Zebra EM45 RFID: the work phone that reads UHF tags on the side

What the EM45 RFID is, and what the base EM45 cannot do

Zebra sells two devices under almost the same name. One is called the Zebra EM45 Enterprise Mobile, the other the EM45 RFID Enterprise Mobile. From the outside they are hard to tell apart. In the datasheet of the base version nothing appears under the heading RFID at all — there is only NFC, with ISO 14443 type A and B, FeliCa and ISO 15693. That is the technology behind access cards, staff badges and contactless payment. It works at 13.56 MHz and reads over a few centimetres.

UHF RFID is a different thing. In Europe it works at 865 to 868 MHz, it reads over a distance, and it captures many labels one after another. That is the technology inside fashion labels and the reason a stocktake can be quick at all. So if you order an EM45 because you want to read RFID labels in clothing, and the order goes in for the base version, you have bought a very good work phone that does not do that one job. The difference lives in the part number, not in the housing.

Zebra’s own positioning is clear and honest about this. The EM45 is an enterprise smartphone for staff who mainly need a phone and capture data alongside it. It is expressly not a rugged handheld like the TC22R and not a sled system like the RFD40. Measure it against what it was built for and you get a good device. Declare it a stocktaking device and you get frustration.

Who is it worth it for? For shop managers and sales staff who are going to be issued a work phone anyway. Instead of a phone plus a separate handheld, the person carries one device. With it they can check prices, find a single piece on the floor, spot-check a delivery against the advice note and answer stock questions in front of a customer. The full stocktake is then done by another device that lives in a cupboard and comes out twice a year.

That split matters more than it sounds, because it is the difference between a device that disappoints and a device that quietly pays for itself. Nobody is disappointed by a work phone that also reads tags. Plenty of people are disappointed by a stocktaking device that turns out to need an arm’s length of proximity to every garment in the shop. Same hardware, two entirely different experiences, decided by what you expected of it before you bought.

1.2 metres of range, 20 tags per second

Two numbers describe any UHF reader: the range and the read rate. The read rate says how many labels answer per second. The range says how far from the label you are allowed to be. On the EM45 RFID those are 20 tags per second and 1.2 metres. For comparison, the Zebra RFD40 reads over 6 metres and manages more than 1,300 tags per second.

The interesting question is which of the two numbers actually hurts on a shop floor. It is not the read rate. Four thousand pieces divided by 20 tags per second is 200 seconds. That is a number you can live with. The sticking point is the range. At 1.2 metres the read field is about an arm’s length across. You do not sweep a rail from the aisle with that. You walk up to the rail, run the phone along the goods, and repeat it for every fixture in the shop. With stacked jumpers you have to pass the phone over and along the side of the stack, because the labels in the middle are shadowed by the layers of fabric and by their neighbouring labels.

There is a further limitation that follows from the shape of the device. The antenna sits inside a phone housing, so it has a few centimetres of area and shares the space with the mobile radio, Wi-Fi and NFC. A sled can fit a larger, better matched antenna and put more power into a directional beam. That is not a design fault of the EM45. It is the consequence of a decision that the device should fit in a trouser pocket. Physics cannot be worked around in firmware.

It is worth being precise about what 20 tags per second means as well, because the figure gets misread in both directions. It is not slow in the sense of a device struggling. EPC Gen2 anti-collision is a time-slot procedure: tags answer one after another, not simultaneously, and 20 answers a second is a perfectly workable rate when the tags in front of you number in the dozens rather than the thousands. Hold the phone against a shelf of forty jumpers and the count settles in about two seconds. That is genuinely useful. It stops being useful the moment the count you need is the whole shop.

What is documented and what is not

We have to open a gap here rather than paper over it. The RFID figures for the EM45 RFID come from the dealer source Atlas RFID. Zebra’s official spec sheet for the RFID build answers automated retrieval with an error and could not be checked that way on 26.08.2026. What is documented, then, is the range, the read rate and the FCC band. What is not documented is the European band at 865 to 868 MHz, the transmit power in dBm and the supported EPC protocols.

