Epson WorkForce ES-500II Review
Our Verdict
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 This Product
Epson WorkForce ES-500II | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Scanner For Most People |  Best Wireless Portable Scanner |  Best Budget Portable Scanner | Best Budget Flatbed for Books & Photos | |
| Price | $420 List Check Amazon (on sale!) | $348 List Check Amazon (on sale!) | $200 List Check Price at Amazon | $135 List Check Price at Amazon | $76 List Check Price at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | Its speed and scan quality can't justify the hefty price and bulky footprint | A compact, portable scanner that is both fast and produces high-quality results, but won't crowd your desk | Great performance from a portable scanner that isn't too bad on the wallet | While not the fastest, it excels in every aspect at a relatively low price | This flatbed scanner is ideal for archival-quality photos and the occasional simple document, but impractical for everyday home office use |
| Rating Categories | Epson WorkForce ES-5... | Ricoh ScanSnap iX1300 | Epson WorkForce ES-60W | Brother DS-640 | Canon CanoScan LiDE 300 |
| Scan Quality (35%) | |||||
| Speed (35%) | |||||
| File Management (20%) | |||||
| Photo Scanning (10%) | |||||
| Specifications | Epson WorkForce ES-5... | Ricoh ScanSnap iX1300 | Epson WorkForce ES-60W | Brother DS-640 | Canon CanoScan LiDE 300 |
| Two-sided Scanning? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Automatic Document Feeder capacity | 50 sheets | 20 sheets | No | No | No |
| Measured Pages Per Minute | 11.1 | 26.1 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| Connectivity | USB | USB, Wifi | USB, Wifi | Micro USB | USB |
| Multi-feed Detection | Yes (Ultrasonic) | Length detection | No | No | No |
| Power Source | AC | AC | USB / Battery | USB | USB |
| Paper Sizes | Max: 8.5" x 240" Min: 2 x 2" |
Max: 8.5" x 14" Min: 2" x 2" |
Max: 8.5" x 72" / Min: 2" x 2" | Max: 8.5" x 72" Min: 2" x 3.4" |
8.5" x 11.7" |
| Optical Resolution | 600 DPI | 600 DPI | 600 DPI | 600 DPI | 2400 DPI |
| Suggested Daily Volume | 4,000 scans | not specified | 300 scans | 100 scans | not specified |
| Scanner Type | Sheet-fed | Sheet-fed | Sheet-fed | Sheet-fed | Flatbed |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Epson WorkForce ES-500II is a speedy sheet-fed model with a 50-sheet feed tray, and up to 1200 DPI resolution, but its footprint is just as hefty as its price tag, and we found other models offer greater value and performance in a smaller footprint.
Scan Quality
The Epson WorkForce ES-500II is a capable scanner, producing usable results, but at this price point we've come to expect considerably higher scan quality.
When digitizing receipts, the resulting text is legible but not nearly as dark or filled in as it should be to more accurately represent the original. We also observed a number of streaks of ink across multiple spots on the receipt that weren't true to the physical copy. Again, the results are legible, but the reproduction of the receipt could be better.
Text documents also seemed to be less dark, and less accurately filled under magnification. We also found the text to be less bold and a bit blurry when compared to the originals. Handwriting didn't get digitized much better than receipts or printed text, and the results lacked a crispness that other scanners in this price range typically exhibit.
In general, the results are sufficient for everyday needs, but overall, scanning strips some of the shading, edge clarity, and fill. However, we did find that it accurately represents blue ink used in our handwriting tests really well, and that text remains very legible and clear.
Speed
A fifty-sheet feed tray and automatic document feeding enable the Epson WorkForce ES-500II to chug along and handle duplex pages at a very respectable rate of about 11.1 pages per minute.
This is primarily where the Epson WorkForce ES-500II shines. It is fast. The test group averaged around 10.4 pages per minute, so at 11.1 pages per minute, the ES-500II is almost 10 percent faster than most tested models.
File Management
In our testing, we found optical character recognition about 95 percent accurate, and the Epson WorkForce ES-500II produced usable text documents, especially when the originals were printed in blue. While the text documents were great, copying and pasting into a Google Doc didn't preserve formatting and spacing well, and we even found that many words were misspelled.
Working through scans with the shipped software was very user-friendly and we found the great post-scan features like drag-and-drop pages to reorder them, rotate them, or delete blank sheets before finalizing, very useful. We didn't find options for additional external save locations, but overall, we found the user interface intuitive and better than most scanner software.
Photo Scanning
In all my years of working in digital content, it has become pretty apparent that the go-to for making something look better or more vibrant in a digital space, or at least the most common attempt to make something look better, is to dial the saturation and contrast to eleven. While the resolution of digitized photos is really great overall, the Epson WorkForce ES-500II tries too hard to make things “pop”.
Across all the photos we scanned, many colors are oversaturated, which takes away from the finer details created by more subtle color shifts and gradients, and the brightness appears too high, making images feel a bit blown out.
Despite some oversaturation affecting perceptible details in places, fine details remain preserved and visible when you zoom in. If you are okay with brighter and more saturated images, that may help an image “pop”, then this model may be fine for you; just don't expect it to resemble originals with incredible accuracy.
Should You Buy the Epson WorkForce ES-500II?
The Epson WorkForce ES-500II is not a bad machine. In fact, it performed very well across our gamut of tests and stood out for its speed. However, its bulky footprint and higher price, left our team with higher expectations than it could deliver. Since other, more affordable models performed better overall and had a smaller footprint, there isn't a great reason to choose this model over others, and you will find greater value in one of the other models we've highlighted in our reviews.
What Other Scanners Should You Consider?
For higher scan quality, better file management, higher photo-scanning performance, and faster speeds, consider the more affordable Ricoh ScanSnap iX1300. If you need speed, want to digitize a large volume of documents, and budget isn't a concern, consider the ultra-fast, large-volume workhorse.
—Kenji Mowrey and Ben Hickock
