NeatDesk Scanner Review: Viewpoints Bloggers Say It's Not Perfect, But Worth Using

CHICAGO, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Members of the Viewpoints Blogger Reviews Panel, and Viewpoints (www.viewpoints.com) CEO Matt Moog recently tested the NeatDesk Desktop Scanner + Digital Filing System ($399.95). For the trial, Viewpoints bought seven scanners from the Neat Company. Viewpoints asked its partner bloggers to use the NeatDesk to organize their office and household paperwork, then write honest reviews to help consumers decide if it's worth the money.  After a month, most of our seven reviewers said they would continue to use the NeatDesk, despite technical drawbacks.

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About NeatDesk

Busy people crave products that will give them more control over information. The NeatDesk is designed to scan and store important digital and paper documents in one useful, organized place – on the desktop, on your smartphone or tablet and accessible in the Neat cloud ($14.99/month after a 30-day free trial). Every one of these writers was excited to see if the NeatDesk would bring calm to their office chaos.

The positives

• Size

It's small (10.8"W x 7.5"D x 7.3"H) compared to most printers. It's lightweight -- and looks nice too.

"Now it sits on a shelf within arms length of my desk at all times and gets a pretty steady work out! I have conveniently located the trash can directly underneath it and now after I scan it, I toss it! Ahhh....so liberating!" --Jill Nystul, One Good Thing by Jillee

• Set-up

A CD-ROM is provided for software installation – which initially was a problem for two of our reviewers using netbooks. After contacting Neat, they were directed back to the Neat site for a free download. The rest got the NeatDesk going right away.

"I was slightly freaked by the set-up process because this is usually my downfall of any tech product-- the first 5 minutes of ownership. But it was a simple step-by-step process that took about 20 minutes." --Lian Dolan, The Chaos Chronicles

• Speed 

NeatDesk is faster than a printer scanner.

"My favorite feature? The magic with which a scanned document or receipt converts into a crisp, readable PDF file simply by dragging it from the Table Pane in the Neat interface onto a computer's desktop." --Marci Rich, The Midlife Second Wife

The negatives

• Technical issues

Both PC and Mac users had trouble with error messages and computer freezes.

"I have had mixed success at downloading scanned documents in PDF. Smaller (six page) documents saved successfully once I selected 'Automatically remove blank pages' in the settings. However, large tax documents kept generating error messages when I tried to export them." --Kathy Zucker, Metro Moms Network

"Also the scanning isn't foolproof, so while it's really amazing how the software can actually populate fields from receipts, you do need to check to make sure everything is accurate." -- Mara Shapiro, momfaze

• Low-resolution images

Digital files are "very low quality."

"And I have no desire to store my scans in their proprietary management application. They should integrate with Dropbox and Evernote and others rather than try to push their own application." --Matt Moog, Viewpoints CEO

Summary

Viewpoints gives the NeatDesk 80 out of 100 points -- below the average scanner rating of 87/100.

Amy Bradley-Hole, Freaky Perfect, offers the bottom line on this good, but not perfect, product:

"While it does have some technical issues, it's worth using. It's become a part of my daily routine."

Viewpoints (http://www.viewpoints.com) features 475,000+ consumer reviews on 34,000+ everyday products for the home and garden, health, bath and beauty, baby and kids, plus money categories. Both reviews and ratings are available free of charge and without registration.

Contact: Carol Fowler 312-656-9727

SOURCE Viewpoints