At a budget-friendly $120, the Epson Perfection V39 II delivers excellent photo scanning quality. PCMag reviewers praised the vibrant, accurate scans of both photos and text, with resolution topping out at 4800 dpi. Automatic multiple photo recognition works out of the box and setup is easy, which suits digitizing family photos and documents. The flatbed design makes long text documents slow going, which limits it for heavy text scanning. Casual users who want reliable photo digitization rather than high-volume document scanning are the right audience.
Full review
4800 dpi from a USB-powered flatbed
Optical resolution tops out at 4800 dpi, more than enough to digitize prints without visible grain and enough to get usable enlargements from small originals. PCMag found the scans of documents, receipts and photos consistently clean. The whole unit runs off the USB cable at 2.5 watts, so there is no power brick and no second outlet to find.
1.8 pages per minute, with no feeder
There is no automatic document feeder and the rated speed is 1.8 pages per minute, so every page is placed, closed, scanned and swapped by hand. For a stack of receipts once a month it is fine; for digitizing a filing cabinet it is the wrong machine, and a sheetfed scanner will finish in a fraction of the time.
The lid lifts off for books
The lid detaches completely, which lets a bound book or a sketchbook sit face-down on the glass without the hinge fighting it. The scanner is also small, 9.9 inches square and 1.5 inches thick, with a kickstand that stands it upright when it is not in use.
ScanSmart handles capture better than editing
Epson's ScanSmart software captures well, and its automatic detection of several photos on the glass, saved out as separate files, is the feature that saves the most time on a box of prints. PCMag calls the software robust, with newly streamlined tasks, though Apple Tech Talk hit an unexplained problem with the print function driven from the scan button.
The scan area stops short of the glass edge
Connection is USB-A to Micro USB, with drivers for Windows and Mac only; there is no wireless option and no mobile app.
Strengths
- +Easy setup and user-friendly operation with automatic multiple photo recognition
- +Relatively inexpensive at $120 MSRP
- +High resolution of 4800 dpi sufficient for detailed photo digitization
- +Good black and white text scanning with defined edges and contrast
Watch-outs
- −Very slow for long text document scanning due to flatbed design
How it compares
The Epson Perfection V39 II is a flatbed, where the other three scanners on this page are sheet-fed, and its 4800 dpi resolution compares with 600 dpi on the Epson FastFoto FF-680W and the Ricoh ScanSnap iX2500. It has no document feeder and scans 1.8 pages per minute, where the Ricoh's 100-page feeder runs duplex at 90 IPM. It costs far less than the Brother ADS-4900W.
Rating sources
Counts as 4.16/5 in our score — this publisher's 181 scores on the site average 4.00, so its scores are adjusted up to compare fairly with other publishers.
“I think its important to note that I have taken courses on archival preservation while pursuing my library science degree, so my perspective differs somewhat from a typical consumer.”
“The bottom line is that neither the Perfection V39 II Scanner, nor the Epson ScanSmart application had any major issue.”
Our 4.2 score is the average of the 1 scored review above, each adjusted for how strictly its publisher scores; 3 more reviewed it without printing a score and are not in the average. More about methodology.
