I was at a big name computer retail place recently, and noticed how much
scanners have dropped in price. Got me really interested :-)

The most interesting was the Astra 1200S.  Will this model work with the
ss driver? Anyone using it? Anyone heard about potential
incompatabilities with the Adaptec 2940UW (and only the UW, for some
reason). 

There was also a Mustek 1200dpi model that was interesting, but I don't
remember the model name. It was also letter size, while the UMAX did
legal size (not that I need legal size really, but for the same price...)