The essential barcode scanners for pos systems are best judged with six labels you bring yourself. The types they come in are covered in the five scanner types. This page builds the test.
Key Takeaways
- Bring six labels, not a specification sheet.
- A faint label failure is usually your label printer.
- A phone screen test eliminates every laser scanner.
- Scan one label twenty times and watch for hesitation.
- Keep the envelope at the counter afterwards.
- Three of six failures are label problems, not scanner problems.
Why a label test beats an essential barcode scanners for pos systems specification
A scanner specification describes what a device can read under defined conditions, and a counter is not a defined condition.
Scanner support documentation publishes symbology support honestly, and symbology support says nothing about a curled label under shop lighting.
GS1 India issues and administers the barcode numbering system used by Indian products, so a correctly printed label follows a defined structure.
The trouble is that many labels reaching a counter are not correctly printed, and those are the ones that cause complaints.
A test built from your own labels therefore measures the thing that matters, which is whether this scanner reads what you actually sell.
It also finds your own label problems, which is the second and larger benefit and costs nothing extra.
So the six labels do two jobs at once. They rank the essential barcode scanners for pos systems and they audit your own printing.
| What a specification tells you | What it cannot tell you |
|---|---|
| Which symbologies are supported | Whether your labels are readable |
| The working distance | Whether bottles read off axis |
| The scan rate | Whether it hesitates on your worst label |
| The interface | Whether the cursor moves to a new line |
| The published ruggedness | How it behaves at your counter height |
Terms worth knowing before testing
Five expressions recur when the essential barcode scanners for pos systems are compared, and each affects how a test result is read.
A symbology denotes a family of code patterns, and support for one is what determines whether a given label can be decoded at all.
Two dimensional denotes a code carrying data in two directions, which includes the square payment codes customers present on a phone.
Working distance denotes the range within which a code is read, and a short one is a nuisance rather than a defect.
Scan rate denotes attempts per second, which is what makes a difficult label appear to read instantly rather than hesitantly.
A line ending denotes the keystroke a scanner appends after each code, and its absence makes a working scanner appear dead.
- Symbology: the code families supported.
- Two dimensional: includes phone payment codes.
- Working distance: how far from the code it reads.
- Scan rate: attempts per second, hides difficult labels.
- Line ending: its absence makes a scanner look dead.
Building the six label kit
The kit takes ten minutes to assemble from stock already on your shelves.
Find the faintest printed barcode in the shop, usually from a supplier whose labels are produced on a tired printer.
Find the most tightly curved label, which is normally a small bottle or a tube where the code wraps round most of the circumference.
Find a label under film or laminate, which reflects shop lighting straight back at a scanner.
Find the smallest printed code, since a shrunken code loses the minimum bar width that makes it readable at all.
Add a payment code on your own phone, and one label printed by your own weighing scale if you weigh goods.
Put all six in an envelope and write the date on it, because the kit is worth keeping rather than rebuilding.
- The faintest barcode you can find.
- The most tightly curved label.
- One label under film or laminate.
- The smallest printed code.
- A payment code on your own phone.
- One label printed by your own scale.
Test one: the faint label
This is the test most likely to fail and the one whose failure most often points away from the scanner.
Faint printing means insufficient contrast between bars and spaces, which every scanner needs regardless of its grade.
A good imager tolerates more of it than a laser, and neither tolerates a label produced by a worn ribbon or a tired thermal head.
So if this label fails on two different scanners, the answer is a fresh consumable in your label printer rather than a new scanner.
That single discovery frequently saves the price of the scanner, which is why the test belongs first.
Where the label comes from a supplier rather than your own printer, the remedy is relabelling at goods inward.
Test two: the curved label
The second test separates reading technologies more clearly than any other.
A code wrapped tightly round a small bottle presents a distorted pattern from almost every angle, because the bars are no longer parallel to the reader.
A laser sweeping a line across that surface frequently loses the pattern and needs the bottle rotated by hand.
An imager photographs the whole area and decodes from the image, which tolerates curvature considerably better.
So a failure here is a reasonable argument for an imager and is not a reason to reject a particular model outright.
Where curvature is unavoidable across much of your stock, consider repositioning labels onto a flatter panel at goods inward.
Test three: the label under film
The third test reproduces the single most common complaint in shops selling packaged food.
Cling film and glossy laminate reflect shop lighting straight back into the reader, which swamps the contrast the decoder needs.
A laser suffers more here because it supplies its own narrow light and receives most of it back.
An imager with a wider field frequently manages, and the result varies enough between models to make this test genuinely informative.