That is not a formality. Without the EU band configuration it is unsettled whether the device may be operated in the European Union at all. Without the protocol statement it is unsettled whether it reads the labels that are actually in your goods — in practice those are almost always chips to EPC Class 1 Gen 2, such as the Impinj M700 or the NXP UCODE. There is more on that on our page about RFID labels and chips. Both questions can be settled with one enquiry to the distributor. They should be settled before the order, not after.

Nominal ranges are laboratory values, measured in open field with well readable reference labels. In a shop, between textiles, steel rails, mirrors and stacked goods, the value you actually achieve is regularly lower. Anyone arguing with the laboratory figure in a sales conversation is manufacturing a disappointed customer.

Full technical specification

The figures below come from Zebra’s official spec sheet for the EM45 series unless noted otherwise. Where Zebra and the dealer source for the RFID build differ, both values stand in the table rather than one being quietly chosen.

All figures are manufacturer statements from the datasheets named, or dealer statements where that is expressly noted. Configurations differ by SKU and by region. Only the datasheet for the part number actually offered to you is binding.

In a fashion shop: 4,000 pieces worked through

Let us work it through for a typical shop. Assume 120 square metres of sales floor plus a small stockroom, around 4,000 pieces in stock spread over some 50 fixtures: rails, round racks, wall tracks, shelves with stacked goods, two tables, the window display and the stockroom shelving. One person does the stocktake. Everything is tagged and married to the article in the system.

Step 1: the pure read time

Four thousand labels divided by 20 tags per second is 200 seconds. That is 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The number is correct, and it is the reason datasheets read so pleasantly. But it describes only the case in which all 4,000 labels lie in the read field one after another. That is precisely what never happens in a shop.

Step 2: the walking

At 1.2 metres of range you have to take the device to every fixture and work along it. A round rack with 120 pieces is not captured from the aisle; it is walked around once, at about a metre’s distance, slowly. Reckon conservatively on two to three minutes per fixture, including walking over, sweeping it, glancing at the count and re-reading the spots where the number of hits is not plausible. Across 50 fixtures that is 100 to 150 minutes, so getting on for two to two and a half hours.

Step 3: the places that take longer

On top of that come the areas where 1.2 metres is not enough. In many shopfittings the top shelf sits at 2.10 metres — either you get a step stool or you stretch, and both cost time. Stacked goods have to be lifted or pulled apart, because the labels in the middle of a stack are shadowed by those around them. The window display cannot be reached from outside. The stockroom shelving is deep, and the back row sits further than 1.2 metres from the aisle. Realistically that is another 45 to 90 minutes.

The result

On our own projection you land at roughly three to five hours for 4,000 pieces with one person. The pure read time within that: a little over three minutes. The rest is walking, reaching in, shifting goods and checking again. That span is expressly our own projection, based on the documented range and read rate. It is not a manufacturer figure and not a measured result from a particular shop.

The same calculation with a sled for comparison: the Zebra RFD40 reads over 6 metres at more than 1,300 tags per second. The pure read time for 4,000 pieces there is about three seconds. More to the point, you do not walk up to every fixture; you walk down the aisle and swing the device. A 120 square metre shop is captured in a few passes that way. Our projection for that arrangement is one to two hours including the second pass, resolving differences and the record — and that too is our own projection rather than a manufacturer figure.

So the one-to-two-hour stocktake we plan with at HANGCOUNT is not achievable with the EM45 RFID. That is not a criticism of the device. It was built for something else. How an RFID stocktake is organised, what preparation it needs and where counts typically go wrong is set out on our page about the RFID stocktake in fashion retail.

Where the device does earn its time back

There are jobs in a shop where 1.2 metres is not the bottleneck but the advantage. When you are looking for one particular piece, you specifically do not want everything within six metres to answer. You want to know whether the grey jacket in size 38 is hanging on this rail. A near-field reader with a narrow hit zone walks you in cleanly, without half the floor joining in.

