Brother ADS1200 Scanner: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

The Brother ADS-1200 is a compact desktop document scanner designed for small office and home office use. This scanner aims to provide an affordable scanning solution for converting paper documents like receipts, bills, invoices, contracts, photographs, and more into digital files to organize and store on your computer.

The ADS-1200 features a fast 20 page per minute (ppm) scan speed and a 50 page automatic document feeder (ADF) to quickly digitize stacks of documents with minimal user interaction. It can scan double sided pages in a single pass, reducing time spent manually feeding pages. The scanner can output scanned pages as PDF, JPG, searchable PDF, Microsoft Office file formats and more.

An integrated card slot allows you to scan plastic ID cards, driver's licenses, and insurance cards up to 1.4mm thick. For thicker items like books and magazines, the scanner lid can open to accomodate items up to 1 inch thick.

Overall, the Brother ADS-1200 aims to provide fast, high quality scanning in a compact form factor designed for home and small offices. Its blending of speed, convenience and affordability make it an appealing option for those seeking an easy way to go paperless.

Design

The Brother ADS-1200 is a compact desktop scanner designed for home and small office use. It measures 11.7 x 3.7 x 3.5 inches (WxDxH) and weighs just 5.5 pounds, making it easy to set up in limited workspace environments.

The scanner body has a black plastic exterior with a minimalist and professional aesthetic. The input and output trays are made of durable transparent plastic that allows you to view documents as they are scanned.

The ADS-1200 is available in two color options - white or black. Both models feature the same compact footprint, with the main difference being the color of the exterior plastic casing. This allows it to blend in seamlessly with white or black desktop accessories and decor.

Overall, the scanner has a reliable build quality and smaller size compared to most desktop document scanners. The sleek and professional design with color options makes it easy to incorporate the ADS-1200 into any home or office setting.

Scanning Technology

The Brother ADS-1200 offers high quality scanning with its Contact Image Sensor (CIS) technology. This optical scanning method provides resolution up to 600 x 600 dpi for crisp and clear scans.

For speed, the ADS-1200 can scan documents at up to 25 pages per minute in black and white or color. This allows you to digitize multi-page documents rapidly. The scanner can auto-detect whether a page is color or black and white for efficiency.

The ADS-1200 also includes a 20-page capacity auto document feeder for unattended batch scanning. This helps streamline digitizing stacks of pages.

Overall, the scanning technology in the ADS-1200 provides a nice balance of image quality and speed to meet the needs of most home office and small business users. The optical resolution and page per minute ratings make it suitable for everyday document scanning tasks.

Connectivity

The Brother ADS-1200 offers versatile connection options for both wired and wireless use. You can connect it directly to your computer via the included USB 2.0 cable for simple plug-and-play operation.

For wireless connectivity, the ADS-1200 is Wi-Fi enabled and supports both infrastructure and Wi-Fi Direct modes. Connect it to your existing Wi-Fi network to scan and share documents across multiple devices. Or take advantage of Wi-Fi Direct to establish a peer-to-peer wireless connection between the scanner and your computer or mobile device without needing a wireless router.

The ADS-1200 also supports wireless networking over Bluetooth. Pair it with your Bluetooth-enabled PC or mobile device for cable-free scanning on the go. The scanner is designed for mobility with its compact size and rechargeable battery that allows cordless operation when desired.

With its wired, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth capabilities, the ADS-1200 provides flexible connectivity options to meet your specific needs. Whether at your desk or elsewhere, you can easily scan and digitize documents wirelessly or while connected via USB.

Document Feeding

The Brother ADS-1200 offers versatile document feeding capabilities. It has an automatic document feeder (ADF) that can hold up to 20 pages at a time. This allows for quick scanning of multi-page documents without having to place each page individually on the scanner bed.

The ADF can handle a wide range of paper weights and sizes. It can scan documents that are between 3.2 - 8.5 inches wide and 5.8 - 14 inches long. Paper weight from 16 - 28 lbs can be loaded into the ADF. Having the ability to scan a variety of paper types gives you flexibility when digitizing documents.

Overall, the ADF capacity and paper weight handling allows you to quickly digitize stacks of various sized documents from business cards up to legal sized pages. You won't have to pause scanning as often to reload pages into the ADF.

