Archived How do the PDAs and LPDAs behave in your store?

[soL]

I ask because they're absolutely horrible at mine. I hate when I'm the only backroom team member scheduled for 4 hours (before the closer gets there) and I have to finish a 1 hour and 30 minutes CAF, handle flexibles, take backroom calls, and deal with extremely slow PDAs that are constantly crashing or taking 1-2 minutes to register that I scanned a BR location. Getting scolded by the backroom TL after the hour is done is only icing on the cake.

 

[signingminion]

Cold boot with fresh battery at the beginning of every shift. I know we randomly have network connection issues in the produce cooler but otherwise I cold boot my lpda every shift and have few issues.

 

[soL]

I've never actually cold-booted any of the PDAs before. I honestly don't think anyone has. Is there a certain process depending on the model? I actually want to try this the next time I go in to see if it makes a difference.

 

[RunForACallBox]

Cold boot with fresh battery at the beginning of every shift. I know we randomly have network connection issues in the produce cooler but otherwise I cold boot my lpda every shift and have few issues.

Thought I was the only one that cold boots any device I get. It's become a non-noticeable habit for me.

 

[soL]

Would it really make that much of a difference? If so, I'm actually really looking forward to trying this out on Wednesday. I've struggled with really crappy PDAs for about a year now.

 

[RunForACallBox]

I've never actually cold-booted any of the PDAs before. I honestly don't think anyone has. Is there a certain process depending on the model? I actually want to try this the next time I go in to see if it makes a difference.

I don't think any stores have the 9060 models anymore BUT for those just hold down the power button until you see a white screen and these at top left '}}}'. If it's s 9090 or 9200, partially eject the battery, then hold the trigger and power button at the same time then let go and push the battery back in until you see '}}}' again. You have successfully cold booted your PDA. To see what model you have I belive its on the first screen where it says Store Applications and Device Troubleshooting. It should say 90-- and whatever model it is at top right. Of course the 9200s should say 'MC9200' where our Spot's logo is on the top keyboard scanner button. Just ask anymore questions if you get confused. Kind of hard to explain without one in hand... @soL

 

[mrknownothing]

To cold boot an LPDA: While holding the 1 and 9 buttons, press the power button.

 

[thatcashierdude]

They actually behave OK for me, although I haven't tried in the coolers. We have pretty decent coverage all over the store, but occasionally they will get stuck loading something (that flipping target logo in the upper right). I usually just pop the battery for those. I think if you leave the battery out for long enough the PDA will be forced to cold boot, since I've seen the 3 brackets after my battery died and it was a while before I had a chance to replace it.

 

[LogisticsFox]

I have actually been looking into the connectivity issues at my store (sometimes they're really bad) and the conclusion I'm reaching is that in most cases, the access point coverage is fine but the PDAs don't know when to drop off of one and start using another. This is especially annoying because we have stockrooms in literally every corner of the store and it sometimes takes a PDA a really long time to figure out I moved from produce (front of the store) to the grocery stockroom (back of store).

Our last PMT put a copy of the access point map in the store facts book so he had something to reference when people complained to him about the connectivity.

 

[signingminion]

Thought I was the only one that cold boots any device I get. It's become a non-noticeable habit for me.

I get funny looks, but guess who the lod searches out when they have equipment malfunctions to trade with...? It really helps with speed if nothing else.

 

[soL]

So I performed a cold boot and messed around with some of the bloatware in the task manager today before I started and I've gotta say... It helped a pretty decent amount. It didn't give me a blazingly fast PDA but it definitely helped with consistency.

 

[oath2order]

I tend to restart mine to get the calibration of the touch screen as close to perfect as I can get it. I don't need the PDA that's been calibrated with some flow TM poking the screen, I will use a pen. Far more precise.

 

[thatcashierdude]

I tend to restart mine to get the calibration of the touch screen as close to perfect as I can get it. I don't need the PDA that's been calibrated with some flow TM poking the screen, I will use a pen. Far more precise.

You can press cancel on the login screen, then go into device troubleshooting, and calibrate screen is at the top. There is some keyboard command to do this from any screen, and it differs from PDA to LPDA, but if you're gonna restart just for screen calibration it makes more sense to do it without restarting the PDA.

 

[oath2order]

You can press cancel on the login screen, then go into device troubleshooting, and calibrate screen is at the top. There is some keyboard command to do this from any screen, and it differs from PDA to LPDA, but if you're gonna restart just for screen calibration it makes more sense to do it without restarting the PDA.

meh it lets me stay in TSC a few minutes extra. It's particularly helpful when I'm coming in and the first thing I hear is "ADDITIONAL CASHIERS TO THE FRONT LANES"

oops my PDA needs to restart i can't go out to the floor

 

[Guest]

They're horrible at my store especially in the backroom. Numerous dead zones in the backroom. I had a 9200 PDA crap me out last week in the meat freezer. I went into the meat freezer to pull the meat freezer batch and I had no connection to the network.
Today, I didn't get a working PDA until my 3rd attempt. The first two PDAs I picked up would not connect to the network. Target is a joke when it comes maintaining equipment.
The 9200 PDAs are shitty and I try my best to avoid them. The cross hair laser is a joke and I love how you have to be eye level to scan a backroom location label. I also love the invalid location or wrong location error even when it's the right location. I can't forget how the buttons sometimes fuck up and sometimes the quantity gets screwed when I'm pulling batches. I can pull 1 item and my PDA will sometimes accept 11 because it thinks I pressed 1 two times. It's a joke.
I also love how RF apps freezes up and then I have to press the two buttons to get out of out if completely but if you do it twice in a batch, it will think that two people are in it and you're fucked. You have to wait until the PDA kicks one of your ghosts out. It's very time consuming.

