A mobile device for optically reading a machine-interpretable code on an item, the device comprising: a head-mountable scanner including a code reader having an optical input, the code reader being affixed to a headwear article adapted to be worn on a head of a user, the code reader being disposed on the headwear article at a forward-facing position thereon to point the optical input in a direction of the user's field of vision, a scannable field of the optical input of the code reader falling within the user's field of vision when wearing the headwear article; a processing unit in electrical communication with the head-mountable scanner and including at least a power source and an electronic control unit, the electronic control unit controlling the head-mounted scanner to at least switch the code reader between a detection mode and a reading mode thereof; a wireless communication device in electrical communication with the electronic processing unit, the wireless communication device being operable to wirelessly transmit information corresponding to the scanned machine-interpretable code to a remote receiving unit for storage and/or data processing; wherein, in the detection mode, the code reader being operable in a low power mode sufficient to detect the presence of at least one of the machine-interpretable code and an object representative of the presence of the machine-interpretable code within the scannable field; and upon detection of the presence of the machine-interpretable code within the scannable field, the electronic control unit switching the code reader into a higher-powered reading mode sufficient for the code reader to optically read the machine-interpretable code; characterised in that the code reader comprises a range finder device, the range finder device including at least a wave source and at least a sensor, the sensor forming part of the optical input of the code reader and being operable to detect feedback from the wave source, the wave source emitting a low power range-finding wave in the detection mode and a higher-power reading wave in the reading mode, based on the controlling of the head-mounted scanner by the electronic control unit. a head-mountable scanner including a code reader having an optical input, the code reader being affixed to a headwear article adapted to be worn on a head of a user, the code reader being disposed on the headwear article at a forward-facing position thereon to point the optical input in a direction of the user's field of vision, a scannable field of the optical input of the code reader falling within the user's field of vision when wearing the headwear article; a processing unit in electrical communication with the head-mountable scanner and including at least a power source and an electronic control unit, the electronic control unit controlling the head-mounted scanner to at least switch the code reader between a detection mode and a reading mode thereof; a wireless communication device in electrical communication with the electronic processing unit, the wireless communication device being operable to wirelessly transmit information corresponding to the scanned machine-interpretable code to a remote receiving unit for storage and/or data processing; wherein, in the detection mode, the code reader being operable in a low power mode sufficient to detect the presence of at least one of the machine-interpretable code and an object representative of the presence of the machine-interpretable code within the scannable field; and upon detection of the presence of the machine-interpretable code within the scannable field, the electronic control unit switching the code reader into a higher-powered reading mode sufficient for the code reader to optically read the machine-interpretable code; characterised in that the code reader comprises a range finder device, the range finder device including at least a wave source and at least a sensor, the sensor forming part of the optical input of the code reader and being operable to detect feedback from the wave source, the wave source emitting a low power range-finding wave in the detection mode and a higher-power reading wave in the reading mode, based on the controlling of the head-mounted scanner by the electronic control unit.