You can get used HP 5470's ***WITH AN ADF*** for under $50 (in fact
sometimes for under $20). Great scanner, was PC Magazine's Editor's
Choice back a number of years ago (2002?) even though at this point
fairly old. This is 2,400 dpi true hardware resolution (and it really
does it .... this was a $499 model back then), which is more than you
need for much of anything. The base unit does not scan legal, but if you
have an ADF, it does do legal scans (when you use the ADF). That's
because with an ADF, the scanner is stationary and the paper moves past
it through the ADF ... so the length of the glass is no longer an issue.
Note1: An HP 5470C with an ADF is also known as an HP 5490C (it was
sold as a 5470C without the ADF and as a 5490C with the ADF, but you
could buy a 5470C (no ADF) and add the ADF later (the ADF add-on is HP
model number C9866A).
Note2: If you buy one of these used (they are both readily available
and cheap), be sure you get the ADF INPUT tray and the ADF DUAL VOLTAGE
power supply (used units are often sold missing one or both of
these)(the power supply had to be changed when the ADF was added).
There are ALWAYS some of these on E-Bay, but much (most?) of the time
you have to wait to get one that is complete.
Note3: They do work with Vista, not withstanding that HP says they
don't. Installation may require over-riding some error messages and
installing as an administrator or in compatibility mode. But a number
of people (me included) have installed them on Vista systems and they do
work. Regardless of what HP says.
Note4: These models also originally came with a set of accessories
called the "XPA" which could scan slides and negatives. The XPA or at
least some of it's pieces (the whole getup was 5 pieces, I think) has
often been lost from used units. The quality of this is not great but
it is useable for some purposes (you get up to about an 8 megapixel scan
of a 35mm negative, there is no digital ICE or similar, the quality is
fair to good but by no means excellent. Like I said, it's useable, but
it's no match for an Epson photo scanner or for a Nikon film scanner
(even a 10-year old LS-30)).
The least expensive thing you can get that can scan "tabloid" documents
(11x17) is one of the Mustek A3 scanners for about $150 give or take.
Nothing else comes close in price. Unfortunately, the quality of these
leaves a lot to be desired, but they do work and they are the only
reasonably priced tabloid scanners. They STILL won't quite get all of a
12" wide document (they go to about 11.7" actual scan width).
Post by Mad Scientist JrI'm looking for a good scanner that handles legal documents, with
solid support under Windows XP.
I would be using this to preserve old photos as well as paper
documents, so image quality is important.
Also, if one exists and is somewhat affordable, I'd like something
that can handle larger sizes, 12" wide or more (ie for scanning LP
covers). This is more a "nice to have" feature but I'd be curious
what's out there.
Any recommendations appreciated... Thanks
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