5 Best Portable Photo Scanners in 2024

With the advent of smartphones and laptops that are getting thinner and thinner for portability, many businesses are now mobile. However, there’s one item that you can’t take with you on the go, and that’s your printer/scanner device. It’s way too big, and you wouldn’t even be able to fit it in a suitcase, let alone think it’ll survive the toll that travel will put on it. That’s why you need a portable photo scanner; it’s a device small enough to take with you on the go, has quick and easy setup, and even lets you fit it in your backpack. If you follow along below, we’ll show you our favorite portable photo scanners available right now.

Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

You’re going to love the portability of the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner. FlipPal Mobile Scanner is a battery-operated portable photo scanner. It stores files on an SD card and does not require a computer to operate with. This scanner is capable of scanning almost any size of paper or document, as integrated software will break it up and then restitch it together as if it had never been altered. It’s quick and easy to set up, with the manufacturer saying that it should be able to scan something and store it on the SD card within seven seconds. Most importantly, the scanner is mobile, lightweight, and super easy to travel with.

It comes with four double AA batteries to get you started, and there are instructions for downloading the companion app on iOS and Android.

Buy it now: Amazon

Doxie-Q

Folks will love the versatility of the Doxie-Q portable photo scanner. It’s lightweight, and it doesn’t even measure out to be a foot long. That means you can stuff it in a suitcase or put it in the trunk without it taking up too much space. It has built-in WiFi and offers 8GB of internal storage for all of your photos and documents. The Doxie-Q can hold around 7,200 images. The neat thing about this photo scanner is that it’s completely wireless and comes with a rechargeable battery, so you won’t have to worry about swapping them out every so often. It’s able to easily integrate with your smartphone, PC, or Mac computer.

Buy it now: Amazon

Epson Workforce ES-300W

The Epson Workforce ES-300W wasn’t entirely designed as a portable photo scanner; however, it’s super lightweight and has a small profile, so just like a portable photo scanner, it isn’t going to take up much space in the backseat or suitcase. This is the best bang for your buck, as it’ll let you integrated with your smartphone, tablet, or computer, but in addition to that, the Epson Workforce ES-300W is also able to integrate with your Dropbox or Google Drive account, too. It can work on 20-pages at a time and can scan in around 25 per minute.

Buy it now: Amazon

Vupoint Solutions Magic Wand

The Vupoint Solutions Magic Wand is a neat take on a portable photo scanner, allowing you to use it as a handheld scanner or an auto-feed scanner. If you’re having difficulty scanning a page out of, say, a book, you can turn it to the handheld mode and scan a page or two. But, if you have some photos and documents you want to study in, turn on auto-feed, and it’ll do it automatically. It scans documents up to 10 1/2′ long and can scan a resolution of up to 1,200 dpi. It has a small LCD screen, built-in WiFi capabilities, and 32GB of internal storage for your scanned documents.

Buy it now: Amazon

Fujitsu ScanSnap

Last, but certainly not least, we have the ScanSnap by Fujitsu. It’s pretty impressive, considering that it can scan in 12 documents or photos in black and white or color per minute. Not only that, but it can do that with double-sided pages, something we haven’t seen yet. It can work with Cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive and can be powered by your laptop or an AC adapter. It’s able to automatically convert documents for you (for example, into PDF), so that’s a step you can skip later on.

Buy it now: Amazon

Verdict

So, which portable photo scanner should you pick up? If you want something durable with a lot of features, we can’t help but recommend the Epson Workforce ES-300W. If you need a photo scanner that can scan difficult to reach pages, you can’t go wrong with the Vupoint Solutions Magic Wand photo scanner. But, if you want something feature-rich that’ll save you time, pick yourself up a Fujitsu ScanSnap.