File the Canon CanoScan LiDE 500 ($129.99 direct) under good things in small packages. At 1.3 by 10.9 by 15.5 inches and 4 pounds, it's small enough to qualify as portable. And although the lack of an ADF limits its usefulness for general office scanning, the bundled OmniPage SE 2.0 for OCR and the ability to scan directly to a PDF file are both highly welcome features.

Setup differs from most USB 2.0 scanners in two notable ways. First, there's no power cord. Instead, the scanner gets its power from the USB port. Second, you can use the built-in stand to set the scanner up vertically so that it uses less room on your desk. When it's in the vertical position, you can open the cover and drop a photo or page into the V formed by the scanner platen and cover, a technique that usually works just as well as placing it on the platen with the scanner lying flat.

You can't scan film in the vertical position, but that's not much of a loss. As with most inexpensive flatbeds with film scanning, this is best described as a convenience feature—meaning that it works, but don't expect much from it. In particular, it's limited to strips of film. Because the scanner uses a contact image sensor (CIS), the depth of field is too limited to scan a mounted slide.

The LiDE 500 claims a 2,400 optical by 4,800 mechanical resolution. Scan quality was less crisp than the numbers suggest, however, with a slight loss of detail compared with both the original and other scanners at any given resolution. The scans also tended to lose detail in bright areas. Even so, they are easily good enough to let you scan snapshots to send as e-mail or reprint for friends. You'll also find a useful color restore feature for faded photos. But in testing, the dust- and scratch-removal feature had little effect.

Speed is within a reasonable range. Prescans took a relatively long 11 to 30 seconds, compared with 8 to 15 seconds for the current Editors' Choice Canon CanoScan 9950F. But scanning 4-by-6 photos took only about 16 to 18 seconds at 300 pixels per inch (ppi) compared to 13 to 18 seconds for the 9950F. Count the LiDE 500 as a good value, particularly if you need a scanner you can occasionally carry with you.

Sub-ratings:
Photos:
Slides: N/A
Business cards: N/A
Document Management: N/A
OCR: