Here is a first for the Labelzone blog: a barcode scanner review! Here I'm reviewing the Z-6010 hands-free 1D laser barcode scanner. This is a table-top scanner that connects via USB to your computer. This scanner will scan the following types of barcodes:
- IATA Code
- Industrial 2 of 5
- ISBN/ISSN
- ITF 2 of 5
- JAN-8 & JAN-13
- JAP
- MSI
- Standard 2 of 5
- UPC/EAN/JAN
- UPC-A & UPC-E
- China Postal Code
- Codabar
- Code 11
- Code 32
- Code 39
- Code 93
- Code 128 & EAN 128
- EAN-8 & EAN-13
- GS1 DataBar
- GS1 DataBar Limited
- GS1 DataBar Expanded
It automatically installs through Windows Update (on Windows XP and later) and identifies as a keyboard within seconds. It's default setting it is to enter the barcode scanned followed by a carriage return (the enter button). Using the supplied disc you can change the settings on what key is pressed before or after each scan. It's supplied with 2 metre long cable but it's a very specific one so be sure not to damage it or it might be difficult/costly to replace. The laser is a 650nm visible diode (VLD). It scans 1,400 times per second in its 5 different directions (70 scans per second per line).
Above is an actual photo of the laser lines emitted from the scanner from 200mm away. You can see the 20 lines scanning in 5 directions produces a spread only a little smaller than a sheet of A4 paper. There's a high chance the barcode you're pointing this at will scan successfully but it may require a little moving about. If however there are a few different barcodes very close to each other and you don't want to risk scanning the wrong one or it keeps scanning the wrong one, you can override all the lines and produce just one line to scan.
Picking up the scanner from it's cradle will allow the button on the top to become active, the unit is only 200g so it's not heavy. Pressing this blue-illuminated button will enable the single line scan for ~5 seconds. If you hover your mouse over the image above you will see the single line that the scanner will produce. During this time the auto scan will be off and you have to hold the button to scan the barcode you're pointing at. Personally I think the time period this stays active for is far too short. Especially considering that it activates all 20 lines again with autoscan as soon as it's returned to it's cradle. The way it produces this single line is by pulsing the laser on and off at exactly the right time... Or almost exactly the right time. As you can see there is a little line bleeding over in the bottom left corner that is clearly an overlap onto the wrong mirror. This hopefully shouldn't cause any scanning problems but it is clear from the images above that the main line also get's shorter. When a barcode is scanned successfully there's an audible beep. By default it's rather loud but the tone, tone length and volume can be adjusted. A lazy way to reduce the volume is by putting a little bit of tape over the middle beeper hole on the front. Either side of the beeper hole are two more holes. One is an emitter and the other a receiver. These act in tandem as a proximity sensor that becomes active when the unit goes into standby after a period of inactivity. First the laser turns off after 10 minutes* then the spinning mirrors come to a stop after 30 minutes*. If anything enters the proximity range of the sensor the wheel will spin back up if it's stopped and the laser will switch back on allowing it to start scanning again. I believe these sensors also work when a barcode has been scanned, to check when the item has been removed from the scanning area before being ready to scan the next barcode. Alternatively when the unit goes into standby you can press the button on top to wake it up.
This is a great little scanner for its price. I would say it's perfect for small shops as if you had a high volume of items to scan you'd probably want something with a little more to it. In small warehouses this would also probably be suitable and don't worry about those with butter fingers as it's designed to withstand 1.5 metre drops. I actually quite like these scanners. We have a couple in our warehouse but there guys down there needs to scan certain barcodes on the wall to complete orders so they find it more convenient to have handheld scanners. So leaving the desktop ones as spares I decided to acquire one for my desk as I sometimes need to scan a barcode. Obviously I turned the volume of the beep down for the office environment.
Further technical specs
Depth of field:
- 5 mil: 40 – 90 mm
- 7.5 mil: 0 – 150 mm
- 10 mil: 0 – 180 mm
- 13 mil: 0 – 200 mm
- 20 mil: 0 – 280 mm Note: DOF may vary depending on environment condition and barcode quality.
Optimum operating environments Temperatures: 0°C – 40°C (32°F – 104°F) Humidity: 5% – 95% RH (no dewing allowed) Light Level: Up to 4,500 Lux (fluorescence) *Can be configured.