Mobile POS System

We’ve kicked around the idea for a mobile POS system for a few years. Unfortunately, the products were always really expensive, or the software required specific hardware which made support difficult. Since our first attempt, prices have normalized, and we’re proud to announce the POSGuys.com Mobile POS System. I’d throw beta up on there, because I’m pretty sure once it gets going, we’ll need to make changes, but for now it looks like a good fit for farmer’s market, line busting, or any POS application where being able to wander around is important.

The PartnerTech EM-200 tablet PC powers the system, running Windows 7. This was always the hardest part to find: a good, affordable tablet PC that is a little tougher than consumer units. The EM-200 comes with an energy efficient 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1 GB of Memory, and 160 GB hard drive, similar to what you would see on a secondary POS station or maybe a thin client. You also get bluetooth and 802.11b/g radios standard, which seems important when you want to flit about while ringing up customers.

By default, we pre-load the EM-200 with Proxis Store Manager POS software, which is pretty easy to setup and use and works well for a variety of retail locations. The software provides standard retail functionality, as well as consignment and rental options, giving you choices when setting up your business.

For receipt printing, we’ve paired the EM-200 with the Star Micronics SM-S300 mobile printer. The lightweight printer is compatible with Store Manager’s receipt formatting, and comes standard with Bluetooth printing, great for easy wireless compatibility. We also preinstall the drivers on the EM-200, cutting down on setup for your business.

Additional hardware is available if you need greater functionality from your system. If you need to take the Mobile POS Sytem into hazardous locations, or are worried about damage from drops, our ruggedization kit is a great fit. The kit adds in the EM-200 protective jacket with handstrap and credit card reader, as well as replacing the SM-S300 with the more durable Star SM-T300 receipt printer. The rugged kit is a good fit for food trucks or concessions vending, situations with a lot of hustle & bustle.

We also offer a stationary kit, which includes the EM-200 POS base and adds in an Epson ReadyPrint T20 receipt printer and POS-X EVO-CD cash drawer. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to help customers, do inventory checks, etc. with greater mobility, but still have a POS checkstand at your business. We feel this gives you the best of both worlds, without having to purchase an entire secondary POS System.

Other add-ons complete the retail POS experience, including the Motorola CS3070 bluetooth barcode scanner and high speed credit card processing. We also offer a year of telephone support free, helping you get set up and familiar with the system, as well as a 1-year warranty on top of the existing hardware warranties. We’re really proud of this system and believe it’s a great fit for any business wanting the mobility not available with a stationary POS system.

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.