First, you have to decide which attributes you want.  For that there is
a very good scanner guide here:

http://www.scannergalaxy.com/guide.cfm

***

A sample of attributes:

Optical Character Recognition
Time to Scan
Resolution
Bit Depth
Maximum Document Size
Color vs. Black&White

***

Then search for the scanner with the attributes at:

http://www.scannergalaxy.com or http://www.provantage.com/ or others

****

Here is an example attribute list from our last purchase:

Desired Scanner Attributes
Optical Resolution
Hardware Resolution 3200 x 6400 dpi
Interpolated Resolution 9600
Color depth: 48bit
Grayscale: 16bit
Media: paper, 35mm slides/negatives
Input Paper Size 11x 14 minimum
Media Load Type: Manual
Interface: usb & scsi
Feeder:  NO
Flatbed: YES

[we ended out with a HP Scanjet8200][it came with ocr software]

****

Then you may want to go to one of those sites of purchaser feedback
[sorry no url, just google it].   The best $value is often not the best
purchase in the overall picture.



> Hi,
>
> I'd like to buy a good scanner that could scan documents with OCR so I
> could put them into word and change them.  Wouldn't mind being able to scan
> photos, as well.
>
> Any strong recommendations for a particular model and brand for under
> $500.  (I assume I should get something that comes with OmniPage or other
> OCR software, eh?).
>
> Many thanks for any advice.
>
> Barry