C Pen 800 Handheld Scanner

Amazon.com Product Description
The C Pen 800 from C Technologies is a handheld scanner that can hold up to 3,000 pages of text. It uses OCR and an 8 MB memory to convert printed words to fully editable text, thanks to its compact infrared technology.

The C Pen 800 has a calendar and an address book that can hold up to 1,000 contacts. Its C Dictionary allows you to translate a scanned word from a number of different lexicons. Additional dictionaries can be downloaded in a variety of languages. With C Direct you can use your pen to scan lines of text directly into any document on your PC. You can also write or take notes with your C Pen using the C Write function. Simply use the pen to write on a patterned surface, and the device records your written characters into the memory just like any other printed text.

The C Pen 800 has an LCD so you can read back the words or characters you've recorded for instant editing. The translation capabilities of the C Pen make it a great choice for travelers and students. The pocket-sized C Pen weighs only 85 grams, and it has a built-in battery that lasts two to three weeks with normal use. --Megan Dugan

Product Description:
For something so small (not larger than a fat permanent marker) the C-Pen 800 is very powerful, combining scanning capabilities with 8Mb of Flash memory and infrared communication between a compatible PC, along with Palm and Pocket PC handhelds. By far the most impressive tool, and certainly the most useful, is the scanning technology. This works via a tiny digital camera at the base of the C-Pen that is activated when it is swiped across a page. Capable of reading text at speeds up to 15cm/s, C-Pen can be used to read single lines and paragraphs of text and, if need be, whole articles. A handy supplement to the scanning capabilities is the C Dictionary, which allows you to install several bilingual Oxford or Norsted dictionaries onto the C-Pen. The dictionaries can then be used to translate text, simply by scanning the relevant text with the translation clearly displayed on the C-Pen. The display screen is of a decent size, and can be altered depending on whether you are left or right-handed. Navigation is carried out through the use of a nifty wheel on the top of the device - scroll it up and down to navigate through menus and press in to select an item. With C-Pen 800 you have your tasks fulfilled in minutes just with the help of a pen!

C Pen 800C Handheld Scanner
Average customer rating:

NO SUPPORT

Thoughts on the CPen 800c

Great scanner, terrible Mac support

CPEN has no TECH support

Excellent scanner

C Pen 800C Handheld Scanner

Manufacturer: C Technologies
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Handheld | Scanners | Office Electronics | Categories | Electronics
Office Electronics | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics
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Product Features:

Remarkably light translation tool, ideal for travel

Includes address book and memory for saving many pages of text

Transfer data or text directly into your PC or Palm

Downloadable dictionaries available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish

Reads, saves, translates, and sends text within seconds

ASIN: B00005BC0H

Product Description

C-Pen is a mobile information collector that reads, remembers, processes and transfers printed text to your Windows-equipped PC and PDA products. C-Pen is in essence an electronic highlighter that saves the text you are marking. Carry it with you wherever you go! Make it a habit to take your portable text collector with you, and you are always ready to read and save text from books, papers, brochures or business cards. You can easily record price-lists, timetables, wine tips or witty quotes. You don't have to tear out pages any more. With the portable dictionary you can translate and look up words immediately without carrying around a printed dictionary! Your saved text files can later be transferred to your PC. It is also possible to use C-Pen to read text directly into a Windows application in your PC.

Amazon.com Product Description

Students, researchers, and professionals who value the convenience and plentiful features of the C Pen will appreciate the expanded memory, rechargeable battery, and crisp display in the 800C. This study and business tool, which is nearly as small and light as a standard highlighter, speeds your efforts to gather research information.

Use it to capture text from any printed source; it can store up to 3,000 pages of printed text and PC files. Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, with 215,000 definitions and translations, is integrated as a standard feature, and you can download up to 11 different language dictionaries from the manufacturer. The 800C is also equipped to receive text messages, and the display can show six crisp lines of text at a time.

