Nix Mini 3 color sensor review: Paint-matching magic
Can't figure out what color is on your wall? This little gadget will tell you in seconds.
I can't be the only one with this homeowner hassle: You need to repaint or touch up a wall but don't have the necessary color, either because it dried up or you tossed the can. Now what? It's not like you can bring the wall with you to the paint store. (Believe me, I've tried.)
Enter the Nix Mini 3, an ingenious little color sensor that promises to match over 200,000 name-brand paints. It's also useful for designers, artists, and anyone else who wants to capture a real-world color for use in projects where precision matters. The question is, does it really work? Here's my Nix Mini 3 review.
VERDICT: A genuinely useful gadget for artists, designers, and paint-challenged homeowners. It's on the pricey side, though, and the app isn't super-intuitive.
- Easy to use
- Highly accurate color matching
- Scans take only a second
- Jobsite-friendly dust and water resistance
- On the expensive side
- Doesn't automatically detect paint brand
- Non-replaceable battery
- App is confusing in places
Resembling a black plastic gemstone, the Mini 3 comes with a lanyard (the better to keep it from getting lost on a job site) and USB-C charging cord. There's also a small calibration tile in case you need to reset the device. Nix doesn't provide any kind of printed instructions, but you can find a quick-start guide, setup video and more on the company's site.
It takes about three hours to fully charge the device, a little surprising given the size of its battery (which, unfortunately, can't be removed or replaced). Nix doesn't specify how many scans you can expect on a single charge, but according to a company representative, the number is around 3,000.
That's a ton, and I expect for most users it would mean you could go a long, long time before needing to recharge. However, Nix recommends topping off the battery monthly to keep it healthy, and I concur: I previously owned a Mini 2, and after a year without any use, the battery was not only dead, it wouldn't accept a charge, period.
I'm not sure if the Mini 3 would suffer this same fate, but I do wish Nix would make the battery replaceable, even if it meant modifying the design (or enlarging the product, which doesn't need to be as small as it is). I really don't want to have to remember to charge the thing once a month.
Nix Mini 3: How does it work?
To use the scanner, you first fire up the Nix Toolkit app, then connect to the device. It's not immediately obvious how to do this, as there's nothing that says "connect." Instead, there's an innocuous little line-art icon of the Mini 3 with a slash through it. From there, it takes a few more taps to get paired. I don't understand why this has to be repeated every time; why doesn't the app auto-connect upon launch? Why doesn't the Mini 3 have a little power button so it's not constantly consuming battery while in standby mode?
Once you're connected, you can choose between two main functions. "Single scan" returns various color values — sRGB, CMYK, CIELAB and half a dozen others — while "Match" finds the closest match to paint brands or a color library.
I won't profess to understand the use cases for color values, but I'm sure they're of interest to graphic designers and others who need precise hue-matching. Mostly I focused my attention on paint-matching — with rather remarkable results.
I tested the Mini 3 using not only the walls in my house, but several dozen paint samples I picked up from the local hardware store. Here's the good news in a nutshell: It correctly identified every single color. Amazing.
The bad news is that it can't tell you the sheen (eggshell, satin, etc.), nor does it automatically detect the brand. In fact, in another app oddity, you can't choose the paint brand before you do a scan; the option appears only after the fact.
To me this seems backward, though I do see the value in being able to switch between brands post-scan and instantly see the closest match to what you're scanning. But it would also be nice if you could see the results for multiple brands at once instead of just one at a time.
For any completed scan, you can save the color for future reference; the app lets you categorize by both library and collection. There's also a store locator to help you find the selected paint brand near you. On the whole, I find the app a little confusing, but it's not hard to muddle through and get the data you need.
Nix Mini 3: Should you buy it?
There's a definite need for a product like this, and the Nix Mini 3 works as advertised. As a tool for homeowners who just need an occasional paint-match, it's definitely on the costly side. But as a tool for professionals who would use it regularly, it's probably a bargain. Either way, expect a little wrangling with the app until you figure out how to use it, and be mindful of keeping the battery charged.
