Visioneer OneTouch 8900 USB Scanner

I no longer have this scanner as I donated it to the church for their use - but when I did have it I used it quite often and had good results, especially for oversized items that could not be scanned by other means.

After installing the factory CD for this scanner I kept getting the error that the optical module is locked when it isnt. I tried everything I could find on the internet and nothing worked. Their Tech support is wothless and all in all the scanner is a piece of junk.

This is a great scanner for the money. Unfortunately the design engineers made one little mistake which I corrected. It took care of the scanner locked problem. Now I love it. The software is great, the ergonomics are great, and it is FAST! To fix it is very simple, and requires no electronic skills. Added 9-12-04 So many people have emailed me re the fix I decided to add it here. Unfortunately the fix did not work with most of those who emailed me. My Scanner works very well with Win98SE. I suspect many of those with problems are having trouble with some aspect of their software/OS. I frequently Format and reinstall my OS when my machines get sluggish. Re formatting is absolutely necessary in my humble opinion, especially when you are connected. Its like the garage, you have to clean it out once in a while. I pressure wash mine. :-) My Repair, given freely, so dont sue me: Remove two screws on left side under rubber plugs. #1 Phillips, thin screw driver needed. 2. Rotate cover with glass up and to the right and pull hooks out of loops. Lay to the side. 3. Remove lock button from base by squeezing hooked ends together, and push out of hole. 4. Grind or sand down protrusions that stick up from bottom of case. They are what the scanner carriage gets wedged on. 5. Check to make sure wire leads to front controls are not pinched to the point of being severed. 6. Clean glass, lube rails with molylube and Re-assemble without lock. This is what I did. It worked great. Jim A

I bought it from a reseller and was easy to install and worked great for about 6 months and one day for no apparent reason I started getting The scanner optical module is locked error. Since then I have tried reinstalling drivers as well as software with no results. People I have read recommeding reisntalling OS. But to me if you have to reinstall the OS to make a scanner work, the piece is not worth having. I will just look for another scanner.

I dont know what the heck everyone else is complaining about. Ive had this scanner for more than two years and the only problem Ive had is that I now have to jiggle the cord to get the power supply to stay on. Thats probably because Ive used the thing so darn much. Ive scanned hundreds of pictures that came out extremely crisp and sharp and have used the TextBridge (OCR) software to scan chapters of books into Word. The software that comes with this Visioneer 8900 is definitely not intuitive but thats okay with me because I use Corel to do all my photo editing. All it takes is a little patience the first time to learn how to adjust the scanning quality and color. After that, it should be a breeze. One the downside - this scanner first came out three years ago so its a bit bulky and there are slimmer, sleeker models now available. But, if you can purchase one used for about $30-$40, its definitely worth it.

Out of the box it had an intermittant problem. You get an error box that says the optical module is locked. Only it isnt. Go to the web site and they have a virtual troubleshooter that is absolutely of no use. Call the company customer service and they tell you to call tech support,(at $2.00 per minute on a 900 line. Because this is out of production, they dont care. Definitely dont buy this for a quarter. It would be a waste of a good quarter

I had demoed Visioneer scanners for 3 years at a computer store and was always impressed with the speed, quality and price of them. I happily bought my own Visioneer 8900 as I liked the quick access buttons, the quality, and the price. The installation was quick and simple and I was scanning right away. Did about 5 high quality scans and everything was great. I hadnt used the scanner for a couple of months (it was off) so I fired it up again and I got these ugly green lines all throughout the scan. I rebooted and tried again and the same thing happened over and over. Then it would lock up on me saying the scanner lock was locked but I checked and it was not locked. Downloaded the latest drivers, installed them, and tried again. It still has those ugly lines. (I use Windows XP Pro) I dont know why after only a couple of months it died on me but I am disappointed in Visioneer. I cant recommend this scanner based on my experience with it but with only two reviews I would research it more.

For about $100, I got the Visioneer One Touch 8900 USB flatbed scanner, have used it on my older computer for many years running, and have been satisfied with its performance. My operating system is Windows ME (yup, there are a few of us still around) and Ive utilized the PaperPort Twain software bundled with the scanner. While it takes some getting used to and you may have to repeat the scan several times, by then you know what youre doing without making further mistakes and the results obtained are acceptable most of the time and occasionally downright excellent. A high quality print obtained with film technology is usually not going to yield anywhere near the same result when transferred to digital information because some degradation is unavoidable, but if you up the resolution from the preset level, adjust exposure and color balance as needed, sharpen with restraint, then crop and size carefully, you can do pretty well. In the darkroom, particularly the color darkroom, youll put far more effort into making a high quality enlargement and the results obtained will be eminently superior in several ways, but thats to be expected. In the last few months, I used this unit to scan a number of high quality photographs, several of which were decades old, in order to embed them in the text of desktop published books. In so doing, I achieved pretty darn good results, considering the limitations of the equipment. Im now looking for a dedicated film scanner to scan medium format and 35mm color negs directly, hopefully giving me darkroom quality results, but nonetheless, this workhorse economy flatbed scanner has more than paid for itself over the last several years and I therefore must give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. Ill agree with the critics who point out that Visioneers support leaves much to be desired because I tried to contact them regarding a software upgrade (for scanning film -- obviously bundled with the 8920) and couldnt get anywhere at all, but a bad attitude in the computer world combined with lackluster or nonexistent support is hardly unique to Visioneer.

Dont Waste your time or money that you think your saving, spend a little more on quality like an Epson. The age old saying You get what you pay for applies double here. The worst drivers/Quality Etc. You cant unplug it (USB) without it wanting to reinstall the drivers again,

I have the 8920 which is the same scanner with a slide scanner...it is entirely possible that they have COMPLETELY different hardware under the hood, but I doubt it. No problems...but one curious issue. The glass lid is not designed for being pushed on, and the holders (on the left side as you look at it) can come loose. If they do, or if you press down on the glass...like if you are scanning a book...that can stop the scan head, and of course the computer will assume the lock is still on. This has happened to me a couple of times. If you shake it (gently) you will hear the holders (little plastic pieces) on the bottom. Yes it is a silly and sloppy design, HOWEVER, put them back in place and press on...mine didnt drop loose until after 2.5 years of use.