My opinion of the PDAs at Target are probably summed up with this GIF

 

[Produce Queen]

You can press cancel on the login screen, then go into device troubleshooting, and calibrate screen is at the top. There is some keyboard command to do this from any screen, and it differs from PDA to LPDA, but if you're gonna restart just for screen calibration it makes more sense to do it without restarting the PDA.

Thanks! I never knew that short-cut to calibrate.

 

[RunForACallBox]

Blue function key and ESC to calibrate anytime on any PDA. Don't know how to on a LPDA though.

 

[tgtguy]

Certain pdas will only work in certain areas of our stockroom they lose signal or something ....its a pain in the ass

 

[NitroKing2110]

Certain pdas will only work in certain areas of our stockroom they lose signal or something ....its a pain in the ass

Your BR team must have been sick of not having enough PDAs so they screwed with the network.


Also on the PDA's at my store: they don't.

 

[DoctorWho]

Our PDAs are horrible at our store. When we first phased out the 9060s and replaced them with 9200s, I was stoked. I loved the crosshair scanner because you didn't have to constantly rotate your wrist at strange angles to scan. Then we started to notice the issues with random location labels scanning as invalid until you tried it 3 times, and most recently the damn keyboard errors which are driving me crazy!! The 9090s are once again the PDA of choice to those who are in the know.

Of course, connectivity with all of them is horrendous. I have watched our productivity slow to a crawl over the years simply because we spend so much time waiting for the PDA lag.

I wore a stopwatch around my neck at work one day recently and tracked the time it cost me every time my PDA froze up for more than 2 seconds (basically my reaction time to hit the stop watch.) I spent a total of 11 minutes and 43 seconds that day just waiting on my PDA, in little 5-30 second increments. That's not even counting the multiple reboots that are sometimes necessary. Usually if it is frozen for more than 30 seconds it will reboot itself after a few minutes, so I usually save some time by rebooting it manually if it's been frozen long enough. If I were to get every TM in the building to do this, we're probably looking at several hours of wasted time EVERY DAY. That is ridiculous for a company that used to take pride in itself for allegedly being at the bleeding edge of technology in the retail environment.

I've become the resident PDA expert at my store over the years. I guess it's a mix of my technical curiosity and the years I've spent using them, but people always come to me with their equipment issues. I always joke that I'm glad to be putting my degree in Computer Information Systems to good use here at Target. LOL.

By the way, the model numbers are printed on the serial # label on all PDA models, which can be found on the underside behind the grip.

 

[DoctorWho]

Also, when I am having a particularly frustrating day with PDA problems, I will swap it out for an LPDA. They seem to be more stable because they tend to have few (if any) lag issues on a given day. We have a handful at our store, and they're much easier to track down since the MyDevices were released. An LPDA may be ergononically awkward in the backroom, but at least they are reliable!

I wanted to keep one of the handles from the old guest registry LPDAs and stash it in receiving to use on a regular LPDA in the backroom, but I never got the chance to try it out. They all disappeared before I had a chance to grab one. I guess they got sent back or tossed, not sure. I was pretty bummed, though. I am guessing that would be the perfect solution.

 

[Gravalpea]

On truck days, I'm usually the one scanning the truck at 6am. I always get there early so I have first pick of PDAs. It seems the only PDAs we have with working triggers are the 9200s, which I like, but when in a truck these PDAs have what I call "moments of clarity" where they will scan and chime for each piece scanned but then suddenly give up and will take upwards of 5 seconds or longer to chime after each scan. When that happens, until the PDA starts to work decently again, one section of the truck becomes push-all scanning every box I can and not bothering to wait it to respond. 🙁

 

[soL]

So this is a general issue that isn't isolated to my store then. I swear, if I had a PDA that always performed at a consistently fast speed in the backroom, my CAF times and overall mood would be much better. Is it too much to ask for equipment that just works? Yes? Okay...

 

[RunForACallBox]

Also, when I am having a particularly frustrating day with PDA problems, I will swap it out for an LPDA. They seem to be more stable because they tend to have few (if any) lag issues on a given day. We have a handful at our store, and they're much easier to track down since the MyDevices were released. An LPDA may be ergononically awkward in the backroom, but at least they are reliable!

I wanted to keep one of the handles from the old guest registry LPDAs and stash it in receiving to use on a regular LPDA in the backroom, but I never got the chance to try it out. They all disappeared before I had a chance to grab one. I guess they got sent back or tossed, not sure. I was pretty bummed, though. I am guessing that would be the perfect solution.

We have one of the GR handles in our FF closet I guess that got left behind. I'm tempted to use it sometimes. I did a few years ago. Got weird looks, lol.

 

[see spot save]

The other day I had a PDA that kicked me out of two batches four times. Trying to find a working PDA at my store is an adventure. We have a handful that either:

Freeze the first time you scan anything in any RF app (you have to scan twice)
Freeze after the second item or location you scan (have to log out using the windows menu)
Restart when being turned sideways/upside down
Don't scan
Scan only if you push the trigger in a particular way
Have buttons picked off
Keys that either don't work the first try, or type 3-4 times

We also have 3 LPDAs that are stuck in a boot cycle and 1 that has connection problems
3 regualr PDAs that are stuck in a boot cycle