Decent Scanner for under $100?

[dvdmon 0]

I've been wanting to go paperless (mostly) for a few years now. Initially it seemed I'd have to spend at least $250 on a scanner with a sheet feeder and Evernote software, but the more I read it seems like you don't need specific software for Evernote if you can set up a "watch folder"? So I guess I'm wondering really if this is true or if the software for scanners that is specific to Evernote has any value add to it or if I can truly cross that off my list?

Also, it seems like there's much more of a selection of scanners that have multi-sheet adf as part of an All-in-one printer/copier/scanner device. I actually have an All-in-One Epson but it's an older unit without ADF. It has a flatbed that I use right now for occasional scanning. But there seem to be a bunch out there for $100-150 or even less than $100. I know to some extent you get what you pay for, but since cost is definitely an issue with the budget I have, I'm wondering if there is anything that will work ok that is $100 or even less. One that I've seen is the PIXMA MX410. Some of these units state that they can do 2-sided printing, but don't specifically say 2-sided scanning, so I'm wonderin if I should just assume one implies the other?

I think having one of these will actually motivate me to start my project of going paperless, as the hurdle of having to scan everything sheet by sheet is too much at this moment. Even with the convenience of a multi-sheet feeder, it's still going to take months getting my filing cabinet emtied out! :-/

Thanks for any words of advice and wisdom!

[dvdmon 0]

Well, it's not under $100, but it looks like it has double-sided adf. Pixma MX892: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-MX892-Wireless-Printer-Scanner/dp/B007CGULSQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344865685&sr=8-1&keywords=pixma+mx892

Same price at my local Best Buy, so I may go out later and pick one up. Let me know if I'm making a horrible mistake. ;-)

[TechBarber 100]

Well, it's not under $100, but it looks like it has double-sided adf. Pixma MX892: http://www.amazon.co...rds=pixma mx892

Same price at my local Best Buy, so I may go out later and pick one up. Let me know if I'm making a horrible mistake. ;-)

Do you have a smart phone? If so, you may want to consider an app like Genius Scan. These apps let you "scan" a picture onto your phone using your phone's camera and a lot of them link up with Evernote quite well. It sounds horrible but some of these apps are actually quite good. You may want to try them out before taking the plunge on a scanner.

[dvdmon 0]

Do you have a smart phone? If so, you may want to consider an app like Genius Scan. These apps let you "scan" a picture onto your phone using your phone's camera and a lot of them link up with Evernote quite well. It sounds horrible but some of these apps are actually quite good. You may want to try them out before taking the plunge on a scanner.

Yes, I have a smartphone, but would never use it to "scan" pages, as it would be pretty slow and cumbersome compared to an actual scanner. I did in fact buy the MX892 and it's been very good so far. I do have issues with it jamming if I try to put in stacks of paper that have previously been stapled and thus kind of "pressed together" more than usual. The other annoyance is that it doesn't seem to like using the sheet feeder for documents that aren't 8.5x11. It could be that there's a trick to doing non-standard sizes, I don't know I'll have to look into it. Other than those two gripes, it works great, does both single and double sided scanning. I thought the double-sided functionality would be really useful but as it turns out probably 99% of what I've scanned, maybe even more, is single-sided. Oh well!