Your Motorola scanner still works.

If you are holding something with Symbol or Motorola printed on it and you are trying to find a manual, a programming barcode, an accessory or the software that configures it, this is the page. We sold these when they were new.

Most of them are long out of production and a good number are still working. Out of production is not out of service, and the first thing worth saying is that you probably do not need to buy anything.

Why the name on your scanner is not the name on the invoice

One product line, three owners.

People ring asking whether their Motorola scanner is a Zebra now. It is the same machine. It changed hands twice and the badge changed with it.

Until 2007

Symbol Technologies

The company that invented most of this. Anything reading Symbol — a PDT3100, an LS-series laser — is from then. We have been selling this equipment since 1991, which is the Symbol era start to finish.

2007 to 2014

Motorola

Motorola bought Symbol in 2007. Same factories, same part numbers, new badge. The DS4208, the MC55, the MC70 and MC75 all come from this stretch, which is why the internet is full of “Motorola DS4208” and Zebra’s site is not.

2014 onwards

Zebra

Zebra bought Motorola’s enterprise business in 2014 and has owned the line since. So a scanner badged Symbol or Motorola is supported, documented and replaced by Zebra today — you are looking for it under the wrong name, not looking for something that vanished.

Which is the useful part when you are searching. A manual filed under “Motorola DS4208” and one filed under “Zebra DS4208” are the same document. The model number is the thing that never changed, so search on that and ignore the brand.

The manuals people are actually looking for

Guides and programming barcodes.

A product reference guide is the useful one, because the configuration barcodes are printed in the back of it. You scan them off the page and the scanner changes behaviour — no cable, no software.

Legacy Motorola DS4208 quick start guideDS4208 · PDF, 4.2 MB Download → Legacy Motorola DS4208 product reference guideDS4208 · PDF, 10.0 MB · programming barcodes in the back Download → Programming Advanced Data Formatting programmer guideAll models · PDF, 1.1 MB Download →

If yours is not on that list, ask. DS6707, DS6708, DS9808, LS3578, LS4278, LS3408, PDT3100, LDT3805, PDT6100 — we have the guides for most of what we sold, and it is a two-minute job to email you one. We would rather do that than have you download something with a virus in it off a manuals site.

If the question is only “how do I make it press Enter after every scan”, that is one barcode and the answer is here — you do not need the whole manual.

The software people search for by name

123Scan, and what it is actually for.

Zebra’s free configuration tool, and it has been called 123Scan through all three owners. Plug the scanner into a PC and set it up on screen instead of scanning barcodes out of a manual.

What it is worth using for

Simple jobs are quicker with a printed barcode. 123Scan earns its place when you need a rule rather than a setting — Advanced Data Formatting.

An ERP field that wants the middle eight characters of a barcode and nothing else. A Tab after the part number but an Enter after the quantity. A prefix the host system insists on. The scanner does the editing before the data ever reaches the software, which means nobody has to change the software.

The scanners it programs

Andrei’s own list, from when this was the current tool:

LS1203 · LS2208 · LS4208-SR · LS4208-PR · LS4278 · LS7708 · LS7808 · LS9208-SR · LS9203-SR · LS3578-ER · LS3578-FZ · LS3408-ER · LS3408-FZ · LS3008-SR · DS6707-DC · DS6707-SR · DS6707-HD · DS6707-DP · DS6708-SR · DS9808-LR · DS9808-SR · DS9808-DL · DS9808-LL

Get it from Zebra, not from us. 123Scan is free and Zebra keep it current — the version that shipped alongside the scanners above is many years behind what is on their site now, and a configuration tool is the last thing you want an old copy of. We are not going to host a stale installer so that a page looks more helpful.

What we will do is tell you whether the rule you want is possible before you spend an afternoon on it, and write it with you if it is not obvious. That is usually a phone call.

When it finally does die

The nearest thing we sell now.

This is our opinion and not a Zebra compatibility table — it is what we would put in your hand if you rang up today, chosen on what the old one was actually doing.

What you have	What it was	What we would sell you now
DS4208	Corded handheld 2D imager, general purpose	DS4608 — Zebra name this one themselves
DS6707 · DS6708	Corded handheld 2D imager, the generation before	DS4608, or a DS2208 if the duty is light
DS9808	Hybrid presentation scanner for a counter, hand or hands-free	DS9308
LS3578 · LS3408	Rugged laser for a warehouse, cordless or corded	DS3678 cordless, DS3608 corded
LS4278 · LS4208	Cordless and corded 1D laser, retail counter	LI4278 cordless, LI2208 corded
LS1203 · LS2208	The plain 1D counter laser, sold in enormous numbers	LS2208 — still made, still $99
PDT3100 · LDT3805 PDT6100	Batch data terminals. No radio — collect on the floor, dock it, upload the file	An Android mobile computer, or hire one for the count

The LS2208 is the odd one out and it is worth pointing at. It is not a legacy scanner at all — Zebra still make it, we still stock it, and it is still $99. If you have six on a counter and one dies, you buy a seventh rather than re-training anybody.

And a dead scanner is not always a dead scanner. More of these come back to life with a new cable than with a new scanner — the cable is the part that gets walked on. Before replacing anything, tell us what it is doing; it is often the cheapest answer and it takes one phone call to find out.

What does it say on the back of yours?

Read us the model number and roughly what it is plugged into. That is enough to say whether it needs a manual, a cable, a configuration barcode or a replacement — and it is usually one of the first three.

Scan to call 0414 53 53 95 Call 0414 53 53 95