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OT: Scanner

My 20-something year-old hp Scanjet 3970 died... or at least the wallwart outputs no juice, so it's a toss... scanner died and killed wallwart, or it's just the wallwart.... it's the wallwart, found an equivalent in my junk box :-)

But maybe it's best just to replace the scanner... given its age?

What's the best scanner now-a-days? (I'm not impressed by those "all-in-one" machines.) ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

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| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Reply to
Jim Thompson
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"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I picked up an Epson WF-7510 on sale for about $170 at the local office store. Best thing about it is it will do 11x17 prints and scans. Also has the ADF. Real handy for scanning manuals.

Has high capacity black ink that last a long time and not too bad on cost.

Does good glossy color prints also.

Reply to
Tom Miller

Be sure to consider the OS on which you are expecting to use the "new" scanner. I.e., older OS's won't typically have support for new scanners (there are non-manufacturer ways around this) and newer OS's tend not to support older peripherals (again, yadayada)

Reply to
Don Y

Good points. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142     Skype: skypeanalog  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

That has always been a problem that hacks me off. Years ago I had to quit using a good scanner because it was for windows 98 and when switching to the XP system there were no drivers for it.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Stay with it if it still working. HP kit from that era was very good. The modern ones will do higher native optical resolution but with lousy manufacturing quality by comparison to the early models. They fall apart or develop systematic faults just out of warrantee. YMMV

What OS or custom drivers are you using? HP deliberately unsupported using their expensive older scanners with OS's from Vista onwards!

My current one is a Canon. OK on speed but it has a systematic fault with a dark zone against one edge. Resolution slightly better than my ageing HP5300 which now serves the VH but I wouldn't recommend it.

Not convinced the current crop of HP scanners are anything like the quality or finesse of the old ones. Canon was on paper the best when I last had to do this but I am not recommending them.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

VueScan (may be) your friend:

'86 the "manufacturer's drivers"...

Reply to
Don Y

You might get a used one. Lots are listed in my local Craigslist. I even saw a 3970 offered for $10.

Reply to
jfeng

I have an epson Pro somthing or other, works well. Can do 35mm film;) It replaced a Minolta scanner (usb/firewire), which I got to work on win7. There are no updated Minolta drivers Get something that has good resolution.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

The old HP scanners are good, as are old UMAX units. For recent ones (and the software is kinda a nightmare if you don't upgrade every once in a while) either Canon or Epson are very good. My favorite is the Epson V300 Photo, with backlight for slides or negatives. I think V370 is the current model...

Reply to
whit3rd

The Canon Imageclass multi-functions in the $350 range are amazingly rugged as workhorse printers.

Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

I chose an Epson, but regardless what you choose, plan to spend a little money getting better software. All the manufacturer-supplied software is complete rubbish, especially Epson.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

The "all-in-one" machines are absolutely fantastic! $10 for the scanner and $60 for the print cartridge. PERFECT for draining the wallet!

Reply to
Robert Baer

How is an All-In-One and different than a stand-alone, in this respect?

Reply to
krw

The stand-alone cannot pretend to do things you do not need.

Reply to
Robert Baer

That's because the purchase price is really just a rental contract. The rent is paid when you buy ink.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

You can't use the scanner on the ones I've owned, if any of the ink cartridges need to be replaced.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

If don't want it as a printer pick a model that uses optical means to sense the ink and apply some tape, or a sharpie this will eventually ruin the print head.

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umop apisdn
Reply to
Jasen Betts

Isn't it easier to buy a dedicated scanner? Or fit cheapest nasty third party inks or even cheap and good third party inks. Fade resistance isn't as good but if it only needs to last a fortnight...

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

I didn't buy any of them. I have about 150 used printers waiting to be tested or scrapped.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

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