Hi Paul,
I've used an old Epson Perfection 1200S and it worked fine for me.Anyway,you can find instructions on how to check the scanner in the PP help notes.
Compared to professional profiling hardware PP is LESS ACCURATE, but it's also a lot less expensive.If you buy just one custom profile,it will cost more or less as PP.BTW I had very good custom profiles (for the 2100) made from Christophe Metairie Photographie (in France,but less expensive than the custom profiles you can purchase in the US,and I live in Italy) and they were very close to the PP ones I've made by myself after purchasing PP.
I'd suggest to download the Help from the PP site,because you can find a lot of explications about the PP,its features and limits.
Regards
Luca