost any surface, since it's handheld. For example it's easy to scan books, which would not fit into a sheet-fed or flatbed scanner, where the paper has to go through or into the scanner.
Pro High quality scanning
It's capable of scanning at a 1050 DPI(dots per inch) resolution, which results in a sharp scanned image quality. This maximum resolution is similar to the one found in more expensive alternatives.
Pro Extremely portable
This is one of the smallest and lightest scanners available on the market. It weighs just 5.9 ounces and measures 10.5 x 1 x 1.2 inches.
Pro Lets you save scanned documents on an SD card
You can add an SD card up to 32 GB in size and the scanner automatically saves the documents on it.
Pro Color display for convenient settings adjustment
The scanner has a small color display, which makes it easier to do operations such as changing the scan settings or choosing the output format.
Pro Inexpensive
It's a great budget option if you know you'll just need to scan documents during one specific project and don't want to spend a fortune on a scanner. Portable scanners, especially the ones that are not handheld, often cost 5-10 times more than this one.
Cons
Con Bends documents/photos when scanning them
You can't place your documents flat, but have to roll them through the scanner. Doing so, the Epson ES-200 can bend the paper - and this is not desirable when for example scanning originals of some valuable documents.
Con No battery
Though this scanner is portable, you have to have a power supply on the go. It can be powered via USB from your laptop.
Con Can't use Wi-Fi
This scanner doesn't support Wi-Fi and therefore you can only scan to one PC via USB.
Con Handles receipts poorly
Epson's scanning preset called "receipt" gives you a scan error when the receipt is longer than 11 inches. Also, the scanner does not come with receipt management software, unlike some other scanners, so if you need one, you will have to look for a third-party solution, like Expensify.
Con Scans slowly when powered via USB
The scanning process gets 3 times slower when you power the scanner just using USB. To achieve maximum scan speed, you need to plug in the AC adapter.
Con Each scan creates a new PDF
There is no option to scan several pages into one PDF file. This can be a headache when scanning documents longer than one page, since you will end up with a lot of PDF files. Luckily, there is free software available online that lets you merge several PDF files into one. Of course, this takes some extra effort.
Con Poor character recognition software
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software transforms a scanned picture into editable text. The OCR that this scanner comes with is not capable of consistently reading characters accurately. Also, this software is not Mac or Windows 10 compatible — it was made for older Windows operating systems. Of course, you can always get other OCR software that is compatible with your system.
Con Requires some practice
Scanning with a handheld scanner requires some skill and practice. The first scans might not be perfect, due to improper speed or unstable movement of the scanner.