Can RFID Reader Read Different Tags? Let Me Walk You Through What Works

Had a guy call me last month. He bought a box of mixed RFID tags off some auction site—cheap, he thought. Then he couldn’t figure out why his reader picked up half of them and ignored the rest. He asked me flat out: can rfid reader read different tags?

Short answer? Sometimes. Long answer? Depends on what you mean by “different.”

The Frequency Problem Nobody Talks About

First thing I check when someone asks can rfid reader read different tags is what frequencies we’re dealing with. RFID runs on a few different bands . Low frequency around 125kHz, high frequency at 13.56MHz, and UHF anywhere from 860 to 960MHz .

Here’s the thing. A reader tuned for 125kHz literally cannot hear a 13.56MHz tag. It’s not that it’s bad at reading it—it’s completely deaf to it. Like trying to listen to FM radio on an AM receiver.

So if your “different tags” means one LF fob and one HF card? No single standard reader will handle both unless you buy something designed for that .

Protocols Matter More Than People Think

Even when frequencies match, you run into protocol issues. I learned this the hard way years ago .

LF tags alone use all kinds of protocols. EM4100 does 10-digit hex. ISO11785 FDX-B does 15-digit numeric for animal tagging. HID 26-bit does facility codes and card numbers . They’re all 125kHz, but a reader that speaks EM4100 might choke on HID data.

Same deal with HF. Mifare Classic and Mifare DESFire both run 13.56MHz, but they talk differently. Older readers won’t touch DESFire.

I keep a T5577 chip reference on my wall . That chip is the workhorse for writable LF tags. Supports EM4100, HID, even custom ASCII if you know how to set it up. But not every reader writes to T5577 the same way.

What Actually Handles Mixed Tags

So can rfid reader read different tags if they’re all the same frequency? Yes, if it’s a multi protocol rfid reader.

Take the CYKEO desktop unit we sell. It does both 125kHz and 13.56MHz in one box . Reads TK4100, EM4200, Mifare S50, all of it. But you still have to tell it what to look for sometimes. It’s not magic.

For UHF, the anti-collision algorithms matter more . If you throw fifty different UHF tags on a table, a good reader with proper anti-collision will sort them out. Binary tree search, ALOHA algorithms—that’s how modern readers handle dozens of tags at once without them screaming over each other .

The RSmart-XS Pro we tested last year claims 900 tags per second with the right setup . That’s reading different tags, same frequency, no problem.

The Dirty Truth About Multiple Tags

Here’s something installation guides don’t tell you. Even if your reader supports different tags, reading them simultaneously gets messy .

Most standard readers pick up whichever tag responds first. If you toss a handful into a box and wave a reader over it, you might get tag A today and tag B tomorrow depending on positioning . No guarantee you’ll catch everything unless you’ve got proper anti-collision enabled.

I had a customer trying to inventory a drawer full of mixed access badges. Drove him crazy until we switched to a reader with real multi-tag handling and taught him to wave it slowly. You can’t just flash and expect magic.

What I Tell People Buying Readers

When someone asks can rfid reader read different tags, I walk them through this:

First, figure out your frequencies. If you need LF and HF both, buy a multi protocol rfid reader explicitly. Don’t assume.

Second, check protocol support. EM4100 is everywhere. HID needs specific support . Mifare is standard but older readers might not handle newer encryption.

Third, if you need to read many tags at once, look for anti-collision specs . Not all readers handle dense tag populations well.

Fourth, writable tags complicate everything. T5577 works across multiple protocols but programming them right takes practice .

The auction guy? He had UHF tags mixed with HF. No reader on earth would read both without two separate antennas and modules. Sold him a CYKEO dual-band unit and he finally got his inventory straight.

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