TFmini Plus Micro Range Finder Sensor 0.1m~12m Distance Detection Module for Ar duino, UART I2C IIC I/O 1000Hz Antidust Waterproof

These little jewels are amazing for the price. The have a very narrow band and work well up to about 35'. They work in both I2C and UART modes and there is little interference even in direct sunlight. You can measure distance, movement or use it as a radar gun. I did have to dig around for the documentation to change from the default settings and must have Windows to use the configuration application. and it is slightly technical, but luckily the team at Dragino are very smart and very helpful. A rare treat for technical purchases.

Failed after initial setup

I am very pleased with this amazing product. It is similar and, in many ways, superior to the Garmin version at about a third the price. Please note that despite its name, this is NOT a "Plus" version of the TFMini. It is a unique product and the various TFMini Arduino libraries do not work with this product. You may have to write your own. The Benewake technical support team has been very patient with all my questions.It could be better a better product in at least three ways:1. An I2C interface in addition to or instead of a free running UART serial interface. (Coming soon, I'm told.)2. Much better documentation including a more complete command list, better command descriptions and an overview of internal operation.2. More rugged mounting options than just two slender M2 threaded holes in the casing. Two dog ears, like the TFMini would be good or four, like the Garmin, would be better.

I did a lot of sample measurements up to about 8m. I plan to do more at further distances when I get a chance.But what I've seen so far is not very good. The specs say that up to 6m the accuracy should be within +/-5cm. What I'm finding is that the TFMini Plus is about 25% high in its measurement. This isn't consistently the case, but true much of the time within that 0.5 to 6.0m range. Measurements at 30cm was the only one that was close and it was almost dead on. At about 8m the TFMini Plus was about 4% too high compared to the spec of within +/-1%.Not all of my scenarios would be what I'd consider ideal but fairly realistic with little obstacle. I plan to do further tests, especially in the scenario that I hope to use the sensor. I may be able to calibrate it's results to my specific needs.

This is my second Benewake sensor - I've used a TF-Luna in a prior project and was quite impressed by its range and accuracy. The TFmini Plus is even more capable, with significantly more range (2x as much outdoors, in fact!) and a wider field of view - all while slightly improving accuracy. It's a truly impressive package.While the listing says "lidar" and many people will refer to these as such, they don't actually use laser light - they use infrared LEDs as the light source. They do use time-of-flight for the measurement, though, just like true LIDAR systems do. It's a technical difference that doesn't matter much for you, other than to know that this sensor is eye-safe and can be used for applications where people might end up looking directly into the sensor.I appreciate that the UART serial protocol here is so easy to understand. You basically just need to parse the bytes it outputs, and there are just a couple simple commands to send if you need to change settings. The whole instructions fit in a single photo in the listing, which is nice.I wish the connector on this were less obscure - JST GH1.25-4P isn't one I usually have sitting around my workbench. I wish they'd gone with a JST-SH 1.0 with the Sparkfun Qwiic pinout, but it's not a dealbreaker - just a bit of a hassle as I either have to use the included pigtail or order the right parts to create a custom cable.These sensors are worth the hassle - the accuracy is astounding and they're extremely responsive. It's a world different from the old school Sharp infrared rangefinders you might be used to using. Yes, this is a pricey sensor, but it's worth every penny for any kind of robotics or other accuracy-sensitive application.