Honeywell’s Presentation Mode for Scanners

Presentation mode gives customers the ability to scan barcodes without having to squeeze any triggers.  You “present” the barcode to the scanner and it scans.  Presentation mode uses ambient light and scanner illumination to detect barcodes.

There are two types of Presentation Modes:

1. Presentation Mode.  In this mode the scanner’s LEDs remain dim until a bar code is presented to the scanner.  When a barcode is presented & detected the LEDs turn up, the aimer turns on, and the scanner scans the bar code.   This mode tends to do a better job with bad barcodes.
2. Streaming Presentation Mode:  The scanner’s LEDs remain fully on and the scanner is always scanning.  When a barcode is presented the aimer turns on and the barcode is “scanned”.  This mode tends to scan good barcodes faster.  In Streaming Presentation Mode there is even a Normal flavor and an Enhanced flavor.
   • Normal = Good scan speed and the longest working ranges.
   • Enhanced = Fastest scan speed but less range.

Note:  For a Bluetooth scanner – both Presentation Mode and Streaming Presentation Mode require an external power supply be plugged into the charge base – not just the USB cable plugged into the host.  Exception being a host with a Power Plus USB connector.

Another Note: And both of the above modes can be turned on by scanning their respective barcodes in your scanner’s user guide.

Yet Another Note:  The Xenon 1902h healthcare scanner has hybrid “Presentation Mode/Hands Free Mode” that is turned on by pressing the button on the scanner’s base station while the scanner is in the base. This mode turns on both the scanner’s LEDs and aiming beam.   This mode can in most cases get away with just a USB cable plugged into a host for power, because it turns off after a preprogrammed period of time – depending on how much scanning is involved.

Bottom Line:  Presentation Mode vs Streaming Presentation Mode.

• Go with Streaming Presentation Mode.  For the best motion tolerance, LEDs need to be on all the time.   If someone doesn’t like the LEDs being on all the time then you can back them down to regular Presentation Mode.

If you want to read barcodes off of cell phones in presentation mode there is a programming barcode titled “Streaming Presentation – Mobile Phones”.  That’s what you’ll want to use.