Need advice for Symbol Scanner with PPC & WiFi

[jez]

Hi everyone,

I'm posting it here as I need the device for my CF app. Basically I'm
looking for a WiFi device that has Windows Mobile 2003 and a barcode scanner
as well. It needs to be ruggedized for small drops. People have been talking
in this newsgroup about Symbol's PDA's saying that it's not too difficult to
program the scanner as there are many resources online. Would you all agree
that I should go towards a Symbol scanner ?

I had a look at their website - more specifically at the 8800 Series and
2800 Series (they only major difference I could find was their keypad). They
both look pretty interesting as they have extra memory capability, WiFi and
are ruggedized.

Any suggestions, comments or advice is welcome!

I want to make sure I make the right decision..

jez

 

[Lars Black]

in this newsgroup about Symbol's PDA's saying that it's not too difficult
to

program the scanner as there are many resources online. Would you all agree
that I should go towards a Symbol scanner ?

Currently, we're using the PDT 8037 and is is quite easy to access. However,
Symbol has a big problem delivering these terminals, we're waiting 3+ months
for a delivery of 11 devices..
We've been looking at Intermec terminals, very much like Symbol and they
have a new model, 730, that looks very interesting.. Also, Intermec has some
good tools to make deployment easier.

Cheers,
Lars

 

[chris-s]

See Intermec 700 series, http://www.intermec.com .

Chris

 

[jez]

Lars, chris,

I actually spoke to an Intermec distributor this morning. Obviously he told
me their PPC's are outstanding etc.. but they are also slightly more
expensive..

What I worry about when thinking about Intermec is their developer's
support. Symbol seems to have a pretty extensive support for developers as
they're the leaders in their field. It seems like Intermec has a relatively
small developer's zone.

I'm still more inclined to take a Symbol PPC.

Lars, as for the delivery problem, I spoke to a Symbol distributor
yesterday, we can probably get one with a week (in Belgium), so that
shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Apart from that, any more experience with any other devices ?

jez

 

[Lars Black]

What I worry about when thinking about Intermec is their developer's

support. Symbol seems to have a pretty extensive support for developers as
they're the leaders in their field.

I don't have any expirence with Intermecs developer support except that I
have downloaded their SDK, but the danish Intermec representative assured me
that it exists and that Intermec Denmark even have a good handfull of
developers, basically doing contract work but also available for support.
OTOH, if you look at Symbols developer forum, these days it is very rare to
see a Symbol person answer a question - it used to be better though..

Lars, as for the delivery problem, I spoke to a Symbol distributor

yesterday, we can probably get one with a week (in Belgium), so that

shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I guess that's a 8800 device then? According to my distributor, there's a
world wide problem delivering the 8000 series (8037 in my case). I would be
very interested in your distributors view on that.. (you're welcome in
private email if you like)

Cheers,
Lars

 

[jez]

Lars,

You might be right.. like, I'll definitely have a thorough look at their
website before making a decision. isn't the xx37 with GPRS? You might want
to try getting them in another country. I just got the distributor's number
of Symbol's website("Where to buy"). Just go over there and select Belgium.
There are three numbers, just try all three of them and see what they say.
Also I found a massive American website : www.barcodegiant.com have a look
at it. They sell all possible barcode readers (including all Symbol
models!). I spoke to them on the phone, they told me they could deliver both
products by USPS/UPS/FedEx etc.. no probs with intl orders - you'll just
have to pay in advance I think. Have a look at it, you should try to contact
them and see what they say!

 

[Ginny Caughey [MVP]]

jez,

We're using the Symbol 8800s now with no problems. (We got a few units when
they were first released that had manufacturing problems but not lately.) We
have also used the 2800s, but users like the form factor and color screen of
the 8800 as well as the keypad (we use the one with numeric buttons).

 

[jez]

Ginny,

have you used WiFi on the 8800's as well ? My app would be using WiFi to
synchronize files twice a day. I think it's going to be the Symbol 88xx..

 

[Ginny Caughey [MVP]]

jez,

I'm not using WiFi with the 8800, but I don't recall hearing any complaints
about it.

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

We used to be a Symbol partner when they resold some of our fixed-station
devices. They have to be the most disorganized company on the face of the
Earth. It would take days to weeks to get answers to relatively simple
technical questions. Many of the VARs and integrators who were buying our
products with Symbol's name on them dropped Symbol from the loop entirely
and went with our own label (even though it's far less well-known), because
of the lack of support. It was very difficult to get any time to train
their sales staff and I think that, although they *are* good at selling,
they really know very little about the products. Now, European offices of
many, many companies are far more technical than their American
counterparts, so you may have the ability to get a lot of good support
locally, which would be great.

We haven't had a lot of dealings with Intermec, but they seem to be a much
more technically proficient organization top-to-bottom. Naturally we think
that our products are better than theirs and I *know* our support is better,
but, if I had to buy a handheld device from one of those two, I'd be far
more likely to choose Intermec.

Paul T.

 

[jez]

Paul,

thanks for your post. It really does make me think about more about the
choice I'm about to make. I was talking to another Symbol rep about an hour
ago, their devices seem pretty good. But yes, support is pretty important I
guess, so I'll have to look into that. I'm still waiting for an email from
an Intermec rep as I asked him whether his developers use the .NET CF.
Finally, Intermec seems to be way more expensive than symbol (by at least
$500).

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

Tell them that they're competing with Symbol for sales of X number of
devices. My impression is that Intermec is not as aggressive on price as
Symbol, but Symbol won't ever let a sale get away on price, it seems. Of
course, if you're buying one...

Paul T.

 

[jez]

Wanted to get back to you about the delivery times. I received a fax today
with an offer for the PPT2800 and PPT8800 series. The delivery times are
max. 8 weeks after the order has been put through..

just thought I'd let you know. I think it's terrible.

 

[Thomas]

Do you know Gotive ?
See http://www.gotive.com
They have a very good terminal which can be equipped with barcode scanner
(made by Symbol), GPRS, GPS, Bluetooth, RFID and Wifi.
It's ruggedised (IP54) and the autonomy is quite good (4600 ma battery).

Thomas.

 

[jez]

Looked at the website. It does look pretty interesting it's just that's it's
CE.net and it has a GPS (not that it's bad!). I guess it'll also be pretty
exp!

 

[Thomas]

GPS is only an option (like all the other things, you can choose what you
want).
I haven't seen that you was looking for Windows Mobile 2003... Sorry.
Good devices, whatever !

Thomas

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

That's pretty much the way everyone is. Our lead times are probably two
weeks right now on most barcoding items, but we're pretty much
build-to-order on anything not already in stock. The economy isn't good
enough to want to pour a few million $ into inventory.

Paul T.