[SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
This is not really on-topic, but I've Googled it with no success, so I'm hoping the collective wisdom can either come up with a response or tell me where to look for one. I'm currently converting my paper book collection to eBooks by chopping them up and running them through a scanner with an automatic document feeder. Up till now I have been using a cheap multifunction printer which does the job reasonably well. But either the printer feed mechanism is getting worn out, or I'm getting on to books with a different quality of paper in, because lately the proportion of pages that need rescanning has risen from under 5% to about 25%. My question is this: given that my printer cost $79, and a dedicated sheet-feed scanner costs $400 and up, am I going to get a better success rate if I purchase one of those rather than just buying a new cheap printer? The price difference leads me to believe I will, but I can't find any comparisons on the web between scanning success rates for multifunction printers and dedicated scanners. Is there any difference in the actual mechanics, and if so what? It's a long time since I worked in an office. Is there anyone out there familiar enough with these devices to provide an answer, or tell me where to find one? For the record, the printer has already scanned well over 8000 pages. Thanks in advance, Jon. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 04:00:26PM +1000, Jon Jermey wrote: My question is this: given that my printer cost $79, and a dedicated sheet-feed scanner costs $400 and up, am I going to get a better success rate if I purchase one of those rather than just buying a new cheap printer? I have only a cheap multifunction printer/scanner too, but it is pretty good for scanning multi-page documents, as long as the paper is flat and the right size. So I can't answer your question with experience of dedicated scanners. It occurred to me though, for $79 to buy another cheap printer you can confirm if the other printer's mechanism is worn out, and worst case is you use that new cheap printer until it also wears out. Nick. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
I have a client that runs really old printers. HP1300's, HP1100's and even older. Keep in mind that these things are just (electro)-mechanical devices. Lubrication gets dry after a while. Most of the materials in these devices are usually excellent quality. The metal or nylon doesn't usually wear out. Screwdriver, vacuum-cleaner in reverse (blow out the dust and dirt) and some lubricating spray, and you have a good chance that you can keep your device going for another year, two, three or four. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
I'll try that, thanks. I'm mainly just curious as to what the extra $300 for a dedicated scanner is supposed to buy. Is it a case of paying more for less? Jon. On 06/09/11 09:39, David Lyon wrote: I have a client that runs really old printers. HP1300's, HP1100's and even older. Keep in mind that these things are just (electro)-mechanical devices. Lubrication gets dry after a while. Most of the materials in these devices are usually excellent quality. The metal or nylon doesn't usually wear out. Screwdriver, vacuum-cleaner in reverse (blow out the dust and dirt) and some lubricating spray, and you have a good chance that you can keep your device going for another year, two, three or four. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
I cant say I have a lot of experience with the dedicated scanners but from what I've seen the expensive ones are very fast and very reliable. They also come with a scsi interface option. i worked at a mortgage lender years back and one of the departments had these expensive scanners because they would scan piles of 20+ page contracts all day with lightening speed. The other place i came accross them was at a medical center where patient forms were scanned in while the patient checked in. They were extremely reliable. The only problems I ever saw with the scanners was the software capturing the images. On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Jon Jermey jonjer...@gmail.com wrote: I'll try that, thanks. I'm mainly just curious as to what the extra $300 for a dedicated scanner is supposed to buy. Is it a case of paying more for less? Jon. On 06/09/11 09:39, David Lyon wrote: I have a client that runs really old printers. HP1300's, HP1100's and even older. Keep in mind that these things are just (electro)-mechanical devices. Lubrication gets dry after a while. Most of the materials in these devices are usually excellent quality. The metal or nylon doesn't usually wear out. Screwdriver, vacuum-cleaner in reverse (blow out the dust and dirt) and some lubricating spray, and you have a good chance that you can keep your device going for another year, two, three or four. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html -- Kind Regards, Christopher Barnes e. chris.p.bar...@gmail.com -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
On Tue, 2011-09-06 at 10:45 +1000, Chris Barnes wrote: i worked at a mortgage lender years back and one of the departments had these expensive scanners because they would scan piles of 20+ page contracts all day with lightening speed. Expensive scanners tend not to skew the pages when feeding them in. The quality of the scan (not the bit rate just general clarity) is better. The feed mechanism is a LOT better, for huge volumes it is worth it. Image capture was always a challenge. Since I scan and mail on crappy printers at low res for bank use (my banker accepts scanned signed documents for some things). Mostly it is not that important. Clarity of photo scanning on the other hand, I do very high res scans then tune them down. It takes a LONG time on a simple multifunction printer. Problem with buying good gear is how quickly they age. A cheap printer today is thrown away. A good quality scanner today will be overtaken by a cheap scanner tomorrow. If you cannot amortise the cost over 2 years then think carefully. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
The dedicated scanners could be expected to be faster and more robust, maybe higher quality too. The scan quality on our cheap multifunction is not as good as that of my dedicated (but non-multi-feed) Epson scanner. Nick. -- PGP Key ID = 0x418487E7 http://www.nick-andrew.net/ PGP Key fingerprint = B3ED 6894 8E49 1770 C24A 67E3 6266 6EB9 4184 87E7 -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?
On Mon, September 5, 2011 5:00 pm, Jon Jermey wrote: My question is this: given that my printer cost $79, and a dedicated sheet-feed scanner costs $400 and up, am I going to get a better success rate if I purchase one of those rather than just buying a new cheap printer? The price difference leads me to believe I will, but I can't find any comparisons on the web between scanning success rates for multifunction printers and dedicated scanners. Is there any difference in the actual mechanics, and if so what? Jon, not sure how much I can help you, but, FWIW, many, many years ago I bought a HP 2p (mono scanner), I think it was about... $1000 ? then, I bought a HP doc feeder, I think it was also around $1000. I still use them today, not that I am a huge scanner user, but, with the 'expensive' feeder I can shove 25 or 30 pages, when I come back, just flip over (if need scanning reverses), it just works a year or two ago, I was walking past a second hand PC shop, saw same HP2p+ doc in the window for about $100, so I bought it for a spare. so, for many pages scanning, good doc feeders are important of course, equipment the age of mine might just crumble from old age (just noticed rubber legs on my HP LJ5 are melting..) additionally, a while ago I picked from a dumped Fujitsu fi4120, brilliant little addition, color, does both sides at once, again, it's good quality device so, my suggestion (based on old and potentially superseded experience: if you find you good results (no jams, scan quality, skew) from cheap device, keep use it; otherwise get device with dedicated good quality feeder I don't know what the Fujitsu FIs go for, but I'm very pleased with my FI simultaneous 2 side scanner (except you cant' do small things or books, pages only) sorry if I added to confusion.. -- Voytek -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
