We have had out Microtek Scanmaker 3600 for well over 5 years now and it is still going strong and doing the job for our entire family. I'm not sure how much we paid for it, but it was not a lot because we just wanted a basic scanner that could scan in documents. It is very reliable, easy to use, with a suitable range of features but has the tendency to be a bit slow occasionally.

The scanner is fairly good looking, quite elegant and fairly compact. It measures approximately 17" long, 10" across and 4" high so can fit into most desktop areas. It has a solid build to it and rather funky curve on the lid that gives it some added style. Furthermore, the main surface is flat and you can easily rest your cup of tea, lunch or bits of paper on top! The white colour is easy on the eye and fits in to most rooms quite well. It is very lightweight too, weighing approximately 7 pounds so is easy to lift and move around. 7/10

Installing the scanner was very simple - a few disks, clicks and waiting for bars to fill up and all of the software were on the computer. It is simply connected to the PC via a USB cable and then you can start using it instantly. Again, using the scanner is very straightforward. The Microtek Scan wizard programme is very user friendly and straightforward and I have never had any problems getting it to do what I have wanted. 9/10

The scanner is normally very fast, but can be exceptionally slow when trying to scan at higher qualities or when editing and changing images. Nevertheless, a few minutes patience and it is done. Unless you can't wait around, it should not be too much of a problem for the average user. I have never had any problems with the colour sensitivity or resolution quality of the scanner the past and everything that I have scanned in has come out as I wanted it to. The few times it has looked a bit dodgy, I think the quality of my printer has been to blame. There are definitely other scanners on the market that can offer better quality but obviously this means paying more money. The Microtek Scanmaker 3600 is ideal for simple home use for things such as school work. 7/10

As well as scanning (as if that isn't enough from a scanner!) the printer offers a lot of good features for scanner novices, such as me. You can crop images, change resolution, change contrast, brightness and fiddle around with your images to make them how you like them to your hearts content. The scanner did come with an instruction booklet explaining how to use all of these features but because I'm a teenager I didn't read it. However, as I have previously said, the Microtek Scanmaker 3600 is very easy to use. 7/10