Do people buy scanners nowadays?

[Paul Ma]

I currently have all sorts of imperfect scanner substitutes- webcams, cell phones, etc. but no flat bed scanner. The problem is that I have little desk space but I do find it quite useful to pdf a lot of paper documents that I can then throw out. Does anyone have a recommendation for something small that works and isn't expensive?

Thanks!

 

[lenjack]

Get a Canon.

 

[billyb0b]

i had a canon fb630u for about 10 years and the thing worked great the entire time

earlier this year i got a canon LiDe100 and it's been a great scanner. it sits out of the way, under the desk but on top of the 2-drawer filing cabinet under there. u can't even see it

 

[DaveSimmons]

I have a Canon LIDE that is USB-powered. Not having to mess with a power brick makes it reasonably easy to keep on a shelf and just plop on my desk on those rare occasions when I need it.

I'd get whatever the current best USB-powered Canon is for under $100.

 

[Lemon law]

I can buy used scanners at goodwill stores all day long for cheap.

But we really have to ask what good is a stand alone scanner anymore, when scanners, both sheet feed and flat bed are common on multiple function printers, be they ink jet or laser based.

And in my humble opinion, a stand alone scanner is almost worthless anymore unless you are using them for scanning very small things like 35mm film negatives or you have a massive need for scanning a super high volume of documents into a computer database.

My $60 used brother 7820N more than takes care of my scanning needs, and can scan in color even if the 7820N only outputs to itself in laser monochrome. But if I need color,
I can network print the file to a color inkjet.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I use my scanner quite a bit. I've been using a HP Scanjet 2400 for probably 5+ years. It's only about 1 1/2 inches high and slides in nicely under a printer stand that I have my laser printer on. I just slide it out when I need it.

Nice thing is HP continually develops new and better publishing software for their scanners and though my is discontinued, my scanner is still supported.

 

[corkyg]

I have an inkjet, a laser, a copier, and a page scanner (Epson Perfection 2450.) I use them all - and they all work. I have worked with the all-in-one devices - and frankly, I find them confusing. My separate devices are networked, and I can use them with any of three computers, and even at the same time.

But, would I replace the individual units with one? Yes - if one dies. Functionally, these separate units work perfectly. I have Omnipage 17 for OCR work, and I use Irfanview Acquire for photo and graphics work. Work with transparencies can only be done with a photo scanner that provides illumination front and back. I haven't met a combo unit that can do that.

 

[hellotyler]

There is a TON of scanner printer combos, get one. I speak from experience when I say that they are great. Well worth investing in a laser printer too.

 

[Paul Ma]

I currently have an ancient HP 1320 that I think will be good for a few years (i've got way too many cartridges). Just saw a good deal for an all in one Epson 610 for around $60 so snagged one up.

 

[vbuggy]

Problem with AIO devices is that they kind of hulk, and many of the inkjet ones goes through ink indecently quickly.

Just get a cheap Canon if you want something that works well and you can keep out of the way until you need it.

 

[KeithP]

I bought an inexpensive Epson flatbed scanner about a year ago (about $120 at the time). I compared it to two different AOI units that some friends had recently (within 6 months) purchased. One was a top of the line HP that cost about $350 the other was an Epson, cost about $200.

In both cases the stand alone flatbed produced better scans.

That being said, I would imagine for most people, the convenience of one device is probably the primary concern and not many buy stand alone units any more. However, if the quality of the scans are important, you will get better quality for less money with a stand alone scanner.

-KeithP

 

[alkemyst]

size and need are the things you have to ask, I have an 11x17 scanner. I had a legal sized prior.

It's rare, but I sometimes need the real estate.

 

[Lemon law]

I am not sure that what KeithP says is totally true by saying, "That being said, I would imagine for most people, the convenience of one device is probably the primary concern and not many buy stand alone units any more. However, if the quality of the scans are important, you will get better quality for less money with a stand alone scanner."

The point being, its true that most stand alone scanners are marinally better than all in one printer units, but unless you are doing spoecality film scanning with specialty film scanners not to be found in the run of the mill stand alone unit, few people will notice any increase in quality even though the output file size becomes much much larger.

With specality film scanners costing $500.00 and up, most rational people rent or borrow than buy.

 

[Scooby Doo]

"You're out of ink, unable to scan...." LOL

 

[corkyg]

Multicapable devices usually entail compromises for each function.

 

[tynopik]

the scanner on the brother laser multi-function devices is great

the scanner on the brother inkjet multi-function devices, not so much

 

[Minerva]

Epson 2450 firewire is awesome. I've had one since 2003 and it's still going strong.

 

[CrimsonWolf]

"You're out of ink, unable to scan...." LOL

My Brother inkjet all-in-one did this. I kid you not. There was no effing way to get past the "out of ink" error message. I just threw it in the dumpster after that. My Brother laser printer is still going strong though!

I had the Brother all-in-one and an HP all-in-one. They were both pieces of crap.

My cheap Epson flatbed has been a great replacement for scanning, and I don't have that other junk to worry about. It's not "small" but it's very slim and can be stashed in a drawer when I'm not using it.

 

[Minerva]

Speaking of HP you know installing "printer drivers" should not take as long as installing an operating system. D:

 

[seepy83]

The Fujitsu ScanSnaps are nice scanners and have a small footprint.

 

[fatpat268]

I have a Canon LIDE that is USB-powered. Not having to mess with a power brick makes it reasonably easy to keep on a shelf and just plop on my desk on those rare occasions when I need it.

I'd get whatever the current best USB-powered Canon is for under $100.

I had a USB powered canon one too, and I liked it until it broke.

One day, I had to scan about 50 pages or so, but the scanner kicked the bucket after page 30 or so. Prior to that, the scanner saw very light use.

 

[JoshGuru7]

I've had a USB powered Canon LiDE for a few years now and it's worked great at scanning in receipts and that sort of stuff. It's stored on edge right now between my file cabinet and a wall and I just plug it in when I need it. I think it was like $50 or so?

Edit: Amazon has the LiDE 110 for $56.

 

[evident]

"You're out of ink, unable to scan...." LOL

Fuck my HP All-in-one 3210 inkjet printer that i paid $200 for back in 2006 with my "employee discount"! all the ink cartridges are timed to expire, and when they do, i can't even scan. Never EVER buying another HP printer again.

 

[bruceb]

I have an HP7410 all in one unit. Only problem is with doing multipage scans to Adobe Acrobat. While it has an auto feeder, you need to tell Acrobat to do the next page. Wether that then starts the next page auto feed or if the HP7410 just keeps feeding things in at once, I do not yet know. A flatbed scanner near my pc keyboard would be easier than getting up to the HP to initiate a new page scan.

 

[Modelworks]

The all in ones or low end scanners are great but they don't compare to the higher end dedicated scanners. There is a rating called Dmax for scanners that is a scale of 0 to 4 in the scanners ability to pick out black to the very lightest of white against a pure white background and also not alter the colors being scanned. Not a single all in one scanner can even reach above a 2.8 rating. The dedicated higher end scanners are 3.8+. Of course you pay for that quality in price, they average $500-$3k

The reason for the increased price is the use of all glass optics, multiple light sources made up of LED, incandescent , fluorescent , all 3 used in each scan. They also use much larger CCD instead of interpolating from smaller CCD.