Frequently Asked Questions - Scanners

There are four main classes of scanner that we would recommend for use with TeleForm.

• Network Scanners
• Entry Level
• Mid Range
• High End

Although it is possible to get much cheaper scanners from Canon, HP and other makes, these are primarily flatbed scanners designed for single page scanning. Even if they do have sheet feeders they are usually designed for a couple of pages per day and won't stand up to constant use. We would strongly advise against attempting to use one of these consumer devices and to invest in a proper high speed document scanner.

Network Scanners

If high throughput of more than a few hundred pages per day is required then we would always recommend dedicated high throughput scanners. In some cases though, if relatively low throughput is required, Network Scanners are an ideal solution. They allow the people scanning the forms to submit them with a near one button process. This is ideal if scanning is to be done throughout several branches or locations and the staff submitting the forms are not involved in the verification process. They can simply walk up, place the pages on the feeder press a button and walk away.

The HP 9250C Digital Sender is an ideal unit for this kind of installation and costs approximately £2000.

Entry Level

In the entry level range of scanners you are limited to A4 only, although most scanners are duplex. SCSI has traditionally offered a more robust and efficient connection method but with the growing popularity and cost effective nature of USB this is now taking over on the entry level scanners.

These scanners can usually take up to 50 pages at a time, will scan in duplex at up to 20 pages per minute. They are suitable for small systems where only a few hundred pages are scanned each day.

A good example of such a scanner is the Canon DR2510C, which costs approximately £500.

Mid Range

The mid range scanners increase the scanning speeds, the number of pages that fit in the automatic document feeders and provide A3 options. The Canon DR4010C is ideal for A4 scanning and costs approximately £2200.

Where as the Canon DR5010C is ideal for A3 scanning and costs approximately £3000.

At the higher end the DR9050 can scan at 90 pages per minute in A4 and supports A3 also.

High End

At the very high end there are production scanners that support scanning hundreds of thousands of pages per day at rates of over 100 pages per minute. The Kodak Ngenuity range can do this and supports scanning 700 pages in one go. However the top of the range Ngenuity 9150 costs over £20,000.