Well if you want to go M5 ecosystem: ATOMIC Barcode/QR-Code Scanner 2 Base | m5stack-store this one is very affordable.
But if you want, at the space there are a few more of the same module as the one i used available for projects. You just need to modify the cable a bit: it’s a USB cable, and i moved those wires to the serial lines, and cut a wire to make it work.
(i moved pins 9&10 to 5&6 for serial, and i cut the wire at 4 so it’s in serial mode)
I also set it to continuous scanning using this code:
Beeper volume to low using this code:
And the beeper tone to low using this code:
The full datasheet can be found here: