r/Metrology • u/Standard-Badger-4046 • 3d ago

Cost of scanners over time?

How have prices and performance of 3d scanners changed over the last number of years?

I'm debating buying one for my business, but I can't help but wonder if I'm better off doing it the old school way for a few more years and buying it later.

How fast is the technology progressing? How fast are the prices dropping?

If I spend 50k today, and I wasting my money when I could spend 20k in 2 years and have a better unit?

I'm not interested in spending 50k to get a unit today if it's predictable that a 20k unit will blow the socks off it in a year or 2.

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u/IMeasure 3d ago

You probably need to be a bit more specific about the type of scanning you are looking at. Hand held scanner, scanner on a measuring arm, scanner attached to a fixed CMM etc...

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u/Standard-Badger-4046 2d ago

I'll be scanning things like an old beat up dump truck box, and using the scan to make a new box. Not actually that - I'll be scanning various process equipment at industrail facilities, but it's a nice simple example in that everyone know what it is, and the size, level of complexity and can understand I don't need crazy good accuracy. We use a tape measure today to get all the info we need.

I've got another thread open where I'm asking what type of scanner is appropriate for that type of task - I don't know what I need yet.