"PC Magazine," a well-known U.S. computer magazine published since 1982, rated scanners in the summer of 2010 based on eight sub-ratings that included value, usability, photo, slide and film scan quality, and the optical character recognition -- or OCR. The highest rated scanners were Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini, Canon imageFormula DR-2020U and Visioneer Strobe 500.
Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini
Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini is a portable high-performance scanner. Although it's somewhat large for a portable scanner (1.6 inches by 11 inches by 3.7 inches, weighing 2.1 pounds), the scanner delivers a fast scanning speed, features an automatic document feeder, and can scan both sides of a page. These advantages more than compensate for its bulkiness.
Canon imageFormula DR-2020U
Canon imageFormula DR-2020U received its high rating because of extraordinarily fast text recognition, duplex scanning (scanning both sides at once) and an automatic document feeder. However, it still has two minor disadvantages. First the installation process is a bit cumbersome (you have to install three programs that from three separate disks). Secondly, when a user presses the "Email" button located on the scanner's front panel, the scanner automatically sends an email to a predetermined recipient, instead of launching an email message on the computer, giving the user the ability to change the recipient's email address or write something in the body and title of the message.
Visioneer Strobe 500
Visioneer Strobe 500 can be set up as both portable and desktop scanner. Like the two Canon scanners, Visioneer Strobe 500 also features an automatic document feeder. In addition, this scanner has a fast text recognition capability and automatically enhances hard-to-read originals.
