Symbol DS3578 Barcode Scanner

Motorola/Symbol’s rocking their blockbuster scan engine into all of their 2D scanners nowadays and so I’m working to get them all on the site. Their industrial cordless scanner, the DS3578, is a pretty burly addition to their lineup and goes great with Carharts & Red Wings.

They have two flavors available for this scanner, High Density and Standard Range, and I prefer that. For a while companies would offer four or five different tweaks on the same scan engine, and it’d just be a headache for customers trying to figure out which one they need. That being said, they do have a DPM scanner, DPM being Direct Parts Marking, or etching barcodes onto materials for scanning. But that’s a very specific market so we’ll avoid that style scanner.

The High Density scanner can read barcodes as dense as 3 mil, which is verging on pretty packed for most applications, but definitely exists on parts used during the manufacturing process. Scanning tiny barcodes does squash the depth of field, so you get about 6″ of scan range on standard 13 mil UPC barcodes, with some variance depending on the density of the barcode you want to read.

Standard Range scanning will probably be what most people need. 4 mil is the smallest barcode it can read, which is still pretty tiny for 95% of everyone out there. You get a lot more play on the depth of field, going out to about 15″ on 13 mil UPC barcodes.

And because Bluetooth is pretty silly with only 40 feet of range, especially in a warehouse, Motorymbol put a beefier radio in these scanners. You get up to 300 feet of radio range, line of sight, which is pretty awesome. I can’t imagine too many circumstances that require a scanner to be that far from the host, but it’s still awesome to have the capability. Or you can pair the scanner to a coworker’s mobile computer and randomly fire data at him/her. Workplace mischief is great when you have a 300 foot head start.

Burliness is a key feature of the DS3578, allowing it to operate in all sorts of inhumane conditions. The scanner is sealed to IP65 specifications, meaning that no dust can get in and harm the internal components, nor can low pressure jets of water. I’d feel bad for the person who has to work in those conditions, but I guess if you left it out in a storm it would be okay.

To further complement the durability of the DS3578, it was built to hold up to temperatures from -4° to 120° Fahrenheit, so keeping track of frozen stuff, like dairy princess butter sculptures, is no big deal. I’ve wanted to reference butter sculptures for a while, it feels great to finally get the opportunity.

The scanner is also built to take a beating, holding up to 6.5-foot drops to concrete and still running strong.

Video Proof of iPhones Connecting to Bluetooth Scanners

More companies are sharing their successes in pairing barcode scanners with iPhones & Blackberries & such, and far be it from us to deny you their videos. I imagine we’ll be soon approaching a point in which it’s odd that a Bluetooth scanner doesn’t pair to a smartphone, but for now there’s some novelty.

First up, Opticon sent us links to setting up the OPN 2002 with both an iPhone and iPad. They already had the scanner pairing to Blackberries (with a little help from some wedge software), so this definitely adds to its desirability. As a sidenote, the OPN 2002 comes from the Opticon Mobility Group. They like to refer to themselves as OMG. I enjoy getting OMG White Papers and OMG Spec Sheets.

I had already mentioned that the Socket CHS 7 series can connect to the iPhone, but I neglected to post their video.

The videos are great walkthroughs if you’re having trouble getting your phone and scanner connected.

**Update**

I talked to a fantastic resource at Motorola, in regards to their CS3070 hooking up to an iPhone. He said that this only works on the iPhone 4 hardware, so that’s why we’ve been having issues with pairing. I imagine this affects the other barcode scanners we’ve tried.