3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing performance and capability -- a Linux user's review

2026-02-25    -Robert J. Newell

I had high expectations for this device, which is very definitely not inexpensive. I expected high resolution, good scans, and good portability and utility. What I got was good portability, some utility, and not much else.This review will be written from the standpoint of a Linux user. I realize that is not mainstream but should still be of interest to many.First: the device worked out of the box, in the sense that I plugged it into a USB port (on an Archi Linux system) and it was recognized instantly as a camera. I tried Cheese, Zoom, etc., and there was no problem detecting the device.However the resolution was nothing great, and it took a lot of positioning to get an image that was right side up and appeared properly in the frame. The three-step LED on the device is somewhat helpful, and there is a second button that will do a vertical flip, which is very useful.The built-in microphone works as expected.Fine, so you can use this as an average camera; the built in camera on my laptop, however, was just as good and easier to use.But in a portable applicaiton, you really want the scanner function, right? After all they say this is a document scanner.Well, it's not. It's a camera with an arm and you can place a document under it. All of the scanning is done in software. Okay, not a real issue so far. I started up Xsane and it wouldn't recognize the device. This is a common problem with a camera that isn't a real scanner. Simple Scan did recognize it and I was able to capture images.However despite the autofocus I had trouble getting a sharp or detailed, uniform image. And here's another problem. Nowhere in the advertising do they say this is intended for A5 paper. Not A4 or letter paper, but the much smaller A5. I found even A5 was too large and the only thing that would image halfway well was a small sheet from a little notepad, more like A6 size.Shouldn't the sheet size have been provided on the product page? This smells of deception to me.Now, the software. It's over 150 MB zipped and much larger when installed. It would not run under Wine (not a big surprise, and I didn't try a virtual machine). So I can't say anything about the software. But there is enough usable Linux software so it's not a worry.I was really disappointed, and I don't blame this on Linux. The small imaging capability, the fact that it isn't really a document scanner, the surprisingly poor resolution, combined with the price, make this a poor choice.If you want to scan portably, spend about 10% of the money on a decent app for your phone. I found that to be greatly superior to this device. Three stars, and it would have been less but I'm allowing for the fact that it's not a Linux device.

2.0 out of 5 stars Good product, but stopped working after 1 month

2026-01-01    -Rachel

I liked the camera quality and portability, but it stopped working very quickly after I purchased it, and the return window was very small.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great job as a document camera and decent as a conference camera

2026-02-17    -Harold McFarland

The first thing to note is that it is heavy enough to support the camera in a stable manner no matter how far it is extended from the base. The articulating arms and rotatable camera allow you to put it into any position that you need to get a clear picture. The built-in light has four intensity levels and the camera auto-focus works well.I wanted to test how accurate the lens is for the documents and so printed some graph paper. The view was perfect with no aberrations at full extension but when taken down much closer to the paper (about 4 inches) there were signs that it had some issues as the lines were no longer true along one side. You can see what I am talking about in the picture. This only occurred as you brought the camera closer and closer to the document. This is actually expected and I found that I could make some adjustments by slightly tilting the camera to make them appear straighter.It came with a nice bag to carry it in and the whole thing collapses very nicely into a very compact unit. This part was well designed.I tried it with the camera software that came with my computer and it did a good job. I downloaded the firmware update and the available software to try that and it went very well. When updating the firmware make sure you do not have a camera application open and using the camera and that you run the update as administrator to make sure it all goes smoothly.The camera software had very little documentation but I was able to play with it and figure it out. It has the ability to use two cameras at the same time. You can have the document camera on one side and your webcam on the other side of the screen which is great for teaching or lecturing in an online conference. It does not make it obvious how to turn on the second camera so I will explain it here. Click the Split Screen icon at the top and you will see two screens side by side. One has the document scanner and the other is blank with the cryptic instruction to turn on the other camera but no instructions on how to. Click in the blank camera area and a hamburger menu will show up in the top left of that area. Click it and choose "devices" and you can select the other camera for that view.One other confusing item with the software is the rotate function. Every piece of software I have ever used rotates based on the current view. So if you rotate 90 degrees then it turns a quarter turn. If you press 90 degrees again then it rotates another 90 degrees so that it is upside down from the original view. This software does not work that way. Every rotation is relative to the original position. So if you rotate 90 degrees it does as you expect, but if you select 90 degrees again then it does nothing. You are already 90 degrees from the original position. If you want to move the image upside down then you cannot select 90 degrees twice, you have to select 180 degrees. You just have to realize that all rotations are relative to the original view and not the current one and it works fine.Basically, I am happy with the product and its range of features. It does a very good job as a document camera and with the available software from the manufacturer it is a very good teaching tool for online conferences where you need to display documents, textbook pages, a whiteboard you can write on, pictures, etc. I would not use it as a primary camera for the speaker in an online conference but as a second camera to display documents and the like it is an excellent choice.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Online school. Worth the price!

