Laser

Disperses a laser dot into a thin solid line and in turn projects it onto a barcode. The laser beam repeatedly moves from left and right, hence the scanner has moving parts.

Advantage: They can scan in direct sunlight (in most instances), and project a thin, very precise laser beam onto the barcode. Using laser barcode scanners allows for the reading of wide and distant bar code labels.

Disadvantage: Struggles to scan small barcodes or high resolution barcodes (Not as good ion as Linear Imager scanners), and has moving parts that can break.

CCD (Charged Coupled Device)

Light detectors aligned in a single row eluminates the barcode, and an actual lens in the scanner reduces the full barcode image onto the imaging sensor. CCD barcode scanner technology is based on camera imaging technology.

Advantage: This method is great for capturing very high resolution details along with widened color space. It can also scan folded lines, and has no moving parts.

Disadvantage: Has a close scanning range, and is generally not used for medium to long distance scanning.