Finding the best flatbed scanners under $500 requires a little bit of research. Beside the issue of price considerations, most people care more about the quality and features of the products that will fulfill their current needs.
For this and other reasons, it really takes time to click from one page to the other in order to go through the best flatbed scanner reviews that will aid your purchase decision. To help in this regard, we spend that time to bring you exactly what you want; the best within your budget.
Perhaps, if you have used one brand or model before and you don’t want to use same again, below here are some great options worth considering.
On the other hand, if this is your first time, this flatbed scanner buying guide will help you to understand the most important things that make one different from each other before you click that order button.
However, if you a brand loyalist, satisfactory experience from that same brand is likely to be the driver of your current interests.
All these things matters a lot because trust is always important in every purchase decision. So regardless of your own peculiar needs or interests, the following flatbed scanner reviews will make the leap possible. Possibly at the end, you could find some useful tips that will save you money, time or both.
For first timers, you may have question like this in mind.
What Is Flatbed Scanner?
Among all types of scanners, this one uses a glass surface to hold sheet of paper, paper or even ID card for the sole purpose of scanning and producing digital output. The other types of scanner include handheld mobile scanner and drum scanner.
When you compare flatbed scanner vs sheetfed, the core difference is that sheetfed doesn’t require manual page by page input. But this can give higher volume output at a faster speed. But for high quality output, flatbed scanners need manual insertion of one page after another. These are the major differences between the two.
Flatbed Scanner Comparison 2024
HP Scanjet Pro 2500 F1 Flatbed Scanner
Remember what I said about saving time before?
Well, if you have used HP electronics products before and you got 100% satisfactory experience from it, you are very much likely to get same from this product. Let me hint you on what you need to know. This is one of the best flatbed scanners under $300. Yes, you can get it at that price as at the time of this writing. So for any read interested in where to buy hp scanjet pro 2500 f1 flatbed scanner, you can just click straight to Amazon and forget about reading the rest of this buyer guide.
The first most impressive thing is that it has these dual features as a flatbed and then having automatic document feeder at the same time. This is one of the few versatile document scanners that offer great features in terms of the core difference described earlier.
Some organizations that do relatively constant high volume scanning will find this working perfectly as serve their day to day needs.
With single pass two sided scanning, you are sure of getting up to 1500 page scans per day. Depending on your needs and in full capacity, you can load up to 50 pages for the automatic unattended scanning.
While the automatic workflow is going on, there won’t be any need for anyone to spend time attending to this amazing machine. Also obtainable is the impressive scanning speed of up to 20 pages and 40 images per minute respectively.
In front of this hp scanjet pro 2500 f1 flatbed scanner, you’ll have two line LCD screen and buttons that provide the space for functional controls. For example, you can use pre-existing profiles to recurring jobs that often have the same exact output requirements. The design of 12.3 pounds looks very strong even from a distance. At the point of purchase you get two discs containing the required software.
In addition to HP Scan Utility, Twain, WIA and Readlris Pro 14 drivers, you’ll also get Cardliris Pro 5.5 for business card scanning.
Based on the availability of these drivers, you may not need to buy a separate business card scanner for home or office use. These capabilities built into it helps to provide even higher value for the price.
With this product you have the option to send your scanned output to SharePoint, Email, Dropbox, local drive or any other compatible custom location.
For letters, legal, executing and business card scanning, supported paper size is up to 122 inches.
Note that you can only use USB 3.0 in this flatbed scanner. So there isn’t availability of Ethernet port for network supported scanning. And this machine can scan in colorful output s as well.
HP Scanjet 3970 Flatbed Scanner
Looking for cheap HP color scanner to buy online or offline, here is one good option you should consider. HP Scanjet 3970 Flatbed Scanner price as the time of this writing is still selling under $60. If that is what you want, go check it out on Amazon today.
At the point of purchase you get a transparent material adapter on this one. This product weighs about 5.06 pounds. And it has cool and aesthetically attractive design too.
But because of the size, it won’t fit well on top of medium sized office table. The main competing product with lots of similar features is the Canon ImageFormula DR-C240 which sells above $400. Another comparable product is the HP scanjet Pro 3500 which comes out a bit pricey as well.
With full 15 watt power availability you’ll be ready to start getting 10 – 40 seconds scan speeds. Unlike the first one reviewed above, Scanjet 3970 make use of USB 2.0 interface.
Maximum document size supported is 8.5 x 11.7 inches.
