Richard Jantz

Epson Perfection 1660 Photo

A combination of very fast performance at low and medium resolutions (up to 600 dpi) and sharp, colorful images earns the Epson Perfection 1660 Photo a strong thumbs-up. Like the Perfection 1650 Photo it replaces, the Perfection 1660 Photo is a 48-bit scanner with a maximum horizontal resolution of 1600 dpi. Also like its predecessor, it comes with a transparency adapter built into its lid. But unlike the older model, the 1660 supports the faster USB 2.0 interface (like almost all USB 2.0 devices, it also works with USB 1.1 connections). Tested using USB 2.0, the Perfection 1660 Photo was fastest among our current batch of small-office units at full-page, 300-dpi documents, both color and black-and-white. It also scanned a 600-dpi, 4-by-5-inch gray-scale photo faster than any other model in our current set of scanners--small-office or corporate--and it took just a hair over 9 seconds to scan a 4-by-5-inch color print at 100 dpi, coming in first among small-office models and second behind the $699 HP Scanjet 7450c. Only at 1200 dpi did the Perfection lose ground to other small-office scanners, including HP's Scanjet 5500c and Visioneer's OneTouch 9000 USB. For image quality, our judges rated the Perfection 1660 fairly highly, especially for color prints, such as a 100-dpi scan made from a 4-by-5-inch photo and a 1200-dpi scan produced from a 2-by-2-inch print. Both looked crisp and showed highly accurate color, with strong details in both shadows and highlights. But in a 100-dpi photo judges viewed on-screen, some colors appeared slightly more saturated than those in the original (notably in the skin tones), and the small type and geometric patterns in a 1600-dpi scan of a monochrome test pattern didn't look as impressive as those created by 2400-dpi units. But even with those minor blemishes, the Perfection 1660 Photo still bests most other scanners we've evaluated lately.
No automatic document feeder is available for this unit, a drawback for those who want to scan legal-size documents or use optical character recognition to process a lot of documents. Another limitation is the lack of live technical support on weekends.
Four push buttons provide fast access to common tasks: Scan, Copy, E-mail, and Scan to Web (via Epson PhotoCenter, a free photo-sharing Web site). You can use the Scan button to launch Epson Smart Panel software, a versatile utility that gives you quick access to a wide range of scanning functions, or you can configure the button to launch a specific task, such as performing OCR or saving an image to a file. Two new options have been added to the latest version of Smart Panel: Scan to P.I.M, which simplifies color calibration between a scanner and a Print Image Matching-compatible printer; and Scan to PDA, which lets you convert and transfer an image to a PDA. Epson includes ArcSoft PhotoImpression, an entry-level image editor, but it does not bundle a dedicated document or image-management application, nor does it include a stand-alone OCR program. Smart Panel includes NewSoft's Presto OCR functionality, but you can also use a separate OCR package with the Perfection 1660 Photo. Epson's TWAIN driver has a one-click automatic mode that's great for beginners, and a manual mode for scanning veterans who want to use advanced tools such as color adjustment and gamma correction. The TWAIN driver's manual mode can be used to scan and save color-rich 48-bit images, although the 1660 does not come with an application that can open and edit 48-bit images (Adobe Photoshop, Ulead PhotoImpact, and ArcSoft's PhotoStudio are three that can). The Perfection 1660's transparency template holds as many as four 35mm slides or a single 35mm negative strip at a time, and you can batch-scan multiple images in a single operation. (Some scanners force you to scan each slide or frame separately.) If you want to scan larger film sizes, an optional transparency unit with a maximum scanning area of 4 by 5 inches is available for $89.
The Epson Perfection 1660 Photo is an excellent choice for those who want both high speed and high-quality images, and who don't mind paying a bit extra to get them.

Buying Information

Epson Perfection 1660 Photo USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, 1600 by 3200 dpi, 10.9 by 17.7 by 4.6 inches (width by depth by height), 6.8 pounds, 8.5-by-11.7-inch scanning area; includes transparency adapter; no automatic document feeder. One-year warranty; free technical support for 12 hours on weekdays (calls are not toll-free); 24-hour, toll-free automated support. $ 179 USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, 1600 by 3200 dpi, 10.9 by 17.7 by 4.6 inches (width by depth by height), 6.8 pounds, 8.5-by-11.7-inch scanning area; includes transparency adapter; no automatic document feeder. One-year warranty; free technical support for 12 hours on weekdays (calls are not toll-free); 24-hour, toll-free automated support. http://www.epson.com 800/463-7766