Epson Perfection V39 II Review

The Epson Perfection V39 II produces great scan quality, but the bed scanner design and lack of automatic document feeding make it best suited for small and infrequent tasks.

Scan Quality

Overall, the Epson Perfection V39 II produced solid results in our document and receipt scanning quality tests. Digitized receipts are clean, crisp, and easy to read, with only slight fading compared to other models. Text clarity is also great, with strong saturation that provides sharp contrast. The results for handwritten documents were similar in clarity, producing scans with dark blacks and a crisp appearance.

Scan Speed

The Epson Perfection V39 II isn't going to win any awards for impressive speeds. I clocked a single-page 600 DPI colored scan at 13 seconds, which is admittedly quicker than a handful of other models I tested. Ultimately, this unit was able to handle 1.8 pages per minute. However, it doesn't include an automatic document feeder or duplex scanning, and simplex page scanning is a slow and manual task. Handling large, multi-sided documents is especially guaranteed to be a long and tedious task.

File Management

The Epson Perfection V39 II is a standard bed scanner in terms of design. There are no document feeders to deal with; you simply lift the lid, place a document or photo on the scanning bed, close the lid, and hit the scan button. There are no complicated screens, just four intuitive buttons for PDF, E-Mail, Copy, and Start. Setup is also easy, requiring just a few minutes to set up on a Mac or PC. Settings can be adjusted from the computer interface, which is intuitive and easy to do.

One of the best features of the Epson Perfection V39 II is its compact size, which is especially noteworthy for a bed scanner. It is about the size of a large book and, when not in use, can be stored on its side like a book, keeping it out of the way of a busy workspace. Additionally, it incorporates a kickstand so that it can take up less space on a desk when it is not being used, but needs to be readily accessible.

The Epson Perfection V39 II performs optical character recognition with a level of accuracy on standard documents. That makes them usable and searchable. Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot to say about Epson Perfection V39 II's software. It is easy to use, and I didn't experience any hiccups or crashes. The interface is simple and intuitive, and I didn't feel that there was a big learning curve to get the hang of it.

Photo Scanning

In our testing, the Epson Perfection V39 II delivered precision scans of photographs. The colors of scanned photos appeared vivid and true to the originals, typically requiring minimal or no touch-ups afterward. With a maximum resolution of 4800 dots per inch (dpi), the V39 II offers an ample range of resolutions for producing high-quality scans with the finest details, no discernible graininess, and very accurate colors.

Should You Buy the Epson Perfection V39 II?

The Epson Perfection V39 II is a simple flatbed scanner that is nearly identical to its predecessor, and it doesn't offer too much in the way of perceptible performance improvements, although it does run an updated software version. You can expect high-quality scans across a range of documents, photos, and receipts. However, the lack of a document feeder makes it better suited to photos and small tasks. Its high-quality scanning doesn't offset the lack of document feeders and slower speeds, so unfortunately, I can't recommend it over a handful of other models.

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