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If you’ve ever stood in front of a wall trying to figure out what shade of white it is, the Nix Mini 3 Color Sensor can save you from guessing games and bad decisions. This tiny gadget is made for painters, designers, contractors, or DIYers who needs to match a paint shade or reproduce a brand’s exact color. About the size of a golf ball and weighing just 20 grams, it’s small enough to toss into your bag but precise enough to scan colors with serious accuracy. The Nix Mini 3 is currently on sale for $79.99 on StackSocial (down from $119), which isn't exactly cheap, but if you need precise color info, it's a valuable investment.
The Nix Mini 3 pairs via Bluetooth to your phone using the free Nix Toolkit app (available on iOS and Android) and gives you instant access to over 200,000 brand-name paint colors. You just scan a surface, and the app gives you the closest paint matches, plus the color codes you’d need for design software or print. If you work in digital design or printing, you’ll appreciate that it also provides RGB, HEX, and CMYK codes with each scan. And if you subscribe to their premium plans, you can match to Pantone, RAL, and NCS libraries too. The subscription might be a deal-breaker for some pros, but the free tier covers a lot of ground if you're mostly working with mainstream paint brands.
The device is dust- and splash-resistant (IPX4), which means it can handle a messy construction site or a day in a paint-splattered studio. It charges via the included USB-C cable and now scans with 3x the resolution of the previous Mini 2, offering better accuracy and faster results, according to the manufacturer. It also comes with a lanyard and a diagnostic tile for calibration. If your work depends on color accuracy—or you're just tired of guessing at shades while staring at a paint wall—this might be worth adding to your toolkit. Just know that serious pros who need Pantone-level precision might have to factor in the extra subscription cost.