The C Pen 800 is Windows compatible and interacts with PDAs made by Palm, Visor or Sony. You can transfer information via infrared port or serial cable, and the C Pen is designed for left- or right-handed users. A serial cable is included, as is a one-year warranty.

Customer Reviews:

NO SUPPORT.......2006-06-10

Let's be honest.
This product ain't cheap. It's not something you can just throw away if it decides to stop working.
I bought mine at cpenusa.com. Delivery was great, only took them a couple of days. However, my c-pen cable was damaged. The connector to the c-pen was, for some reason, cut in half. Without it, you can't recharge or connect the c-pen to the pc.
I called their main office all the way in Sweden during the office hours. NO RESPONSE. I sent three e-mails to cpenusa. NO RESPONSE.
I don't care if the product itself is great(I'll never know now, will I..). If you're unable to receive support when you need 'em, you're screwed.
If you're just interested in electronic equipments, just want to try things out and don't really care if you're on your own, go ahead and try it. Let me know how this thing really is. Otherwise, buy a product that you can trust on with respect to after-sales support.

Thoughts on the CPen 800c.......2006-03-27

I'm just going to chime in with a few random thoughts on this product:

- Since it appears Amazon no longer carries the product, I got mine from cpenusa.com. I ordered on a Thursday night and it shipped the next day. It arrived at my door the following Monday, so I have no complaints.
- Another reviewer said that the device did not come with a US adapter for the European charager, but mine did.
- The CD that came with mine had the latest drivers for Windows XP on it
- You'll need either a serial or infrared port on your PC, else you'll have to get an adapter, because there's no USB on this thing. My PC has a serial port and I had no problems getting the device to talk to the computer
- My CPen would not power up when I took it out of the box. So, as advised by the manual, I stuck a long paperclip into the reset hole and PRESTO - it powered up instantly
- AFAIK, there's no support for Mac OSX
- Don't expect 'instant gratification' with this thing out of the box. It WILL require you to spend some time with it (I'd guess 2 or 3 hours at the very least) in order to get a feel for how to hold/angle the device for best results. Don't be discouraged if your accuracy is pretty close to nil the very first time you try it, as I think this is pretty normal. After a couple of hours, I was up to about 70% accuracy with it.
- When you first take it out of the box, the first thing I would suggest you do is switch the device from Automatic to Manual mode. In Automatic mode, when you try to scan, usually 1 of 2 things will happen 1) The CPen will beep at you and 'Nothing read' will apear on the screen or 2) The thing will simply stop trying to scan halfway across the line
- If you're right handed, I would also suggest trying to scan from right-to-left
- If you're visually impaired like I am, the Gameboy-like LCD may be hard to see, even with the contrast adjusted appropriately
- If you're one of those people like I am who can't move a highlighter in a straight line, don't even think about getting this. Trust me, trying to use a bookmark or ruler is more trouble than it's worth, because the device is too wide for that. I have an eye condition known as a stigmatism where things 'jump around' if I stare too hard/long, so this greatly affected by ability to scan in a stright, smooth motion. I'd get about 3/4ths across the line, then the pen would drift so I would end up with 70% perfect text and 30% gibberish. However, if your eyes work better than mine, I don't anticipate you'll have this difficulty.
- Because of the above two difficulties, I decided to return mine. After I sent it back, my money was refunded in less than a week.

After reading all of this, if you are still considering trying it, I would suggest you do so. Since returning it is pretty much hassle free (you only have to fill out a short form on their website), you really have nothing to lose!

Great scanner, terrible Mac support.......2006-01-09

As most other reviews have noted, the CPen 800c and 600c are great devices. They work well, and with relatively high accuracy. The interface is a bit complicated at times, but is relatively intuitive.

However, as other reviews have noted, the CPen support and technical systems are terrible. One must even pay extra for a USB converter, as the CPen only comes with a old-fashionaed serial port link. Tech service is virtually non-existent.

