I had been looking at Epson V550/V600 but my 4180 still refuses to die.
By the way is Epson the only player in flatbed photo scanner now? Canon used to offer one.
Excepting failures I'm not sure why people are searching for new ones. I have an Epson V700 that has given fantastic 16x20 wall hangers fro a Nikon D200.
I don't know how the cable failed as it's been in place and cable tied to legs on the desk for years. But these things happened. No sign that either of the cats interfered with it and they're not prone to cable chewing anyway. Relieved though as funds are tight, and I'd rather buy another 100 feet of film than a second hand scanner at this point.
Well well....a new USB cable sorted it out. That ended up being quite simple! Thanks for all the advice though, if it does fail in the next few years I have some ideas of what to do.
Great! I had forgotten that I once had cable problems too, which is why I now have a Belkin-brand USB-A to B cable set aside specifically for scanner duty. Got a number of other cables which are thinner, but appear to only have basic connections to allow charging, or which may lack proper shielding.