We are quite a bit late on this review since the Canon imageFORMULA R40 Office Document Scanner has been on the market for a few years now. However, we recently got our hands on one and wanted to share our collected thoughts on what we felt about it. So this will make for a short and simple review this time.
We have been making use of this model for several days now trying to get a feel for what we thought about it. Multiple users had made use of it to see how our collected thoughts aligned, and so far, the verdict is quite unanimous.
This is a decent scanner that can scan its way through a large stack of papers while scanning both sides at the same time. It is capable of doing so quickly with exceptional (document) quality and you can always dial the quality up if needed. In doing so, it is capable of going as high as 600 dpi.
Of course, with a max of 600 dpi, it shouldn’t be used as a photo scanner since that isn’t what it is for. It can do it, but you won’t get the same quality as a proper photo-quality scanner that can scan much higher (the flatbed scanner we have on-site can go as high as 4800 dpi, for example). But for general office documents, 600 dpi is fantastic and it doesn’t slow it down much when this setting is in play.
Its speed is around a page (both sides at the same time) every two seconds or so at 200 dpi. This is a good default for most documents unless you really want to capture every tiny discrepancy on a sheet of paper down to random ink noise on the sheet. At most, you may find yourself using 300 dpi or higher for black and white as it doesn’t handle images or large sections of color as well as scanning in color does. But that is, to us, pretty trivial.
The (CaptureOnTouch) software is also very good to make use of and it is needed in order for the scanner to function. So, hopefully, Canon doesn’t drop support anytime soon. And if they do, hopefully, Windows will continue supporting whatever version they end with for a long time to come.
The settings in the app are plentiful and quite easy to make your way through in customizing the various profiles within the app. Each profile is a group of settings you want for a specific job, like color, single/dual-sided, auto, and many others. You can then assign a Job number to each of these settings to align with the Job number selected on the front of the scanner (might as well just call it setting or profile number, but Canon chose to go with calling it Job.
You drop the paper into the input tray and choose the profile you want either from the front of the scanner or by clicking on it within the app if you already have the app open on your screen. If you start a scan from the scanner, it should automatically open the app on your connected computer if it running in the system tray and the job number settings are set to auto-open the app. There is an exception here worth noting, but we will mention that in a moment about things we don’t like.
We find that this scanner doesn’t jam as often compared to others we have used in the past. In fact, we have only found it to jam due to two reasons. One is when you accident send through more than one page (like a two page document that is actually one large page folded in half. The two pages will slide against each other causing a jam (nothing to worry about though as it is easy to pop/flip the cover down and remove the paper. The other cause to a jam is something we are about to mention within the things we don’t like.
So, The Things We Don’t Like
Output Tray: One thing we take as an issue is the fact that the output tray is a terrible design on this scanner. The papers exit in a messy fashion, pushing each other around, and sometimes even blocking paper from coming out. And that is just after 10+ pages or so usually until this may start to happen.
Canon may benefit from adding a small drop before the papers land in the tray to make sure each paper fully clears the scanner and into the tray evenly. Or maybe a tray that has more of a down angle. Regardless, it is a terrible design that needs attention. So this was the culprit to one of the jams we had experienced.
To circumvent this issue, we slid the output tray back into the bottom of the scanner and aimed the scanner at the shred bin where documents go to be shredded later on. They fall right out and into the bin like a wastebasket–done. Clearly, though, this isn’t a solution for the majority of users. It worked out for us but the average person is still going to hate that output tray.
Job Select Button: Another issue we found was that the job select button on the front of the scanner. You switch between “job” (profiles) by hitting it and then you hit “Start”. However, the settings you adjust within the CaptureOnTouch software to the profile you create there don’t ever seem to be assign to the scanner itself. So if you set Job 2 to be B/W and single-sided and then select Job 2 on the front of the scanner and hit Start, you get auto (color) and double-sided.
So it doesn’t seem to be saving anything to the job select button. So you have to kick the scan off using the software instead of the buttons if you want to have full control over the settings of your scan.
We thought this would easily be something that could be fixed with an update to the CaptureOnTouch software. But if this was true, Canon should have caught this and fixed it by now. So it may be an issue with the scanner itself. Possibly fixable by a firmware upgrade but we haven’t found any to update to, so possibly not.
Lack of Wireless Support: This is a wired-only scanner. So you won’t find any Wi-Fi support. This came at a surprise at this price point and the fact that it is relatively modern at only a few years old. We have printers that are 10 years or older that offer Wi-Fi support. Some of which cost less than the original MSRP of this scanner (and they all offer the ability to scan). Most scanners in the market now offer Wi-Fi support. So I wonder what the company’s strategies were when leaving this feature out.
Our Conclusion
Outside of those three flaws, this scanner comes highly recommended by us. It is clear that Canon had a lot to work on (or learn from) with the release of this model. But despite this, the scanner still has a lot going for it.
Again, it is fast, efficient, filled with settings, and supports duplex scanning in a single scan of each sheet. The software is mostly friendly as long as you have some tech savviness in you. If you hate technology and just want everything to work for you out of the box, this won’t happen. You have to manually download the software as Canon doesn’t include it in the box. But it doesn’t take much to find it on Canon’s website and they do point you in the right direction when setting it up.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that our score is based on the current price (at the time of writing this) of $289.00 and not its original MSRP ($329.00).
Downloads:
Canon CaptureOnTouch Software – Download
(Select your OS version and look for “R40 Software Installer for Windows”)
Specifications:
- Model Name: Canon imageFORMULA R40 Office Document Scanner
- Type: Office Scanner
- Document Feeding: Automatic or Manual
- Document Size: Width: 2” – 8.5”, Length: 2.1” – 14”
- Long Document Mode: Up to 118”
- Document Weight: 7 – 56 lb. Bond
- Feeder Capacity: Up to 60 Sheets
- Grayscale: 8-bit
- Color: 24-bit
- Light Source: RGB LED
- Scanning Element: One-line contact image sensor (CIS)
- Scanning Modes: Color, Grayscale, Black & White
- Optical Resolution: 600 dpi
- Output Resolution: 150/200/300/400/600 dpi
- Scanning Speeds
- B&W, Grayscale: Up to 40 ppm (Simplex), Up to 80 ipm (Duplex)
- Color: Up to 30 ppm (Simplex), Up to 60 ipm (Duplex)
- Interface: USB 2.0
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 9.6″ X 11.4″ X 9.9″ (trays closed)
- Weight: 6.17 lb.
- Power Consumption: 22W or less (Energy Saving Mode: 1.4W)
- Suggested Daily Volume: Up to 4,000 scans
- Bundled Software: Windows & Mac: TWAIN Driver, Canon CaptureOnTouch, Windows only: Readiris PDF Software, Cardiris business card software
- Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7 SP1 or later (32bit/64bit), Windows 8.1 (32bit/64bit), Windows 10 (32/64-bit), MacOS 10.12, MacOS 10.13, MacOS 10.14, MacOS 10.15
- Other Features: Auto Color Detection, Auto Page Size Detection, Auto Resolution Setting, Background Smoothing, Batch Separation, Character Emphasis, Color Dropout/Enhance Color, Deskew, Double-Feed Detection, Edge Emphasis, Folio Scan, Image Rotation, Moiré Reduction, MultiStream, Pre-Scan, Prevent Bleed-Through/Remove Background, Skip Blank Page, Text Enhancement, Text Orientation Recognition, Three-Dimensional Color Correction, Ultrasonic Double-Feed Detection, User Preferences
Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