Even more striking is the fact that there is almost no Mac support. As much of the publishing/graphic design industry runs on Mac and Mac-friendly software, this seems counterintuitive. For example, there is no way to install any of the software and dictionaries if you are using any version of OS X; only earlier versions of OS are supported. Neither can one run CPen software using OS X's classic environment. Second, the driver software is on mini-CD and therefore won't even work in Mac slot-loading optical drives, rendering it impossible to load the software! Silly.

Overall, the CPen itself is a great device for scanning text--perhaps the best yet. But its support systems and software are Stone Age at best.

CPEN has no TECH support.......2005-08-22

The CPEN promises to be an excellent product. If you can get the support and extras needed to make it work. The CPEN comes with an European charger. So, go out and get a US/European adapter in order to charge it. The CPEN does not come with a USB connection cable. It comes with a 9 pin serial cable. So if you do not have a Serial Port, go out and spend $40.00 on a USB-Serial Converter Cable. Wait, not done yet.. If your computer does not have a USB-Serial Controller Driver then you still cannot use the CPEN. Ok, Call Tech Support.. Every time you call you will get answering services asking you to leave your phone number. So, it's a "Don't call us....We'll call you," kinda tech support. Call Customer Service/Sales...THERE! You get an answer, every time. They don't answer with "CPEN USA, May I help you?" They answer the phone like any residential phone line with a simple one time, "Hello?" So, ask if you reached CPEN USA to be sure you did not make a mistake in dialing your number.
I'm sending mine back. Tech support and customer service is key in any delicate, expensive product.

Tony
Fort Lauderdale

Excellent scanner.......2005-06-02

I bought this item, since I always make a lot of notes from books and other papers, and don't want to type it in manually anymore. This scanner, probably like any other model, needs a little training to get it right over the paper, but once done, it really works and faster than typing!
I dont use the addressbook or options with your GSM but they are no doubt very handy.
I just scan in from papers, and beam it to my laptop. Both Infrared and the cable work. The cable is especially great for using the scanner 'live'on the screen: the scanned text appears on the pc as you type!
The dictionary also comes in very handy.

It must be a very complex product, but just like the Ipod or ZenXtra mp3 players: they work!
So buy one and save some time! Excellent and recommended for anyone that needs to make notes, or studies, or just wants to stop cutting out pages in newspapers in a train e.g.

Average customer rating:

C-Pen 800 rocks
Easy way to organize
Absolutely incredible
Fairly Accurate,Nice editing features, Useful s/w
C-Pen 800 is great

C Pen 800 Handheld Scanner

Manufacturer: C Technologies
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Handheld | Scanners | Office Electronics | Categories | Electronics

Office Electronics | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics
Accessories:

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Product Features:

Scan text by moving a pen-style scanner over lines of text
3,000-page memory capacity
Includes a calendar and address book
Read and save your text in computer-editable format
Write characters by moving C-Pen over a patterned surface

ASIN: B00004YUQ1

Product Description

For something so small (not larger than a fat permanent marker) the C-Pen 800 is very powerful, combining scanning capabilities with 8Mb of Flash memory and infrared communication between a compatible PC, along with Palm and Pocket PC handhelds. By far the most impressive tool, and certainly the most useful, is the scanning technology. This works via a tiny digital camera at the base of the C-Pen that is activated when it is swiped across a page. Capable of reading text at speeds up to 15cm/s, C-Pen can be used to read single lines and paragraphs of text and, if need be, whole articles. A handy supplement to the scanning capabilities is the C Dictionary, which allows you to install several bilingual Oxford or Norsted dictionaries onto the C-Pen. The dictionaries can then be used to translate text, simply by scanning the relevant text with the translation clearly displayed on the C-Pen. The display screen is of a decent size, and can be altered depending on whether you are left or right-handed. Navigation is carried out through the use of a nifty wheel on the top of the device - scroll it up and down to navigate through menus and press in to select an item. With C-Pen 800 you have your tasks fulfilled in minutes just with the help of a pen!

