Due to the increased use of barcodes, scanners have become very well priced. Also, the last few years has seen the phenomenal growth in the use of portable data terminals.

Hand scanners fall into one of two groups, either CCD scanners or laser scanners.

CCD is very cost effective and with no moving parts and can be very rugged. But CCD scanners are only good at reading barcodes close up, ie. within a few centimetres.

Laser scanners are far better for use within an environment where barcodes need to be read at any range. Laser scanners also have a slightly better performance and are able to read barcodes with which CCD scanners struggle. It is possible to buy rugged laser scanners.

Portable data terminals also fall into two categories, radio and batch. Both are based around a laser scanner but include a display and have key entry capability.

Radio terminals are used when the user needs direct access to the system ie. for checking products etc.
Batch terminals are used for logging and storing data which is then communicated back to the system when the terminal is replaced into its cradle.

Both radio and batch terminals can hold large amounts of data, which in many cases can be used to store product information.