Barcode Scanning Devices

Barcode scanning is a long standing preferred method of managing and selling your inventory. Product moves through your business with extreme accuracy, reducing the mistakes caused by receiving the wrong item into inventory and selling the wrong item to a customer.

Barcodes are printed on a wide variety of items in all types of industries. Barcode scanners (often called scanner guns) read all type of barcodes and many of them are out of the box ready for use.

Barcode Scanner Configuration:
Most barcode scanners come with a quick install guide containing a number of pre-printed barcodes that can be scanned by the device in a specific sequence as a a means of configuring the scanner. All RedTail requires is for the scanner gun to be pre-programmed to simulate the pressing of the Enter key immediately following the read of a barcode. Most barcode scanners come pre-configured with this setting already enabled.

Our Own Testing:
We have tested many different barcode readers and the results a varying. There are a number of great name brands that work well.  Our in house testing focused less on durability and more on the number of false reads. Many of the less expensive models - those priced under $50.00 CAD  - had many false reads.

In House Barcoding:
RedTail is able to generate its own barcodes for those products that do have them on their packaging. RedTail pre-ships Code3of 9 barcode fonts and simply can be installed in the Windows fonts folder. You can find the pre-shipped fonts folder as a subfolder within the RedTail parent folder. The default install path is C:\Program File (x86)\RedTail\Fonts.

Choosing A Barcode Scanner:
With the abundance of great brands and products available today businesses should feel free to purchase brands they are comfortable using or listen to recommendations made by local IT vendors. We do however, advice customers to be aware that less expensive models typically carry a higher rate of false reads. That is, a scan fails to register with the device resulting in a second or even third scan before the item is recognized by the system.

The type of barcode scanner depends on your business environment. For many, a handheld device works great. They are the most affordable and carries a high reliability rate. If you are using scanner guns in a warehouse , consider an industry grade device that withstands more drops and an built with more rugged materials to operate in a more demanding environment. Table top devices are generally more expensive and used where less employee intervention is required to scan an item. That is, there is no need to lean over counters or even come out from behind the counter in order to scan an item. Convenience stores often use table top scanners. In counter scanners are the most expensive and used in environments such as box box stores and grocery stores.

With respect to recognized industry brands we have tested Symbol and Zebra products. These are excellent quality products with many different models that will be suitable to your barcode scanning needs. Barcode scanners come with USB connectivity and wireless configurations for bluetooth or WiFi.  RedTail simply requires

Featured Model:
RedTail's most popular barcode scanner is the LS2208 USB handheld 1-D Bi-Directional Laser manufactured by Symbol. It has excellent scanning reliability, an excellent scanning range (distance from barcode) and affordable at just over $100.00 CAD.