Accuracy is table stakes now
Every serious scanner reads a clean, standard, English-language card well. Choosing on accuracy alone stopped being useful a few years ago.
Where they still differ is at the edges: cards in multiple scripts, dense layouts, and the batch workflows heavy collectors need after a three-day conference.
Ask what happens after the scan
A scanner that produces a perfect contact record and then leaves it in a list has solved data entry, not networking. The reason you scanned the card was to do something later.
Look for notes tied to the person, a follow-up mechanism, and a history you can read before your next conversation with them.
Check the export path before you commit
Contacts are the one kind of data you should never let a vendor hold hostage. Confirm CSV or vCard export exists and works before you put two thousand people into a product.
The same applies to CRM sync. If your team already runs on HubSpot or Salesforce, a scanner that cannot deliver clean records there will quietly be abandoned.