The same holds at goods-in. If ten cartons arrive and you spot-check one of them against the advice note, a short-range device is practical precisely because it will not accidentally read the cartons standing next to it. And when you are price-marking a new collection you have every piece in your hand anyway. What counts there is having phone, camera, label check and stock enquiry in one device, not how far it transmits.

There is a third case that gets overlooked: the shop floor conversation. A customer asks whether the shirt exists in another size or another colour. With a work phone in your pocket you check the stock, read the label on the garment in your hand to be sure it is the article you think it is, and answer without walking to the till. Stock accuracy is what makes that answer worth giving at all — without RFID, stock records in fashion retail run at 65 to 75 per cent accuracy, with RFID at 93 to 99 per cent, and the sales effect is put at up to +5.5 per cent. Those figures come from Beck (2018) for the ECR Shrinkage and On-Shelf Availability Group with GS1 UK, and they are the reason the technology is worth having at all. They do not, however, make this particular device a stocktaking device.

What this device is not good for

Start with the obvious. For a full stocktake the EM45 RFID is the wrong choice, and clearly so. Not because it reads too slowly, but because 1.2 metres of range forces a way of working that scales with the floor area. Every additional fixture costs a full two to three minutes. On a sled an additional rail costs a few seconds in passing. That is a structural difference, and no software makes it up.

The second point is the missing scan engine. The EM45 reads barcodes through the camera. It works, Zebra’s decoder library is good, and for twenty scans a day you barely notice the difference. At two hundred scans you notice it a great deal. A dedicated imager engine such as the SE4710 in the Zebra TC22R aims with a crosshair, works with a global shutter, reads in poor light and at oblique angles, and needs no focus travel. On top of that, the EM45 has no hardware trigger. Every scan is fired from the touchscreen. Anyone who has ever scanned a whole delivery through knows what a physical trigger is worth.

The third point is the battery. There is no hot swap. On the TC22R and on the MEFERI ME87 you pull the empty battery out and put a charged one in while the device keeps running. On the EM45, empty means off. Zebra states up to 25 hours of use and charging from zero to 50 per cent in 30 minutes — for a trading day that is generally enough. For a long counting day with the radio active throughout and the display bright it is a dependency you have to plan around.

The fourth point is temperature. The EM45 is specified for 0 °C to +50 °C. The TC22R and the RFD40 go down to -10 °C, the TC201 and the ME87 to -20 °C. An unheated outdoor store, a container in the yard or a loading bay in January therefore sit outside the specification. That does not mean the device fails on the spot. It means that if it does fail, you cannot fall back on the specification.

The fifth point is ruggedness in the detail. IP68 and IP65 are very good for a phone, and so is a 1.5 metre drop onto tile over concrete. But a smartphone without rubber corners and without a lanyard eyelet falls differently from a handheld with a grip. In practice that means budgeting for a case and a wrist strap, or the drop rating stays a datasheet value rather than an everyday property.

And finally the point that bothers us most: the RFID figures for the RFID build are only partly documented in public. Range and read rate sit with a dealer, the official spec sheet was not retrievable by automated request, and the question that decides everything for a European buyer — EU band and transmit power — is therefore unanswered. On a device costing a good thousand dollars that should not be the case. It is not a reason to rule the device out. It is a question you put before you order and have answered in writing.

Prices, sources and the costs alongside

All prices on this page are net, excluding VAT. Business buyers in another EU country with a valid VAT identification number are invoiced under the reverse-charge procedure and account for the tax in their own country. List prices are snapshots; project prices through a specialist dealer are frequently lower. Availability and the concrete SKU configuration are to be settled with the distributor before ordering. HANGCOUNT does not sell this device at the dealer prices named.

Why the US price is not converted

The 1,138 USD at Atlas RFID is a US dealer price and it stays in dollars on this page. We do not turn it into a euro figure, and the reason is not caution about exchange rates. It is that the exchange rate is the smallest of the differences. Customs and import VAT come on top. The distribution margin in Europe is set separately. The warranty route matters: a device bought in the United States is handled by a US service organisation, and a claim from a European shop then means shipping and waiting. And above all it is unsettled whether an EU build of this device exists at all, which is the question the whole purchase turns on. A converted figure would look like a European price and would not be one.