Image Enhancement

The ADS-1200 offers several image enhancement features to improve scanned documents.

Interpolation - The scanner can interpolate or upscale scans to higher resolutions. This helps make low resolution scans appear sharper and clearer. The scanner supports interpolating scans up to 1200 dpi optical resolution.

Color Dropout/Enhancement - The color dropout setting allows you to drop out a specific color channel like red, green or blue. This can help reduce file size or simplify documents. The color enhancement settings allow you to increase the vividness of colors or convert color scans to black and white while preserving the clarity. This helps make text more readable in scans.

Overall, the image enhancement capabilities allow you to adjust scans to optimize image quality and legibility. Features like interpolation and color manipulation give you more control over the look of final scanned documents.

File Formats

The Brother ADS-1200 can save scanned documents in a variety of common file formats. This allows you to share and work with the scans on multiple devices and platforms.

Supported file formats include:

• JPEG - For photos and graphics. Uses compression which slightly reduces image quality.
• TIFF - High quality lossless image format good for archiving scans. Tends to produce very large file sizes.
• PNG - Another common lossless image format that preserves quality.
• PDF - The most widely used format for documents with text. Compression can be adjusted for file size vs quality.
• PDF/A - A version of PDF designed for archiving and long term storage.
• Microsoft Office file formats like Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
• Searchable PDF - Recognizes text content allowing you to search scanned PDFs.
• Compressed PDF - Uses compression techniques like JPEG2000 to reduce file size with minimal quality loss.

This wide range of supported formats makes it easy to integrate scans into your existing workflows. You can save scans directly in the format needed by the application where you will use them.

Bundled Software

The Brother ADS-1200 comes bundled with useful software for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

For Windows, it includes Nuance PaperPort SE 14. This allows you to organize, edit and share scanned documents. It has OCR capabilities to turn scans into searchable and editable documents. There are also tools for annotating PDFs and collaboration features.

Also included for Windows is Nuance OmniPage SE 18. This is an optical character recognition (OCR) software that can turn scans into various file formats like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more. It has advanced features like batch OCR and the ability to scan documents in over 120 languages.

For Mac users, the scanner comes with Brother's own scanning software called Brother iPrint&Scan. This lets you scan directly to your Mac, perform OCR, and edit images if needed. It can scan to JPG, PDF, searchable PDF, Microsoft Office file formats and more.

Overall, the ADS-1200 tries to cover all bases by bundling useful scanning and OCR software for both major operating systems. This adds value for the user without needing to purchase additional software.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Compact and lightweight design makes it highly portable
• Fast duplex scanning up to 25 pages per minute
• Can scan directly to searchable PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more
• Includes built-in OCR for converting scans into editable documents
• USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface offers fast transfer speeds
• Handles a variety of media types beyond standard paper
• Bundled software provides document management and organization tools
• Easy connectivity to computers and mobile devices
• Automatic document feeder holds up to 20 pages

Cons

• Lack of an automatic document feeder for bulk scanning
• No built-in battery for cordless scanning
• Software could be more intuitive and easier to use
• Scanning bed is letter-size only, can't scan legal documents
• No adaptable resolution settings beyond default 600 dpi
• No HDMI or wireless connectivity options
• May struggle with scanning thicker documents or books

Conclusion

The Brother ADS-1200 is a compact and fast desktop scanner well-suited for small businesses and home office use. It can scan documents at up to 25 pages per minute at resolutions up to 600 dpi. The 50-page automatic document feeder allows quick scanning of multi-page documents.

The ADS-1200 produces high quality scans, with built-in image enhancement features like deskew and color dropout. Connectivity options like wireless networking provide flexibility. The scanner comes bundled with Nuance PaperPort SE 14 and Brother Control Center scanning software.

Overall, the ADS-1200 provides strong performance and features for the price point. It's a good option for those needing a fast desktop scanner for document management and archiving without advanced features like duplex scanning.

Comparable alternatives to consider are the Canon imageFORMULA R40 and Epson WorkForce ES-50. The Canon model offers similar speeds and ADF capacity with the addition of duplex scanning, while the Epson is more compact and lower cost but has a slower scan speed. For most small office needs, the Brother ADS-1200 represents a solid mid-range choice.