Ultra Ultra UltraScan Review

Hey so I already used my words plenty of times to talk about the UltraScan, so here’s some video of it, with the incomparable Jaime showing off the barcode scanner’s feats.

Opticon OPN 2002

Opticon, those guys who make really crazy yet inexpensive stuff, have finally unleashed their OPN 2002 on the masses, and I’m pretty stoked about it. It’s a straight upgrade to the OPN 2001, which is a batch data collector with a lithium ion rechargeable battery and memory capable of holding about 1,000 barcodes and timestamps. We put it up on our site at the beginning of 2008, and with no real big fanfare on our part, it was able to become a top seller no sweat. You could get mobile inventory management, attendance tracking, or registry services for $200, which is a fantastic deal.

The OPN 2002 beefs up the specs, making it a solid contender for almost any use. In addition to bumping up the memory to 1 MB (around 20,000 barcodes and timestamps), Opticon crammed a Bluetooth radio in the unit. So now the mobile data collector can be configured to run as a Serial Port Profile or HID bluetooth device, making it a great fit not only for mobile data collection on a budget, but it’s now one of the cheapest Bluetooth scanners on the market. Hook it up to a PDA, smartphone, whatever you like, and you can send data easily.

I have a feeling this product will have limited stock quantities just by demand alone, and that’s pretty fantastic.

Space: The Final Barcode Scanner Frontier

A couple weeks ago I got an email from a buddy at Motorola/Symbol about how fantastic their warranties are. So fantastic that the scanners are in use 300 years in the future.

At first I thought it was photoshopped. Why would the Enterprise have two Motorola M2000 Cyclones on the helm? And if you look to the left, it looks like there’s another one there. And yet a couple more at the top of the image.

And what’s this? A Metrologic Voyager just hangin out? Seriously? It sort of makes the Enterprise look like they raided a museum of old stuff to get the right aesthetic. I’m hoping when they go into red alert the auto-sense modes kick in. Get some sort of crazy laser party goin on in there.

It’s pretty interesting to see products get used as set dressing, especially when it’s not their intended use. Though who knows, maybe they scan barcodes to start the ship or something.

Oh and here are a couple more shots, with some brooding and drama!

Google Interest-Based Advertising

This is absolutely fantastic, and I’m hoping it increases our conversion rate in the long term. Interest-based Advertising, so if I’m reading this right, and I’d like to think I am, you search Google and its affiliates, reading up on say “president nixon”, “blue people”, and “alternate universe”, and you’ll see ads for like Watchmen stuff. Look at me, being quasi-relevant in a post about ad relevance.

Our business is really focused on a specific market anyway, but having ads reinforced based on users’ interests as opposed to one-time searches should help drive quality visitors to our site. And that’s a pretty solid thing in my mind.

Official Google Blog Post

POSGuys ULTRASCAN!!!!

I just like the name. UltraScan. Like it should be fighting dudes in rubber suits over a scale-model Tokyo. And it’s a new scanner only from POSGuys.com and totally great for low to medium volume retail establishments.

The POSGuys.com UltraScan laser barcode scanner, to use its full name, is a laser barcode scanner on the cheap. And that’s not to say it’s a cheap scanner, just inexpensive. It’s got a 12″ scan range on 100% UPC barcodes, which is 99% of what retail stores end up scanning. And, pretty fanciful, it can scan inverted barcodes without having to set any configuration. That’s a lot more rare than you’d expect but still pretty rad.

Other fun facts, this is a REALLY light barcode scanner. The cable probably accounts for 90% of the weight, so extended use isn’t going to cause arm problems. We also dropped it a bunch and it seemed to survive 12-foot drops no sweat. But that’ll be in the soon-to-be-released video. And outtakes.

We’re trying to aim the scanner (hah pun) at people who need something more aggressive than our entry level & contact scanners, but don’t need all the bells and whistles that make medium volume and high volume scanners so expensive.

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.