Equipment A3 Scanner Recommendations?

So, I've a big box of magazines. Several, really. I want to scan 'em and put 'em on the Internet Archive for posterity.

I've got a Fujitsu document scanner - one of the posh ones with a flatbed scanner plus a duplex ADF with integrated scanning elements. It's ace, it can scan a double-sided A4 sheet in, like, a second and a half at 300dpi (though I normally use 600dpi.)

It's fantastic for magazines with proper binding and a decent gutter, where I don't mind destroying the original: slice the spine off, fan the pages out, pop 'em in the ADF, hit "Scan," wait about two minutes.

However, the box I'm currently looking at is full of copies of Electronics Today International from the 1970s and 1980s. They're not properly bound: they're literally just folded in half and stapled through the middle, one giant signature for the whole magazine.

I've had a crack at scanning one intact on the flatbed: it works, but there's knack-all gutter and my scanner doesn't focus on anything unless it's absolutely flat against the glass, so I'm missing a few millimetres.

I've got a book scanner - one of the ones that's a webcam on a stick - which would likely do a better job, but the Linux software is awful and the default processing is set up for books and ends up deleting half the content from magazine pages.

For best results, I should be removing the staples and separating into leaves - then scanning the leaves. Doing A3 leaves on an A4 scanner, though, is going to be really really painful. It already took me a couple of hours to scan it intact, and I'd have to sort the pages this way around.

Doing A3 leaves on an A3 scanner, though? Half the time, literally. I've had a look, and there are a few options: The LED-based Plustek OS1180, £310. The CCD-based Plustek A320E, £520. Reviews are mixed for both, though: reports of reliability issues and striping on the OS1180, and claims that the A320E is faking anything from 600dpi upwards with poor interpolation.

Or there's... this:



The Fujitsu Fi-6770, basically the big brother to my existing SP-1425. That printer-looking thing on top is a dual-element scanning ADF, like the one on mine... but it'll take portrait A3. Now, this thing's designed for high-throughput document scanning, not artwork... but it'll do a double-sided A3 leaf in 1.1 seconds, 300dpi. Yeah. Remove the staples, put the pages in that, hit the go-button and I'd be done in a couple of minutes - just have to split and sort the pages afterwards.

The downside? Well, apart from being chuffin' massive it's £775 refurbed from a Fleabay seller, six month warranty. That's quite a bit more than I wanted to spend, really.

Thoughts? Anyone got an A3 scanner gathering dust they fancy sending my way?

 

...and the Fujitsu's sold. Boo-urns.

EDIT:
This is available at the same price, though...

'

I don't need to print in A3, though... unless...?

 

Turns out the Plusteks are a no-go: "Linux compatibility is only available to system integrators," whatever the hell that means.

Now got my eye on a £310 Brother MFP - A3 inkjet printer(!) with flatbed and duplex ADF scanners. Bloody big thing, though, and the ADF only scans at 300x600 DPI in colour (but the flatbed does 1200x1200...)

 

I had not, and that's an interesting thought. Doesn't fit in with my usage patterns, though: I'd mostly be scanning stuff when I've either got a spare few minutes in the working day or late at night after I'm finished. I *could* instead schedule a day when I do a bunch of scanning at once, but I'd prefer not to.

You've got me thinking about the possibility of scanner hire, though. I know that's a thing, and that'd mean I don't have to store it long-term. I can see the cost adding up quick, though, and I dunno what the minimum hire periods are - but it could mean getting a much higher-end scanner than I'd be able to afford outright. Hmm...

EDIT:
Every bugger's all "call for pricing." Stuff that, I'd rather buy the £310 printer and stick it on eBay when I'm done.