Honeywell Voyager 1400g
July 12, 2012
Honeywell has released a new Voyager, more voyagey than the old Voyager and way more voyagetastic than the original. The Voyager 1400g offers omnidirectional scanning and is a great fit if you’re looking to add 2D scanning to your business without breaking the bank.
The barcode scanner comes in three flavors: a 1D only imager, 1D and PDF scanning, and full 2D imaging. What’s really great about these scanners is that if you know at some point down the road you want 2D imaging, but right now you can’t justify the full cost, you can get the 1D model, then upgrade the scanner itself later on. No need to buy a full scanner each time you want additional functionality.
I’ve gotten to take a Voyager 1400g out for a spin, and it’s a great device. Standard UPC barcodes are read pretty easily from up to a foot away and at all angles, cutting out almost all of the hassles you run into with a standard 1D scanner. 2D barcodes are read equally easily, including Data Matrix, QR, and Aztec codes. The Voyager 1400g uses a red LED as an aimer, but a white light to illuminate the barcode, so if you have a way to power it, it can be a great makeshift flashlight.
The Voyager 1400g, by nature of being an imager, can read barcodes on cell phone or LCD screens. This is great for retailers looking to do mobile couponing, ticket checking, or just trying to see if you can read weird barcodes on screens. The scanner is not able to do optical character recognition (OCR) or image capture, but there’s the Xenon 1900 ready and waiting to recognize characters and take pictures, so no biggie.
We did run into some issues scanning outside on a sunny day. Our test sheet of barcodes is pretty glossy, and I think we managed to find the one angle where glare from the sun actually made it impossible to get a good read. As soon as a little shade covered the barcode, the Voyager 1400g would pick up the barcode. But really, it’s such a specific instance that it’s not too big a deal.
All in all, the Voyager 1400g is a fantastic and affordable addition to any business. The fact that you can easily upgrade the firmware to transition from 1D scanning to 1D and 2D scanning makes it great, in my mind, for retailers who want to scan 2D barcodes eventually, but don’t want to have to buy multiple scanners, or can’t justify the cost for a full 2D scanner quite yet.
Honeywell Voyager 1250g
July 13, 2011
Honeywell’s continuing their migration toward a single cabling setup, this time unleashing the Voyager 1250g onto the world. It’s a laser scanner built like more common triggered barcode scanners, and kind of looks like a 3800g/Hyperion 1300g with a laser scan engine crammed into it.
The scan engine on the 1250g is a tuned up version of what you get in the standard Voyager, giving you faster scanning at a longer range. The optimal scan range for standard UPC barcodes is contact to about 18″ back, so it’s pretty easy to get a read at any checkstand. It scans 100 barcodes per second, on par with the LS2208 and VoyagerGS, and pretty solid for retail.
Honeywell tuned the 1250g to scan 4 mil barcodes as well. While that’s not as spectacular as the Voyager 1200g reading 3 mil barcodes, it’s still pretty great, especially when you add in the deeper scan range. And it’s one of the few laser scanners on the market that can scan in direct sunlight (according to their data sheet).
CodeGate is available on the scanner, so it’ll illuminate the barcode but not scan until you pull the trigger. For electronics retailers and cell phone providers, this is a tremendous feature. Any time you have more than two or three barcodes really closely packed together, like on most cell phone, hard drive, or consumer electronics boxes, reading the correct barcode can be troublesome. CodeGate takes care of this issue and definitely speeds up operations.
Durability is important even in retail environments, and Honeywell built the Voyager 1250g to take a beating. The scanner can withstand drops of 5 feet to concrete, so knocking it off a counter shouldn’t be too big a deal. It’s also got an IP41 seal, which protects the internals from some dirt and a little water. I definitely would hesitate to put it through a car wash, but it should be fine during a sidewalk sale or at a lumber yard or anything short of a thunderstorm.
The Voyager 1250g is a solid solution and does feel like it offers features of the Voyager 1200g and the Hyperion 1300g. Probably why it’s the 1250g. You get the speed of a laser scanner, but the range more commonly associated with imaging. I could see this being a great upgrade for most retailers.
Once I get my hands on a 1250g, I’ll run it through its paces, including the hammer test. It looks like a 3800g, hopefully it can hammer nails like a 3800g.
Honeywell Voyager 1200g
November 10, 2010
Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to head out to Las Vegas for a Honeywell Scanning & Mobility Partner Conference. Hosted at the beautiful Aria Casino & Resort, we covered a lot of territory, including various social marketing techniques and ways to build your brand online. I also got to meet Terry Bradshaw’s brother. That was pretty special. He’s quite tall.
Along with some breakout sessions – I think they’re added so supervisors feel less hesitant to send employees to Vegas for three workdays – we got to get a sneak peek at the Voyager 1200g, heir apparent to the Voyager line of barcode scanners and most likely 1D laser scanning champion. Available sometime in early 2011, the scanner will be taking the place of the fantastic selling original Voyager. I’m pretty sure the Voyager was firmly established even before I got into the industry in 2006. That’s phenomenal longevity for most products, let alone one tied to the quick turnarounds of consumer/business technology.
The Voyager 1200g maintains the same design style as the original (some say it totally looks like an alien), but with some additions to make it a bit more durable. The trigger button is covered with a rubber gasket that extends to the hood, not only protecting it from drops and bumps but helping maintain an IP42 seal. The internal components are situated on a single board, eliminating performance issues from worn or damaged internal connectors.
I got to test it out during the conference, and it definitely feels like the Voyager we’re all familiar with, but upgraded in some good ways. The rubber over the scan button feels good, and the tactile response is firm and reminiscent of a television remote. It’s light and has a good balance so you could hang onto it for a while without your arm feeling the burn.
What really sets the scanner apart from the competition is its ability to scan the most damaged barcodes you could find. Low contrast, scratched up, mangled barcodes and more are easily scanned with this unit. But my words don’t do it justice. Behold this fancy video showing off the Voyager 1200g’s prowess:
Once we get one in house, I’ll write up something a little more quantitative, but for now it feels like 2011 is going to be a good year for barcode scanning technology.
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