Opticon OPR 3101

I do enjoy finding odd or unique design decisions in the POS industry, and the Opticon OPR 3101 barcode scanner is a good fit for unique design. The only barcode scanners I know of with a trigger guard, the OPR 3001 and OPR 3101 are designed for light industrial or rough retail environments. The OPR 3101, though, is a cordless barcode scanner, so you can do your best Briscoe County/Wyatt Earp impression while doing inventory. I do want to get my hands on a couple of these and set up some sort of incredibly expensive laser tag style shootouts.

This is a rugged laser scanner, and it actually has the capability of scanning PDF and MicroPDF barcodes, so you could use it in shipping applications at a lower cost than cordless 2D scanners.

The scanner has a Bluetooth 2 radio in it, so you can’t get quite as far from the base station/bluetooth-enabled device as the XI3200, for instance, but it does automatically switch into batch mode when out of range and dumps the data when communication is regained.

Otherwise, it’s pretty similar to the cabled model. IP54 seal to keep out dirt and water, 9″ optimal scan range for 10 mil barcodes. And it has a trigger guard!

POS-X XI3200BT Barcode Scanner, And Video!

POS-X updated their XI3000 to become the XI3200, and so they did the same with their bluetooth barcode scanner. The XI3200BT is a pretty solid contender for any retail location needing a bit of mobility. It doesn’t have a batch memory mode, which is alright since it also has a 328-foot line of site radio range. That is a long distance to cover and can easily take care of most businesses.

And check this out, more video!

POS-X XI3200, Now With Video

The fellas over at POS-X did a rev bump on their mid-range barcode scanners, jumping from the XI3000 to the XI3200. I’m pretty sure that this scanner is 200 more than the predecessor, too. POS-X chose the XI3200 as the time to shift offering only a USB model. A lot of manufacturers, and even some end users, are still clinging to PS/2 and even RS-232 for their barcode scanners, but 9 times out of 10 we’re selling a USB model.

We have a video here to show off, just a quick look at some of the new features on this scanner. Once we have a couple in house we’ll try to chuck one off the roof.

Starter POS System

I bet you can sense the start of a trend with the low-cost security system and this new low-cost retail pos system. Times are tight, and so a $5,000 point of sale system just doesn’t have the same shiny allure as it used to. And so here begins the Starter POS System, at a more affordable $1,599.

Don’t let the low cost fool you, though. While other companies list an inexpensive system, only to forget parts like the PC, we make sure you get everything you need. Just scaled back a bit. So you get the PC, you get the barcode scanner, you get the receipt printer, you get the cash drawer, you get it all. I really wanted to sound like Vince from the shamwow ads there. I hope I did. That thing sells itself.

We’re able to trim down the price by shipping the systems with Ubuntu Linux and an in-house variation on pos software. But after a few months really mashing around on the system and trying to break it, we were left with a system that is a great first step into computer-based sales tracking.

The barcode scanner in the system is the POS-X Xi1000, a solid choice for low volume scanning. Learning the scanning sweet spot is a little rougher than most scanners, but once you get it, scanning UPC barcodes should be no sweat. There is an upgrade to a laser scanner only available from us, which should get blog love later today or tomorrow or whenever I’m feeling wordy.

For receipt printers, we went with an impact printer lacking auto-cutter, the POS-X Xr210. It’s a little loud, but it’ll print receipts just fine and you can’t heat the letters off the receipts. Again, upgrades can get you the POS-X Xr510 instead, which is a faster, quieter, thermal receipt printer.

The cash drawer is the POS-X XC16HD, which we’ve already shown to be pretty tough. Upgrading that guy seems unnecessary when you can stand on it. More products should have a “can I stand on it” rating.

As with all the other systems we sell, you get pretty solid support, including a year of coverage for faulty hardware, training, and having our tech support guys at your beck and call, so long as it’s between 7 am and 4 pm pacific.

No rest for the awesome

I mentioned in a previous post that we did some work under the hood on the site to make it a little snappier. Well now that we’re pretty much done with it, we’re on to adjusting the outward appearance to be a more aesthetically pleasing. Mostly we’re trying to point out the stuff we do that customers may dig, but don’t see that we do it unless they dig around the site. Some would say it’s lace on a bowling ball, I would, well, I guess agree.

One of the big things you’ll notice is the right side bar has a bunch of fun stuff talking about our rockin free shipping, super nerdy phone support, and more. It does kind of trap the content in the middle of the page, which I guess is pretty cool.

In other news, my boss has been on vacation a couple times in the past couple weeks, so I’ve been trying to do some of the work he normally handles. Like web dev stuff. All I can say is I’m super rusty, but picking it back up pretty quickly. Once we push the thing I worked on, I’ll share some of the fun of relearning this stuff.

Oh Snap I’m Writing all Over the Internets

I’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to cover my dealings in other arenas – lab management, phone support, general gibberish. And so this blog will be the third or maybe tenth iteration of my attempt to share with you, the internet viewing public, my trials and tribulations regarding work life and the weird stuff I encounter and may even be proud of.

To give some better insight, I’m the Product Manager for posguys.com, an online point of sale retailer. If you’re really in the know, you could call me a Product Manager for a value-added reseller, or VAR. The value I add to the company is a tremendous amount of cheeky one-liners and incredibly obtuse references, both in conversation and in product listing. I also end up learning about every new product in development for major manufacturers, and how they can make your business run super efficiently. If you have questions about what scanner will work best in a tire factory or what cash drawer goes best with a white wine, I’m your guy.

One of the most recent developments, and really most entertaining, at POSGuys is that I’ve been given greater artistic license when writing up product reviews and product spotlights. This means you end up seeing goofy stuff like our product development team using homing pigeons to determine what to list on the site. I had been using a similar writing tone when announcing products to the sales staff and was getting a positive reaction on all fronts.

Generally, technical specifications and ideal usage environments are kind of dry topics to cover, resulting in many people responding to my announcements with “too long; didn’t read.” By mixing it up when writing announcements, using a horrible mangling of the English language and vague pop culture references, I found people started responding to the side references as well comprehending the full specs I put into the announcements.

With that, hopefully this is the first of many posts covering the odd situations I encounter during my day-to-day, and maybe an outlet for some of that pent-up goofiness that courses through my veins.