We reviewed the Canon CanoScan D1250 U2F a while ago, and there's little to say that wasn't already covered in that review. The scanner is not quite as sleek and stylish as some of the other models in the Canon range, but it makes up for that in both speed and image quality.

Using the USB 2.0 interface, the CanoScan D1250 U2F processes a full page exceptionally quickly; as fast as any of the other scanners reviewed here. More importantly, however, the quality of the scan is very good, even at these high speeds. Canon seems to have managed to achieve what many of the others have failed to do, combining high speed with good image quality.

48-bit colour depth is used to over-sample the image during the scanning process, reducing it to 24-bit for use with the supplied software suite that includes Arcsoft Photobase (photo album), Scansoft OmniPage Pro (optical character recognition), Canon Photorecord for printing photos and Adobe Photoshop Elements for image editing.

There are short-cut buttons on the scanner for 'scan', 'copy' and 'e-mail', plus one for 'photo'. This latter is designed to be used when scanning photographs, which can be done in a 'several at once' mode, with the scanner automatically identifying and cropping the individual images. Larger objects can also be scanned, using the CanoScan D1250 U2F's adjustable lid, which lifts up out of the way of books and other bulky documents.

Although priced higher than the rest of the scanners reviewed here, the Canon undoubtedly offers exceptional image scanning quality and is fast too. If you don't need the slide/negative scanning feature, you can buy a similar model for less money.