1. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader for a radio frequency (RF) transponder system, the RF system including the RFID reader, an RFID device, and a host, the RFID reader comprising: an RFID controller; an excitation signal transmitter coupled to the RFID controller; a response signal receiver coupled to the RFID controller; a host interface coupled to the RFID controller, the host interface configured to be coupled to a host and configured to be powered down; and a user interface coupled to the RFID controller, wherein at least one of the host interface and the user interface is configured to access an input of the RFID reader to select at least one technique for power consumption management from among a plurality of power consumption management techniques available to the RFID reader, each power consumption management technique operative to reduce power consumption of the RFID reader for a set of one or more operations of the RFID reader, wherein the RFID reader is configured to change between a first power consumption management technique and a second power consumption management technique different from the first responsive to the input, the first and second power consumption management techniques operative to manage power consumption of the RFID reader at different levels for the same set of one or more operations of the RFID reader, and wherein the plurality of power consumption management techniques includes reducing a time at least one of the RFID controller, the excitation signal transmitter, and the response signal receiver remains powered, and reducing a time that the host interface is powered in response to a command received by the host interface from the host.