> What are handheld, flatbed and sheet fed scanners? What purpose is each
> useful for? What is recommended for SOHO? What are the price ranges? What
> are good brands?
...

These descriptions refer to the way that the target material is put in
front of the scanning mechanism of the device.  Handheld scanners are
just that - samll units that are held, and passed over the media to be
read. Some specialty units (photo and, business card scanners) may be
dual purpose because they detatch from their bases, also fall into this
category.  This type of unit is good for oversize documents that won't
fit into the other two types.  They are often portable so they can be
carried to libraries, etc. when you can't take the material with you.
They are usually pretty simple to operate.  On the down side, they
usually have pretty narrow scan heads so it will usually take two to
three passes to cover an entire 8.5" wide page.  This means for a full
page, you have to paste/tape multiple scansheets together physically or
in software depending.  They are handheld, so you must guide it straight
and at a steady pace to get a good scan.  This may take some practice.
I have no idea what they cost these days.  I haven't seen one (or
noticed one) advertised for a while since the price of flatbeds has come
down.  I couldn't even recommend a brand.  I remember that Mustek was a
popular brand several years ago, though.

Flatbed scanners are stationary units where the subject is placed on a
covered 'table' much like most copiers.  They are arguably the most
versatile style.  They can handle any document up to the size of the
'table'.  They can handle books, magazines, folded pamphlets, etc.,
without any real damage to the the scanned media (spine) if proper care
is taken.  They are relatively inexpensive for reasonable quality output
these days. Can be found in resolutions from the lowest to the highest.
Probably the most popular of the three right now.  On the otherhand,
they can take up a lot of room.  Their minimum width and depth will be
somewhat greater than the minimum size item they can accomodate, usually
usually 8.5" x 11" for a SOHO up to 11" x 17" or possibly larger, so
they take up quite a bit of desktop space.  Except for large and/or
bulky items, the cover must be opened and closed for each scan which can
be a nusiance if there are more than a few to be done. Sometimes there
is no alternative.  These days, they range in price from around $50 on
special to several hundred dollars depending on features, size,
resolution, etc.  Some brands to consider are Microtek, HP, Mustek,
Umax, Canon and several others in no particular order at this time.

Sheet feed scanners receive their material the way that facsimilie
machines normally do -- one or more sheets can be put into a tray or
hopper and are drawn through the machine one sheet at a time.  They are
good for single sheet documents/photos.  They are more compact than
flatbeds, some have even been incorporated into keyboards for
convenience.  Some have feed trays so that a stack of documents can be
loaded and scanned automatically.  They are 'limited' by the fact that
they can only scan single sheets, so in order to scan something from a
book or magazine for example, it must first be photocopied or ripped/cut
out.  This also makes scanning small items awkward or difficult to
impossible with some units.  Again, I don't know the price ranges of
this type of unit these days.  They are not as popular as flatbeds, but
a good choice if you ONLY have to scan single sheets of a size the unit
is designed to accomodate.  I'm not as sure of the brands in this
category, but Visioneer, and the same manufactureres as flatbeds come to
mind.

For versatility, I would think that a flatbed would be the best choice
for a SOHO.  It can handle everything from business cards to legal
documents if it is of the right size.  Resolution shouldn't be a problem
for images or documents and there should be OCR software to handle most
material.  There should be a wide variety of brands/models to choose
from in parallel, SCSI and now, USB to choose from.  Although, if you're
ONLY gonna handle a small range of document sizes, a sheet feed model
may be worth consideration.  I don't know your circumstances so it's
difficult to make a definitive recommendation.  Wish I could be more
helpful, but there it is.  HTH

--
Larry Atlow                          Internet:[log in to unmask]
Microcomputer Analyst                Phonenet: (601) 264-9639

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