DPI scan resolution which has to do with the output quality stands at 2400 x 2400. Some of of the supported objects that you can scan with it include books, film, plain paper and slides. For people that are keenly interested in HP flatbed scanner for windows, be informed now that this of the best compatible options. And it works with Mac OS 9.1 and above.
In an office where the use of local languages is the norm, this product works in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Spanish languages. English is also not left out. So you can choose what suits you and your office staff or colleagues. For seamless setup and operations, the software meant for this product includes Adobe Acrobat Reader, HP Instant Scan Share, HP Memories Disc Creator, drivers and utilities.
Minimum RAM size is 128 MB. This product is Energy Star compliant and you’ll get one year warranty when you order. If you are the price conscious this one will help you get the job done especially for photos and light documents. Directly from Amazon, you can have it delivered to your doorstep within 48 hours or less.
Epson Perfection V600 Flatbed Scanner
Based on our research, this one seems to be the best seller in the list. This follows the 87% satisfaction level and user rate seen during research for this product. And with all the cool features you can get from Epson perfection v600 flatbed scanner, it is relatively more affordable if you check out other flatbed scanner comparison.
People who mainly interested in flatbed scanner replacement could find this one to be the best option within reach; especially if you have Epson brand before.
According to the manufacturers, you can create extraordinary enlargements from films with 6400 x 9600 DPI resolution.
For real Apple fans who may be particularly interested in Mac compatible Espon scanner, Perfection V600 got all you need. Practically, you can scan photo, document and film as you please. As for output options, you can choose to create PDF and push to email or any other location of choice.
If you have a reason to choose Epson but think the price of this one is beyond your current budget, consider going for Epson Perfection V500 flatbed scanner which is confirmed to be cheaper.
Just around the LCD control panel, there are four buttons meant for each preferred function at a time. First, one of the buttons brings up the scan utility on your computer. The other three are for copying, emailing and saving scan files in the format you want.
However, this is not one of those flatbed scanners with automatic document feeder.
So the whole operation still needs manual input. From inside the Epson perfection v600 manual, you’ll get complete information on how to select the preferred operating mode suited for your needs. In this regard you get options like Full Auto Mode, Home Mode, Office Mode and Professional Mode.
Through the driver you get software based and hardware dust removal options. The hardware option here is what they refer as Digital ICE.
In terms of scanning speed, you can get 4 by 6 photos or light documents scanned within 30 seconds or less. This is based on the test results uncovered during our research. Some past customer reviews also confirms this speed factor. Consequently, it adds up to the satisfaction level mentioned earlier at the beginning of this Epson perfection v600 flatbed scanner review.
Like many other models from this same brand, what you get with this product in terms of warranty is one year. Interestingly, the cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) makes this product one of the best environmentally friendly scanners under $300.
Epson FastFoto FF-640 Photo Scanner
When it comes to all things scanning, what we have found is that use case specific products often perform better than all in one counterpart. In the context of this article some examples that come to mind are business card scanners, sheetfed document scanners and mobile photo scanners.
Whether for home, office or professional use cases, Epson photo scanner helps to produce high quality photo outputs. Hence this is the exact thing it was built for. For many interesting reasons home users and professional photographers will find this very useful. Even though this product has the capabilities of scanning documents as well, its photo outputs look pretty much outstanding.
Among many other features that make this possible is the 600 dpi resolution. From the start, you’ll have the option of archiving your photos by subject, month or year is a searchable form.
Similar product that can deliver the same level of performance is Epson Perfection V39 or Plustek OpticFilm 8200i. Talking about flatbed scanner price, these two models are really cheaper than FastFoto FF-640.
Contrary to the design of other competing models, this one can fit perfectly on top of medium sized home office table. At 8.8 pounds weight, it is also very easy to move this scanner around.
In full capacity, this machine can hold up to 80 sheets while scanning through the automatic document feeder.
Assuming the intended use case warrants two sided scanning, this Epson scanner got you covered. For larger prints, this works really well but has to be one input at a time.
The software options available here is the Epson FastFoto utility.
Meanwhile, you can also download Epson Document Capture Pro and Abby FineReader Print which is a text recognition program. Within 30 seconds or less, you could have your 2 by 2 or 4 by 11.5 scans running smoothly without stress at all.
If you have questions about whether this product scans film negatives, the answer is no; it doesn’t do that. T is also worth noting that this is a Windows 10 compatible scanner.
Looking for where to buy Epson FastFoto FF-640, move straight to Amazon through the appropriate link above.
Canon CanoScan LiDE 110 Flatbed Scanner
For its compact design, light weight and high quality scanning functions, we added this one to the list of best flatbed scanners under $500. Obviously, this is more affordable than those Epson and HP document scanners that you can find above $1000 or more.
