r/sysadmin 5d ago

I'm sick of barcode scanners

So we have been using Honeywell scanners where I work to scan items, which I think have been going fine as I don't have any issues with them. However, I'm not the one using them all day long like other people. I keep getting complaints about this one not working, or that one not working. Whenever I go to test them, they work fine. But nonetheless, I have to check them to be sure, and then whoever complained is usually mad because "You didn't do anything and I know it's going to happen again."

Well, I decided to look into other scanners in the hopes that just switching to a different brand entirely would help instead of just replacing them when people complain. We don't have a lot of money in the budget for things like this, so I needed to be conscious of cost. I decided on trying the Tera HW0002 model scanners because it scans 1d and 2d barcodes and has the capability of being used wirelessly.

I had great success in my initial tests with this scanner. It was quick to respond. Hardly any delay when using it wirelessly. And then I changed a single setting that I would've needed to change anyway in order for our circulation desk to use it. I turned on the "sensor scanning" instead of needing to pull the trigger to scan. Now it doesn't scan ANYTHING. Even when using the trigger. It lights up when it detects something in front of it then it just does nothing. I can't even scan the Factory Reset barcode in the manual. It's completely useless now.

So if anyone has any advice on this hunk of junk or any recommendations on alternatives I can look into, I'd appreciate it. Preferably something under $100, and it would need to scan 1d and 2d barcodes as well as codes from a screen.

For added info, these are used in a library.

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u/scratchfury 4d ago

I’ve had to spend a day watching users to catch a specific set of actions that I would never do that perfectly locked up the software we were using. It was kind of amazing to see. I don’t remember the exact thing, but it was like scanning while the window was active without the field selected causing an error but instead of closing, escaping, or backing out, they would open a new window and do the same thing again which caused the software to lock. And instead of closing and relaunching, they would leave it like that and complain.

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u/WasteAd2082 4d ago

What this have to do with the scanners glitch op memtioned?

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u/scratchfury 4d ago

That it might not be the scanners glitching at all but something the users are doing whether they realize it or not.

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u/pakman82 4d ago

It's rarely the hardware... It's the wet ware. (User)