Monday, March 22, 2010
Datalogic has extended their premium Gryphon line of scanners with the GM4100 -- a cordless handheld scanner that makes it easy to scan barcodes from wherever you happen to be. You'll get a graphic display, and interact with the host computer with a 3-button keypad. I could see this as being very useful with a Point of Sale system, whereby a salesperson could simply scan the UPC barcodes of products while following a customer, generating a receipt as they walk around the store. Because it's portable and wireless, there is no cable to trip over. The GM4100 is rechargeable with lithium-ion batteries, and you can scan while the unit is charging, so there's no downtime. If you need to scan while away from your host, batch mode retains up to 1200 bar codes. In an industrial setting, you'll like the 325 scans per second, and 'Green Spot' feedback for successful reads. If you forget where you've set the unit down on the production floor, you can use the 'find me' feature to track the GM4100, and it's been tested to take a free-fall impact from 1.8m (5.9 ft). Datalogic claims robust scanning, even in suboptimal environments with dust and moisture. If you like, you can connect up to 16 units to the same base station. Only need a few? No problem, because you will have the flexibility to grow your operation, adding scanners as you need them. This item looks to be a serious contender for Point of Sale systems and in the Light Industrial space.