2026-01-21    -Sunrise.Circle

I purchased this visualizer For my teenage son who is currently attending school online. Looking for ways to enhance his learning experience I stumbled across this gadget. It has helped him tremendously to get the most out of his lessons; even music class.his teacher couldn’t thank me enough. since it has also helped to make her life easier.Giving live presentations and sharing completed work has now become effortless.Its easy enough to use and compatible with Zoom.The instructions are clear and simplified.he was able to set it up by himself.Solid and Durable durable construction. And extremely versatile arm, can be angled to get the exact height and distance necessary depending on the circumstance.The device folds up amazingly compact to be stored away easily on the weekends.The picture quality is superb. Literally crystal clear and lifelike. an auto focus feature that is initiated with just one touch.Overall I am happy with this purchase. A bit pricey but totally worth it. The features that this visualizer has brought to the table has freed up so much time.It has gotten him ahead of the game in many subjects and has turned this challenging and drastic change into something he can enjoy again.So totally worth the price and I would definitely buy another one again if need be.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great portable document camera.

2026-01-28    -Charles P. Hollocker

I truly love this. Easy to set up and use. Unfolds several different ways depending on use. Great for recording demos for my students . Good picture and sound quality. For me, it replaced a $600 doc cam that got old and died.

Une caméra génial

2025-12-30    -aniwa

Pour avoir un bon téléphone intelligent, trouver une webcam de haut niveau était une dure tâche.Mais ce petit bijou est capable de rendre l'image et le son parfaitement, peu importe la distance.J'ai hâte de filmer mes travaux en dessin.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great job as a document camera and decent as a conference camera

2026-02-25    -Harold McFarland

The first thing to note is that it is heavy enough to support the camera in a stable manner no matter how far it is extended from the base. The articulating arms and rotatable camera allow you to put it into any position that you need to get a clear picture. The built-in light has four intensity levels and the camera auto-focus works well.I wanted to test how accurate the lens is for the documents and so printed some graph paper. The view was perfect with no aberrations at full extension but when taken down much closer to the paper (about 4 inches) there were signs that it had some issues as the lines were no longer true along one side. You can see what I am talking about in the picture. This only occurred as you brought the camera closer and closer to the document. This is actually expected and I found that I could make some adjustments by slightly tilting the camera to make them appear straighter.It came with a nice bag to carry it in and the whole thing collapses very nicely into a very compact unit. This part was well designed.I tried it with the camera software that came with my computer and it did a good job. I downloaded the firmware update and the available software to try that and it went very well. When updating the firmware make sure you do not have a camera application open and using the camera and that you run the update as administrator to make sure it all goes smoothly.The camera software had very little documentation but I was able to play with it and figure it out. It has the ability to use two cameras at the same time. You can have the document camera on one side and your webcam on the other side of the screen which is great for teaching or lecturing in an online conference. It does not make it obvious how to turn on the second camera so I will explain it here. Click the Split Screen icon at the top and you will see two screens side by side. One has the document scanner and the other is blank with the cryptic instruction to turn on the other camera but no instructions on how to. Click in the blank camera area and a hamburger menu will show up in the top left of that area. Click it and choose "devices" and you can select the other camera for that view.One other confusing item with the software is the rotate function. Every piece of software I have ever used rotates based on the current view. So if you rotate 90 degrees then it turns a quarter turn. If you press 90 degrees again then it rotates another 90 degrees so that it is upside down from the original view. This software does not work that way. Every rotation is relative to the original position. So if you rotate 90 degrees it does as you expect, but if you select 90 degrees again then it does nothing. You are already 90 degrees from the original position. If you want to move the image upside down then you cannot select 90 degrees twice, you have to select 180 degrees. You just have to realize that all rotations are relative to the original view and not the current one and it works fine.Basically, I am happy with the product and its range of features. It does a very good job as a document camera and with the available software from the manufacturer it is a very good teaching tool for online conferences where you need to display documents, textbook pages, a whiteboard you can write on, pictures, etc. I would not use it as a primary camera for the speaker in an online conference but as a second camera to display documents and the like it is an excellent choice.

Une caméra génial

2026-03-01    -aniwa

Pour avoir un bon téléphone intelligent, trouver une webcam de haut niveau était une dure tâche.Mais ce petit bijou est capable de rendre l'image et le son parfaitement, peu importe la distance.J'ai hâte de filmer mes travaux en dessin.

2.0 out of 5 stars Good product, but stopped working after 1 month

2026-01-05    -Rachel

I liked the camera quality and portability, but it stopped working very quickly after I purchased it, and the return window was very small.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Online school. Worth the price!

2026-01-18    -Sunrise.Circle

I purchased this visualizer For my teenage son who is currently attending school online. Looking for ways to enhance his learning experience I stumbled across this gadget. It has helped him tremendously to get the most out of his lessons; even music class.his teacher couldn’t thank me enough. since it has also helped to make her life easier.Giving live presentations and sharing completed work has now become effortless.Its easy enough to use and compatible with Zoom.The instructions are clear and simplified.he was able to set it up by himself.Solid and Durable durable construction. And extremely versatile arm, can be angled to get the exact height and distance necessary depending on the circumstance.The device folds up amazingly compact to be stored away easily on the weekends.The picture quality is superb. Literally crystal clear and lifelike. an auto focus feature that is initiated with just one touch.Overall I am happy with this purchase. A bit pricey but totally worth it. The features that this visualizer has brought to the table has freed up so much time.It has gotten him ahead of the game in many subjects and has turned this challenging and drastic change into something he can enjoy again.So totally worth the price and I would definitely buy another one again if need be.