Scanner Question Slightly Off Topic

[hershon]

I've been using HP Scanjet 5200C for at least 5 years now & the quality has always been excellent. One problem I've been having for over a year is about 25% of the time, it won't scan at all but if I reboot a couple of times eventually it will work again. I am convinced this is not a software problem but a problem with the hardware. The scanner originally cost me around $250 or so new. I got to the point where I'm sick of this.

What I did without doing some further research (i.e. read reviews) was order a new HP Scanner 3970 for around $58 new including shipping on Ebay, about $50 less what it would cost me retail. However, after reading some reviews, I'm having second thoughts & am debating not opening the box, taking a loss & reselling it on Ebay.

My question is, as this is a fairly new HP scanner, will I get much better or the same results of my scanner that is 5 years old? If so, then its worth me opening up and trying. Any thoughts, or recommendations? I want to stick with HP. If you have a better model to recommend please let me know.

[stan2]

if it's for photos, flatbed scanners are limited in their ability to capture tonal range, compared to dedicated film/slide scanners. but the gap seems to be narrowing, especially if you're willing to pay around $400-500. look for dmax of around 4.0 or better. cheap flatbeds (under a couple hundred or even more) won't provide that spec probably, because they aren't serious photo scanners. i think you have to go into that $4-500 price range for serious photo scanning. for everyday photo work - internet posing, copies of old stuff for relatives to share, eg - a lot of cheaper scanners should be fine, as they would be for document scanning.