Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Review

Pros: High quality scans, easy to use software
Cons: Relatively slow, 10-page document feeder feels limiting
Manufacturer: Fujitsu
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
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Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | |
Price | $295 List $244.99 at Amazon | $495 List $395.75 at Amazon | $350 List $322.95 at Amazon | $1,200 List $773.00 at Amazon | $110 List $89.98 at Amazon |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | High quality scans, easy to use software | Fast, high-quality scans, easy operation, touch screen interface | High quality scans, easy operation, good text recognition | 80-page automatic document feeder, fast, high quality scans | Great scan quality, small and portable, simple operation, good OCR |
Cons | Relatively slow, 10-page document feeder feels limiting | Expensive, Character recognition not perfect | Slower than other high end models | Expensive, text recognition not perfect, somewhat complicated installation | Slow |
Bottom Line | Can handle a lot of short documents quite well, but the lack of a paper tray and large document feeder makes it less suited for long documents | The best option for high volume scanning jobs that demand high quality | A solid, high end model that doesn’t cost quite as much as most other high end options | If you’re scanning all day, this model makes your life easier, but costs a pretty penny | Apart from speed it excels in every aspect at a relatively low price |
Rating Categories | Fujitsu ScanSnap... | Fujitsu ScanSnap... | Epson WorkForce... | Fujitsu Fi-7160... | Brother DS-640 |
Scanning Performance (35%) | |||||
Speed (30%) | |||||
Software (20%) | |||||
User Friendliness (15%) | |||||
Specs | Fujitsu ScanSnap... | Fujitsu ScanSnap... | Epson WorkForce... | Fujitsu Fi-7160... | Brother DS-640 |
Paper Sizes | A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, Business card, Post card, Letter, Legal and Custom size | Minimum 50.8 x 50.8 mm (2 x 2 in.) Maximum 216 x 360 mm (8.5 x 14.17 in.) | Max: 8.5" x 240" Min: 2" x 2" |
A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, Business Card, Post Card, Letter, Legal and Custom Size. | Max: 8.5" x 32" |
Weight (pounds) | 3.1 | 7.5 | 8.1 | 9.26 | 1.03 |
Resolution (dpi) | 600 x 600 | 600 x 600 | 600 x 600 | 600 x 600 | 600 x 600 |
Simplex/Duplex | Duplex | Duplex | Duplex | Duplex | Simplex |
Scanning Modes | Color, Grayscale, Black and White, Automatic Detection | Color, Grayscale, Black and White, Automatic Detection | Color, Grayscale, Black and White | Color, Grayscale, Black and White, Automatic Detection | 24-bit color, 8-bit (256 levels) gray scale, 1 bit monochrome |
Automatic Document Feeder | 10-page | 50-page | 50-page | 80-page | No |
PC Compatible | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Mac Compatible | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3rd party drivers | Yes |
Pages Per Minute | 13 | 26 | 14 | 21 | 4 |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i is a good all-around performer but its relatively small automatic document feeder feels like a big drawback for a scanner of this caliber.
Performance Comparison
After all of our testing was completed the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i ended up with a somewhat average overall score, as you can see in the table above. In the following sections we parcel out how it performed in all of the different tests we used to calculate those overall scores.
Scanning Performance
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i was top notch in our scan quality testing, sharing the top score of 8 out of 10 in this metric. Both printed and handwritten text came out looking nearly as good as the originals, and it even was able to reproduce full color documents with a high level of accuracy. Like many of the models we tested, it did create some smudges when scanning receipts, but those scans still came out perfectly legible. It also handled full color scans quite well, with just minor alteration in the shade of the original documents. Overall this performance was very similar to that of the Epson WorkForce ES-400.
Speed
Speed is one area where the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i was relatively lacking, earning a 5 out of 10 in this metric. It got through our 10-page double-sided test document in 45 seconds, leading to an average speed of 13 pages per minute. The Fujitsu also only has a 10-page document feeder, meaning for long documents you're going to have to reload the document feeder at least once a minute. For comparison the Epson WorkForce ES-400 is only slightly faster scanning at 14 pages per minute, but it has a 50-page document feeder, so scanning longer documents is more automated and requires fewer reloadings of the document feeder.
Software
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i comes with the ScanSnap software, which was one of our favorite software bundles. This earned the S1300i a score of 7 out of 10 in this metric. This software makes choosing settings, creating PDFs, and managing the resulting files very easy and intuitive. The only reason it didn't earn a top score was because of its optical character recognition. In our testing the software was able to accurately identify most words, but it did miss a few words here and there. It was accurate enough that you could definitely find a document on your computer by searching for a keyword contained within it, but it may not give you an accurate count of the number of keywords within a document. The Epson WorkForce ES-400 was just the opposite. Its software interface has a slight learning curve, but the optical character recognition is nearly flawless.
User Friendliness
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i earned an average 6 out of 10 in our user friendliness testing. It was easy to set up, we had it scanning within 15 minutes of opening the box, and its software is compatible with both Mac and PC. The interface is also simple and easy to use. We docked it a few points because it doesn't have a paper output tray. When trying to scan longer documents it was surprising how annoying it was to not have a tidy paper tray where all the scanned pages were deposited. For that reason we preferred the Epson WorkForce ES-400 when it came to ease of use.
Value
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i lists for $295, which feels like a fair price given its performance relative to other models. If you need a high end scanner to use for lots of shorter documents, its a fairly good value. However, if you scan lots of documents that are longer than 10 pages, it would be worth spending a bit more on the much larger document feeder of the Epson WorkForce ES-400.
Conclusion
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i is a good all-around scanner, but its small 10-page document feeder makes it a poor choice if you scan lots of longer documents.
— Max Mutter and Steven Tata