Canon imageFormula DR-2020U

Canon imageFormula DR-2020U

The Canon imageFormula DR-2020U ($645 direct) looks like nothing so much as a neatly sawed off top section from a desktop laser MFP - a flatbed scanner, automatic document feeder (ADF), front panel buttons, and LCD for menu text, with no printer attached. More important, the similarity extends to a deeper level as well, with a focus on scanning documents. However, the DR-2020U is a far better document scanner than most MFPs, and better in many ways than most similarly priced document scanners as well. If you need a flatbed document scanner for a small office or workgroup, it definitely belongs near the top of your short list. The DR-2020U offers lots of impressive features, including reasonably fast scans in general and exceptionally fast scans to searchable PDF files, but two features in particular make it unusually capable for the price. First, unlike most sub-$1,000 document scanners - including the Editors' Choice Canon imageFormula DR-2580C ($875, ), for example - the DR-2020U includes a flatbed, so it can scan bound material, like book and magazine pages, that can't fit through its 50-page ADF.