Looking for a flatbed scanner

[lago]

My HP scanjet 3500c, which was probably obsolete, when I bought it about 4 years ago will not work on my new Dell pc. HP no longer has any phone support for it and the only thing I can find online is that there 'may' be a communication problem with Dell Inspiron PC's and the fix is to use a powered USB hub. Not sure how they cost but hate to buy one and find out that it does not fix my problem.

I have browsed online and found HP and Canon that meet my needs and price range. I primarily use it to scan manuals and magazines and need software that will give me a .PDF file. HP does but I am not sure about Canon.

Does anyone have a Canon and how well does the software work.

Thanks
Ken

[skipwill]

Ken,

I don't have any experience with the Cannon (I have a cheapo Visioneer), but if the only problem may be the usb hub, you should be able to find one for around $20 or so. I found one at Radio Shack a couple of weeks ago for $12 on clearance.

If it dosent fix the problem, the hub may still be useful later on, as most peripherals are connected via USB, and you can never have too many USB ports<g>

[justaguy]

You can find powered USB hubs for $20 - $30. It's been a while since I've used a Canon but last time I did I was glad I had an HP.

[Uncle Cracker]

Don't know about Canon scanners, but a while back I had a Canon BubbleJet printer. Worked OK at first, but when it went south, it went way south. Stuck with HP ever since.

[stormdog74]

I have a Canon all-in-one printer, so it is a printer, copier, scanner, fax machine - probably washes your car too... It has worked great for me.

[maxparot]

As for a powered USB hub they can be found for less than $20 you'll probably want 1 that is USB 2.0 but I don't think that would fix a communications problem with the PC. I've been through a few scanners over the years.The brands that stand out are HP & Epson. The one I chose last is a Epson V350 Photo that I'm very happy with. It is a flatbed scanner with film feeder, slide and transparency scanning capabilities built into the lid.

[jziegler]

I have an OLD Canon scanner, and the software it comes with does not output to PDF. That said, there is an easy workaround: Install a PDF writer utility (PDF Creator is free and works well). It sets up a printer driver to "print" a pdf. Then use the "copy" function in the canon software, and set it to print to the pdf writer. Problem solved, but each page will be its own file, I think. Other programs will solve that too (and pdf creator may let you append a file, not sure)

I'd try the hub first, they are very useful to have around.

Jim

[linear]

I have owned two low-end Canon scanners. Both worked very well. I paid 50 bucks for each one, so I didn't expect a whole lot of performance. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The older one did die after about 4 years of service (hence the new one). I consider a buck a month an acceptable expense for scanning functionality.

I just took the new one to a new Vista box, so I downloaded the latest software from Canon and was very pleased. All worked fine with no aggravation. Direct to PDF works, including multi-page scanning.

Mine is a CanoScan LiDE 25 and you can get it on Amazon for 50 bucks.
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan.../dp/B0009SBZPC

I wouldn't screw with a USB hub myself, I'd just get one of these.

[JoeyGee]

I have purchased 2 Dell 926's--All-in-One printer/copier/scanner. I have been using one for a few months and I have been impressed with it enough to buy one for my parents. The black ink is only $13.

The best part is, is that I bought it as a refurb from the Dell outlet for only $39--new retail is $99 at Staples, maybe a little less new at Dell.com. It comes with a full one-year warranty and a black and color cartridge (i'm not sure if the non-refurbs come with color or not).

The way I figure it, $39 almost covers just ink on most printers.

To answer your question, the scanner works fine. I don't know if the included software creates PDF's or not, but I believe there is plenty of shareware that will do it--or chances are, the part of the software you already have is not dependent on your scanner.

[JimD]

Maybe you don't need more features but I really like our new Lexmark all-in-one. We paid about $130 for it. It prints and scans but the neat thing is it communicates over the wireless hub. No wire connection to the laptops or desktops required. Everybody who is hooked up to the wireless router and installs the driver can use it. It scans to pdf and does not need a wire connection to do that either. It will also scan a file to fax but you have to hook your computer to a phone line (the modem) for the software to send the fax. I was pleasantly surprised that it works so well for that kind of money.

The model we have is 4550 but they have other models that have the same key feature. Some have built-in fax, some have paper feeders. There is a printer only for less than $100.

Jim