Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Take Work Home User
Review: Unfortunately I carry work home. As a business owner with a steady influx of information, I have tried to stay as electronic as possible with the storage of this information. I have two document scanners in my office that get used reguarly and wanted to upgrade at home from the flatbed scanners I have used for years. I researched options and truthfully, the Epson GT2500 was the least expensive one with good reviews. This scanner has been in service in my home for two years and there have been no equipment issues. I am able to create electronic documents of my typical 5 to 15 sheets in very reasonable time. Double sided scans are a little slow, but there has been only one jam in the 2 years, created by me not separating a previously stapled document, so three sheets went through the scanner. This scanner does exacly what I need when I work at home. I recommend this machine for users that need more than a flatbed for documents scanning. I would not use this machine in an office with more than 3 to 4 people; a little too slow.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: a workhorse
Review: I bought this puppy when I discovered the TWAIN driver for my EPSON perfection scanner was not compatible with omnipage 16. After using the gt 2500 several hours a day for a month, we have experienced no problems so far. Seems to be fast and efficient and I would recommend it with omnipage 16 if you want to create a paperless office and turn documents into searchable PDF Files.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: I'm Impressed
Review: I've just installed the scanner on a dual-boot Mac Tiger and Vista with no problems - works great on both. First delight was putting in a 50 page bw double-sided document and watching it smoothly and quickly become a pdf. The machine just 'feels' good - solid, nice fit and finish, and the software seems 'quite good' That's the only reason for 4 stars vs 5 at this point -- I have a sense that there will be a few little convenience issues in the user interface that I may not love. No showstoppers but little things like things flow and the options it does or doesn't provide. I'll feed back any suggestions to Epson and hope for response in new releases. Bottom line - I've had HP's and this seems as good and even better in the feel so-far.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Awful warranty and customer service
Review: I purchased this scanner because of the automatic document feeder (ADF), and because a cheaper competitor had given me nothing but trouble. This scanner worked great, for a couple of days, and then the ADF jammed. I followed the online instructions, but it remained jammed, so I emailed epson at customer service. I got back an email saying they would contact me soon; I didn't hear back, and so I called them on the phone and waited 20 minutes for a customer service representative. I explained that this machine was less than a week old and that the ADF was not working properly. The customer service representative politely explained that she could help me, and then said I had two options. She said I could have it repaired at my expense or they would sell me another one at a discount under their customer loyalty program. I was in shock: after waiting on hold for 20 minutes I was told the warranty meant I could pay to get it fixed or buy another one at a discount; that is basically no warranty at all, especially for a machine a couple of days old. I emailed customer service again to ask if this was truly all the warranty covered, and never got a response. I thought about returning the item, but decided to take it apart and see what the problem was. Since I'm mechanically inclined I did so, and was able to fix it myself fairly easily. But nobody should have to do this, and most buyers would be unable to do it. I hadn't abused the scanner (I'd hardly used it), and any warranty at all should have covered this problem. The scanner now works great, but I realize that epson will not stand behind their products and has terrible customer support; the warranty is meaningless.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Best scanner under $1000
Review: This is my third scanner within the past year.
First was the highly regarded Fujitsu Snapscan. It worked really well for about 6 months on normal letter size documents. But after that, the automatic paper feeder started grabbing more than one sheet at a time.
I cleaned it following instructions and even sent it in for service, but the problem only got worse. Even three sheet scans seized up in the middle when the feeder grabbed all three and jammed. I couldn't finish many jobs at all.
And forget about odd shaped docs - it would take them, but no matter how they went in, they scanned in wild, off center angles, making reading them nearly impossible. The scanner is now somewhere in the garage.
Next: a Brother multi-function center, purchased primarily for its scanner capabilities.
Except that it draws more than a thousand watts of power. And it blew up my battery back-up power system. Posts on the net indicated this wasn't a fluke, so that one went back.
So, now to the new Epson. Here's what I found:
1. After the first half dozen scans (during which the machine made scary loud groaning noises), it now runs very quietly and dependably. Guess I'll never know what those first ones were about, but I'm not worried about it.
2. The quality of the scans is excellent. I advise setting the software for light sharpening.
3. However, there is a little too much scanner interface involvement. You should be able to set all of the various choices (paper size; color vs. black and white; where to save it, etc) and then store that setting and tell the machine to just keep scanning that way until you change it. Instead, you have to approve it for every scan. It only takes a second, but it's annoying.
4. Ironically, the software doesnt stop at the one place you do want it to wait for you - after the scan and before saving, to give you a chance to rename it. It just numbers and saves the file automatically.
This is really dumb, as you have to reopen it and rename it each time(though you can set the software to automatically reopen the file where you keep the scans so it's one step less to do this).
I have to believe they'll fix this in a software update, as this is a new product. I've registered my vote on this and if you buy this product, you should too.
Other than that, I'm very happy with the scanner. It also works well with magazine articles as well as regular bond paper. It's not as fast as the Fujitsu and it requires a couple of extra steps per scan, but... this one works! (and really weird stuff can always go on the flatbed, which the Fujitsu didn't have)
I'm keeping this one and using it to start a project I've been wanting to do for a couple of years now: scan the contents of my file cabinets onto my hard drive.
After that, I'm gonna back it all up on another drive and toss out the originals.
Sweet.
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