Try it under the lighting you actually have, since a showroom ceiling panel produces different reflection from a shop tube.
Where it fails on everything, the remedy is a label on the film rather than under it, which is a packing decision rather than a purchase.
Why three of six failures are not the scanner
A read failure is conventionally attributed to the reading device, and in three of these six tests that attribution is mistaken.
Decoding requires sufficient contrast between bars and spaces, and contrast is a property of the printed label rather than of the reader examining it.
Decoding similarly requires a minimum bar width, and a code reduced below that width contains insufficient information for any reader to recover.
Reflection introduces a third case, where the label supplies adequate contrast and the covering film returns the illumination before it can be measured.
Consequently replacing a scanner addresses none of these three, and shops that replace repeatedly frequently encounter the same complaints afterwards.
Establishing which category a complaint belongs to therefore saves both the purchase and the frustration, and a six label kit establishes it in minutes.
| Failure | Category | Correct remedy |
|---|---|---|
| Faint printing | Label | Fresh ribbon or roll |
| Code too small | Label | A larger label |
| Reflection from film | Packing | Label on the film, not under |
| Curvature | Reader capability | An imager |
| Phone code | Reader capability | An imager, not a laser |
Test four: the tiny code
The fourth test is the one whose failure is almost never the scanner’s fault.
A barcode has a minimum bar width below which no reader can resolve it reliably, and shrinking a code to fit a small label crosses that line.
So a code printed too small is a printing decision that no purchase corrects, whatever grade of scanner is chosen.
Test it anyway, because the result tells you whether your smallest labels need redesigning before you blame a device.
An imager will usually manage a slightly smaller code than a laser, which buys a little margin and not a lot.
Where the label cannot grow, the honest answer is to key those items in rather than to keep buying scanners.
Test five: the phone screen
The fifth test takes five seconds and eliminates an entire category of scanner.
UPI payment codes are two dimensional, which means a one dimensional laser cannot read them under any circumstances.
A shop whose customers present codes on a phone therefore needs an imager, irrespective of what its shelf labels look like.
Screens add their own difficulty through brightness and reflection, so test with the phone at the brightness a customer would actually use.
A cracked or heavily fingerprinted screen is worth trying too, since both are common at a counter and both reduce contrast.
A failure here is decisive rather than advisory, because no label change makes a laser read a two dimensional code.
- Test at the brightness a customer would use.
- Try a fingerprinted or cracked screen as well.
- Reject any laser outright if this test matters to you.
- Confirm the scanner reads it without changing a setting.
Test six: your own scale label
The sixth test applies to weighing trades and checks a label you print rather than one you receive.
Legal Metrology requires weighing instruments used in trade to be verified and stamped, and the label carrying weight and price is produced at the instrument.
That label is printed by a device you own, which means a failure here is entirely within your control.
A faint scale label usually means the instrument’s ribbon or roll needs replacing, and the fix costs very little.
Test it on every scanner you are considering, because a shop that cannot scan its own labels has a daily problem rather than an occasional one.
Where the scale prints a two dimensional code, this test doubles as a second confirmation of imager capability.
What the test cannot tell you
Three things remain outside the kit and are worth converting into written answers instead.
Durability is the first. No afternoon of scanning reveals how a device behaves in its third year, so ask where repairs are performed.
Replacement speed is the second, and at this price point replacement matters more than repair, so ask whether the dealer swaps rather than mends.
Catalogue accuracy is the third and belongs to nobody on the device. Rule 46 of the CGST Rules lists the invoice particulars, which the catalogue supplies.
So a perfect scan of a wrong price is still a wrong bill, and the scanner has done its job correctly.
Ask also how long the model has been on sale, since a long selling model has accessories and spares in circulation.
Ranking essential barcode scanners for pos systems from the results
Six labels across three scanners produce eighteen results, and unrecorded results become impressions within a day.
Carry one sheet with the six labels down the side and a column for each scanner, and mark each cell immediately.
Record first pass, second pass or failure rather than a tick, because the difference between first and second pass is the whole point.
Add a row for the twenty repeat scans and write the number of hesitations rather than a judgement.
Add a row for the line ending check, since a scanner that does not send one appears dead and is not.
The scanner with the most first passes on your own labels is the right scanner, whatever the specification comparison suggests.
- Count first passes per scanner.
- Break a tie with the hesitation count.
- Reject anything that failed the phone code.
- Prefer the one with a nearer repair city.
