Even if you are running a small home office, a scanner is an essential device for managing your paperwork and staying more organized.
Here we walk about the 5 best scanners for home offices that you can get.
Digitizing your important documents will not only help you to be more organized, but it will also allow you to go completely paperless.
Some of the benefits of using a scanner for small offices are:
- Things are a lot more organized.
- It saves a lot of space; you don’t need cupboards and drawers filled with paper.
- Documents are securely stored.
- Finding information or a document is easier and convenient.
- Improves customer services.
- It can save a lot of precious time.
Note that here we only cover scanners. If you are looking for all in one machine, we recommend reading this list.
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Comparison Table of Top Scanners for Home Offices
| Model | Type | ADF | Duplex | Speed | Connectivity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brother ADS-2700W | High Speed | 50 | Yes | 35 ppm | USB, WiFi, Ethernet | See details |
| Brother ADS-1700W | High Speed | 20 | Yes | 25 ppm | USB, WiFi | See details |
| Epson DS-1630 | Flatbed with ADF | 50 | Yes | 25 ppm | USB, Ethernet | See details |
| Epson Perfection V39 | Flatbed | - | No | - | USB | See details |
| Doxie Go SE | Portable Manual Sheetfed | - | No | 8 seconds | USB, WiFi, SD Card | See details |
List of Best Scanners for Home Offices in 2020
We have selected the following as the best scanners that you can use for micro and small home offices
- Brother ADS-2700W – High Speed For High Volume Scanning
- Brother ADS-1700W – Mid Range High Speed Scanner
- Epson DS-1630 – Versatile ADF with Flatbed
- Epson Perfection V39 – Budget Flatbed Scanner
- Doxie Go SE – Rechargeable Portable Standalone Scanner
Short Reviews
Lets have a look at short reviews of our selected scanners.
1. Brother ADS-2700W – High Speed For High Volume Scanning
Brother ADS-2700W needs absolutely no introduction. This is the staple high speed scanner for offices that have a large scanning volume.
The best thing about this scanner is that compared to other scanners of the same category i.e Epson ES 400, this not only offers a WiFi but also a comfortable touchscreen for navigation at almost the same price.
Brother ADS-2700W has an Automatic Document Feeder that can handle batch scanning of 50 sheets at a time. It has a speed of 35 pages per minute and therefore, can scan loads of documents in no time.
It can scan average documents, cards, receipts as well as photos at 600 dpi. 600 DPI is not great for enlargements but for archiving and sharing it is more than enough.
Furthermore, it offers single pass duplex mechanism. Therefore, it can scan both sides of the documents automatically as well.
All in all, for a simple home office user, this may seem like an overkill. This is an expensive device after all.
Therefore, you must have a lot of documents to scan to justify this purchase.
In case if you do have a high volume scanning needs, then this is certainly among the best scanners for home office use.
Also Read: Best Scanners for Multiple Photos
2. Brother ADS-1700W – Mid Range High Speed Scanner
While the Brother ADS-2700W above may be too much for a small home office, this is a smaller product that may interest you if you low scanning needs.
It is cheaper than the ADS-2700W above and therefore, can fit most average office users’ budget.
Like the ADS-2700W above, this is also a scanner that features an Automatic Document Feeder. However, its capacity and speed is inferior.
It offers batch scanning support for upto 20 documents at a time and has a speed of 25 ppm.
The scanner also offers single pass duplex mechanism for scanning both sides of the documents.
As such, this is excellent for those with average scanning needs. On top of that, this is also quite compact and therefore can also be easily carried around. It can easily fit into any corner of your office as well.
The scanner offers both USB as well as WiFi – which for a scanner of its price and specs is quite respectable.
The cherry on cake, of course, is the touchscreen navigation that is found rarely on scanners for this class,
All in all, for moderate scanning needs, this is among the best scanners for home offices.
Also Read: Best Scanners for Home Photos
3. Epson DS-1630 – Versatile ADF with Flatbed
Epson DS-1630 is a versatile scanner as it features both an Automatic Document Feeder scanner as well as a Flatbed for multiple use cases.
Flatbed is a good for those who want to scan delicate and worn out documents that need extra care. They also have a much higher DPI as compared to ADF scanners. As such, they are great for capturing more pixel detail.
Unfortunately, flatbeds are slow and for a busy office not really so efficient.
Therefore, to save the day, it comes the robust 25 ppm ADF with a 50 sheet capacity. The 50 sheet batch scanning is quite the respectable number. It also supports double sided scanning thanks to the single pass duplexing mechanism.
If you have a load of the documents like receipts and reports, then you can use the ADF instead of the flatbed. If you have ID cards and documents like passport to scan, you can use the flatbed.
The scanner offers support for USB and Ethernet connection. Therefore, it is suitable both for a single person office use or for a larger workgroup.
Overall, if you seek multiple functions in a scanner, then this is one of the best scanners for home offices.
4. Epson Perfection V39 – Budget Flatbed Scanner
This is for the budget oriented home office users. It offers minimal specs and is therefore excellent for those who have very limited scanning needs.
