Product Review: Visioneer Paperport 6100 Scanner

The Visioneer Paperport 6100 is a flatbed color scanner designed to work with Windows computers. Despite providing good-quality scans and having a number of useful features, this scanner can often be purchased used for under twenty dollars.

Although it is fairly large (19" long, 11" wide, 4" thick), the Paperport 6100 is rather lightweight. The scanning surface is 11" long and 8.5" wide, allowing for fairly large pieces of paper or multiple/large photographs. The scanner is almost entirely beige in color. 

The Paperport 6100 uses a parallel cable to connect to a computer, so it has the same type of port as a printer. A useful feature included on the Paperport is that it has a printer port on the back of the scanner, so a printer can be plugged into the scanner. Because of this, if your computer only has one parallel port, you can still have the printer and scanner attached to it at the same time. Unlike with some newer scanners, your computer doesn't need to have a USB port.

This scanner runs off of an AC adapter which does not require a three-prong outlet. Like the Paperport 6100, the adapter (model YS-1015-U12) is somewhat large but very lightweight. The scanner doesn't have a power switch, instead it decides when to turn the internal light on and off. A small light on the exterior doesn't seem to turn off at any time. A large blue button, which could be mistaken for a power button, activates the Paperport software if your computer is on.

Visioneer included a fairly detailed instruction manual, Paperport software/driver CD-ROM, and a quick reference sheet with this scanner. The manual is also for the Visioneer Paperport 3100 and 6000. If possible, try to avoid buying a used scanner which doesn't at least include the CD-ROM.