> They sound a bit awkward to use from what I've read, as I think you need to use liquid to adhere the film to the drum correctly?

Not strictly necessary, but strongly recommended. You can also use wet mounting for your flatbed scanner. There are conversion kits so you can use wet mounting with an Epson or Canon flatbed.

Wet mounting solves or reduces a lot of problems, like Newton rings / keeping the negative flat and in focus, dust, scratches, water marks.