One figure you may meet elsewhere

A price of 759.99 euro net for this device circulates in our own comparison tables on the Chainway pages. We name it here so that nobody has to reconcile two numbers on their own. We could not trace it to a listing by a European distributor for the EM45 RFID, and in that same comparison table the range and protection columns for this device refer back to this page rather than carrying figures of their own. Until a distributor confirms it, the honest position is the one in the table above: 1,138 USD documented at a US dealer, and no published European list price. If you get a European quotation, that quotation is the number that counts, not either of these.

What comes on top of the device

The device price is rarely the whole price. Budget for the following before you release funds:

• Labels. Every piece needs a UHF label. In fashion retail, small quantities run at around 12 to 15 cents apiece. For 4,000 pieces of legacy stock that is 480 to 600 euro net for the initial fit-out alone, and then a running cost for every new collection. Formats and chips are covered on our page about RFID labels.
• An RFID printer. Without a device that prints the label and encodes the chip in the same pass, you cannot mark your own goods. What such a printer does and what it costs is set out on our page about the RFID printer.
• Charging and a spare. Because the EM45 cannot hot swap, a second device or a power bank is the only reserve. A multi-bay charging station starts to pay once several members of staff are issued devices.
• Case and wrist strap. With a smartphone form factor these are not a luxury but the precondition for the drop rating meaning anything in daily use.
• Software and the link to the till. The device counts, but it keeps no stock. You need an application that marries labels to articles, reconciles counts against the book stock and hands the result to your till system.
• Set-up and handover. Device profile, Wi-Fi, mobile device management, a test run. Reckon on around half an hour for the staff handover itself, and considerably more for the technical set-up.

Put those together and the picture changes shape. The device is the visible cost and rarely the deciding one. For a shop with 4,000 pieces, the labels alone are in the same order of magnitude as a substantial share of the hardware, and they recur. That is an argument for choosing the reading device on how well it fits the work rather than on the price of the box, which is the whole point of this page.

Accessories, charging and software

On accessories the published information is thinner than for Zebra’s handheld families. For the RFD40 and the TC22R, charging stations, battery chargers, holsters and adapters are named in the datasheet. For the EM45 series, the spec sheet we hold lists no specific charging solutions. What is certain is the USB-C connection to 3.1 with host and client operation and OTG charging. Which cradles Zebra offers for the EM45 series is best settled in the quotation — we list nothing here that we cannot document.

The software side is considerably better documented, and it is the actual reason to buy an enterprise phone rather than a consumer handset. Zebra ships the DNA enterprise suite with more than 20 applications.

• StageNow. Devices are rolled out into a defined state by scanning a barcode or tapping NFC: Wi-Fi profile, apps, settings, restrictions. Instead of configuring every phone by hand, a member of staff scans a code.
• Enterprise Home Screen. A reduced home screen showing only the approved applications. That turns the phone into a work device rather than a private handset with a company logo on it.
• LifeGuard. Zebra’s programme for security updates beyond the usual consumer lifetime. Together with A16 as the final Android version, it is the commitment that the device will be maintained for years. A concrete end-of-support date is not published for the EM45.
• Device Guardian and Identity Guardian. Device and sign-in protection. Identity Guardian is licensed separately and therefore not included in the device price.
• Certifications. Android Enterprise Recommended, Wi-Fi 6 certification and ARCore support are stated.

For the RFID side the position is this. Zebra provides SDKs for Android that let an application drive the reader module on its UHF devices. Whether, and to what extent, the EM45 RFID module is addressed through the same interfaces as the handheld family does not emerge from the sources available to us. If you intend to use your own or a third-party RFID application, that is the first question to the manufacturer: which SDK, which version, which sample app. The groundwork is covered on our page about RFID readers.

