Royal alpha8100ML Electronic Cash Register 200 Departments 3000 Price Look-ups and Clerk ID System with PS700 USB Bar Code Scanner Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Situation: small business at craft shows, expos, occasional use. Wanted to graduate from cash box to cash register, + add bar codes to approx 70 different products.

What I ordered: Royal 8100ML with bar code scanner. Seemed like a good price for the bundle.
What I got: register but no bar code scanner, and no paperwork showing that bar code scanner was back-ordered, or forgotten, or ??? Posted a reply via Amazon.com to the supplier = AceDepot. Scanner finally arrived a week later. Probably would not have arrived at all if I hadn't complained. Totally unimpressed with AceDepot. Beware of this "Sold By" company.
The Product: be prepared to set this thing up using a 1980's-style user manual that tells you how to program the machine using an archaic machine language using the cash register's keyboard (there are over 50 keys.) This is way up there on the user-unfriendly index. Unbelievably, the included Windows software called "RegisterLink" CANNOT SYNC WITH THE MACHINE OVER THE USB interface. The people at Royal Customer Support will explain that the interface cable doesn't work on this model, instead you can only use a USB flash drive, and then all you get is .txt data. "We've escalated this problem to our superiors." I tried to do it by editing the .txt file and parsing the .txt strings into understandable columns, but this turned into more than I had time to fuss with. Soooo, had to grind through the instructions and spend many hours setting up the machine. No fun, and unbelievable in this day of intuitive interfaces from other companies (think Apple.)
A few positives:
1. The bar code learning feature worked well, but still had to enter all of the other parameters for each item manually using the keyboard.
2. During actual use, the bar code feature and register worked well.
A few other gripes:
1. The cash drawer rolls open at the end of every transaction, even if its a credit card transaction. Maybe I just missed some way to program that not to happen.
2. The RegisterLink software is supposed to have capability to link with QuickBooks, but it doesn't work on this model due to the USB connection problem explained above. I had purchased QuickBooks but never even opened the box after learning of the connection problem.
Bottom Line: no, I would not purchase this product again, or any Royal product for that matter, unless I could see proof that they had gotten their act together and produced a decent user interface for programming the machine and interfacing to typical business mgt software such as QuickBooks and PeachTree.

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