Support - Vendors and Devices - General Comments
The Golden Rule of TWAIN Development
Don't believe anything until you see it working with your application on your computer with your OS, with your chosen TWAIN device and TWAIN driver, running overnight.
- Avision: Please avoid. Nice hardware, dismal TWAIN support.
- Brother: Great prices, hundreds of models, poor TWAIN support. Recommended only when: (1) low cost is essential (2) speed is relatively unimportant and (3) you don't mind using the scanner's UI for scanning.
- Canon: We recommend Canon desktop (DR-series) and departmental scanners, with minor reservations. The IR-series also work well with EZTwain Pro.
- DCT: Their small-footprint DocketPort scanners usually have good TWAIN drivers, and the company is responsive to TWAIN developer feedback. It looks like the Ambir scanners are rebranded DocketPorts.
- Epson: We've had good experience with Epson flatbeds, their TWAIN drivers seem to be solid and attentive to the TWAIN standard. We especially like the Epsons for quantitative analysis applications. The GT-S series (GT-S50, GT-S80) are good ADF scanners with minor TWAIN issues.
- Fujitsu: We strongly recommend the Fujitsu fi-series. See our specific comments on the Fujitsu page.
- HP: Produces a bewildering number of devices and drivers, no two alike, and it seems that each one has a different TWAIN problem. If you use any but the most basic TWAIN features, be prepared to test each HP model and sometimes each driver version. Please especially avoid the HP ScanJet 5590 and 8270.
- Kodak: has a serious commitment to TWAIN. Some models have peculiarities that affect a few applications. Kodak is highly responsive to TWAIN developer issues.
- Panasonic: We have relatively little experience with these scanners, but several customers have been very happy with various KVx models.
- Syscan: Has changed its name to DCT, and replaced the TravelScan and ScanShell models with DocketPort models.
- Umax: Poor software quality control, and notoriously unresponsive to TWAIN developers. We recommend avoiding Umax.
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Visioneer: We remain skeptical of their combination flatbed+ADF models, but recommend their pure ADF units such as the Patriot 480, Strobe XP 450 and similar models.
Note: The Xerox Documate scanners are rebranded Visioneers - we recommend the Documate 252 and similar, and recommend avoiding all others.
- Xerox: The Xerox Documate series (250, 252, 510, 520) are Visioneer scanners - see above.