One practical note on device management, because it is easy to underestimate. A phone that staff carry all day and take home is a different administrative object from a handheld that lives in a cupboard. Decide early whether the device is locked down to work applications, how it is wiped when someone leaves, and who pays for the mobile data. None of that is a property of the hardware, and all of it decides whether the arrangement works after six months.

Alternatives and what to take instead

The table below sets the EM45 RFID against the other devices in this section. The two columns that matter in fashion retail are the range and the read rate — and on both the EM45 sits at the bottom end.

Ranges are nominal figures from manufacturer or dealer statements, measured in open field. On the TC22R, Zebra’s own datasheets contradict each other: the European spec sheet says 24.4 m, the US spec sheet of the same device says 12.2 m. Euro prices are net, excluding VAT; EU business buyers with a valid VAT identification number are invoiced under the reverse-charge procedure. Prices in US dollars are expressly not converted. For the EM45 RFID and the MEFERI ME87 no European list price is published.

Which device to take for a stocktake instead

This is the practical question the page exists to answer, so here it is without hedging. If the job is counting the whole shop, take the Zebra TC22R. For a single fashion shop it is usually the clean solution: one housing, one battery, one charging cradle, no adapter matching, and up to 1,300 tags per second at a range measured in metres rather than centimetres. At around 1,295 euro net it costs more than the EM45 in dollar terms, and it does a job the EM45 cannot do at any price.

Take the Zebra RFD40 instead if you already run suitable Zebra mobile computers and can clip the sled onto them. From 839 euro net you buy only the RFID part, which is the cheaper route into the same performance class, at the cost of carrying two devices that have to match each other.

Look at the Chainway devices if the budget is the constraint and you are buying new. The Chainway C72 at around 942 euro net and the Chainway C5 at around 992 euro net are handhelds in the same class of use, and the Chainway R6 at around 659 euro net clips onto a phone you already own. Read the caveats on those pages before you decide; the manufacturer warranty is 12 months rather than 24, and the range figures are open-field values measured with large anti-metal tags.

Your staff need a work phone anyway. Then the EM45 RFID is exactly right — as a second device for daily work, beside a stocktaking handheld that comes out twice a year. That combination costs more than a single handheld, but it solves two problems instead of one, and the phone is a cost you were going to carry regardless.

You want to speed up the till. Then you do not need a mobile device at all, you need a presentation scanner. The Zebra DS9908R reads barcodes and UHF in the same housing, with a deliberately short range of around 45.7 centimetres so that neighbouring goods are not counted by accident.

You are planning for 2027 and want a platform with a future. Then look at the Zebra TC201. It is cheaper, more rugged and more modern in its specification. But its RFID variant is announced for Europe only for the end of 2026, and at roughly 1.2 metres it sits at the same level as the EM45 on range — so it solves the price question, not the stocktaking one. The MEFERI ME87 with RFID integrated into the processor is worth a look too, though there is neither a public price nor a recognisable European sales channel for it.

An overview of all the devices with their figures side by side is in the RFID hardware section. If you would rather first understand how UHF RFID works and why some labels do not get read, start with the RFID guide. How a count is organised in a shop is covered under stocktaking in retail, and there is a stocktake template if you want to work through the preparation on paper first.

Radio approval in Europe and what you must check

The European frame

UHF RFID readers in Europe operate in the band from 865 to 868 MHz. That band is harmonised across the European Union and the European Economic Area through CEPT recommendation ERC/REC 70-03 on short range devices, and the technical basis is the harmonised standard ETSI EN 302 208 in its version V3.4.1 of December 2023, which permits up to 2 watt ERP for interrogators in this band. A further band from 915 to 921 MHz with up to 4 watt ERP is available in addition; which parts of it are released nationally differs between member states.

Because the band is harmonised, the same device is lawful in every EU and EEA country. What differs is the national regulator that administers the general authorisation: the Bundesnetzagentur in Germany, ARCEP in France, UKE in Poland, RDI in the Netherlands, and so on for the other member states. The list is longer than that and there is no point reproducing it here; the point is that the frame is common and only the administering authority changes.

