Multi-page Auto-Feed Scanner

SueC_2

Hi All

Does anyone have any advice on which would be a good brand / model? I know nothing about them at all, so am really struggling to know where to start.

It's for an office situation, but within that I'd say it's fairly low usage - we've got away with flatbed up until now but are starting to encounter larger documents that are a nuisance on a flatbed.

Ideally we'd like to network it, but not if that's going to cause problems in its own right.

Not particularly MSE I know, but top requirements are ease of use and reliability. If that means paying a little more, then so be it...!

Thanks for any words of wisdom.

Syman

I use a CANON MX310 for all the scanning in my office. Good old work horse, not had a problem in 12 months of reasonably heavy, daily use.

SueC_2

Syman wrote: »

I use a CANON MX310 for all the scanning in my office. Good old work horse, not had a problem in 12 months of reasonably heavy, daily use.

Thanks. Out of interest is it networked, or linked to a single PC?

Syman

this is a single PC setup, as in it is connected via USB and not via a Cat5 network cable.

Sy..

SueC_2

Hi again

I've just been taking a look at this model - I hadn't realised that it's a printer/copier too, but I guess that's not a problem. But do you know if it can do double-sided scanning without you having to manually re-feed the pages?

Thanks.

tocsin

Another possible option is the Epson GT-S50 - I bought one about 18 months ago, so possibly replaced by now!

It does A4 duplex scanning, and takes about 50 pages in the feeder. Connection is via USB, and I use ABBYY software, so can't speak to the provided software.

SueC_2

tocsin wrote: »

Another possible option is the Epson GT-S50 - I bought one about 18 months ago, so possibly replaced by now!

It does A4 duplex scanning, and takes about 50 pages in the feeder. Connection is via USB, and I use ABBYY software, so can't speak to the provided software.

Please excuse my ignorance, but ABBYY?

Syman

SueC wrote: »

Hi again

I've just been taking a look at this model - I hadn't realised that it's a printer/copier too, but I guess that's not a problem. But do you know if it can do double-sided scanning without you having to manually re-feed the pages?

Thanks.

Don't think so...... But then i have never tried

TwistedPsycho

SueC wrote: »

Hi again

I've just been taking a look at this model - I hadn't realised that it's a printer/copier too, but I guess that's not a problem. But do you know if it can do double-sided scanning without you having to manually re-feed the pages?

Thanks.

I also use an MX310 at home. It will work in duplex in sorts.
If you install the bundled software you can set it up so it scans the "odd pages" then prompts you (and shows you how) to turn the document so that it scans the "even pages" and even puts them in the correct order for you autmoatically to save as an image or pdf.

I found ti invaluable so far although to replace the ink with Genuine Canon cartridges is about £40 a pair in supermarkets (cheaper online)

hc25036

Another vote for the MX310. I've used several low-cost scanners over the years and I was astounded at how fast the 310 was and the quality of the scan for the price. I got mine for £23 on the Canon outlet (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet) - they seem to get one or two a month on there.

tocsin

SueC wrote: »

Please excuse my ignorance, but ABBYY?

Sorry, Sue! ABBYY are a company specialising in scanning (OCR - Optical Character Recognition) and document handling software.

I have a bought package including their FineReader OCR software. Many scanners come with cut down or older versions of this or similar (ReadIRIS, OmniPage, etc) packaged in.

I originally had a flatbed Epson scanner, great for photos and book pages, but very slow for large amounts of paper. I got the GT-S50 for this, and just kept the FineReader software I already had, so I can't really comment on the cut down versions.

Hope that helps.