Hand Held Barcode Scanners

Top Selling Handheld Barcode Scanners
Handheld 3800g	Symbol LS2208	Metrologic MS9520

Hand Held Barcode Scanners are predominately "corded" scanners.

In terms of numbers, most of the barcode scanner sold in the US each year are "corded", that is, they attach to a PC using a cord. These scanners are commonly referred to by a variety of names such as barcode gun, wedge scanner or hand held scanner.

At National Barcode, we classify hand-held barcode scanners as any scanner that has a cord from the scanner to the host. If you're looking for an explanation of portable scanners without a cord that you can hold in your hand, check out our Wireless Barcode Scanners page.

The purpose of this page is to give you information about the various scanning technologies, computer interfaces and just general information about hand held barcode scanners. Well be talking about "point-and-shoot" scanners, predominately with handles. The "hand held" term can be applied to retail scanners as well - the type that sit on the counter and scan products passed in front of the unit, but can be picked up to scan product that is to big to pass in front.

You'll find that most of the technological information here applies to all barcode scanners. Let us know what you think.

Hand Held Barcode Scanner History

From a technical standpoint the term barcode scanner represents the part of the device that senses an optical image of the barcode, and changes the signal into electrical signals that represent the code it sees. A barcode reader includes a barcode scanner and a decoder. In the early days of the technology, these were two specific pieces of equipment. Today, unless you have special applications requiring special decoding requirements, you'll use a barcode scanner with the decoder built into the unit. When the scanner successfully reads the barcode the data appears on your PC where the cursor is flashing, just like you typed it in. By default, hand held barcode scanners are set up to sent a Carriage Return after the text it reads, so its just like hitting the Enter key after typing the number.

Most desktop POS and other database query or "order add" applications are set up for this protocol.

There are two major types of scanning technology that make up the scan beam of hand held barcode scanners.

When most people think of a barcode scanner, they think of the red line that is projected out of a laser line scanner. The line actually starts as a dot generated by a laser diode and is changed to a line that is generated by projecting the light into a vibrating mirror. The user then orients the line so that its perpendicular to the vertical bars on the code. The sensor in the scanner reads the reflected light, sends the information to the decoder where it is changed to ASCII text and sent down the cord to the PC or host.

Laser scanners are the most popular in the market today, and existing designs represent years of testing and implementation of decoding algorhythms. The biggest manufacturer of laser line scanners the company with the stongest patent position for laser line scanning technologies is Symbol Technologies. Knowing the poplularity and proven performance of the laser line scanner would make the choice of that technology a "no brainer", but....

Over the past 5 years or so, Imaging technology has been applied to the barcode scanner. In the imaging scanner, high-powered LED's are used to project a red light in a square or rectangular pattern. Just like in the case of its laser cousin, the scanner senses and reflected light and then converts it into ASCII text. These scanners are superior in durability and some models can read a barcode regardless of orientation (it doesn't matter if the beam is perpendicular to the vertical bars).

Which technology you choose should depend on your application, budget, and expectations for performance. Right now, we're seeing the popularity of imagers increasing based their durability. In fact, imaging technology has moved the industry to providing a 5-year guarantee on mid-range hand held barcode scanners. We have a definite opinion about which is better - call us and we'll discuss it with you.

If you've know about the technology, you'll see that we've neglected to mention wand and CCD scanners. You'll find information about them on other pages of our site. Generally speaking, we believe that wand scanners fall into a special category, like grocery store scanners. The technology is older but there is still a viable market for wand scanners. We generally completely discount the use of CCD scanners. While CCD scanners are the most inexpensive of all hand held barcode scanners, we believe that the reduced range, durability and perfomance really don't make them a good match given the price and perfomance of laser line scanner or imagers.

Hand Held Barcode Scanners should be chosen based on the application - how are you going to use it?

When selecting a hand held barcode scanner, the first question you should answer is "How am I going to use it?" There a series of components to this question that you need to consider:

• What types of barcode is going to be scanned?
  • If you're scanning a linear code, a laser line scanner or linear imager will be the best for your needs
  • If you're scanning a 2-dimensional code, is the code a true two-dimensional code or a PDF414 barcode? 2-dimensional codes are barcodes that have the ability to store a lot more data than a 1-dimensional barcode, but because of that, don't have the traditional "vertical bars" of a 1-D barcode. If you have a "different" looking barcode, chances are that it's 2-dimensional. If you look closely and it appears to be a lot of linear, 1-D barcodes stacked on upon another it's most likely PDF417. If it looks like a square with other small squares inside it, its a true 2-dimensional barcode.
• Where is the hand-held barcode scanner going to be used?
  • If you're using it in a retail environment, you'll probably have reduced requirements for durability. You may need an omni-directional hand held barcode scanner, if you don't want you're operators to orient the bars on the barcode to be perpendicular to the beam.
  • If you're in an industrial environment, a good laser line hand held barcode scanner will work for you, but make sure you consider a barcode scanner with a 5-year guarantee. If you want the best durability available, consider a linear imager. You may not want to have to orient the code to the beam, in which case you need to select an omni-directional barcode scanner.
• Do you want to pull the trigger on the unit to scan the barcode, or do you want it to be self-scanning and supported in some type of stand?
  • Most hand held barcode scanners have the ability to be used in a stand in "always on" or "autosense" mode. This allows you to present the barcode to the scanner without picking up the scanner.
  • If the majority of your scanning requirements, you may want to consider a counter scanner or one that projects the beam horizontally. In this case, you'll also want to consider whether you need an omni-directional scanner.

Whatever your needs, give is a call, and we'll help you answer the questions about which hand held barcode scanner is right for you. All our associates are fully trained in the technology, and have each completed countless on-site installations with their clients.