IRISPen Express

I purchased this pen to scan in hundreds of sets of contact information from a typed directory. We would have used a flat bed scanner and OCR to do the work if we wanted all the names on all the directory pages, but we only wanted select names from some of the pages and we didn't want to have to type them all in by hand.To be fair, the directory print was quite small and the lines were pretty close together so I was not certain that the IRIS would do the trick when I purchased. It would have been nice to know that the pen could not be calibrated to pickup type that was 7 point in size and line spacing. However, even when trying to use the IRIS on larger print with adequate spacing (10 point print) it became clear that without a very steady hand and consistent 'swipe speed' the pen could not recognize enough of the characters to make it worthwhile to use.I do not recommend this product... I ended up sending mine back because it was far less time consuming to just type the data instead of working with this device.

I have read the reviews here and elsewhere about this product before I bought it. But I was in the need of something for quick little jobs - more convenient than my flatbed scanner and faster than my typing - and gave it a try. No regrets at all.I do a lot of research with quoting of one or two paragraphs out of books or papers, mainly in German language. The IrisPen works very well for me in English, in French and in German (no problem with the umlauts etc.; I have not tried other languages).One thing is important: you have to calibrate the pen very carefully like any instrument that needs calibration. Calibrate it with a WHITE sheet of printer paper, not with a slightly off-white like a book page or similar.And you have to practice a bit how you hold it to get the hang of it. When scanning you should see the green light ALL the time, it should not flicker. It is named "pen" but you manoeuvre it different than a writing pen. If you keep that in mind you will be successful!My IrisPen sits just behind my keyboard, as easily to grab as my mouse and I love it as a big time saver.

As a scholar who deals with a lot of rare material, I thought this pen would be a god-send in helping me transcribe material to my computer. The manufacturer boasts near-100% accuracy. I give it 40% at best. Sometimes, if you have a white piece of paper, clear, 12-point text, you can get 80% accuracy, but this is a rare occurrence.I ended up spending more time "correcting" the text from the Iris Pen than I would have typing it out...so now my $70 "tool" sits unused on my desk.I can't wait for the day that an actual pen-scanner works, but today is not that day.

In spite of what Microsoft's Windows 7's hardware compatibility website says, this pen does NOT work with Windows 7. Software installed fine but when attempting to Calibrate you receive the Debug window "Bulk Read Size Error!", followed by "Calibration Failed". This gibberish has no identifiable meaning. Intensive efforts to resolve the error have failed. Without being able to calibrate the software, attempted scans with the pen return garbage text. Exact same "Bulk Read Size Error!" error received with the IRIS Executive 6 version. IRIS customer support simply does not exist. Stay away!=====================07/06/2010 update: after 3 weeks of working with IRIS CS via email i finally got the thing working. They served up a 64bit driver version but i ended up running it in compatibility mode (xp). It now works as designed. If you are running win7 64bit os, and are having problems, you can find the driver by going to irislink's website, then, Support>Download>Drivers. Scroll down to 'IRISPen Current Version', and then Download. The zipped .msi installer package will provide 32bit and 64 bit drivers. Note: When you get to irislink's website, do not click on Patches on the Support page as there is nothing there of benefit. If it had worked as advertised I would have initially given a rating higher than 1 star, I have updated my rating to 3 stars, given the hassle I experienced. end

This worked once and then stopped calibrating, so it no longer functions. Iris claims to have customer support, but there is none. I have been calling and emailing them once a week for three months. I got one reply a month ago promising to replace it. I never got it. Their web site has little to no useful help. Iris ranks as the worse company I have ever dealt with. Pity anyone who gets a faulty pen! What a waste of money! I hate feeling ripped off!

This little hand help scanner would have gotten me out of school three years earlier if it had been around when a student. Used by me for extracting references, terms, phrases, & brief quotations or for my own bootstrapped "Key Word" tag line for facilitating research. The data pours right into my FORMAT EASY for APA 6.0 report, paper, & dissertation write-up computer program scaffolding.Computational devises & there supplemental functions have transformed the tasks of being in school, be-it a student or instructor. Between voice recognition systems, devices like IRISPen, drop boxes, writer apps, spell-grammar check, & formatting programs, have taken much drudgery from modern scholarship.SPECIAL NOTEThis would be of unique value to students challenged by a learning deficits to augment memory & reduce study strain.

IRISPen Express  I had previously used pen scanners that had 95 to 98% accuracy, but with the disappearance of serial ports, those became useless.The IRISPen was expected to be a good replacement, but almost every single word had one or more errors in it. I can type faster than that, since I'd have to fix almost every word. I returned the scanner. BIG disappointment.

it doesn't pick up the data very quickly and is very sensitive to how the lighting is in the room/on my desk. It almost isn't functional in my office space (which has lots of shadows as it has dark wook walls/ceiling.