Epson Workforce ES-500W II Wireless Color Duplex Desktop Document Scanner for PC and Mac, with Auto Document Feeder (ADF) and Scan from Smartphone or Tablet

I am so glad that a coworker recommended this scanner to me. I have used flatbed scanners for decades and love their ease of use. However, they take up room and are slow. Likewise, I have had multi-function printers that serve as a scanner as well. They work when they work, sometimes hit or miss because sheet feeding on consumer grade units isn't the best. This scanner remarkably provides the flexibility of a flatbed with the speed of a professional sheet feeding scanner - including two-sided at the same speed. It is extremely fast and can easily feed small items like photographs or business cards as easily as it can a 3 foot long banner. I had to laugh while at the doctor's office the other day. The receptionist scanned my health insurance card on this very same scanner. If it can hold up to constant use in a high volume clinic, it should do well in a home office. My only disappointment is that it doesn't like legal size or larger sheets scanned at high resolutions, particularly in color. In these cases it generates a memory overflow message. However, this is a relatively unusual use case. A typical letter sized sheet can be scanned under the same conditions with no problems. Do not spend the extra money for the model with a color display screen. It is an identical unit simply with the screen tacked on, which is rarely used and not worth the extra $75 to $100. You will notice that those using this scanner for commercial applications have typically reached the same conclusion and go with this less expensive unit. Highly recommended.4/2025 UPDATEAfter uninstalling the drivers and software available in early 2024, cleansing all EPSON files and registry entries, and installing the 2025 Epson updated drivers, the memory overflow problem noted above appears to have gone away. I have upgraded the review to a 5 star rating. Note, though, that if you install the scanner via a WIFI connection, it does not appear possible to switch to a USB link. It keeps hunting for the WIFI connection and won't recognize the USB wired connection. I presume that you could totally uninstall and reinstall the package again, omitting the WIFI option,but that is a real hassle considering the uninstalling, deletion of EPSON file folders and purge of EPSON registry entities necessary for a totally clean reinstall.

I generally do not do reviews unless something is really bad or something is really good. This scanner is one of the really good ones. It takes a bit of time to install the software, but the process is seamless. The scanner does scan at 35 pages per minute as advertised and it doesn't seem to make any difference if you are scanning single sided or double sided, at least I didn't notice any. I have been scanning at 600 dpi so I don's know if it slows it down any at aa higher setting. The documentation and advertisement says it has a 50 page document feeder but you can easily get 60 or more 20 pound bond pages in the feeder. One of my concerns was that almost all of my files were over 50 pages and I was concerned that I would end up with a volume one, volume two, etc. That worry was quickly banished. You can put in your first 50 or 60 pages in the document feeder and scan them. Take them out of the tray and put in another 50 or 60 pages and press scan again and they get added to your pdf file. You can just keep doing this and end up with a 150 or 200 page or larger pdf if you want or need. I had been trying to scan my files using my Brother All-in- One and, although it did scan at about the same speed, when it encountered a staple that I missed which would result in a jam it was a disaster trying to get the page out without tearing it to pieces. (I have a new rule - absolutely no staples in any of my files as they are a time consuming pain to remove and I invariably miss one or two) With this scanner when I miss a staple it does generally jam, but clearing the jam is quick and simple. Just remove the non jammed documents, open the cover and lift out the page that is jammed.remove the staple or the post it note that you put on that page, as it also won't scan a page with a post it note attached, reinsert your pages in the document feeder and press enter on your keyboard and it is off and running again. There is no tearing of the jammed page as I sometimes experienced with the Brother All in One and clearing the jam is a snap.One of the features I love is that the software will automatically rotate the scanned page 180 degrees. I prefer to feed my documents from the bottom of the page as it is generally not as ratty as the top of the pages where staples were placed or corners got crumpled, so rather than feeding it top first into the document feeder, I place it in bottom first and when it gets scanned it automatically rotates the image so the top is on top, something I wasn't able to get the software I used with my Brother All in One to do..The software lets you name the file and direct it where you want to send the PDF file (I send mine to the hard disk for storage). Once you designate a destination for the file the program remembers where you sent it and will send the next document to the same directory by default or you can direct it to another directory. I have seen a few complaints on the reviews about the software and that concerned me in deciding to purchase the scanner, but i found the software easy to use and intuitive.I have scanned about 15,000 pages so far and the scanner has worked pretty much flawlessly (I have not seen a single double feed). The only issue I ever have (besides the stupid staples that I miss) is that on a few occasions the scanner lost connectivity with my wireless router and that sometimes takes a few minutes to re-establish.This is, over all, a great scanner and is highly recommended.LATER. So four years and about 50,000 letter size scans later and this is still working like it was brand new. Awesome scanner