Canon DR-M160 scanner review

The advent of all-in-one printers has seen a fall in demand for scanner-only devices, and you'd be forgiven for overlooking specialist models such as the Canon DR-M160.

The scanner is best suited to companies that need to transfer large volumes of documents into a digital format, and is capable of high-speed processing without sacrificing quality.

The Canon DR-M160 is a modest 280x172x178mm when in compact storage mode. This increases to 280x640x346mm when the flip-down tray is opened and, combined with a weight of 3.2kg, means that the device is primarily going to be used in the office. However, the design incorporates a detachable top as well as the foldable tray, and can be transported reasonably easily if needed.

The scanner takes its cue from a traditional desktop printer. Documents are placed into the feeder at the top, which allows multiple pages to be scanned in batches, unlike a flatbed that caters only for a page at a time.

Setting up the DRM160 is reasonably quick, and it can scan regular A4, A5, A6 and B5 pages as well as letters, business cards, credit cards and driving licences, although we were disappointed to find that we could not scan a passport.

Canon supplies its own CaptureOnTouch software which is relatively straightforward to use. However, system requirements for the application are demanding, so you're going to need a high-end PC to get the best out of it.

An Intel Core i7 2.8GHz processor with at least 4GB of RAM is recommended. We loaded CaptureOnTouch onto our Core i3 dual-core 2.53GHz laptop with 2GB of RAM and the software caused the machine to slow down considerably, especially when scanning big batches.

The DRM160 is compatible only with XP, Vista and Windows 7, so Mac and Linux users are left out in the cold.

The duplex mode allows the DRM160 to scan double sided pages in one motion, and the feeder supports 60 pages at a time. The scanner has a nifty double feed detection system enabling it to retry a scan if two pages have been fed in simultaneously, and can be manually overridden if needed.