Agfa SnapScan e40 Scanner

I got this Snapscan e40 scanner at a very low price (110$CAD) because Agfa has release a newer version of this scanner (e42) and it was the last one available on stock. After a very bad experience with HP ScanJet 4200c, paied around 300$CAD (only 90 days warranty!?) and not getting any response from it most of the time. I sent it to HP for repair lately. They evaluated cost 400$CAD to fix it! Crazy ! Better change it... for another brand : Agfa Snapscan.

Snapscan is so easy to set and use compared to HP. I got a 1-year warranty, and a better speed, resolution and color-depth quality. Software bundled with Agfa scanner is also a lot better. What a deal! I'm enthousiastic about this product. Agfa support and web site is even better than HP's. I would recommand any Agfa scanner over HP's, anytime. I'm just starting using my Snapscan e40 but it runs very smoothly, no problem at all so far.

I am an Italian surgeon of a teaching hospital and I use a computer at home mainly for educational subjects and research. I recently bought a e40 snap-scan for my Celeron 450Mhz-Windows Me-HP840C system, in order to substitute for a 5100 HP scanner who made an excellent work before a mechanical accident. Great my disappointement has been when I realized that I can not easily make a 1:1 fotocopy to send to the printer or a readible copy (of the true dimensions) of a document to send by e-mail or fax: when I try to scan and send to the printer (or fax) a document in its real dimensions, ScanWise scale it to nearly 80%, making it difficult to utilize. I rang up the Italian technical support (S.D.R. in Milan) and they told me that they were sorry but this behaviour was due to an hardware limitation (to avoid ink soil out of the paper........sic!!!) and nothing can be done. I am very upset for having select a more expensive scanner that can not make what I mainly need (a reliable and easy to use copier) and currently made very easily by any more cheap product: so I contacted AGFA Agfa tech support answered: February 05, 2001 02:50 PM EST - Agfa Support has provided a solution AGFA's MESSAGE: Dear Antonio,

Thank you for contacting AGFA Technical Support.

The problem is actually being created by your printer settings. There is a margin around the image known as the "unprintable" area. Your printer is set to place this margin around the image and will not print the image at 100%. To change that setting, you will have to contact the printer manufacturer.

Thanks, Greg Technical Support

So I contacted HP "DeskJet 840 Support" ANSWER:

From: "DeskJet 840 Support" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 10:15 PM > Subject: Re: HP DeskJet 840C Printer e-mail support > > > Hi Randy, > > Thanks for your e-mail. You have two questions that I will try to > answer. One deals with scanner issues and the second is an issue with > startup. > There will be an area that is unprintable simply because the printer has > to have a slight border. For instance, the printer feed wheels must be > able to hold the paper when printing. > The second issue sounds like a software issue...>

MY REPLY: > Thanks for the answer > may be yuo are right, but nearly 2 centimeters all around the printed area, > sound to me a little bit excessive as ""non printable area", moreover this > happens only when sending a document from the scanner to the printer: > something is wrong between them and the result is that I have an inefficient > system to do what I very often need at home: a copier. > Waiting for a possible solution at the problem (apart from throw away > printer and scanner), a send you the e-mail received by Agfa on the subject. > Finally, untill one month ago I had a wonderful scanner HP 5p that have made > an excellent work (with no fuss about non printable area) with a Canon BJ200 > and in my clinic a similar 5P is still working with a Laserjet 4P and a > Epson 870: it is a lucky circumstance or is due to your splendid utility to > make copies?? (can I use it with the agfa?) > Thanks again > Antonio > Troubleshooting > FINALLY ITALIAN AGFA RAPPRESENTATIVE suggest me to wait because, perhaps, in future my issue will be solved by new releases of the scanner software but, it will be doubtfull to guess if it will function on MY scanner. Sorry for this disclaim, but I think it will help people to avoid mistakes. > Antonio Fresini MD Naples, Italy>

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