Scanners > Plustek Scanners

Advantages: Inexpensive, very fast, high resolution good quality output
Disadvantages: Unreliable and low quality construction

...minutes per full-resolution scan, the Plustek takes a minute. In fact I spent more time fiddling with the slides putting them into the mount than actually scanning. The resulting scans, while slightly noisier than other lower-resolution scanners I have used are wonderfully high resolution. Colours are also perhaps more subdued than the Canon, but of course, a few adjustments in Photoshop or Gimp soon fixes that. The bad news however is that it turned ...
...noises and something inside jamming (not sure what, but turning off the power usually fixed it) that became more frequent as time went on, eventually resulting in it being unusable. I returned it and got my money back in full. Would I recommend this scanner? At this price I probably would if you only want to scan a few of your favourite negatives or slides, but not if you are a professional. I am a very heavy user archiving my full back catalogue ... Read review

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: Lightweight, Portable, Compact, High Quality, Good Software & Bundled Stuff
Disadvantages: Can't Scan In Books/Booklets/Full Size Newspapers Direct

This scanner's intended purpose was to provide a portable scanner for my laptop - something that I could carry around without lugging a box that was bigger than my actual laptop! It had to meet 3 requirements: be portable, scan quickly and scan in detail - as I wanted to be able to scan in business cards for work and the occasional article. Anything else was a bonus. So, what did I actually make of the M12 scanner. Well after having this scanner ...
...have some bells and whistles. I was surprised when I opened the box as to just how small and light it was. It's about the size and weight of a toblerone bar, so if you are looking for a lightweight scanner, this one is great. It also proved to be highly portable - after you've downloaded the driver onto your laptop, you just plug it into a USB port and it is ready to scan. That's it - no power cords, no batteries that need re-charging, etc., all ... 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