Scanners > Plustek Scanners > Flatbed scanner

Advantages: price,
Disadvantages: noise

I bought the Plustek Optic Pro P12 for one reason - it was very cheap - only £45 from Comet. Although when I got it home and started to use it I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the output. It scans reasonably fast and is pretty good at OCR and images alike, the instructions are easy to use and so is the scanning software - although the software is pretty basic, enough for most users with a decent graphics application. The only bad point ... Read review

Advantages: Effective scanner with a wide range of options
Disadvantages: USB only may be an issue for older PCs

...with this in mind the Plustek UT12 is an absolutely top class scanner for its money and one that fits anyones requirements. Let me tell you about its performance and what it can do. Looks. Traditional Cream plastic ives it an old ashioned look now. Most of the newer style Scanners are finished in graphite or black but this is using an old idea. Bad marks for colouration. However, the rounded corners and rounded feet go some way to making up styling ...
...the scanner come to life. There are the functions to scan,email, fax and copy all in one quick press. These can prove very handy and save you opening several different programs from the start menu on your computer. Scan quality/speed. Quite a quick scanner even at tremendously high quality scan rates. The resolution it produces is excellent as is the balance and tone of the colours. The Scanning area covers 8.5" x 11.69" (216mm x 297mm) so it ... Read review

Advantages: Simple to use, Relatively Cheap, Looks good.
Disadvantages: Takes a while to install, lid hinge is awkward.

Being a Graphic Art student, during my first year of university I found myself fighting the urge to buy a scanner. However, even mounting student debts and an overdraft extension could not put me off this bargain of a scanner! Other scanners on the market either seem to have too many needless features bumping the prices up, or they are painfully slow and bulky machines that would not sit comfortably next to a new Mac. I managed to get mine for around ...
...perfect for fast but accurate scans of images, without the fuss of useless applications that clog up your memory [it works best straight through Photoshop]. The added extras like the automatic white-balancing save time, and it crops whilst in preview mode. To add to the list of necessities, it is quite light, it easy to clean, and looks sleek in silver and black. It may take a while to install but it's not complicated and is worth the wait when you ... Read review

Advantages: Very easy to use
Disadvantages: A bit slow

I bought this item a few years ago and was very impressed, easy to set up and use. Just plug it in load the software and off you go. The TWAIN adapter is easy to use, just click on preview, and then on the photos you want to have scan, you get the choice of rotating them, and playing about with the colours if you want to, and a choice of what sizes you want them scanned with. Canon, are very good and have produced many updates to the TWAIN, the ...
...manily used this with the APS adapter wchich has been effortless, just load the film in teh cartridge, slide the cartridge into the machine, press the scan button and wait for the photos to appear. I have only used the film adapter once, and did not find that the film lined up with theframes on the adapter. It also comes with adapters for slides, which my family have made good use off, again easy to use, load the slides, push the adapter in and ... Read review

Advantages: Sooooo many features
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

We use the CanoScan Lide 25 (which I'll refer to as Lide 25 from now on) at work and a handy little scanning tool it is indeed. It's very slim and lightweight and sits nicely on my desk, ready to jump into action whenever I need to scan a document or photo. You can copy directly from the platen (glass screen) to your printer or print or even email and it's very easy to set up. AN ABUNDANCE OF FEATURES The Lide 25 uses a USB connection so ...
...handy indeed - saving on energy is always a better option. Unlike other home scanners I've used in the past the Lide 25 scans to a fairly high resolution of up to 1200 x 2400 dpi so when scanning photos you get very good quality images. The software that comes with the scanned allows you to scan documents to PDF too and you choose whether you want them in colour or monochrome or select the image quality you want from 75, 100, 200, 250, 300 or 400 ... Read review