I am writing this review in hopes of saving you some time. For me this was not a practical tool. I am new to 3d scanning using dedicated devices like this one, so take this from the perspective of someone who did their homework and approached with an open mind. I wanted to explore the limits of the tech at this price point in late 2025, and Einstar came well reviewed. However I can't see how someone can use this device and come away with a favorable impression of it as a tool. My primary goal was to get useful work done. I had some measurements to make on an engine pedestal on a boat, and the point of intersection with an existing transmission. This is approximately a 400mm scan area. I've found phone scans to be very useful for gathering rough dimensions of objects that are difficult or impossible to index geometrically. Boats are full of these - there are very few terra firma index planes. But obviously in 2025 phones lack the feature detail you get with a dedicated scanner. The good Nice carrying case Sleek physical design of the device The bad Basically everything else The software is reasonably well considered but extremely underpowered on this hardware It seems like it was designed by someone who had no idea whom they were designing for If you're looking for something that allows you to acquire the dimensions you need with a predictable workflow this device will let you down. Calibration is a 10-15 minute process which requires additional calibration plates to be setup, scanned, rotated, flipped, etc. This process is laggy and time consuming. Nothing about the fit of the calibration materials seems well considered. The issue I repeatedly encountered is that the calibration process would complete, but then fail to compute the offsets at the very end. Which meant I had to start over several times, each time completing the scans and receiving feedback during the process, but witnessing the final compute step fail. It took over an hour to get the device calibrated the first time because of the failures. The device requires regular calibration (recommendation from the manufacturer is once a week). I confirmed after using the device 10 days after the initial calibration that the subsequent scans were unusable and the device indeed needed to be recalibrated. There was a firmware update which fixed the compute issue, but the firmware update took about 30 mins and also failed initially. Everything about the device is underpowered. The operating system, the scan experience, the post processing, the battery. Honestly, this felt more like a toy. That impression was not helped by the fact that the package included a toy figurine and various half-hearted motivational phrases thrown in with the packaging. I am not certain whom the device is designed for, but my guess is someone's imaginary view of what a 'hobbyist' is. Judging by the finished product and the experience I had, here is my view: This was designed by a company which typically builds much more expensive scanners for industry. Those are 20-50x the price of this device. With this device they designed to a price point. (How do we build a $2k USD device to capitalize on the hobby segment?) The result is not something you want to use. One final thought if you have 3d printing experience. You will see some excellent products built for consumer budgets. Bambu labs is a stellar example. Their products are built to a price point, but they are an excellent value and do what they say they will do. On the other end of the spectrum you have something like Elegoo printers which kind of work, but will waste your time. I would put this well lower than Elegoo on the value scale. This device is easily the least useful thing I have encountered in my experiences with digital fabrication. Maybe it's better for figurine scanning on a tabletop. Real world usage of anything else was in my experience- simply beyond the practical limits of the device.
