cooltools
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN AT A PROPERTY
where the homeowner has a survey identifying
an encroachment on their property but doesn’t
have a copy for you? Thankfully, there’s a solution to this dilemma: Just pull out your handy
PLANon DocuPen scanner and get a copy quickly
on the spot.
Pocket-sized scanners have been on the market for years, but most are limited to scanning
a few words at a time, making a full-page scan
difficult if not impossible to capture. With the
PLANon DocuPen scanner, though, an
appraiser can scan a letter- or legal-sized document in just a few seconds.
Until now, I found the scanner to be a bit
too pricey; however, PLANon recently reduced
the price of its R805 pocket-sized scanner from
$299 to $159. Its new DocuPen X Series, starting
at $370, offers advanced features, but the $159
R805 scanner does a great job with color, monochrome and black-and-white images.
ket for years, but most are limited to scanning sized document in just a few seconds.
at $370, offers advanced features, but the $159 Dual rollers on the bottom of the PLANon DocuPen scanner allow for an easy and smooth glide action as you run the scanner over a document.
Scan important documents on the go
with DocuPen 800 Series scanners
By R. Wayne Pugh, MAI
SPECIFICATIONS
The R805 offers Mac and PC versions, each
of which features a 24-bit color scanner with
resolutions from 100 to 400 dpi. Users can
select one of three color settings: black and
white, 12-bit color or 24-bit color. With each of
these settings, users can also choose whether
to scan at low or high resolution. Image storage
comes in the form of 8 MB worth of built-in flash
memory plus a removable micro SD card slot
for up to 2 GB of additional storage. Users will
find that additional memory will be necessary
when scanning high-resolution
images, but the low-resolution
settings will be satisfactory for
most appraisers’ needs.
categories of quality settings. The button on the
left selects the color mode, and the button on the
right selects the quality of the scan. Rollers above
and below the RC800’s scanning element make it
easy to sweep down the page smoothly from top to
bottom while keeping the scanner parallel with the
top edge of the page.
The scanner’s design and engineering lets
appraisers scan just about any type of document — from plot plans to surveys to photos
and much more — in just a few seconds.
To transfer the scanned images to your com-
puter, simply install the scanner’s
Twain driver and PaperPort
SE Version 9.0 software, then
connect the scanner to your
computer with the included
USB cable. PaperPort transfers
your scans and then clears
the scanner’s memory. As an
added bonus, the R805’s built-in
lithium-ion battery automatically
For more information about
PLANon’s 800 Series Docu-
Pens, visit www.planon.com/
products/docupen/800series.
To see a brief video describ-
ing the scanners’ features,
load www.youtube.com,
search for RC800 and play
the “DocuPen RC800 on
HG TV” video.
recharges when plugged into the USB port.
Appraisers and researchers in my firm have
used the PLANon scanner for the past five years
and would not be caught without it. It is as essential to our operation as a clipboard, tape or the
Disto measuring device.
Real estate appraisers work in a virtual world,
collecting data from a variety of sources. To that
end, the PLANon DocuPen R805 scanner can be
a real time-saver. Supported by both Mac and
Windows operating systems, the scanner is
ideal for the real estate appraiser who needs to
scan either color or black-and-white documents
on the go.
FEATURES AND
USABILITY
The operation of the scanner
is very simple, with just two
buttons for selecting the two
R. Wayne Pugh, MAI, is CEO of R. Wayne Pugh and Co.,
a real estate consulting and appraisal firm he founded
in 1975 in Baton Rouge, La. He also heads Software
for Real Estate Professionals Inc. and Real Estate Data
Services. An active member of the Appraisal Institute for
three decades, Pugh served last year as immediate past
president. For information on his Appraisal Institute
Cool Tools seminar, visit www.appraisalinstitute.org/
education/seminar_descrb/ Default.aspx?sem_nbr=OL-COOL&key_type=OOS.
