While one-sheet-at-a-time flatbed scanners have gotten a lot less expensive in recent years, high-end document scanners have held some of their equally high-end pricing. While most users wouldn't call the Xerox DocuMate 262 and its $1,200 MSRP "cheap," it's much less expensive than most scanners in its class.

That class includes the ability to handle high-speed scans, and the DocuMate 262 can scan up to 33 pages per minute or 66 images per minute in duplex mode (the scanner features dual CCD so it can scan both sides of a sheet at once).

That image number is for black and white images at 200-dpi scanning, but even with sharper resolution or moving to color, the scans don't slow down much. You can get over 40 images per minute scanned in color at 150 dpi, and the DocuMate 262 can automatically convert scanned pages into PDF files for easy verbatim distribution. The scanner offers up to 600-dpi scans at 48-bit color.

Xerox includes the excellent OCR (optical character recognition) software OmniPage Pro. You can use the software to create text-searchable PDF as well as directly scan documents into Microsoft Word.

With a footprint of 6X13 inches, the DocuMate 262 doesn't take up a lot of desktop space. The paper tray and the automatic document feeder (which holds 50 pages) bloom out a bit, so you need to have some room on the front and back of the scanner, but it takes up less space than the average flatbed. It also weighs in at only 8.6 pounds, making it fairly portable from desk to desk.

The DocuMate 262 features One Touch scanning, letting you preselect destinations for your scanned documents so that when it comes time to scan, you can load your paper and press a button, and the DocuMate 262 takes care of the rest.

Installing the scanner is simple enough. Just plug it into an available USB 1.1 or 2.0 port, install the software, and it's ready to scan.

The speed and capability of the Xerox DocuMate 262 would be overkill for an average home user, but if your small office needs a high-end document scanner at an affordable price, the DocuMate 262 gets the job done.


Pros: Very fast, excellent OCR.
Cons: Still fairly expensive.

Warranty
1 year limited