[ValentineC]

> Now I top-up with a home scanner attached to my LAN - if you're looking to buy a scanner for home, make sure you get one with an automatic document feeder that can do both sides at once so you can just chuck the papers in and hit go, then collect the PDFs from your network drive.

Any suggestions for one? I have a Canon P-208, but it's close to useless for batch scanning.

[slantyyz]

I'm partial to Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanners. It's worth paying the extra money for a Fujitsu, imo.

The only catch is that you are supposed to replace the pick roller and pad assembly every year or so.

I would recommend buying a couple of extras in advance, as they will get harder to find and more expensive as time goes on.

Having said that, I didn't replace my pick roller/pad assembly until after 9 years of operation. After a few years it would have trouble feeding multipage documents, but most of the stuff I was scanning was only one or two pages. When I did eventually replace those parts, the scanner was basically as good as new.

[mattlondon]

I have an HP OfficeJet one which I guess is kinda "prosumer" (cant remember the number - 8600 or something). The ADF works, but is single-sided so that is why I am urging others to learn from my mistake :-)

I know that the cheapish Canon Maxify printers do duplex ADF (the Canon Maxify MB5150 is what I plan to buy next time my current HP one runs out of ink since the ink costs almost as much as the printer!), but I cant recommend it since I've not used it yet.

HTH.

[nh2]

HP OfficeJet Pro 8620. It's an all-in-one, but interestingly the best scanner for such purposes I've found so far (I'd love to find a better one).

Scans both sides, up to 50 pages in a batch. Open-source drivers, works well with Linux. Ethernet. Can drop it on on your SMB share.