I have nothing but good things to say about it. Have not used any of the other models, but I believe someone on the board has bought a V300 (or V30?). I got mine as a refurb from Epson.

The V500 will also scan transparencies (35mm) but I've never use it for that purpose. I has a backlight in the lid for such scans. The normal scan light is an LED and it has no warm up time, which is nice.