Conveniently scan a document with a device slightly bigger than that of a normal pen. In business, being on the go is commonplace. The problem of course with being on the go is the lack of resources.  When you are in a business involved with contracts, reading documents, or just meeting regularly with clients the DocuPen X05 is  good for you. Planon calls it “Office in a Pocket” and it better be with the current price sticker of $369.99 The sidekick to the DocuPen, which is not a requirement, is the Printstik PS905 ME. The Printstik comes with a 20 page roll of paper. Talk about portable, it’s only 11 inches long. The world’s smallest mobile printer goes for $299.99.

What you get

The DocuPen comes with the scanner, a case, the usb cable and the installation cd. The PrintStick package includes the printer, a case, the usb cable, an installation cd, and 4 power outlet adapters.

Design

The design is really nothing special. Four buttons and an LCD screen comprise the device. See the picture for details.

How these devices work

The DocuPen

It’s pretty simple. First set the pen to the mode you want it to be in (Printstik, black and white tif, gray jpg, color, or black and white png). Turn on the device and slowly glide it down the item you want to scan. As you scan the document, it will say on the LCD that it is scanning, so you know it’s working. During the scan, it’s really important to go at a relatively slow pace or else the DocuPen will explain that you are going to fast and it cannot read it.  It is also important to stay steady through the scan. This will give you the best outcome. When you are finished, the scan then saves to the pen.

The Printstik

Printing from the pen is extremely easy. After testing, the printing took approximately 90 seconds. Just power the Printstik on and after scanning something in Printstik mode, the DocuPen will ask if you want to print it. It connects via Bluetooth and boom, your printing. You can hook the Printstik up to your computer as well so you can print at any hotel from your laptop (as long as it’s a PC). The printing quality is not the best in the world, but you can’t expect more from an 11 inch device.

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What’s really great about the DocuPen is that it has Bluetooth connection. You can connect via Bluetooth to your computer, Printstik or Blackberry. Unfortuntely, I did not have a Blackberry to test this feature, but from what I understand, the DocuPen connects to the phone and the scan is loaded to your phone. This makes it perfect to quickly save the scan and/or email it. I hope they do this for all smart phones.

Problems

Mac: I began the review using a Mac. The box states that the software is Mac compatible, but I could not find any downloadable files.

Installation: I must say that this was a fairly complicated install. You have to install three different things just for the DocuPen: USB Driver, PaperPort, and DocuPen Applciation.

Recognizing Pen: Once I got everything installed, I was excited to see my scan, but it was not detecting the pen on the computer.

The sticker price: Planon definitely feels it is a luxury to have their products.

Conclusion

The DocuPen and Printstik are products that solve a problem. They do need to do something about the sticker price if they want to keep up with the competition. The iPhone is offering a few apps that do what the DocuPen does: DocScanner for $5.99, JotNot for $4.99 and Scanner Pro for $6.99.

Get your hands on a DocuPen X05 and Printstik PS905 ME.

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What does everyone think? Would you buy them? Is there a demand?