The Handheld POS Scanner Gives Extreme PortabilityThese days there are a lot of barcode scanners available in the market, and although USB scanners and other fixed types are common, handheld POS scanners are preferred by many users. Handheld POS Scanners are used to save a lot of time for customers when they are standing in a queue waiting to make their payment. Handheld POS scanners have great features and are easy to use, but the most attractive feature is that they are very portable and light and so quite easy to carry them from one place to another. Some handheld barcode scanners are known as portable data collectors (PDC) and collect far more information than the standard scanner. This article will look at the various features of a handheld scanner and discus some considerations which need to be taken into account when buying one. Since a portable handheld POS scanner is by its very nature portable, it can greatly increase the speed of use, which means that customers do not have to wait in long queues in order to pay for the purchases. The scanner will enable the cashier to scan all the relevant details about the product like product code, product category and price related details for the product. All these details are recorded digitally and are done at a much faster speed than when using a fixed mount barcode scanner. Hence, the clearance time for each customer is reduced. Wireless Handheld Scanner The portability of a handheld scanner is one of the great advantages of this type of scanner, since if a product is bulky the scanner can be taken to the product, which is not possible with a fixed scanner, especially one on the cash desk counter. To impart this portability, the scanner can be fixed to a wire, though the most portable of all are the wireless scanners which can be moved as far away from the POS cash desk as is needed. The most commonly used scanners tend to be CCD-based scanners. Although these CCD-based barcode scanners are used more frequently, they have a negative point too. It is that they are not able to read round surfaces. On the contrary, laser-based scanners are able to read smooth curved surfaces, and from any kind of surface material and from a farther distance than a CCD scanner. Therefore a CCD scanner should be as close as possible to the barcode to record all the information. Portable Data Collector Scanners Some handheld scanners are known as portable data collectors. These types typically collect far more data than a usual handheld POS scanner, being able to collect such things as the time and date that a transaction occurred, and save the data in their own data collection software. For all types of POS scanner, some of the main manufacturers and vendors are Symbol, Metrologic and Datalogic, and each one of these vendors can provide a quality product. As can be seen there are certain things which need to be considered before buying a handheld POS scanner, not least whether a CCD-based or laser-based model should be chosen, and whether to go for a wireless model or not. Take time to do some research at one of the many online POS system vendors in order to find the scanner that is right for your business. |