Creality Pika Review: A $699 3D Scanner That Needs a Fast Phone
3D PrintingA 3D scanner used to cost thousands of dollars, and Tom’s Hardware now ranks Creality’s $699 Pika among the best scanners it has reviewed in 2026. For makers who want to scan a real object, clean it up and print a modified copy, the Pika is the first handheld that fits a hobby budget, with one condition: the scanner leans on the phone or computer it’s tethered to, and older hardware won’t keep up.
Why This Category Matters
Scanning closes the loop between a physical object and a printer: capture it, edit it in sculpting or CAD software, print it. Tom’s Hardware’s review frames the Pika as a less precise but far cheaper sibling to Creality’s Sermoon scanners, running the same Creality Scan software, which the reviewer calls excellent. It looks and feels like a point-and-shoot camera, weighs 260 grams with its AA-sized rechargeable batteries, and has a 3-inch touchscreen on the back.
What Makes It Different
The Pika has two scanning modes. Blue laser mode projects seven parallel lines, with 0.03 mm single-frame accuracy and a minimum scan volume of 10 x 10 x 10 mm. NIR structured-light mode needs no marker dots, with accuracy up to 0.08 mm/m and a working distance of 140 to 1,000 mm. Both run at up to 90 frames per second, and scans export as STL, PLY, OBJ or ASC files that can go straight to a slicer.
The results were strong. The reviewer’s test bust of Michelangelo’s David, used with earlier Creality scanners, produced what the reviewer calls possibly the best scan of it yet, because the light Pika could reach under the hair and chin. After Creality Scan’s fusing, hole filling and smoothing, the print on a Prusa Core One L looked nearly perfect. A 62 mm toy figure also scanned and printed with good detail, and the review lists small, shiny or black objects as no problem.
| Spec | Blue laser | NIR |
|---|---|---|
| Single-frame accuracy | 0.03 mm | Up to 0.08 mm/m |
| Working distance | 160-400 mm | 140-1,000 mm |
| Minimum scan volume | 10 x 10 x 10 mm | 50 x 50 x 50 mm |
The Catch / Who It’s For
The Pika passes much of its processing to whatever it’s connected to. The reviewer’s iPhone 15 had just enough power to drive it, a laptop with 8GB of RAM didn’t work, and a 16GB gaming laptop ran it well. Creality’s minimum for Windows is an i7-Gen7 CPU, an Nvidia GPU with 8GB of VRAM and 16GB of RAM, and it recommends 32GB. Wireless scanning is slower, and marker-free laser scanning only works while physically tethered to a computer. NIR tracking was the main weakness, and hair confused the scanner in every mode. The included turntable has a few millimeters of play in its bearing.
Full specs are on Creality’s Pika product page. Stack Archive’s Bambu Lab S1 scanner preview covers the competitor that may follow.
The So What
Makers who want to scan small objects and print copies or modified versions should buy the Pika if they own a recent phone or a computer with at least 16GB of RAM and a capable Nvidia GPU or Apple M2. Anyone hoping to scan people, hair or large objects without markers should expect NIR mode to struggle, and anyone on older hardware should budget for an upgrade before the scanner.
Source: Tom's Hardware
Content created with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy.
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