2014 Best 3D Scanners Under $1500
| Read Reviews: |  3D Systems |  Occipital |  Matter and Form |  Fuel3D |  Makerbot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | |
| REVIEWS, PRICE AND ABOUT | |||||
| Customer Reviews | |||||
| Model | iSense | Structure Sensor | 3D Scanner | Fuel3D | Digitizer |
| Price | $499 | $349 | $579 | $1,250 | $799 |
| Competitive Edge | Coolest Design | Panoramic Scanning | Space Saver | Most Versatile | Best Quality |
| Product webpage | cubify.com | structure.io | matterandform.net | fuel-3d.com | makerbot.com |
| FEATURES | |||||
| Size (cm) | 11.9 x 2.8 x 2.9 | 11.9 x 2.8 x 2.9 | 34.5 x 21 x 8.5 closed 34.5 x 21 x 34.5 open | N/A | 47.5 x 41.1 x 20.3 |
| Type | iPad Mounted | iPad Mounted | Tabletop | Handheld | Tabletop |
| Software | STL, OBJ, PLY | STL, OBJ, PLY | STL, OBJ, PLY | STL, OBJ, PLY | STL, THING |
| Scan Distance or Volume | 3.5 meters | 3.5 meters | 25 x 18 x 18 cm, 3kg | 40 cm | 20.3 x 20.3 x 20.3 cm, 3kg |
| View Field | 58 deg. H 45 deg. V | 58 deg. H 45 deg. V | 360 deg. | N/A | 360 deg. |
2014 BEST 3D SCANNERS UNDER $1500 REVIEWS AND COMPARISON
| 3D Systems | Occipital | Matter and Form | Fuel3D Inc. | Makerbot;
3D scanners, although you might think they wouldn’t have much practical potential in everyday life, can be immensely useful in both personal and business settings. Imagine having the power to take absolutely anything you can imagine and scan it into a smaller, reproducible form. Instead of having a generic bride and groom cake topper for your wedding, you can have one that looks just like you. Rather than having to spend many hours making a drawing to duplicate something you see that is cool, you can simply scan the item and print it out, bypassing the extra steps.
There are other applications for 3D scanners as well, which allow you to reproduce images of rooms and structures as well. With a handheld device, you can get the true dimensions of a room, creating a virtual representation of that room that can be used for all kinds of purposes, such as real estate, architecture, virtual tours and much more.
Do you have a business where you serve international clients, contractors and vendors? Imagine having a prototype that you design, which you would like to be made overseas to save costs. Why should you have to bother to have the prototype made into a pattern, ship that pattern to the factory to be placed onto an injection molding machine, then used until the pattern wears out and has to be replaced? Although this is the traditional method of doing things, it is time consuming and very expensive.
Why not be able to scan the prototype, send it to the factory in a file and have them load that file into a 3D printer? This not only makes more sense, eliminating extra steps along the way, but it saves on shipping issues, time and costs in the long run. All that costs in the process is the time to print the item and the money spent on the printer and filament materials.
We have found scanners that are handheld, others that connect to tablet devices and yet others who are tabletop scanners that allow you to place a small object on a bed and let it do all the work. We have complied a collection of all of these types of 3D scanners into a list of iReviews 2014 best 3D scanners under $1500 and we are sure that you will enjoy the ones we have chosen and find them useful in your own endeavors.
