Basic Requirements

Based on past experience with route sales hardware we have found it important that a handheld device should be:

• able to withstand being dropped repeatedly
• water resistant to some extent
• equipped with large, easily operated buttons
• able to withstand extreme temperatures

Handhelds are often dropped, sometimes into snow banks, or puddles. They are carried outdoors in rain, snow and cold. People carrying them slip on ice. They are sometimes deliberately tossed or thrown. Handhelds are left in truck cabs when the temperature is +40C (or -40C, even in some civilized parts of Canada). Some route salesmen have slender, delicate fingers, but many excellent ones lack this quality. There seems to be some conflict here with the ability to toss heavy boxes and handle a truck.

Cheap

Although this is probably the initially least expensive approach, based on past experience with route sales hardware we do not recommend it for the great majority of situations (see Basic Requirements). An iPAQ may be alright in the hands of a supervisor or preseller, but we would not expect it to last long in normal route sales operations.

Better

A ruggedized WinCE device like the Symbol PPT2800 series is much more appropriate. The wireless radio equipment is inside the rugged shell, and it is designed to withstand some impact and a fair range of temperatures. The buttons used to operate it are much larger and easier to use, and A very useful barcode scanner option is available which can save time and improve accuracy.

Better Still

The Intermec 700 series is also ruggedized with the same basic features as the Symbol PPT2800 series. It also has alphanumeric capability with acceptable sized keys. We consider the Intermec 700 excellent for our wireless route sales application. We also recommend the barcode scanner option.

Do not be afraid to spend on good equipment. In the long term you will save money in repair costs and downtime. People really hate equipment which will not handle the job properly. Give your people the right tools and they will do a better job.

Best

Although the Intermec equipment is great, it does have the weakness of a rather narrow receipt format. The Symbol PDT8100 series slots into the O'Neill RP1000 portable wide carriage printer and is able to produce a full size receipt with a range of useful fonts. The Symbol handheld offers all the benefits of the Intermec including the barcode scanner and alphanumeric keyboard.

On the whole, we were impressed enough to consider this the best equipment to use with our application. Symbol seem to have done a decent job of addressing our concerns over signal sensitivity, slow connection time, and rapid battery consumption. It now has better coverage and works smoothly, and you need no longer carry a spare battery, even if it is a good idea in principle.

For information on how to set up and use the PDT8137 handheld with our telnet demo, please follow these instructions.