Best Brother Scanner | These 4 are the best in 2023

Brother ADS-3000N

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Brother ADS-3000N	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	Gigabit Ethernet and SuperSpeed USB 3.0	50	100	50 sheets	5,000 sheets	Click for more info

The first one we tried is the Brother ADS-3000N, the infamous network scanner. From the start we were dying to see just how fast the transfer is on these things. We tested with larger files as we set the settings to maximum resolution and quality. I must say it really is a whole lot faster than scanning even through the USB 3.0 port. I don’t think you will have an issue in real life with the USB transfer, it’s just that ethernet is great to have when sending to different computers.

The touchscreen helps a lot to use this scanner as a digital sender. This is what we really tested the machine for, not really standalone scanning. We were happy to use it, and we even preset the 3 buttons, to have different settings and destinations.

You can go through the setting and pre program what ever you think will help you. For example, the first setting you could try is 300dpi with automatic color detection. You can also include other features in this shortcut, for example edge correction or even deskew.

The scan destination has to be preset, so you won’t be able to scan directly to any email address at the touch of a button. What you can do is always use the same preset email address, for example the accounting department, for when you are sending statements or invoices.

Brother ADS-2200

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Brother ADS-2200	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	Hi-Speed USB 2.0	35	70	50 sheets	3,000 sheets	Click for more info

When we got to the ADS-2200 we thought first what to try with it. I guess in practice, people will use it for small offices and really light scanning. So we attached it to the computer and started scanning on it.

I guess it could have done with a USB port that is faster, but how important is it? Yes, the USB 3.0 port will definitely be faster, but in cases where the speed of the scanner is not very high, this is less of a problem. Especially in our case, we scanned only office documents at low size and low resolution.

On the scanning speed itself, this is a 35ppm scanner in simplex mode and 70 images per minute in duplex mode. The ADF holds 35 sheets which is rather on the low side. I always say that at the rated speed, it’s around a minute. But in practice, we saw that it takes around 2 minutes to empty the hopper.

The multifeed detection works as we expected it to work. It detected each overlap, and sometimes even documents that were not overlapping. They did however have a small crease or little sticker on them, so this is to be expected.

Before we received the machine we were also looking at the daily duty cycle. The rated volume of 3000 seems small, but in fact it pretty much the maximum we could achieve. But we had to be on the scanner for 8 straight hours to achieve it. So yes, while it may seem like a small volume, it is pretty much the maximum you can do it.

Brother ADS-2700W

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Brother ADS-2700W	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	Fast Ethernet, Wireless and Hi-Speed USB 2.0	35	70	50 sheets	3,000 sheets	Click for more info

I insisted we include this scanner in our test, because I really like the device. It was built to go head to head with the Scansnap IX1600. But it offers quite a bit more than the Fujitsu model.

So let’s get into what it has to offer. First thing first is the connectivity. It offers all 3 options, an Ethernet connection, Wifi and Hi Speed USB. So there is no way you can’t connect it, just no excuse in this sense.

We ran it through the WIFI mostly, as we want to see how it stacks against the IX1600. Scanning speed is decent, and as long as you don’t run crazy resolutions, it will scan most pages at around 70 images per minute. Mind you, this value refers to duplex scanning, so it captures both sides of the document at once.

Going back to the WIFI connection, this works hand in hand with the touchscreen. It’s not a big screen, but with a bit of care, we managed to go through the settings quite easily. I personally prefer larger screens, but don’t forget this is a very cheap device, so take this into account before deciding against buying it.

One of the things I was interested in was the life of the feed rollers. We scanned around 3000 documents on it, and we only had to clean them once. Brother rates them at 200.000 sheets, but I think this is an optimistic value. I would guess they should work perfectly for over 100.000 pages, but you will struggle with them once you get to 150.000.

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W		A4 – 215.9 mm x 355.6 mm ( 8.5 in. x 14.0 in.)	Gigabit Ethernet, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 or Wifi	30PPM	60IPM	50 Sheets	3000 Sheets	Click for more info

This scanner is the evolution of the Brother ADS-2700W. It is everything that the 2700 is plus a faster Ethernet and a faster wifi. I actually made a big fuss in the office to put them head to head in the test.

Scanning speed was a bit slower on the 2800W, but in real life I think you can neglect this aspect. It won’t really bother you for day to day work.

One thing I really saw an improvement on was the paper path and how it handles thicker paper. Although both are rated for the same scanning thickness, the 2800W seems to work better. I don’t know if it’s the rollers, they seem identical on both devices, but somehow the ADS 2800W was just the better device.

Also, we ran it in excess of 10.000 documents and we did not clean the rollers during that time. It’s a bit like the materials may be different or how they press on the paper. I can’t really say, for me the rollers seem identical, but the 2800W had better all round performance when it comes to this aspect.

All in all, I really like this scanner. It has decent specs and will run paper in different condition brilliantly. I guess the paper feeding is probably one of the best in this market range. At least this was my impression when running the scanner.