- Record the winner and keep the sheet.
| Row on your sheet | What to record | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Faint label | First pass, second, or fail | Contrast tolerance |
| Curved label | First pass, second, or fail | Off axis reading |
| Under film | First pass, second, or fail | Reflection tolerance |
| Phone code | Reads or does not | Decisive |
| Twenty repeats | Number of hesitations | Queue behaviour |
A short brief for the dealer
Say what you are bringing before you arrive, because a prepared demonstration is a better demonstration and dealers rarely object.
State that you will bring six labels from your own stock and a payment code on your phone.
Ask for two or three candidate scanners to be available together, since comparison is the whole point and a single unit tells you little.
Ask for each to be connected into a text field so the line ending can be observed rather than assumed.
Ask for the repair city and whether the dealer replaces rather than repairs at this price point.
A dealer who welcomes all five requests is confident in the products, and one who resists has answered a question at no cost to you.
- Say in advance that you are bringing six labels.
- Ask for two or three candidates side by side.
- Ask for each to be connected into a text field.
- Ask for the repair city, in writing.
- Ask whether they replace or repair at this price.
Two shops, two different kits
The six labels are a starting point and should be adjusted to the trade, which takes a moment.
A chemist should add a small blister pack code and a code on a curved tube, because those two dominate its stock.
A grocery should add a label from its worst supplier and one from its own scale, since those are the two it meets most often.
A hardware shop should add a label on a rough or oily surface, which neither of the others encounters.
A garment shop should add a swing tag, which hangs and moves and is a genuinely different reading problem.
In every case the kit should contain the labels that currently cause complaints, because those are the ones the purchase is meant to solve.
After the purchase
The kit keeps earning after the scanner is installed, which is the argument for keeping the envelope.
When a read complaint arrives, test the kit first. If the kit still reads, the problem is the new label rather than the scanner.
That single check settles most complaints in a minute and prevents an unnecessary support call.
Refresh the kit annually, because suppliers change their label printing and yesterday’s worst label stops being the worst.
Keep the sheet of results with it, since a second scanner purchase for a second till is much faster with the first comparison in hand.
The selection criteria behind all of this are in choosing a scanner for your counter, and the options worth refusing are in the options you can decline.
Wrong fit: testing habits that disappoint
Five habits recur. Each is a wrong fit, with the honest version beside it.
| Habit | Why it is a wrong fit | Honest version |
|---|---|---|
| Testing on the dealer’s labels | Wrong fit: they are printed well | Bring your own six |
| Scanning each label once | Wrong fit: luck passes once | Twenty repeats, count hesitations |
| Blaming a faint label on the scanner | Wrong fit: it is your printer | Fresh ribbon or roll first |
| Skipping the phone code | Wrong fit: it is decisive | Test it in five seconds |
| Throwing the labels away | Wrong fit: they settle complaints | Keep the envelope at the counter |
The device level version of these errors is catalogued in common POS hardware mistakes.
Judged against six of your own labels, the essential barcode scanners for pos systems sort themselves without any argument about specifications.
Conclusion
Build the envelope, test six labels on every scanner, record first passes rather than opinions, reject any laser if a phone code matters, and keep the kit afterwards. The buying order for the rest of the counter is in the buying order for a counter.
Sources and method
Device information comes from maker docs. Zebra Technologies publishes symbology support and interface options on its scanner support pages. The rules and standards are primary. GS1 India issues and administers the barcode numbering system. Rule 46 of the CGST Rules sets the invoice particulars, and NPCI documents the two dimensional UPI code. The Legal Metrology division covers weighing instruments used in trade.
What we could not verify: no read rates, minimum bar widths or prices are quoted, because these vary by model and by label. The six label kit comes from counter practice rather than from published testing.
This is general guidance. Confirm your GST position with your accountant, and verification cycles with your state Legal Metrology office.
Written by Aman raj for Clonet Technologies, a manufacturer of printers, weighing scales and point-of-sale equipment.
Frequently asked questions
How do I test a barcode scanner before buying it?
Bring six labels: one faint, one curved, one under film, one very small, a payment code on your phone and one printed by your own scale. Each proves a different tolerance.
What does a failure on a faint label mean?
Usually that your label printer needs a fresh ribbon or roll rather than that the scanner is poor. Faint printing defeats good scanners as readily as cheap ones.
Why include a phone screen in the test?
Because UPI payment codes are two dimensional. A one dimensional laser cannot read them at all, so this single label eliminates a whole category.
Should I test the same label repeatedly?
Yes. Scan one label twenty times and watch for hesitation, because a scanner that hesitates on a desk will hesitate in a queue.
Where should I keep the test labels afterwards?
In an envelope at the counter. They become the reference set for the next purchase and for any read complaint in between.