Microtek's ScanMaker i320 is a relatively inexpensive flatbed scanner that includes Kodak's Digital ICE technology for removing surface defects from photos. The version of Digital ICE that Microtek licensed for this model works with prints only. In our informal tests of this feature, the i320 did a great job of repairing damaged photos by eliminating areas that were creased, gouged or torn. Using Digital ICE takes several minutes longer than producing a conventional scan because the scanner makes two passes; but it is still faster than fixing cracks and tears manually with an image editor, and its results in blending the repairs with the surrounding area are likely to be better for the average user.

Other hardware features include an array of quick-start buttons (seven Smart-Touch buttons plus a power button) and an external transparency adapter (called the LightLid 35) that plugs into the back of the scanner and handles one 35mm slide or filmstrip at a time. Nevertheless, most scanners we see these days have transparency adapters built into their lids, and most can scan more than one slide at a time, so Microtek's setup is relatively inconvenient and rather low-budget.

Microtek's ScanWizard 5 driver provides separate modes for novices and experienced users: The Standard Control Panel provides a minimum of options for the most common scanning tasks (including easy one-click colour restoration), while the Advanced Control Panel provides more-sophisticated functions--such as an Image Correction window that lets you preview the effects of various adjustments via before and after thumbnails of an image, and a Scan Job Queue for defining and tracking multiple scans with different parameter settings. Few competing scanner drivers provide comparably advanced features.

The i320's performance in our colour scanning speed tests was good. It scanned a 2" x 2" colour photo at 1200dpi in a speedy 36 seconds. But in some tests the i320's scores fell several seconds behind those of some of the fastest models available, such as the Epson Perfection 1670 and the HP Scanjet 5530. For example, the i320 took nearly 29 seconds to scan a black-and-white 7.5" x 10.5" document at 300dpi, whereas the Scanjet 5530 took just under 18 seconds to complete the same test. Still, the i320 is no slowpoke.

Judging the contrast, brightness, and colour accuracy of a 100dpi, 4" x 5" colour print, we gave the i320 slightly better than average marks; an on-screen viewing of the same scan was rated well below average. On the whole, in our print and on-screen tests, the i320's results were lacklustre. Scans often had flat-looking colour and less contrast, brightness and sharpness than the originals.

Despite the i320's high 3200dpi optical resolution, the scanner produced images that were no better than average for a 2" x 2", maximum-resolution colour photo test. In addition, the i320's scans of line art lacked some of the finer details rendered by rival models, such as the Canon CanoScan Lide 50 and the Visioneer OneTouch 7300.