Epson Perfection 1250 Photo Flatbed Scanner

I ran across this while looking up driver updates. I have owned this scanner since it first became available. I actually ordered the 1200 photo but the order came in as a new model - the 1250 photo. Needless to say, that was nearly 8 years ago! The scanner is a great model. Its specs are lower than the newest ones out there but they meet the need for most home use even in 2009. The ONLY negative I have is that it is slow. It was a replacement to a Umax scanner that was, well, junk. Everything had to be tweaked to not look like Martian photos. By comparison the Epson was a breeze. I now own a Canoscan LiDE 200 as well. If you need an inexpensive photo and slide scanner, this one will do. I bought the Canon for another computer.

When you walk into the computer store and look at the displays, and sales literature, are you left as confused as I am? Reading reviews is the same. Some 5 stars and some P'off people. It seems as if doing your homework only makes you feel good when you initially and "confidently" plunk down your money. When you get home and plug it in, your homework may or may not pay off. Reminds me of the Cabela's catalog for hunters and fishermen. There must be at least 50 pages of camoflage clothing. If you really want such an item, you'll probably buy it from them because, after all--"they have such a selection" (and they've confused me) so I'll put my finger down somewhere and just buy it. HP, Epson, Canon, and others are the same way. Their strategy is to create a proliferation of products that take up shelf space and the consumer will have to buy something. Why don't they spend their efforts making fewer models and better products? Because we the consumer are used to having 14 brands and styles of peanut butter to choose from (and even more would be better, right?) Any ideas out there on how to put some sanity into the process?

My first scanner was an Epson 600, but when I made the jump to Win2K, there was no driver for it so I bought the Epson Perfection 1250. Alas, it was not as good a scanner. The two main problems are:
- The control panel pops up randomly, something for which there is no fix apparently.
- After 10-15 minutes, the computer has to be rebooted to find the scanner if is has been inactive. If the scanner is unplugged to force a rescan of the USB port, the PC crashes.

It is also very slow and the software that comes with it is not even close to being as good as the package that came with the 600.

Other reviews cite an attachment that helps scan slides but, alas, that did not come with my scanner. On the other hand, the dust under the glass noted in other reviews has not been a problem.

I have the scanner for almost 1,5 years now. When I used the Epson perfection 1250 in the beginning on my completly new AMD athlon 1800+ XP machine, I was astonished about the good quality of the images but also the speed with which they were produced....but after a 8 months or so......the machine produced images of a quite different quality I was used to.

Now it is like this: The first 5 images are always crap!....the first 5 produced scans always have a sort of dark red / orange transparant film over them. After 10 images the organge film / layer changes to a more yellow like transparant film. After about 15 images the left side of the scanned image has the appearance it has to have ...but the right of the image is still covered with a yellow film.....I am really p. off.

I have asked for technical help at the Epson customer service (it really isn't what the name suggests it is)....but basicly it was my problem and my scanner was just used up.....HELLO....I've HARDLY USED THE D*MNED THING

conclusion after this on time affair with an EPSON product:
NO MORE EPSON FOR ME!

I like this scanner, esp. when compared to others I have owned or used (Mustek, HP, Acer). My only complaint is the warm up time it requires. The output, though, is excellent amd the detail in my images is great. Think my future scanner purchases will also be Epsons!