Think of the SmartPage Pro ($200) as a basic photo scanner and the PageOffice IIC ($180) as more of an office-style scanner for inexpensive copying, fax and optical character-recognition (OCR) applications. These two low-end competitors are roughly twice the Strobe's size, don't look pretty and won't break any speed records, but they have the features you'll need most and do a respectable job at a bargain price. The $300 Visioneer PaperPort Strobe is more like a Lexus it's a lot more stylish and works better, but its price alone ensures it's not for everyone. Storm's EasyPhoto SmartPage Pro and the Umax PageOffice IIC are the Toyota Tercels of the scanner world. They're not quite at the 'what, you don't have one?' level of ubiquity that color printers have reached, but the latest arrivals suggest that day may not be far off when they'll be commodities bundled with new computers, just like cheapo speakers and quasi-useless encyclopedia CD-ROMs.
Scanners, once high-end accessories used solely by art directors and graphics professionals, are getting cheaper all the time.