I bought this for obstacle detection on an aerial drone. It worked exactly according to the included instructions in the PWM mode. I did need to add a large capacitor 1000 uF (less may be fine) to insure it initialized properly on every power up. The manual showed the capacitor in the I2C but was not clear that it is needed in the PWM mode.

When I interfaced this with a PixHawk autopilot I found that the recommended series resistor on the trigger line did work. Connected the trigger line directly to the PixHawk Aux pin and it seems to be functioning well. I will be flight testing this week with it.

I'm very happy with this little unit. Setup was a breeze and the accuracy in my use case (detecting block walls) is excellent. I honestly expected much less than the unit delivered, and feel it was worth the price. I've used many sonar and IR based units before and found this unit to be much more reliable. If you are picking this up for an Arduino, make sure you have a hefty capacitor on the power line, it pulls a fair bit of current on turn-on, they recommend a 680uf cap.

I bought three of them for a prototype to be used for a product we want to bring to production. Worked great for a while (all 3 of them) As soon as I got it outside (shooting through rain - but protected from getting wet) it failed miserably. Sunlight killed it. This is for a lab environment. Be careful about hooking it up. Very delicate. I bought a China laser rangefinder for $33. Very happy with it.

I purchased this to detect reflective poles at distances up to 90 feet. The distance to each pole being predetermined to avoid surrounding items. The results are used for triangulating location and heading for outside AGV navigation. It was able to clearly detect a quarter inch wide reflective strip at 50 feet using the default settings as delivered. Modifying the settings should provide a very robust and reliable method of detection once mounted on a rotating base.

Mainly because it's small enough to mount on a mid-sized multi-rotor, I know the wiring and I sold #2, so needed another one.

I use them solely for distance measuring, as a radar altimeter and object ranging, having them mounted on servos that follow the camera's gimbal tilt. I use them PWM, connected to a Pitlabs OSD board, which then displays the distance in the video stream.

For me, the device works as advertised, reliably showing distance from 1-150ft. The PWM signal needs a 470ohm resistor to trigger it continuously.

In the crappy news Dept., it's pretty disheartening to pay 50% more than the first two with that fancy Garmin sticker on it.

I design and work with scientific LIDAR for the University of Colorado and I am impressed with this device. Generally, a time-of-flight LIDAR with this sort of range resolution is difficult due to the amazing speed of light and high speed needed for acquisition. This device uses a nifty trick to solve this, doing a really nice job of centimeter-ish range resolution in a small low-power and easy-to-use package. I was able to have an operational device in just a few minutes using an Arduino.

I was considering using this for a full size automobile dash mounted device. I created a test rig with a beagle bone black with a Wifi adapter to send the measures to a mobile device(cell phone or tablet). Everything works great with this setup if I walk around outside and point the device at various objects. But when I try to mount it on the dashboard, the window changes the signal so much that the device reads 0 all the time.

I'm not surprised by a limitation like this, but it is annoying.

Bottom line, when using this device be sure the front of the device is out in the open. No glass or plastic in front of it.

I have to wait to review this unit as the required electrolytic capacitor and resistors were NOT included for the $150 price. As soon as they arrive and I futz around with installing external discrete componentry, I can give a review. So far, not pleased. Updates to come later.

i have not received your shipment for this. Where is it?

Works well and Arduino library is basic but working. I had hoped to use this with retroreflective targets, but they tend to overload the receiver, and you get ambiguous results. I will continue to experiment.

I have high hopes for the Lidar sensor to sense distance and direction on a outdoor robot. In this installation, the Lidar sits on a 180 rotation servo to provide the angle to the object detected. The outdoor tests have been more successful than with other sensors tried for this purpose. It is being used in the PWM mode now because the Arduino mega serial ports are busy. Yeah, I know. So far, so good.

Range and refresh rate set this sensor apart from other range detectors such as the Maxbotix outdoor sensors which are comparably priced. Not only can the LIDAR resolve objects farther, it is able to "see" soft and non-reflective objects such as people. Also, it can refresh hundreds of times a second as opposed to a 6Hz refresh on the outdoor Maxbotix's gear.

One complaint, there is a fair bit of noise in the data stream - especially when it does not get any / a strong return. You will need to filter and that will reduce the effective refresh rate.

Chip

We tried at night and shoot on building outside and tree, it does work for building wall at 40meters away!

Because i've been busy with other stuff.

...but the mounting hole dimensions aren't even given on the spec sheet. They ALMOST line up with the Actobotics "1.5 inch" hole pattern - see https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12103 - that would be a plus!

Going to be using it to detect objects in front of my boat - so it'll be on a pan and tilt assembly which keeps it level using the Razor 9dof IMU M0 - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14001 as the sensor and controller.

Built my own air-cordian. I might have to add a second to control the notes better. But it has been a kick...now if I can just learn own to play it ;-)

Es interesante para generar prototipos de aplicaciones que usen la visión artificial. recomendado.

Amazing device! Very accurate tho i would recommend avging datapoints. Also, is not accurate at less than 30 cm.

A thorough read of the Garmin data sheet and a look at the library examples got me going. The unit operates exactly as specified and now it's being integrated into the rest of the robot systems. It works great so far in measuring interior spaces, walls, etc., Tests this summer will examine how well it does outside and on people avoidance. But solid product.

I am more menunal than your service. Products in Turkey came very quickly. Unfortunately, Turkish workers were not as fast as you. The quality difference is obvious. Thank you :)

This sensor is helping the blind see. This sensor along with sparkfuns Pro Micro and Sparkfun code is the primary sensor on a new product Im working on. Shouldn’t disclose the device until I have filed for a patent.

Blindvet007

After trying to use 3 other distance sensors, I discovered at a high cost the lack of detailed descriptions in the datasheets and the websites themselves. For my project that needs a laser beam in visible and RED light, it is disappointing to buy a product that does not report in such a way as to highlight that the light beam is IR, ie infra red. This feature makes it impossible to use this sensor in my project. Another thing I found in this sensor was that it did NOT report the distances up to 300 cm, which contradicts the information in the datasheet that indicates 40 m. Could it be that in my expectation of having the problem resolved, I did not see such information or did the information on the site and datasheet really need reformulation?

( sorry my poor english)

In portuguese:

Depois de tentar usar 3 outros sensores de distância, descobri a o custo alto da falta de detalhamento das descrições nos datasheets e nos próprios sites. Para o meu projeto que necessita de um feixe de laser em luz visível e VERMELHA, é decepcionante comprar um produto que não informa de maneira a destacar que o feixe de luz é IR , ou seja, infra vermelha. Esta característica inviabiliza o uso deste sensor no meu projeto. Outra coisa que descobri neste sensor foi que ele NÃO informou as distâncias acina de 300 cm , o que contraria a informação no datasheet que indica 40 m. Será que na minha expectativa de ter o problena resolvido não vi tais informações ou realmente as informações no site e datasheet necessitam reformulação?

I wired it up, copied the example code and was receiving distance data on the first try. It's very easy to use.