Hi. This is Travis from POSGuys.com. Today we'll be taking a look at the DS4308 by Symbol.
It's an upgrade to the LI2208 that's kind of designed for general use and retail applications.
The big difference between this and the LI2208 is it's a 2D imager, so it's able to read
drivers licenses, QR codes for mobile couponing, and anything related to 2D barcodes, and it
also scans off phones really well. The LI2208 also scans of phones, but the DS does it just
a bit better. It's an upgrade to the DS4208, which was a very popular scanner for many
years. There's a standard version, and then there's also a healthcare version, that appeared
in a lot of hospitals and healthcare environments. The DS4308 does everything the 4208 does,
just better. You have more scan range, faster scan rates, it reads barcodes better. Damaged
barcodes it reads better, works better in sunlight. So its basically the same as 4208,
just better overall. It has the same 5-year warranty as the previous model, and it has
the same drop spec, where it's about a 6 foot drop to concrete multiple times. Also the
same IP42 rating, where it's kind of dust and water splash, so you can clean it off
and stuff, but it's not made to be submerged or go underwater, or work in a big rainstorm.
It's your general indoor use scanner. The best thing about this scanner is the price
point. It comes in more than the LI2208, but it's under 300 dollars, which is a great price
point for a 2D barcode scanner, and there's also a drivers license parsing version available
for people that are going to be doing registries or they want to pull specific information
out of a drivers license like the age or an address or just the name. You can scan the
whole drivers license and it'll just give you the pieces of information that you want
with some simple programming using their advanced data capture tool.
So taking a look at the reticle on the device, by default there's a red dot that appears.
So this is kind of an aiming reticle, it won't pick up a scan, but you can use it to line
up over the barcode that you want, and then when you scan it's a big field of red. It's
a simple but very efficient reticle system, there's fancier ones out there with cross-hairs
and boxes and such, but this one works. The always on red light is pretty useful for lining
up barcodes. For instance, if you have multiple barcodes on a page and you want to scan a
specific one. This is common with serial numbers. So it's really easy to line it up, you pull
the trigger. Your range is spectacular, you can get from contact, I am touching the paper,
to out from off camera now, but past a foot. And this is on a pretty compact barcode. The
ability to touch the barcode and scan is better than the older model 4208, that one you had
to be back a couple inches, this one you can be right on top of it. UPC barcodes it scans
perfectly, 3 of 9 and 128, these are the most common 1D barcodes you're going to see. The
smaller sizes it reads as well.
This scanner has extremely good range, it can go from contact to a couple feet back,
about 3 feet back, now I'm going to be off camera. So past 5 feet. Extremely good range
on a pretty typical size barcode. Bright lights or sunlight are not an issue for the scanner
either. In full spectrum lighting it's able to scan no problem.
Motion tolerance is not an issue. As the can turns it's able to read the barcodes, and
we can speed it up and at full speed it's reading the barcodes without any problems.
Damaged barcodes won't be a problem for it. I have a basic barcode here. Swipe some lines
through it, and it reads it no problem. I can crinkle it like that now and it still
gets a read. So pretty much barcodes of any condition, as long as you can sort of see
the lines, will work just fine.
So the DS4308, how do we rate it? We rate it as one of the best scanners that we have.
For the price point, it's reticle system, its durability and its flexibility, it's pretty
much up there as the best scanner you can get. The LI2208 is of course cheaper, but
it doesn't do 2D barcodes, so if you're looking to scan 2D barcodes, to do mobile couponing,
to scan off phones, this is one of the best priced scanners you can get. If you want to
go hands-free, then you can buy a hands-free stand, set it in the stand, and it will become
auto-sensing afterwards. So a very flexible scanner, I would definitely consider it for
retail, definitely consider it for ticketing. Warehousing can even use it, there are tougher
scanners, but they are also about double the price, if not triple the price, so from a
price performace standpoint, the DS4308 is about as good as you can get. Very highly
recommended. For more information on the DS4308, or to purchase, please visit us at POSGuys.com.
Thanks!