Epson V600 vs V550

Great Scanners: Which is Better & Why?

The question’s been asked many times, but until now, it’s been hard to find the answers all in one place.  Which is better if we pit the  Epson V600 vs V550?  They seem so similar, but they must have differences or why would Epson have both?  The V600 more often has better social proof in customer reviews and feedback, but why?  

We’ll cover just that after we compare the specifications on these two great scanners from Epson.  This should both help you understand why they’re two of the best flatbed scanners for photos and film.  More importantly, we’ll point out the differences that are often difficult to find and share why they matter to you. 

Epson V600 vs V550 Scanner Review

Similarities:   

If you looked at the side-by-side comparison above, you can see that these two scanners are nearly identical in most categories.  They even look the same!  For the most part, the specs are pretty much the same as far as resolution, power consumption, and scanning sizes go.  Both have a great ScanReady LED so there is no warm-up time before scanning.

Differences:  

So, what are the differences between the Epson V550 vs V600? Well, there aren’t many to be honest.  From our research, we’ve identified just three differences, but they could make an impact depending on how you’ll use the scanner.  

Included Software

The first difference is in the software package that’s included with the scanner kit.  The Epson Perfection V550 includes: Epson Scan with Easy PhotoFix, Epson Easy Photo Scan, and ABBY FineReader OCR for optical character recognition.  This is a well-rounded software suite by the way.  The Epson V600 scanner has all the same software, but also includes ArcSoft PhotoStudio. PhotoStudio is an awesome photo editing software that’s worth having for the few extra bucks.

Digital ICE Technology

We believe the next is the difference maker in our selection of which is better between the V600 and V550 Epson scanners.  Digital ICE is a hardware feature that uses infrared light to detect things like dust, scratches, and hair on the substrate that you’re scanning.  The same infrared light is not able to detect color in your photo.  The scanner can then compare the two images to magically remove the defects from the scanned image! 

This technology is actually built into both scanners, and it’s full-featured on the V600 enhancing both film and prints.  Unfortunately, Digital ICE only works on film with the Epson V550, making it inferior to the V600 flatbed scanner from Epson.  Here’s a great video that explains Digital ICE (a hardware feature) and specifically shows it working on the Epson Perfection V600 scanner in this comparison!

Purchase Price

The final difference is the price.  Of course prices fluctuate and change over time, so I won’t attempt to offer an explanation of the difference here, rather you can check the current prices at these links: 

Current Epson V600 Price at Amazon

Current Epson V550 Price at Amazon

Conclusion:  

Epson makes some good quality flatbed scanners with the V550 and V600 at the top of the list in amount of value vs purchase price.  Both are great options and if you really think to you’ll never do photos or film, the V550 is a decent choice since you’ll save a bit of money.  However, we highly recommend shelling out the extra bucks to get the full package with the V600.  For the one-time fee, you’ll get a better scanner with more features that you may use, or even need, in the future some day.  It also comes with the extra photo editing software from ArcSoft, potentially saving you $100+ on needing other 3rd party software.  These reason, we’d pick the Epson Perfection V600 over the Epson Perfection V550 flatbed scanner in this head-to-head challenge.