Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Preface - It's unfortunate that Amazon doesn't allow embedded pictures in product reviews. So if you are interested in seeing the review with pictures please visit my website (which I can't link to here :/) I swear I read somewhere online (I did a lot of research before buying the Doxie Go) that the initial battery charge took about 4-6 hours. My initial charge took close to 8 - 9 hours. :( After charging the battery I powered up the Doxie Go and feed it it's Calibration sheet. I can't find any documentation on how often one should calibrate their Doxie [...] Being a tech, I wanted to put the Doxie Go through a number of tests. The first thing I grabbed to scan was the included 8.5 x 11″ looking poster featuring the Doxie mascot (?) (a Doxie scanner with arms and legs). This sheet was folded, so I straightened it out and put it through the scanner. It got stuck when it hit the "bump fold" but then continued to pull the sheet through. Yeah my very first scan had "issues"... [photo examples unable to display via Amazon review] Okay so the first scan had a problem with a "bump fold"... I immediately wanted to scan the other side of the sheet which had what I call a "valley fold". The scanner pulled it through just fine, so a close inspection of the scan would have to be done... [photo examples unable to display via Amazon review] "Valley fold" scans have a noticeable shadowing to the scans within the "valley". This is kind-of expected of sheet fed scanners but seriously, it's kind-of a pain. My higher end Fujitsu scanner does a much better job at dealing with both "bump" and "valley" folds. I was hoping that the Doxie would too, unfortunately it doesn't. Other "Issues": Skewing of scans - due to pulling in the sheet crooked... This is a SERIOUSLY HUGE problem for the Doxie scanners, whether Apparent wants to admit it or not. The Doxie Go's sensor telling the scanner that a piece of paper is waiting to be pulled in and scanned is, IMHO to [..] anxious to pull in documents, often pulling in documents while I was still trying to align them up with the left side and adjusting the paper guide. I have to say that close to 95% of my scans all had some visible skewing issue to them (indicated by the tell tale sign of a BLACK negative space as part of the scan). Now, believe me when I say that I got pretty good a feeding a scan in what I consider "perfectly" so that there shouldn't be any skew. But the damn thing would still pull in scans crooked or too quickly before I got them aligned tight left and with the paper guide... [photo examples unable to display via Amazon review] [large photo example that you have to see, unable to display via Amazon review] Score Card: Rather than continue explaining every negative, I've summed up a lot of them in the "Cons" section below... So make sure you read through the extensive list. :-/ Pros: + A truly portable (PC free) simplex document scanner + Scans at 300 DPI or 600 DPI + Scans up to 8.5 x 15" (so US LEGAL) + Has internal memory w/support for SDHC and USB Flash Drives + Has a built in rechargeable battery + Supports Eye-Fi WiFi SDHC Memory Cards + Decent Software (with OCR capabilities) for the Mac and PC (sorry Linux users) + Comes with a small special scanning sleeve for "old or glossy photos" Somewhere in the middle, your milage may vary: ± Customer support via Twitter and Email was very quick and responsive Cons: - Detailed "User Manual" is HIDDEN under the Doxie App's "Help" menu (at least under Mac OS X) - Costly, the scanner alone is around $200, other "add ons" inflate the cost even more (e.g.: power-cord=$10, case=$30, WiFi-storage=$30, etc) - Feels Cheaply Made (feels like the Doxie needs the optional $30 case just to keep it from getting banged up in a professional's bag) - SCANNER tries to grip the sheet to quickly (IMHO) often causing skewed scans - Scans are often SKEWED and/or include BLACK space because scans aren't always pulled in straight (even when using the included page guide) - Scans of pages with folds often have "issues" causing skewing, shadowing, or jams - Users shouldn't have to "learn" how get straight scans even when using the page guide - Software by DEFAULT deletes the scans on the Doxie SCANNER when imported into the Doxie APP - Software by DEFAULT sets PDF Image quality to "6 Medium" and JPEG image quality to "9 (High)", which IMHO should DEFAULT to the maximum - It's not apparently clear where the Doxie APP temporarily stores imported scans on the computer - Power cord is an extra purchase (~$10) - I wasn't able to get the Doxie to scan while being charged via my Mac's USB port, which would make me lean towards having to use a USB power adapter, or the optional $10 power cord - Has a built in rechargeable battery that can't be swapped out for AA or AAA when in a pinch - Scans are saved as JPEGS and need to be converted later to PDF/OCR-PDF or PNG with the PC software - Doxie Software sometimes makes bad decisions and tries to incorrectly "auto" correct scans (DEFAULT behavior) - Wireless (WiFi) capability is an extra purchase (~$30+) - No Linux compatible software - Included carrier sheet ("scanning sleeve") is small and is marketed for "old or glossy photos", there should at least be a FULL 8.5 x 15″ carrier sheet for odd shaped scans (think news paper clippings) Edited the "Title" of review on 02/23/2013.