Raven Pro Document Scanner Scanner Review | Still great in 2020

The Raven Pro Document Scanner is definitely a good product which deserves your attention and budget. If you need a small scanner, that is easy to use, and which can work on its own, without a computer, it is definitely a good purchase.

It is missing some key features, such as barcode detection or zonal OCR, but I guess for this price you can afford to buy a software that can handle specifically those 2 points.

Price wise I think this scanner fits really well into the market, as it also offers very good scanning speed, a large ADF and just a good experience all round.
Raven Pro Document Scanner Scanner Review | Still great in 2020

ProductFormatScanning areaConnectivitySheets per minuteImages per minuteADF SizeDaily Duty CyclePrice
Our choice

Raven Pro Document Scanner

Raven Pro Document Scanner
A48.5 in. x 11.7 in.Wi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet60120100 sheets6000 sheetsClick for more info

Scansnap ix500

Scansnap ix500
A4 – 216 x 360 mm (8.5 x 14.17 in.)Wireless and USB 2.0, 3.025 PPM25 IPM50 sheets400 sheetsClick for more info

Raven Pro Document Scanner Specifications

FormatA4
Scanning area8.5 in. x 11.7 in.
Optical Resolution600
Sensor typeCIS
Multifeed DetectionYes
ConnectivityWi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet
Sheets per minute60
Images per minute120
Daily Duty Cycle6000 sheets
InterfaceTWAIN
Feed Roller Replacement150,000 sheets
ADF Size100 sheets
Document ThicknessTwain
Long Document scanning mode14 in.
Dimensions12.4 X 7 X 8.2 inches
Weight9.2 lb.
Bundled SoftwareRaven PC Software
DriverDownload Driver
ManualDownload User Manual
BrochureDownload Brochure
FeaturesAutomatic Cropping, Automatic rotation, Automatic color detection, Blank Page Detection, MultiStream, Background Cleaning, Edge Correction, Deskew, Hole Punch Removal, Streaks Correction, Manual Feed Mode, Barcode Recognition, Document Separation, OCR, Zonal OCR

Raven Pro Document Scanner Datasheet Explained

The Raven Pro Document Scanner is capable of scanning a document of 8.5” x 11.7” so this is your typical A4 scanner.

Expect a scanning resolution of no more than 600dpi. It’s more or less what you need from a scanner like this.

The scanning quality is good enough. It comes with a CIS sensor, which will not deliver the high quality of a CCD scanner, but it will do for most of your documents.

The scanner connects through Ethernet and Wi-Fi (2.4ghz). This means it was designed to be a digital sender, rather than desktop scanner.

Scanning speed is quite good, at around 60 pages per minute in simplex mode. In duplex, the volume of images turned out is doubled, at around 120ipm.

The manufacturer estimates that a maximum of 6000 sheets will be scanned daily by most of the users.

If you want to integrate the scanner into your own software, the driver interface works through TWAIN.

The Raven Pro Document Scanner works with consumable that should last every 150,000 sheets..

Specs for paper handling

The multifeed detection features works with an ultrasonic sensor. This sensor will detect if more sheets are to be fed through the scanner simultaneously and stops the scanning.

The ADF capacity is around 100 documents. This is quite a good value for such a small scanner, and it’s definitely up there within its class.

ADF capacity of 100 documents on this machine is massive, as it automatically loads 100 sheets from ADF for its job.

Feeding paper with a thickness ranging from 5 to 60lb should be no problem for the Raven Pro Document Scanner.

In the Long Document Mode you can set the device to scan lengths up to 14 in. and with some tweaks in the software, even longer documents..

Raven Pro Document Scanner accesories unboxing

The Raven Pro Document Scanner is not a big scanner. At 12.4″ X 7″ X 8.2″ it’s well within the size of most small document scanners out there.

Weighing 9.2 lb means that it is only slightly heavier than the average scanner in this price range, but only because they have fitted some functionalities to help the user, such as the very large touchscreen.

Inside the books, besides cables and manuals, you should be able to find the RAVEN PC Software, which will allow you to setup and use the scanner..

Features for Productivity

The first setting we will look at is the automatic cropping. This is good to have, especially considering that most documents are not of exact size. So this aid saves a lot of headaches and manual interventions.

Even more important, it will automatically rotate documents when scanning, so whether the document is landscape or portrait, the algorithm will detect that.

