My grandparents have a lot of papers. Between their personal documents and reams of files from owning a small business, trying to pare down enormous stacks of paper has been no easy task. Over the weekend, I boarded NJ Transit with an ADS-3300W Scanner tucked under my arm to see if this bad boy could make a dent in their filing drawers.
I first noticed how incredibly lightweight this scanner is, which made transporting it from my fourth-floor walkup to the Jersey ’burbs a piece of cake. The whole package weighs around 8.5 lb, while the scanner itself is only about 6.3 lb, meaning that it would be unobtrusive and easy for either of my elderly grandparents to move on their own. As they accumulate additional documents, invoices, and receipts, I felt especially good knowing they could continue to organize at their desired pace with ease.
On to the setup, which, at the risk of sounding overly enthusiastic, was a delight. The scanner was ready to go, right out of the box, and included an AC adapter for charging. While the piece itself looks professional and will fit nicely into a formal office space, it is also compact enough to be tucked away anywhere. It features built-in Wi-Fi, USB-B and USB-A ports, and Ethernet connectivity options for receiving scans. My grandparents and I decided to forgo the flashier Wi-Fi direct connection in favor of the included USB interface cable—a straightforward process that they could easily repeat for solo scanning.
The scanner is equipped with a completely adjustable document loader at the mouth that can hold up to 60 pages at a time, while an extended tray at the foot catches and holds the documents after they are processed. The scanner can support documents between 2 x 2" (5.1 x 5.1 cm) and 8.5 x 14" (21.6 x 35.6 cm). We started small—around 15 pages that zipped through the machine body in less than 30 seconds. Impressed, we upped the ante to 45 pages, and then the touted 60, with no strain at all. The automatic detection software and document feeder worked in tandem to make the entire job especially seamless—a touch-and-go process for every 60-page batch. With the continuous scanning mode enabled, the scanner churned through our organized piles faster than we could assemble them.
The scans themselves turned out extremely clear and with perfect uniformity. This machine boasts an optical scan resolution of up to 600 x 600 dpi and supports a variety of enhancements including a holepunch feature, background color, and bleed-through removal to curtail or eliminate the review process. These presets are a massive time-saver when handling large volumes of paperwork or other media including photographs, receipts, and business cards.
On a whim, we slipped a family photograph into a carrier sleeve and rolled it through the scanner. The digitized version had rich color and sharp, defined quality just like the original. This ability is especially valuable for my grandparents, who often send me photos of old pictures with the telltale overhead light glare and their phone silhouette lurking in the glossy finish. Smartphone users can download the Brother Mobile Connect app to scan photographs (or other documents) directly to their mobile device and share with others.
Overall, this scanner is a small but mighty workhorse. Quiet, sleek, and fast, it plays nicely with equipment outside of the Brother ecosystem to save you the headache of finagling what you already have. Being tech-savvy is not required to use it, and I was very impressed with how quickly it was ready to go, right out of the box. Most importantly, it yields crystal-clear and legible scans without weird artifacts or splotches. If you have a large digitizing project coming up, don’t doubt this little guy—it is more than up to the task.
Have you gone paper free? Do you have any tips for digitizing your documents? We would love to hear from you in the Comments section, below.
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