A hardware question

[Stuart Biggerstaff]

Guys--

I don't think we've talked much about this kind of thing in a few years, but I have someone who needs a new image scanner.  I wondered if anyone here has any suggestions.  This is a bit OT here, as it will be used under Windows, but our main concern is hardware reliability and durability.  Anything we choose will likely have a usable TWAIN driver.

We are considering models from Fujitsu, HP, Epson, and Ricoh.  Our workhorses were a couple of Fujitsu 15Cs, till we stopped photocopying then scanning using the document feeder, when we moved to several (faster, but monochrome-only) 93GXs.  With the 93GXs starting to wear out and no longer available new, we replaced one with a fi-5220C.  It's USB, so no SCSI card to install, and though it is technically a successor to the 15C is faster than the 93GX.  On paper a very good choice, but it lacks the rigidity of the older ones, to the extent that it is possible to cause the imaging element to bind by holding a book down to scan.

The newer Fujitsu ones seem to be more robust, but probably still not as sturdy as the older ones.  And if possible we would like to go to an 11x17 one, but the budget seems to be $4000.00, so wondering if there were any good candidates we might have missed.



Stuart Biggerstaff