Another good feature is the auto color detection. Practically you can feed a mixed batch of documents, and the scanner will release documents as they are, those in color color, and those in black and white will be released as black and white.

The blank page detection and deletion feature is critical when scanning a lot. Especially when some pages are printed on both sides and others are not.

Multi stream is not enabled on this scanner. While some will argue that with the automatic color detection this is not relevant, others, such as myself, would have preferred to have it..

Quality of images

The background cleaning feature of this scanner let’s you output documents that are cleaner and have a much smoother background than they would, without applying such a filter.

The edge correction feature on the Raven Pro is great to use, as it cleans the margins of your documents, and give the scans an overall cleaner look.

Document deskew helps a lot by straightening the scans as they are being scanned. This is really good to have, because it saves a lot of post processing time and effort.

Two features that are missing on this scanner are the hole punch removal and the streak correction feature. The first one uses the background color of the document to fill punched holes.

With the streak correction feature, even when the scanning glass is dirty, the software detects that and corrects that part of the image..

Extra Features

Using the Raven Pro Document scanner is definitely possible. It’s a good aid when you have fragile documents or for a reason or another you just want to feed the documents by hand.

Because this scanner was built to be a digital sender, some productivity features are definitely missing.

For example the barcode recognition feature. Either for indexing documents or for document separation while scanning, the lack of such a feature will not help you when scanning larger batches.

It does have OCR however. This feature is great to have, as the optical character recognition is integrated directly into the scanner and helps you transfer searchable documents directly.

Zonal OCR is another form of optical character recognition, but this one is not present with this scanner. This feature lets you capture specific areas of a document, for example value fields which are relevant to some users..

Raven Pro Document Scanner driver, manual & brochure

The Raven Pro Document Scanner comes with the drivers for your windows or mac.

You can easily download the drivers for it to work properly by clicking the link given below:


https://www.raven.com/products/raven-scanner-pro

Learn how to use your Raven Pro Document Scanner Like a Pro by downloading and ready the User Manual provided for your device from the link given below:


https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0236/9286/9696/files/Raven_Scanner_Pro_User_Manual_102019.docx.pdf?50566

If you want to find some more detailed info, you can try having a look at the official brochure at:


https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0236/9286/9696/files/Pro_QuickStart_Guide_-_V5.pdf?50688

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Raven Pro Document Scanner vs Fujitsu Scansnap ix500


Here are the key differences between these two scanners:


Raven Pro Document Scanner

Raven Pro Document Scanner

Scansnap ix500

Scansnap ix500
Scanning areaLOSER8.5 in. x 11.7 in.WINNERA4 – 216 x 360 mm (8.5 x 14.17 in.)
ConnectivityMISCWi-Fi (2.4ghz), EthernetMISCWireless and USB 2.0, 3.0
Sheets per minuteWINNER60LOSER25 PPM
Images per minuteWINNER120LOSER25 IPM
ADF SizeWINNER100 sheetsLOSER50 sheets
Document ThicknessMISCTwainMISC40 to 209 g/m2 (11 to 56 lb)
Daily Duty CycleWINNER6000 sheetsLOSER400 sheets
Multifeed DetectionMISCYesMISCUltrasonic double-feed detection sensor
Feed Roller ReplacementWINNER150,000 sheetsLOSER200.000 sheets
Streaks CorrectionLOSERNoWINNERYes
PriceClick for more infoClick for more info


So, how do these two compete on digitization zone? The Scansnap ix500 can capture zone of A4 – 216 x 360 mm (8.5 x 14.17 in.), meanwhile the other can scan an area of 8.5 in. x 11.7 in..

Both the Raven Pro Document Scanner and the Scansnap ix500 use CIS sensor.

Regarding of which one of these document scanners can scan longer documents, it’s the Scansnap ix500 which wins here. It can scan digitize documents of up to 863 mm or 34 in. (Duplex), 1,726 mm or 68 in. (Simplex) in length, meanwhile the other device can only digitize documents of up to 14 in..

If you have a look at connectivity ports, you will find Wi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet on the Raven Pro Document Scanner and Wireless and USB 2.0, 3.0 on Scansnap ix500.

Looking at actual digitization speed the Raven Pro Document Scanner will do 60 pages every minute. On the other hand the Scansnap ix500 will reach 25 sheets every 60 seconds.

Read the full review of the Scansnap ix500


Raven Pro Document Scanner
Our Score

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