So, here I am, in the market for an A3 scanner, to save doing things in two halves and stitching them together. We aren't talking high quality here - with the sort of stuff I do, 75dpi is usually fine, 150dpi occasionally, and in all the time I've had my present scanner, I have never gone above 300dpi.
Obvious choice, then, is the old version of the Mustek (not either of the more expensive higher resolution newer models) which I noticed at CCL - who I've used in the past, happy with them - at £84.13 including VAT and delivery. Currently five in stock, but if they happened to run out before I got around to clicking the button, also in Chertsey Computers at about the same price.
I'm never averse to saving money though, so I had a prod around ebay. For £56.98 total (as a "Buy it now" fixed price), I can get the parallel port version, a refurbished one from a retailer who has 22 of these to get rid of, which means rebooting into Windows when I want to use it - but there are a few reported problems in Linux with the USB version too, so I might have to do that anyway. For the amount of A3 scanning I'm going to do, not really a hassle, so that's under consideration.
A USB one was on offer about a week or so ago. The seller's description made it quite clear which model it was, the old 300x600 version...
It went for £150 - plus £10 carriage, so £160 really, not far short of twice the price that you can get it for from CCL.
A second one came up. Again, quite clear which model it was - and missing the power supply, so unless you're like me and have a box full of these, you can add a fiver for that.
It has just gone for £125 - plus £10 carriage, so £135 total, say £140 if you have to buy the power supply.
I can only conclude that there is an army of complete nincompoops out there who have no idea of normal retail prices and/or can't read, and/or have never heard of Google!
Now, when I get the A3 one, I was intending to hang on to my old Microtek Scanmaker 4800 for everyday A4 use, but...
...perhaps I should change my mind.
It cost me all of £25 secondhand about five years ago, I think it was about £60 new at the time if you shopped around, it's not a well known brand like Canon or Epson which everyone knows the prices of, so I should be able to get at least £200 for it on ebay, shouldn't I?

Obvious choice, then, is the old version of the Mustek (not either of the more expensive higher resolution newer models) which I noticed at CCL - who I've used in the past, happy with them - at £84.13 including VAT and delivery. Currently five in stock, but if they happened to run out before I got around to clicking the button, also in Chertsey Computers at about the same price.
I'm never averse to saving money though, so I had a prod around ebay. For £56.98 total (as a "Buy it now" fixed price), I can get the parallel port version, a refurbished one from a retailer who has 22 of these to get rid of, which means rebooting into Windows when I want to use it - but there are a few reported problems in Linux with the USB version too, so I might have to do that anyway. For the amount of A3 scanning I'm going to do, not really a hassle, so that's under consideration.
A USB one was on offer about a week or so ago. The seller's description made it quite clear which model it was, the old 300x600 version...
It went for £150 - plus £10 carriage, so £160 really, not far short of twice the price that you can get it for from CCL.
A second one came up. Again, quite clear which model it was - and missing the power supply, so unless you're like me and have a box full of these, you can add a fiver for that.
It has just gone for £125 - plus £10 carriage, so £135 total, say £140 if you have to buy the power supply.
I can only conclude that there is an army of complete nincompoops out there who have no idea of normal retail prices and/or can't read, and/or have never heard of Google!
Now, when I get the A3 one, I was intending to hang on to my old Microtek Scanmaker 4800 for everyday A4 use, but...
...perhaps I should change my mind.
It cost me all of £25 secondhand about five years ago, I think it was about £60 new at the time if you shopped around, it's not a well known brand like Canon or Epson which everyone knows the prices of, so I should be able to get at least £200 for it on ebay, shouldn't I?























