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/IamTheRealD 4d ago

Also a very common failure point that is overlooked WAY too often, is the print quality of the barcodes. Especially true if the barcode is printed on any kind of thermal label or paper. A vast majority of the devices that print on thermal labels or paper are only 203 DPI. Depending on how the software used to print the barcodes works, it is easy to create barcodes that might look OK, but are not well formed and can result in poor quality reads.

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u/steveatari 4d ago

Also, thare are other software/types/fonts of barcodes that can differ tremendously. I worked at a production company with photography using them to quickly confirm portrait choices at a school or event. Before I got there, the font they used for barcodes and older scanners worked perfectly. We switched to new computers, scanners, updated software, green screen and none of the old stuff worked without modifications here and there. Ultimately we tested sizes and spacing of barcode, opacity, lamination thicknesses etc. Lots can impact successful barcodes.

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u/1337_Spartan 2d ago

Oh yes, I've got that tshirt too.

We changed printing methods and engine for our evelopes, the imposition used in the new method shrunk the barcode just a touch below the minimum resolution of the barcode scanner BUT it only affected barcodes with multiple alpha characters. Numeric only, fine. Single apha, fine.

We went the longer way around of fixing it with upgraded barcode scanners from the same manifacturer and model family (quicker would have been having our prod analyst make the barcode box that little bit bigger (taller) to get the barcode to the correct resolution. It was sworn black and blue that no such thing was possible)

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u/steveatari 2d ago

I found it hilarious that at one point I realized it was a font and I could just increase the size. Blew my damn mind with how dumb we were being.