If you plan to scan a few documents every now and then, then there is no need to invest in a high speed sheetfed scanner.
In fact, flatbed scanners have a much higher scan quality than ADF. Even the best ADF scanners max out at 600 optical resolution. This, on the other hand, despite being so affordable has an optical resolution of 4800 DPI.
As such, not only does it capture more details, if you scan photos, you would be able to enlarge them at a much greater degree.
Unfortunately, this is a slow scanner. Besides taking a few seconds to perform one scan, you would have to do some manual work as well.
However, speed is something that you should be willing to sacrifice if you want a budget option.
One excellent feature that it offers is the Scan to Cloud. While most high end scanners most certainly have this spec, to find this on a budget scanner is a luxury.
Scanning to cloud allows you to synchronize all your scans automatically on to the cloud service such as Google Drive.
Overall, if you want to keep things simple and economical, then this is one of the best scanners for home offices.
Also Read: Best Scanners for Large Artwork
5. Doxie Go SE – Rechargeable Portable Standalone Scanner
This is a peculiar little scanner. It is completely different in terms of operation as compared to the rest above.
Basically, this is a battery operated rechargeable and a portable scanner that can perform without the need to connect to a PC or a laptop.
As such, this is a standalone device. It accepts SD card (comes with the package) where the device saves all the scans without having the need to have any direct connection with a computer.
It can scan and store upto 4,000 documents before synchronization is needed. You can easily transfer files via USB, WiFi or via the SD Card itself. If you have built in memory card slot in your PC or laptop, you can transfer via the SD card.
The point to note here is that this standalone scanner gives you the freedom to move. Therefore, if you travel a lot for your business, then this is highly useful.
Its mode of functionality is simple. This is manual sheetfed scanner and therefore, you have to feed a single page, receipt, business card or photo at a time. The rollers will take the document in for scanning.
Note that this is not a duplex scanner and will not scan both sides of the document.
Unfortunately though, this is a rather expensive device for a manual sheetfed scanner.
However, if you value mobility for your business, then this is one of the best scanners for home offices.
FAQ
Which Scanner is Good for Your Small Business?
Well, it depends on individual needs. Mostly two kinds are popular, and both have their pros and cons lets dig it deeper.
ADF
Automatic Document Feeder is an excellent device for those who need to scan a lot of document daily. It allows you to feed a certain amount of papers in it feeder and it automatically process each page. You don’t have to put each page inside the scanner.
Pros
- These are usually high-speed scanners that allow you to get through a stack of papers within minutes.
- Reduces manual work involved.
- You can do other chores especially if you have a home base office.
- ADF usually configure both sides at a time, mean they are a duplex scanner.
Cons
- It can not scan oddly shaped documents.
- It may damage the paper if it is too old or an antique kind of piece. You can’t take the risk of putting it into the feeder.
Flatbed scanners
Many people find flatbed scanners to be the best scanners for home offices. This is especially the case for offices dedicated to graphic designing.
Flatbed scanners have a glass panel. You have to place the document or picture on the glass panel for scanning.
In some of the scanners, the lid is even removable, allowing you to scan big brochures, newspapers, or oddly shaped documents. Flatbed scanners can even scan art pieces, flowers or other 3D objects.
Pros
- Allows oddly shaped papers.
- Allows even 3D objects.
- You can place even very old pictures or documents without running the risk of harming the original.
Cons
- Involves a lot of manual work, you need to place each paper on glass panel one by one.
- May read only one side.
- Takes more time scanning as compared to ADF.
What Things to Consider While Buying a Scanner for a Small Office
Following things can help you select the best scanners for home offices.
Assess your workload
While choosing a scanner for your home office, it’s a good idea to make a random analysis of how much you are going to use it. You don’t need some heavy duty machine if all you need to scan is a few documents.
It will be needless and an over-expenditure. You can choose a smart and portable device that works well and can be useful in many ways.
Some useful features that we look for in the best scanners for home offices include:
- It should have an ADF (automatic document feeder) if you are looking to scan a lot of papers.
- Wireless connectivity is another useful option especially if you have a small working area. You can place the scanner anywhere where it keeps working without coming into anyone’s way.
- See if it can integrate to different systems at your workplace. Some scanners support Windows, and some allow both Windows and Mac system. See if you require anything particular.
- Check the duty cycle. It’s a good idea to check the duty cycle of your scanner before choosing. It can cause trouble if you continually exceed its duty cycle limit.
- It has to have the required software as OCR or ICE technology if you are looking to scan documents and photos.
Final Words
In this review we checked out some of the best scanners for home offices. You will note that most of the scanner we mentioned here have an Automatic Document Feeder for batch scanning.
These scanners are generally more expensive than single function flatbed scanners.
However, the point to note here is that a scanner for small for micro office environment does not have to be expensive.
It all depends upon your paper volume. Perhaps you are in the business that handles a lot of paper work on a daily basis. In that case, the faster the better.
Otherwise, even a simple flatbed scanner would do just fine if your needs are limited to a few scans per day.
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