Amazon.com Product Description

The C Pen 800 from C Technologies is a handheld scanner that can hold up to 3,000 pages of text. It uses OCR and an 8 MB memory to convert printed words to fully editable text, thanks to its compact infrared technology.

Customer Reviews:

C-Pen 800 rocks.......2002-12-06

I love my c-pen, this thing takes about 1 hour to get good with, the mistakes that it makes are rare but consistent, once you figure them out you catch them right away. I am a law student and this makes briefing and getting quotes exactly right easy! For the money this is the best little helper I have. The dictionary is a nice benefit and the battery lasts forever-like a week or two with frequent use.

Easy way to organize.......2002-06-14

No more clutter or mess, with all the business cards and no more trying to write everything into my Palm. Now all I do is scan the card and beam it to my Palm. I love it!!! I scan notes from others to take with me, I scan articles in magazines that I need. I even use it for the class that I am taking, to quick scan (highlight) points of interest in class books. I can share all my infomation with my Palm. Hey wouldn't it be great if you could get a Scan Pen/Palm/Cell Phone all in one. I know I would buy that. This a great little tool, for school, for work, for home, for play. I wish I had it years ago.

Absolutely incredible.......2002-04-08

My friend has one of these and I am going to order one as soon as I find some money lying around. I scanned a page of a textbook and it only got a few letters wrong which I consider really awesome considering that my two-hundred dollar scanner and five-hundred dollar OCR software gets at least 50 characters wrong per-page. If you have massive ammounts of homework like I do, get one of these and you can just scan all the answers straight out of the book. I promise, this product is worth every cent you pay for it.

Fairly Accurate,Nice editing features, Useful s/w.......2001-08-18

When I got this product, I was a little disappointed with its scanning accuracy. But later after a firmware upgrade, I found it to improve dramatically. It does take some time to getting used to. But once you know all the features, it is very easy to use. I gives very good accuracy for text with standard fonts. Non-Standard fonts and very small(fine prints) does create some problem. I do not think that OCR need to be perfect, it just needs to be consistent(and not gramatically correct like quicklink). What is more important is the easy to use editing feature. With C-Write(If you are already a palm user you will love this feature), editing is a breeze. Infact the graffiti is more natural(than even palm) and is consistently accurate(if not as fast as palm). I do like the selective cut/paste feature. You can also find some interesting free s/w like JNotes(which allows you to scan any handwritten text to an image) or the barcode scanner(which supports various formats). The memory is sufficient for normal purposes. The advanced calibration feature is quite useful for capturing lighter text or text from colored paper(It also helps get a clearer image in JNotes). In overall, I would strongly recommend this product to anyone planning on serious ocr from hardcopy texts. It would have been nice if the lcd display had a backlight, for lowlight conditions.

C-Pen 800 is great.......2001-04-29

I just bought the C-Pen 800. It has a built in battery and comes with a carring case. The battery seem to last typically a week. I think C-Pen is much better than the 600 and 200 because of the built in battery. I mainly use the C-Pen for the dictionary which comes with the purchase of a 800. And you get to choose which dictionary you want. The dictionary is great. I am using a webster and it gives everything that's important. Only thing it doesn't give is the pronunciation and sentences. It takes getting use-to to scan and write things using the C-pen, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't a big problem. I think the only limitation of the c-pen is it's memory. I can only put one dictionary at a time depending on the size of the dicationary. I have the webster which takes alot of space. One more thing that I thought was kind of annoying was I had to buy a infared device for the use of my c-pen 800. I guess it was my fault because I didn't look at the information carefully enough but if the pen is a C-pen ###C, it means that it can use a cable. If it is C-pen ### and it doesn't have a C, it means it uses a infered device. Besides that I think the pen is great.

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