And most times, these expensive machines don’t do much more than what is obtaining from the ones you find here.
One of the key features that set canon Canoscan lide 110 apart is the absence of film scanning capability. So if you are interested in simple photo scans only, this one will do the job well without paying cost of extra features you won’t using at all.
Right in front of the scanner are four main operation buttons which provides for easy setup. With the USB connection, there isn’t any need cluttered wiring. Just one touch connection and you are good to go.
Like the preceding model in the series (Canon CanoScan LiDE 100), you get 2400 pixel per inch (PPi) optical resolution which provides for high quality scanning output.
The MP Navigator EX Scan utility comes with optical character recognition (OCR) which helps to provide clear and readable text output.
Other software included are the ScanGear and Solution Menu EX.
Through the Twain and WIA drivers, it becomes easy to experience seamless scanning from any Windows software. For example, you can begin to scan powerpoint slides, excel sheets and MS word documents within 20 seconds in or less. To speed things up, you may choose the Auto Scan which makes use of predefined settings.
That also means you should have the appropriate settings before making us of this particular feature of Canon canoscan lide 110.
Experienced users are very likely to find the adjustment of brightness, resolution and contrast very easy. The color restoration feature helps to bring faded spots in an image back to life.
This makes the idea of bring priceless memories back to life very appealing. Unlike the other models mentioned earlier, there is no automatic document feeder on this one.
Your intended use cases will determine whether to have the output in TIFF, JPEG or PDF. Inside the box, you get a Quick Starter Guide that will set you on the right track. Be sure to test it completely after arrival. Do not buy and keep until the allowed return duration is over.
From magazines to book, slides, photos and light documents, you’ll probably get what you want here without spending too money.
In my opinion, this is a perfect choice for home, not office users. For a full list of compatible devices, please visit the manufacturer’s website. Mac and old Windows users take note.
Canon CanoScan 9000f MKII Color Scanner
Most times when people are in active search for the best flatbed scanner reviews, they are very much likely to have one or few specific functionalities in mind. Perhaps, this fact applies to many other electronic product lines, not scanners only. And this is pretty much understandable.
Everyone wants to buy the exact product that will give them maximum value for money while performing the key functions intended before purchase.
Remember what I said about the absence of film scanning feature in the CanoScan LiDE 110? This one is the exact opposite.
While most of the common features and capabilities found in flatbed scanner are similar in these models, the Canon CanoScan 9000F MKii provides the ability to scan both film and negatives. So if scanning of such outputs matter really well to you, consider making the commitment to buy this one.
In fact this product looks more like all in one or multifunction scanner. By this I mean you can use same for home office, business and personal needs.
Hence it provides the capabilities for scanning business documents and photographs of all types.
With the 9600 x 9600 color dpi you are sure of getting impressively colorful outputs. For documents other than films, take note of the fact that the maximum resolution is 4800 x 4800.
Different from the ones that comes with four buttons this flatbed scanner offers seven buttons for different scanning options. And there is a quick lamp warm up that sets the perfect condition for high quality scans. In a relative damp environment, this is an important feature worth considering.
Just so you know, almost all the flatbed scanners in the CanoScan series have the warm up feature. Maximum document size that work well with this model is 8.5 x 11.7 inches.
So bear in mind that it won’t work with any document scanning need that is beyond this. With its 10.1 lbs and compact design, this is proven to be very suitable for medium sized office table. And it doesn’t take much space at all. Operating humidity is 10 – 90%.
Looking at all the impressive features of this product, another product that comes very close is Epson Perfection V700. However, it is very much expensive for many at a price point that is slightly above $1000.
For all users of Windows 2000, Windows 7, Windows 10, Vista and X, compatibility is not an issue to worry about. The USB connection interface makes things quick and easy. Mac users are also not left out on this one. At the point of purchase, you get 6 ft power cable, 5 ft USB cable and a Starter Guide.
Conclusion
As you might have noticed before now, one key benefit of reading the best flatbed scanner reviews like this is that you’ll have great options in a single page. Now, compare that with the research process of clicking from one page to the other in order to find what suitable for you in all ramifications.
And then by doing a simple flatbed scanner comparison, you may be able to some useful amount of money before or during the actual purchase.
Possibly, there could be a multifunction product that offers many things in one.
Going for such may be a bit prices, but it is never comparable to separate purchases of different products for each specific task. If you ever go though the best all in one printer reviews, you’ll understand more of what I mean here. As always, don’t forget to test everything immediately after purchase.