For normal operation within that general authorisation, no individual licence and no registration is needed, and no spectrum fee is payable. You buy the device, you switch it on, and you keep the conformity papers. Responsibility for operating within the frame sits with the operator, that is with your business, not with the dealer.

The United Kingdom sits outside this. Since leaving the EU it applies its own rules, with Ofcom Interface Requirement IR 2030 for licence-exempt short range devices and UKCA marking in place of CE; if you are buying for a UK site, check the current position with your supplier rather than relying on the European frame described here.

A frequent misunderstanding concerns the power limits. In the United States 4 watt EIRP is permitted, in Europe 2 watt ERP. That sounds like double, and it is not: 2 watt ERP corresponds to roughly 3.3 watt EIRP, because ERP and EIRP differ by 2.15 dB. The American limit is therefore only about 20 per cent higher. Anyone reading American range figures should not simply halve them. That conversion is our own.

The open point on the EM45 RFID

This is exactly where the uncertainty sits on this device, and we name it plainly. The only frequency statement available to us for the RFID build reads FCC 902 to 928 MHz. The known example SKU EM45A2-3T106B0-NA ends in the region code for North America. Whether Zebra offers a European build for 865 to 868 MHz, at what transmit power it works and which EPC protocols it supports, we could not document from public sources. Zebra’s official spec sheet for the RFID build answers automated retrieval with an error and could not be checked that way on 26.08.2026.

What that means for you: do not order a device without written confirmation from the distributor that it is an EU build for 865 to 868 MHz and that the corresponding radio testing to ETSI EN 302 208 exists. Have them confirm as well which EPC protocols are supported — what matters in practice is EPC Class 1 Gen 2 and Gen 2 V2, because effectively every fashion label is built on those. One line in the order confirmation settles both questions, and it is worth particular care with marketplace listings and grey imports, where stock built for North America is regularly sold with no note at all.

What CE means and what it does not

The CE marking is the manufacturer’s declaration, or that of the responsible economic operator, that the product meets the applicable EU rules, in the case of radio devices above all the Radio Equipment Directive. It is not an official test and not a quality seal. A device can carry CE and still be delivered in a configuration intended for another market. What decides the question is which band the part number actually delivered transmits in, not which mark is on the packaging. The accompanying paper is the EU declaration of conformity, and that is the document in which the reference to EN 302 208 appears — ask the supplier for it and file it with the device papers.

The awkward part: builds for other regions

A device that transmits only in the band from 902 to 928 MHz may not be operated in the European Union. That band is allocated differently here, among other things to mobile network services, and operating such a device would be an unlawful use of spectrum whether or not it works technically. Importing a US device saves a few per cent at best and buys you a legal problem together with a broken warranty route. So check the region variant in the part number before every purchase; Zebra normally marks the region in the SKU suffix.

The basics of frequencies, power limits and the difference between ERP and EIRP are set out at greater length in the overview article RFID explained, and what part the antenna plays is covered under RFID antennas.

This section summarises the position as at 26.08.2026 and is no substitute for legal advice. Particular installations, such as fixed doorway antennas at high transmit power, carry additional requirements, and national rules on siting can apply.

Frequently asked questions about the Zebra EM45 RFID

Read on

Sources and the date of the figures

Every figure on this page comes from the sources below. Manufacturer statements are marked as such, dealer statements likewise. Where a figure could not be verified, the text says so. Where we have calculated, estimated or placed something, the text says that too. Online sources for the Zebra devices were retrieved on 26.08.2026; the Chainway comparison prices on 31.08.2026.

