What’s The Difference Between Long And Short Range Barcode Scanning?
What are short range barcode scanners?
by Barry Barcode
If you’ve been reading MIDCOM’s recent blogs, you might get the impression we favor long range barcode scanners due to my recent article written all about them in this article, or my buddy, Timmy Thermal’s recent blog post about retroreflective labels. It’s true we love barcode scanners and labels, but to think we favor long range is crazy! I love all barcode scanners. So today for the sake of love and fairness, let’s take a deeper look into the long range scanner’s polar opposite, the short range barcode scanner.
First let’s talk about the physical size of your short range handheld barcode scanner. It would be easy to assume that with a short range barcode scanner it might be smaller, but the scanner itself will be the same size roughly as a long range companion, which is great because they’re both designed to be the perfect size for your hands. In other words, it may look the same, but boy does it act differently from long range barcode scanners. How you might ask? Well, the reading distance will be from 0 to 4 inches away.
It sounds like the small range would be a detriment to usage, but many times you don’t need that large of a range in order to get the job done. Suffice it to say, if you’re employees are stationary and their inventory for scanning comes to them, a short range barcode scanner could be perfect for you. For instance, many grocery stores use short range scanners in the checkout lanes.
These include the stationary in-counter for scanning groceries at checkout. I’ve even seen handheld short range barcode scanners for public use in the ‘self checkout’ aisles of my local market. For a grocery store cashier, it wouldn’t be necessary to scan 5 feet across the room, and these short range barcode scanners fit their needs more appropriately.
If you’re still not sold on how useful a short range barcode scanner can be, consider this. Short range barcode scanners can read about 200 scans per second, so they’re also great for fast applications. How many things can you do 200 times in one second?
It gets even more exciting though. Short range barcode scanners are an economical option, and can be substantially cheaper than long range barcode readers. So, if you don’t need a long range barcode scanner for your company, it might not be worth dishing out the extra dough for features you may never use. Imagine all of the money you’ll be able to save when you purchase a short range barcode scanner. You want to know what I would buy with all of the money I saved? I would probably buy more short ranged barcode scanners. It’s a hobby for me but I know it’s a necessity for you.
Your necessities and scanning needs are why we are committed to giving you the educational information you deserve when it comes to your barcoding questions. If you’re interested in long or short range barcode scanners – we can take care of all of your needs, You can find a protection plan to keep your scanner scanning away for years to come, and as always, when the barcode hits the fan, call MIDCOM at (800) 643-2664 or chat us up on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!
