PSS Review: Bell and Howell Spectrum Series XF 8090 DCI

The workhorse scanner that can really take a beating.

Your production scanner has arrived and it is the Bell and Howell XF Spectrum series scanner.  There goes the suspense, I love this scanner.  It does everything well and most things exceptionally well.

Scanner Overview

The scanner comes with everything you need to get started.  A printed manual, VRS Software and License, Adrenaline 650 interface board, SCSI 3 cable, Camera Calibration kit and Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) are all standard equipment. 

The Specturm XF utilizes tri-linear CCD cameras to digitize both sides of a document on a single pass.  The scanner is capable of capturing an image in color, greyscale or bi-tonal (Black and White.)  There are greyscale and bi-tonal only variations of this scanner available as well.  Scan sizes are from 2.6" x 2.6" up to 11.7" x 40" at resolutions up to 400 dpi.  The feeder capacity is 500 sheets.  The scanner employs VirtualReScan (VRS) technology as well as ultrasonic multi feed detection. 

According to Bell and Howell the scanner was designed to handle 60,000 documents a day.  If you can scan that much paper through this machine please email me the proof and I'll buy you big smiley faced cookie.  If all the planets were aligned and you were scanning brand new reams of blank paper, maybe it would be possible. 

Bell and Howell also claims the consumables on the scanner last up to 600,000 scans of 20# bond paper and the lamps last up 5000 hours.  We have found both statements to be true.  Consumables Kits are not cheap although Bell and Howell claim they are.  It would be nice if a few extra sets of skimmer, separator rollers and glass flats came with the $20,000 plus machine.  Skimmer Rollers cost about $150 bucks apiece and you will need two to make up the whole assembly.  Glass flats are a reasonable 10-20 dollars while bulbs are over $50 bucks a piece and the scanner needs 4 bulbs for duplex scanning.

The scanner can scan both standard forms as well as loose white paper such as loan applications.  This scanner excels at scanning color forms and paper of varying size and thickness.       

1. Construction

To say this scanner is built like a tank is an understatement.  Opening up the scanner transport reveals a stainless steel paper path with many amber sensors to detect paper jams.  Everything about this transport exudes solid, reliable operation.  Controls on the scanner are easy to use and include a lock out function to ensure only authorized personal have access.  The scanner itself weighs a 100+ pounds so don't plan on moving this machine by yourself.  Extra word of caution, never hold the paper feeder while moving the scanner, you will damage the scanner.

This is scanner has a fairly large footprint with dimensions of 18h x 22.75W x 27.5D.  A specially designed table is available for all Spectrum and older 8000 Copiscan series scanners.  If you need to move the scanner offen the table/stand is a good idea.

2. Image Quality

The industry standard for document scanning is 200 DPI in black and white.  Scanning at 200 dpi in b/w in landscape mode will allow you scan near the scanners rated speed.  Allowing the scanner to Auto Rotate images will also slow the scanner down a bit.  The scanner produces beautiful crisp images in bitonal, greyscale and color.  Color scanning works best in simplex mode. 

When scanning in color any dust between the CCD and the paper will degrade an image.  The top camera scans the paper without any glass in front the paper while the back camera shoots the image through the glass flat.  Dust falls which usually leaves the top camera always shooting the clearer image of the two cameras.  When scanning in duplex color clean the glass flat often.  One drawback to this scanner is the second non-removable glass in front of the rear camera.  Periodically dust gets behind the first glass flat and rests on the one that is hard to get to.  Compressed air usually removes the dust but not always. 

Color dropout is one of the greatest improvements made on this line of scanner.  Dropout filters are not required to drop out red, green or blue backgrounds as was the case with older 8000 series scanners.  Just pick the color you want to dropout in the VRS setting and that's it.

3. Speed

There is always a trade off between speed and image quality, the spectrum series scanner allows you to make the perfect compromise.  Using the VRS software you can pick between image quality and speed.  The Multi feed parameters can be set to ignore things like taped receipts on the back of paper which increases real world speed.  As long as the scanner is moving paper through the transport it's getting the job done.  When it stops for false multi feeds time is being wasted. 

There are many different models of the Spectrum scanners including the 8090, 8120, and 8140.  All three variations can be had as either color and bitonal machines or just as bitonal.  Only the 8090 is available as a simplex scanner.  Bell and Howell claims the 8090 will scan 90 letter sized images per minute in landscape mode and 75 in portrait at 200 dpi in either bitonal or greyscale mode.  In color those numbers fall slightly to 75/75.  

Our observed numbers for the 8090 are as follows:

At 200 DPI black and white, in landscape mode the 8090 scanned a respectable 77 per minute in simplex mode and 150 images per minute in duplex mode.  At 200 DPI color, in landscape in simplex mode the 8090 scanned 65 images per mimute.  Duplex mode pushed out a mere 75 images per minute.  For our testing purposes we used VRS auto rotation, auto cropping and black border removal.  Images were scanned with medium quality settings.

4. Ease of use

Once the scanner is setup it is extremely simple to use.  Controls are in plain site and are logical.  The LCD screen is at eye level when the scanner sits on a standard height table.  The scanner can be programmed to alert the operator when its time to clean and/or maintain the scanner.  Whenever the scanner multi feeds it alerts the operator and allows the operator to fix the problem without looking at the computer.  The VRS software combined with the spectrum really makes for pleasant and easy scanning experience. 

VRS Hardware allows you to auto detect color or bitonal images.  I found this to be nice feature on paper but it does not work well in practice.  With the scanner's built in Hardware VRS auto rotation scanning speeds decrease but overall efficiency increases because no one has to rotate the images during QC.  The Manual is well printed and clearly shows the operator how to clean and maintain the scanner with ease.

5. Durability

Our test Spectrum scanner has over 3 million scans on it in just over a year, it has never needed anything more than consumables and cleanings.  This is a work horse scanner and it comes with a 12 month on-site warranty.  I just can't imaging a more resilient scanner.  We have run staples, rubber bands, paper clips, and lots of other stuff through the 8000 Series and the Spectrum Series scanners and they just keep going and going.

6. Price

It ain't cheap, but it's one of the most productive scanners you will ever use.  If you have a lot of paper to scan, in the long run, this machine will save you money.  You know the old saying, "it costs money because it saves money."  If need to scan 4,000 or more pages each day, you need to consider this machine.  It will cost you anywhere from $18,000 to $45,000 depending on exactly which module you get.