Six months on and I’m still loving my Einstar 3D scanner. Its particularly helpful when starting a new design from scratch and trying to figure out where the best place to start is. With the 3D scan data its easy to pick a feature and then begin there and start progressively building out the model one part at a time. No need to run off to go measure something, just measure it in CAD and tweak the dimensions for easy manufacturability.

The biggest down side of designing from 3D scan data is it also captures and shows the imperfections in my fabrication skills. If something is 1/8th of an inch off, it will be painfully obvious when I overlay a CAD version of the same part. Conversely this can also be used to cross check the quality and accuracy of a manufactured part so its both good and bad.