Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to test several scanners, and we’ve recommended a few different models, depending on your budget and how you will be using it.

Recently we’ve seen a trend towards having your clients or members check themselves into your studio on their own with no interaction for your staff. This is especially true for boot camp studios, group cycling, yoga, and Zumba centers.

Our favorite scanner for this purpose is the Honeywell MS7120 Orbit. The Orbit is a dependable and easy to use scanner that has been around for years (previously under the name Metrologic until that company was bought by Honeywell).

One of the features we like best about the Orbit is that it is extremely intuitive for your members and clients to use – they just wave the back of their barcode keytag anywhere within a few inches of the Orbit and it registers their visit to your software. They don’t have to hold the unit, nor do they have to pull a trigger – the scanner is always ready to go and sends out a multi-directional infrared beam using rotating mirrors within the unit.

Another feature we really like is the fact that you can program the Orbit with a delay before it will read the next keytag. We like to set the delay to 2-3 seconds. This allows enough time for your check-in software to display the client’s information on your display screen before the scanner will allow the next keytag to be scanned. If you purchase keytags from us and you would like instruction on how to set the delay in the Orbit just email us.

As far as where to purchase the Orbit – we’ve found that Amazon.com tends to offer the best price (typically around $225) and they usually offer free shipping. Full disclosure here – like most bloggers, we have an associates account with Amazon, so if you purchase the Orbit by following the link above we will get a small credit for your purchase – and for that we thank you!

Thank you for reading this post! To check out our review of a scanner that might be better suited for those business owners who do a lot of scanning of products for retail purchases, visit this post