Hand Held Barcode Scanners

We’ve all seen them at the grocery store; hand held barcode scanners are a part of a check out employee’s equipment, and can vary from small pens to sophisticated cobra-head hand held barcode scanners that can capture dozens of barcodes a minute. There is a wide variety of hand held barcode scanners, and every company buys the scanners they need depending on the size of their store and the budget.

There are four types of hand held barcode scanners: the pen variety, laser scanner, CCD readers and camera-based scanners. The pen variety works using diodides that measure the intensity of light as it is reflected. The dark bars of the code absorb light and the white spaces reflect light. The pen is sensitive to these variations and captures the barcode depending on the code’s pattern of light and darkness. Laser hand held barcode scanners work like pens, but they capture a fuller image, perhaps the entire code at once, as opposed to the pen, which has to be swiped over the code. Laser hand held barcode scanners can simply be placed over the code, and at the press of a button, the code is scanned instantly. Laser hand held barcode scanners use reciprocating mirrors or rotating prisms to pick up the image of the code.

CCD hand held barcode scanners uses hundreds of light scanners to measure the voltage across each sensor. The most sophisticated kinds of hand held barcode scanners have little cameras inside the head that take a picture of the code. This technology is the most effective, but also comes with a price tag.

Not only are the lasers and cameras important to consider when purchasing hand held barcode scanners, but comfort should be factored in as well. An employee must stand for hours scanning codes at the check out counter or on the shelves during inventory. Investing in ergonomic hand held barcode scanners that take the strain out of work will boost morale among your employees. It is much easier to greet customers with a smile if one doesn’t have a sore wrist.