Play your cards right with a business card scanner
Gadget: CardScan Executive
Price: $399
Thumbs up: speed and accuracy
Thumbs down: transfer complexity
AB gives it: ****
What it is:
Full-featured contact manager and desktop business card scanner. This nifty gadget scans coloured business cards in three seconds and then moves the information from each card into a digital address book.
Why you need it:
It helps to electronically sort out your business card collection, so next time you're searching for the details of an important client you can look on your computer rather than in your drawer, in your wallet or under your desk.
Key features:
- Synchronises with Outlook, PDAs, smart phones, ACT!, Lotus, Notes and GoldMine
- Three second colour scanning
- USB powered
- Consolidates contact data through contact management software
- Includes free online back-up for contact data
- Small and portable
- Two year warranty, 30 day unconditional guarantee
- Comes with CardScan cleaning card
What's particularly cool about it:
It is extremely quick, accurate and compatible with a whole heap of programs and devices, so you can add the newly scanned-in details to your email contact book. You also get complementary membership to "AtYourService" - an online service that lets you create an address book and back up your contact information.
What it will cost you:
$399.00
Where you can get it:
You can find a list of authorised CardScan sellers at www.cardscan.com.
What happened when we tested it?
AB's Agnes Gajewska got elbow-deep in business cards and did some scanning...
"The state of my draw, card sleeve and half of my desk confirmed that it was time to sort out my business card collection, but the sheer volume of cards that I had accumulated evoked images of scanning until I hit retirement. So I was pleasantly surprised that once I had installed the CardScan, it was incredibly fast.
I was also impressed with its accuracy, as the vast majority of the time it transported the correct details off the cards and into a contact book. The only time it struggled was when there was a lot of graphic detail or creative logos on the cards; however this was easily enough fixed by manual entry.
My only point of slight criticism is that the process of moving data from the contact management software to Outlook could have been made slightly easier. This however is not a major hurdle, does not take long to master and once learned is easy to repeat. Also, as a word of warning, the printed instruction booklet is very basic - for thorough instructions look on the installation CD.