• Zebra Technologies, spec sheet “EM45 Enterprise Mobile” (GB edition): zebra.com (GB), retrieved 26.08.2026. The source of the display, the processor, the memory, the camera, NFC, the 4,750 mAh / 18.43 Wh battery, the dimensions, the 243 g, IP68 and IP65, the drop and tumble ratings, the operating temperature, the radio interfaces and USB-C. This document lists no UHF RFID at all, which is the basis for the statement that the base EM45 cannot read clothing labels.
• Zebra Technologies, spec sheet “EM45 RFID Enterprise Mobile” (US edition): zebra.com (US) — not retrievable by automated request on 26.08.2026; the server answers with HTTP 406. The RFID figures on this page therefore come from the dealer source below, and are labelled as dealer figures throughout.
• Zebra Technologies, product overview of the EM45 series: zebra.com (GB) — positioning, Zebra DNA, software. Retrieved 26.08.2026, answered with HTTP 406 as well.
• Atlas RFID Store, product page for the Zebra EM45 RFID Enterprise Mobile Computer — 1,138 USD, up to 1.2 m of read range, 20 tags per second, FCC 902–928 MHz, battery 5,000 mAh / 19.4 Wh. atlasrfidstore.com, retrieved 26.08.2026. Transmit power and EPC protocols are not stated there. Quoted in US dollars for orientation only and expressly not converted into euro.
• Zebra Technologies, supported Android versions for mobile computers: zebra.com (GB) — A16 as the final supported version for the EM45 series. No end-of-support date is published there. Retrieved 26.08.2026.
• ETSI EN 302 208 V3.4.1 (2023-12), radio equipment for identification in the bands 865–868 MHz with up to 2 W ERP and 915–921 MHz with up to 4 W ERP: etsi.org (PDF), retrieved 26.08.2026.
• CEPT recommendation ERC/REC 70-03 on the use of short range devices, annex on non-specific short range devices and RFID — the instrument through which the 865–868 MHz band is harmonised across the EU and the EEA. Retrieved 26.08.2026.
• National general authorisations administered by the member states, for example Bundesnetzagentur in Germany, ARCEP in France, UKE in Poland and RDI in the Netherlands. Retrieved 26.08.2026. The basis for the statement that no individual licence and no registration is needed for normal operation.
• Ofcom, Interface Requirement IR 2030 — the United Kingdom regime for licence-exempt short range devices, outside the EU framework since the UK left the Union, with UKCA marking in place of CE. Retrieved 26.08.2026.
• GS1, overview of UHF frequency allocations by country: gs1.org (PDF) — regional bands and power limits side by side. Retrieved 26.08.2026.
• Comparison figures for the other devices in this section: Zebra RFD40 spec sheets (standard and premium), Zebra TC2xR series spec sheet, Zebra TC201 spec sheet, Zebra DS9908 and DS9908R spec sheet, MEFERI ME87 specification sheet. Price sources ico.de for the RFD40 from 839 euro net, micronordic.com for the TC22R at around 1,295 euro net, autoidwarehouse.com for the TC201 at 649 to 881 euro net and barcodesinc.com for the DS9908R from 1,079.91 USD, each as at 08/2026, retrieved 26.08.2026; kaufid.de for the Chainway R6 at 659.10 euro net and the Chainway C5 at 991.50 euro net and shopid.eu for the Chainway C72 at 941.60 euro net, retrieved 31.08.2026. Both Chainway shops are operated by ITFutuRe s.r.o., Czech Republic. The limits of those figures are set out on the individual device pages.
• The figure of 759.99 euro net for this device appears in our own comparison tables on the Chainway pages, where it comes from the project fact base. We could not trace it to a listing by a European distributor for the EM45 RFID, and the range and protection columns of that same table refer back to this page rather than carrying figures of their own. It is therefore named here once and treated as unverified; the documented position for this device remains 1,138 USD at Atlas RFID with no published European list price.
• Stock accuracy without RFID 65 to 75 per cent, with RFID 93 to 99 per cent, sales effect up to +5.5 per cent: Beck (2018), ECR Shrinkage & On-Shelf Availability Group / GS1 UK.

All figures are as at 26.08.2026. Prices and availability change; check both with the dealer or distributor before ordering. HANGCOUNT has no sales relationship with the dealers named and does not sell the devices described at the prices given.