Instead, he built his own scanner for about 1/6th the cost. Interestingly enough, the scanner resembles what you might imagine a very early Kinect prototype looked like, though it functions just a ...

There are some compromises you need to contend with for a scanner that's this cheap. Like the fact it can't use car manufacturer's specialty codes or that it felt pretty heavy in my hand.

I fondly remember my first scanner, one I purchased about 30 years ago*; it was big, it was a flatbed (as opposed to a handheld one), it was slow but it did something magical. Capture documents ...

Every time we think about this, though, we watch a few videos and are instantly disappointed by the results, especially with cheap scanners. If you go the hardware route, even cheap is relative.

Read my full thoughts below on each of the best cheap printers around. And for more savings, see our round-up of the best scanner deals, too. Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing ...