Canon DR-G1100

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Canon DR-G1100	A3	11.7 in. x 16.5 in.	Hi-Speed USB 2.0	100	200	500 sheets	25000 sheets	Click for more info

The Canon DR-G1100 is the only production scanner to make it onto this list. This is not the cheapest scanner here, it actually costs a lot of times more than any of the rest.

But this is actually one of the best document scanners I have every seen. Specs are good, not the most impressive. It’s another A3 scanner, that has a scanning speed of around 100 pages per minute. When scanning in duplex the number of images processed every minute should be around 200.

The Auto document feeder size is around 500 pages, which means that even when scanning constantly, you’ll get a 5 minute break between loading intervals. This time will let you do other tasks, or even catch your breath for a few minutes.

This Canon Document Scanner is ideal for a daily duty cycle that is around 25000 sheets. While this may seem like a marketing number, I can bet you that you can easily reach this amount day after day. It just works so well and it rarely stops.

The estimated life of the rollers should be around 300.000 pages. I can tell you that we’ve scanned in excess of 400.000 and they would still hold reasonably well.

One of the achiles heel of the scanner was always the software. Now though, you can run it with the CaptureonTouch solution and you should be ok. Definitely stay away from the old Capture Perfect.

Canon DR-M160II

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Canon DR-M160II	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 2.0	60	120	60 sheets	7,000 sheets	Click for more info

While the Canon ImageFormula DR-M160 II is an A4 scanner, this is the closest thing to the perfect office scanner. It’s small and light, weighing in around 7 lbs.

The scanning speed in simplex mode is around 60 pages per minute, which also makes it quite speedy for such a small device. It connects through a USB 2.0 plug, but it will keep up with the scanning process fairly well.

Other elements such as multifeed detection are also available and they seem to work quite well. Roller life expectancy should be around 200.000 pages, but it depends also on the type of paper you are scanning.

The rest of the usual features such as automatic color detection, automatic blank page detection or even automatic rotation come as standard with the scanner.

Software wise, on this color duplex scanner you should be able to run the Kofax VRS 5.1 AIPE but only in demo mode, as you see with other Canon scanners. You can purchase this separately though if you think it will help your task.

Canon DR-M140

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Canon DR-M140	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 2.0	40	80	50 sheets	6,000 sheets	Click for more info

Let’s start with the small A4 scanner, the Canon DR-M140. As you can definitely see this is an entry level scanner, with an estimated daily load of around 6.000 sheets.

Reaching this volume is not easy though, as the speed is around 40 pages per minute in simplex mode and the ADF capacity is around 50 sheets. Therefore you will have to reload the ADF many times until you reach the daily duty cycle.

The scanner will connect with USB to your Windows PC or Mac, which makes it useful as a desktop scanner. You won’t be able to connect this scanner to your local network or to a wireless network.

The cosumable should last around 200.000 sheets, which is not bad, considering this is still a cheap scanner. I would advise to start paying attention to multifeeds after passing 150.000 sheets with your rollers.

Yes, it does have a multifeed sensor, but you don’t want your scanner to constantly stop because of worn out rollers. One of our best scanner tips is to turn it off when you start to see frequent stalls in the paper feeder. Therefore always make sure they are clean, and if they don’t work properly, maybe it’s time to replace them.

Last but not least we have the software included with the scanner. One of the new additions to the software is the Capture on Touch solution. It’s a big evolution over the old Capture Perfect software. You can find TWAIN and ISIS drivers for both Windows 10 and Mac OS X on Canon’s site. The standard product warranty lasts for 1 year.

Canon DR-C225WII

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Canon DR-C225WII	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 2.0, WiFi	25	50	30 sheets	1,500 sheets	Click for more info

The Canon DR-C225W II is a really small document scanner that has a scan size up to A4. There is no denying that this devices was built to handle really small batches of documents.

For example the document feeder ADF capacity is really small, it can only hold around 30 sheets. Then there is the scanning speed up to 25 ppm in simplex mode and 50 images when doing automatic duplex scanning.

One of the key features of this scanner is the Wifi connection. While it also works through USB 2.0, I just love that you can receive the scans without needing a cable attached to the scanner. The “W” in the imageformula dr-c225w name says that this version is a network scanner with Wifi compared to the standard version dr-c225 ii that is not.

As with most current document scanners that Canon makes, this also comes with the new Capture on Touch scanning software. This provides so much flexibility, when compared to the old and hard to use Capture Perfect software. This is a scanner for Mac and PC and Canon provides both drivers on their website.

Besides the elements above, I can definitely say that it has quite a few interesting features. For example it’s not missing the multi feed detection sensor, which is good to know.

At the same time, the scanner is able to output searchable PDF, by using the integrated OCR engine that comes in the box or is available to download from the Canon website.

You can also purchase optionals like a Flatbed Scanner Unit just like the Kodak Alaris models have. There are 2 versions available.

Canon DR-C240

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Canon DR-C240	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 2.0	45	90	60 sheets	4,000 sheets	Click for more info

The Canon Dr-C240 is another small Canon professional scanner, that is a bit faster than the previous listed scanners. I would say this is also a fairly good desktop scanner, that should let you process small batches without any issues.

Let’s start with the scanning speed. This should reach around 45 pages per minute, which is to closer to the high-speed scanners and I think is decent for such a small scanner. Then we have the feeder capacity, which can hold around 60 sheets. While this is not a large amount, it should be enough for an office environment. The sensor can output up to 600 dpi in scanning resolution. The image quality is more than enough for accurate OCR.

One thing that I am not a big fan of is the weight of this image scanner. At 9 lbs this is definitely not a heavy scanner, but for a small A4 scanner I was expecting a bit less.

As with other document scanners in this list, the software delivered with this scanner includes Capture on Touch and Capture Perfect. The old Capture Perfect would not be my first choice for a scanning software. But as you know, the Capture on touch is good enough for most of the jobs you throw at it. The document scanning software also has zonal OCR which you can use for document capture.

One thing you won’t do very often is to replace the consumables. Yes, this scanner has a consumable kit that will definitely last a long time, given that you won’t use this scanner as a production device.

Which is the best Canon document scanner?

We really had to think a bit when making this article. As I see it, we knew from the start which scanner we love and which gets our award. But we had to justify the price of the machine to the readers also.

Without any doubt in my mind, the Canon DR-G1100 is the best Canon document scanner. It has a really high scanning speed, is reliable and somehow the machines just seems to go on and on, without ever stopping.

Yes, it does have some issues, for example you really should buy Kofax Express to be able to use that scanning power. The integrated Canon software does not do the scanner any justice, as it can’t really offer the functionality to suit the scanner.

At the same time though, some customers will say this is too expensive. For lower budgets I think you can take a good look at the DR-M160 II which is a really nice product. As we have already mentioned, this is a really popular scanner also.

Let us know which do you think is the best Canon scanner and if we could have included other Canon products as well in our article!

Canon also has a new product out called the Canon Imageformula R40 office document scanner that you should check out. We also reviewed mobile document scanners like the P-215II portable scanner and flatbed scanners made by Canon like the Canon CanoScan Lide 400 and 300, check out our homepage for more details and related products.