EINSTAR-Prosumer Portable 3D Scanner

Was going to buy a Revopoint Mini because the maker of my 3d printer, Phrozen, was recommending them. That was until I saw a video by “Making for Motorsport” which compared four different entry-level 3D scanners: Creality Lizard, Creality CR-01, Revopoint Pop2, and then the Einstar. The other scanners were mainly toys 🧸, whereas the Einstar was a hand-me-down of the Shining 3D profession product line with features and software. In the part of the video where he scans part of a car, every other Scanner gave marginal results—lots of noise, or hard to get the accuracy, but the Einstar—it not only captured the car’s panel and features, it even scanned parts of the engine and coolant houses that were visible through the front grill 😲. As the guy in the video said “The Einstar is just in a whole different league.”

After watching that video, I bought Einstar along with a pretty pricey PC laptop to run it, and yesterday on my first scans I completely copied a supercharger intercooler housing and a car’s coil cover. I’m in the automotive field. I need good scans so I can import them to CAD and get to work designing parts.

My business is small and I don’t have the money to spend $5000 or above on a professional scanner, so for years I’ve just designed the parts that I need by hand, but that takes time to zero it in. Over the years, I’ve tried a few entry-level scanners and even photogrammetry, but all have been disappointments as they did not meet my needs they did not accurately replicate the part.

This is my fourth attempt at owning a 3d scanning. For the most part, the low-cost options are mainly for people who don’t know CAD and just want to scan models to print—they were small and for tiny items. I need something that can do car parts and other large items—and I need to make clean and accurate scans. This scanner is designed to do that and finally, there is a low-cost handheld scanner. I no longer have to keep searching eBay for a used scanner, or dreaming about when I can afford that scanner so that I can improve my workflow.

On the first day of using this scanner (yesterday), I used it from 7 am to 5 pm. Never got tired of holding it. I may even remove the strap as I like to switch hands when I’m scanning or trying to get around a corner of the part.

The software was easy to use. The online manual was a little hard to find but super informative, and it really helped me to be successful right out of the box.

I’ll post videos now, but I have never been this impressed with a product that is not named Apple something. This is a seismic game changer, and it allows me access to a tool that I could have only dreamed of owning.

Simply put, there is nothing budget about this scanner—especially if you don’t have a mondo PC to run it, which will have to be added to the cost of acquisition, but comparing the Einstar against the Revopoint, and Creality offerings is like comparing a Ferrari vs. a Kia—it’s an insult to the Ferrari.

The Einstar is not a budget or entry scanner, yet it is not a professional grade scanner, if it were a camera 📸 it would be called “Prosumer” which is technology that is higher than the usual consumer entry option with some features that are available on professional units (think Canon 90D or Canon R6 Mark II). Cameras in this range from Nikon, Canon, and Sony are called Prosumer. This scanner is a Prosumer Scanner, and it is the first in that range and right now it is in a league of its own. Shining 3D didn’t just make a scanner to compete with the competition, they made a whole new level of scanner!

Thank you Shinning 3D! You’ve turned me into an Evangelist on this product and I love you guys for making it!

Here are YouTube links to the scans:

Coil Cover Scan:

https://youtu.be/QVmF8vTlt-U

GT500 intercooler lid scans:

https://youtu.be/B6CbOBFWDt8

https://youtu.be/jrMAhbC-s2o

I purchased a Revopoint Pop2 as an entry level scanner for some basic hobbiest type projects. I found it to be slow, unstable, time-consuming to use .. not to mention it took over 2 months to arrive. It was not up to the task for the basic projects I was doing.

Enter the Einstar:
This scanner was an absolute game-changer for me. The scanner is incredible, and the software very intuitive.
I was able to complete and post-process the exact same scan as I used the Revopoint POP2 in a fraction of the time, with minimal hassle, and about 1/10th of the marker required.

The Einstar is a fantastic tool for hobbies and enthusiasts. It has great features and scanning abilities similar to high-end scanners for a fraction of the price.

Highly recommend to others.

Check out "Making for Motorsport" on YouTube for a great comprehensive comparison of similarly priced scanners ... and watch Einstar beat them all.

Works as intended. Took time to figure out settings, but after it worked better.

I use the scanner for vehicle engineering and design work, and for this it is terrific. It can save a lot of time and is pretty good at dealing with different surface finishes and materials.

Detail is great, and although there is a bit of a learning curve to getting the best possible scans, once mastered the model quality is very good.

Computer hardware requirements are high, so I ended up building a PC specificly for scanning and CAD work. I am now able to scan quite large, detailed parts with several million points and it all runs very smoothly.

The only real issue I have is the lack of detailed information about all of the settings, partlicuarly post processing, in the software. The manual doesn't really give recommendations so it requires a bit of trial and error to get the level of detail you need, without excessively huge file sizes.

The other area that could be improved in the software is the method to align the scan data to the co-ordinate system, this seems much harder than it should be.

To sum up, a great peice of hardware and pretty good software that I am sure will continue to improve. There is a bit of a learning curve, but great results can be obtained with a little bit of effort.

It is a great device. I like its portability. I can attach it to my laptop and a portable a/c supply and take it with me for hours of work. It gives a good resolution that cleans up with high detail.