Scanner recommendations?

Looking for opinions on this as well! It looks like there are currently three models that are compatible with Tessitura v12/NScan v6.0.6 and higher. Zebra/Motorola Android models of TC20, TC51, and TC70.

Our organization went live with 4 brand new TC51s last October (we are phasing in with the new/out with the old), and the word from our house managers and volunteers is completely positive.  They love them.  They are far superior to the old MC70s and MC75s that we are still using alongside them.  We have every intention of purchasing more TC51s with the new season.

We replaced our old MC55s with MC40s and have been using them for about six months with no complaints. They are easy to set up, have a good battery life, and connect to the wifi in our building with no issues. The scanners are used by four different companies and we haven't had any issues with multiple companies using them.

You are welcome!  The phased approach was both easier for the budget and potentially helpful in case they proved less than popular.  That would have allowed us to try another option if we had wanted to do so without having dumped everything already into one model.  It is now intended as sort of a rolling budget item so that we never end up with a whole slew of outdated scanners.

We currently use the MC55's at my organization, and have purchased 2 new TC51's for testing and to replace one of our MC55 model devices.  I really like the TC51's, I installed the Enterprise Home Screen software on them to lock them down.  The N-Scan software opens right up upon turning on the device and it works well for us.  

We have been using MC40 ticket scanners for over three years. A big improvement over the MC55 devices they replaced. We are now looking to replace some or all of them with the TC51 model.

Hi there,

Is anyone using TC56 (which from what I understand is the TC51 but with 4G connectivity).

Cheers,

dgh

Hi - we have used the MC40 for three years, unfortunately we use them at pop up venues and in those situations I find them a bit slow and have weak wifi connection. If you have your own venue and can control the wifi APs then it is less of an issue. A huge bugbear with NSCAN for us is that they need to connect through a static IP address for authentication which is difficult to manage with wireless modems at pop up ticket boxes or venues.

We have system to deal with this but it complicates things. It would be fantastic if there was a 'in device' 4G option. Other ticket providers have 4G scanners on mobile phones, we recently used some at one of our events where we shared a ticket allocation with another provider. We exported QR to them and they scanned patrons into the venue. The 4G were much simpler and cheaper than NSCAN both in setup and management and staff use. 

We mainly use NSCAN at two venues where we have wired wifi and they work pretty well, we keep trying to use them at other events with wireless modems and often end up scanning QRs on phones and collecting printed tickets and scanning the printed tickets after the patrons are in. 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I presume 4G could not be assigned a static IP and so would not work with Tessitura's current requirements? I would love to see Tessitura scanning done through a cheaper device and 4G 

Cheers

Justin

Hey Justin, long time no speak.

We haven't implemented yet so haven't done the technical setup. Although if static IP is a requirement I'm sure that could easily be solved by a VPN back to office network. Haven't got that far...

dgh

Hi DGH hope you are well. Yep we basically route back through our office ip for NSCAN and the Socket EFTPOS which both require Static IP but haven't explored doing that on a device with internal 4G sim? If you get those devices with 4G internal please let us know how you go with setup. Cheers Justin

Hi Steven,

We were using the MC75's and have moved over to the TC51's and have had no issues. Our Front of House team have found them easy to use and the transition from one device to the other was very smooth. We did purchase one of the TC51's for them to test with initially, so we could get feedback on ease of use etc. but very quickly moved to replacing all our devices as we had no issues.

Caryl

The Science Museum of Minnesota has been using the Motorola Symbol TC70 (Android) scanners for a couple of years now, and they've performed very well (and their battery life is still good!) We are on NScan 6.06 and Tessitura version 14.0.6. We used to use the MC70s (Windows OS model)- and our users (and I.T. support) have been very happy with the TC70s. The only minor complaint we've had was that there is this bright white light that comes on near the scanner cross-beams when the scan is triggered (in case there's dim lighting externally) - but if the scanner is pointed down at a ticket, for instance, it could be very bright for small children that may also be standing there. On this model, that light can't be disabled, so we've remedied that with a bit of electrical tape over the light, which doesn't interfere with the scan beams.

They are also solid on the wireless (if it's a good connection), but if they move between wireless access points - they may not 'hop' well and think they've lost connection to the server, so we put a dedicated Wireless AP near that main entrance so we don't run into connection issues (because the entrance was  right in between 2 wireless APs that would too-easily cause a switch of connection).

Many of our scanning staff are Volunteers and retired, and they have had no complaints of functional use or visual impairments.

-Chris

Hi DGH - I hope you are good. I was just wondering if you ever got a 4G scanner working? Thanks JC