Plustek SmartOffice PS286 review

Adding an automatic document feeder (ADF) to a scanner is a great way to capture multiple documents with a minimum of fuss, but the models we’ve tested have tended to be expensive. With a reputation for producing affordable products, Plustek has a chance to undercut the competition with its SmartOffice PS286 Plus.

Things get off to a fairly good start. The PS286 Plus comes with several spare parts and a software package that includes optical character recognition (OCR), business card and image management applications. Although it’s not strictly aimed at use on the road, it’s also supplied with a hardwearing if gaudy soft carrying bag.

The PS286 Plus has a flip-up input tray with two sets of adjustable paper guides, and a fold down output tray. The latter feels sturdy but the input tray is made from a flimsy feeling silver plastic. We received a couple of unfriendly warnings when installing the drivers, and weren’t able to use the product’s configurable quick launch button without a ‘no supported application found’ error.

The TWAIN driver is easy to use, but you must manually select simplex or duplex scanning, colour or mono and so on. We received further driver warning messages during a multi-page duplex job, after which we discovered that a side of one sheet failed to scan and the auto-rotate hadn’t worked. Fujitsu’s ScanSnap scan manager software is far superior. The PS286 Plus feels too flimsy and its software is too poor for us to recommend it.