It’s not my goal to consistently present you with fancy tools that make it difficult to keep a hold of your hard-earned cash... I promise. However, most of us recons are gear junkies, and that gear can often help us perform better analyses with less effort. So, if your accountant happens to advise you to burn some cash before the year’s end, here’s a list of well-deserving spends (sorted by price).

​NAPARS Membership ($65): Treat yourself to lots of free training and a huge recon library (kudos to Wade Bartlett for the latter).

​Polarizing Filter (~$75): A nice polarizing filter can make roadway evidence pop, especially tire marks. More info and examples here.

​Fast SD Card ($95): If you’re taking high-res videos, rapid-fire photos, or scanning, a speedy card is clutch. Click here to learn about all the specs.

​Nubigon Pro ($99): A great tool for making beautiful exhibits with point clouds. Tutorial how to make x-ray renderings here.

​Aesub Scanning Spray ($40): Great for scanning chrome, mirrors, and glass. Check out the transparent version, too. Test photos here.

​Keson Measuring Wheel ($280): The Cadillac of measuring wheels. Getting tougher to find, unfortunately.

​Telemetry Extractor ($299): Pull GoPro GPS, gyro, and accelerometer data into Excel! The topic of the first ever To the Point.

​GoPro HERO13 Black ($300 on sale now): Booyah, GPS is back!

​Backpack for Scanner ($435): Cure the forearm pump as you stress-walk through the airport by throwing the scanner on your back.

​Carbon Fiber Tripod for Scanner ($440): Best bang-for-the-buck tripod out there, IMHO.

​Recon-3D ($499): The best scanner is the one you have with you!

​VBOX Sport ($540): The easiest way to capture high-quality GPS data at 25 Hz.

​Exemplar Point Cloud ($545): Save yourself a day of work and the hassle of dealing with dealers. 1,300 point clouds ready for immediate download.

​Response ($780): Great for all sorts of human factors analyses, but absolutely key for evaluating PRT. Excellent work by Jeff Muttart and the whole team.

​Video Analysis Course ($1,875): Video is a key component of modern reconstruction. Bring yourself up to speed with this thorough class instructed by the esteemed Mark Crouch and Stephen Cash.

​PhotoModeler Premium ($2,298): The king of forensic photogrammetry. Great for video, crush, and modeling scene evidence. I use this on nearly every case. Monthly and yearly subscriptions are also available.

​Sony Alpha SIII ($3,148): A videographic beast, especially at night. The SII was mentioned by many guests of Data Driven.

And if you REALLY want to blow some cash, you can’t go wrong with a high-end laser scanner or a trick data acquisition system!

Happy holidays and keep exploring,


Lou Peck
​Lightpoint | Axiom

P.S. I'll be there in a bit, my robot-driver is goofing around again.