I review around 150 inspection deliverables a year as a quality and brand compliance manager for an industrial manufacturer. In 2024 alone, I rejected 11% of first submissions—most because measurements weren't traceable. That history shapes how I think about tools like Faro laser trackers. The question I get asked most: should we rent a Faro laser tracker or buy Faro products outright? It sounds like a simple cost question. It isn't.
It took me four years and about three dozen measurement projects to realize that the better question isn't 'rent or buy?'—it's 'what are you actually buying?' A rental contract buys capability and flexibility. A purchase order buys an asset, plus the maintenance and calibration responsibility that comes with it. Both are worthwhile. They're just different risk-management strategies.
What I'm Actually Comparing
I'm comparing two ways of getting measurement capability when you need it—and what each one really costs. My framework has four dimensions: cost, calibration and support, flexibility and scheduling, and technology risk. I'll give you a direct answer at each dimension instead of hiding behind 'it depends.'
I'll also end with a quick note on handheld tools. Because here's the thing: a laser tracker won't help you check a control loop, and a 177 True RMS multimeter won't measure a 3-meter airplane jig. You need both in your quality system.
Dimension 1: Upfront Cost vs. Total Cost
The sticker price of a Faro laser tracker is high. A purchase also comes with calibration, service plans, training, and maybe a spare battery or extra SMR (spherically mounted retroreflector). If you don't use it often, that hardware is idle cash. Renting changes the cost from capital expense to project expense. For a two-week measurement campaign, a Faro laser tracker rental is almost always the right move.
But the surprising part is that renting can also be the right move for longer projects. When you buy, you own the risk of downtime during a critical delivery, the cost of annual calibration, and the need to train people who may leave. A rental bundle from an established provider usually includes calibrated hardware, travel-ready packaging, and a support line. That doesn't mean purchase is wrong—it means the total cost is not just the purchase order.
Let me put it in my own numbers. When I compared a purchase quote with a six-month rental agreement side by side, I finally understood why 'sticker price' is such an incomplete metric. On paper, purchase had a lower 'price after resale value.' But after adding calibration, accessories, and the labor cost of our team managing the service plan, the rental was less expensive—and we returned the equipment without any resale headache. On other projects, when we used the tracker weekly, buying made more sense. My rule: if you have at least one week of 3D measurement work per month for 18 months, buy or lease. If not, rent and treat the difference as insurance.
As of January 2025, I'm seeing rental bundles that include calibration and basic support—but don't treat that as a price guarantee. Verify current rates with your preferred provider.
Dimension 2: Calibration and Support
This is where I get picky. I don't care how good a measurement looks if I don't know its traceability. For laser trackers, accuracy verification follows standards like ASME B89.4.19 and ISO 10360-10. A rental unit should arrive with a current calibration certificate. If it doesn't, send it back.
When you buy Faro products, you can schedule calibration with Faro or an accredited lab. That adds overhead: shipment logistics, downtime, and a reminder system. In my experience, rental companies that specialize in Faro laser tracker rental already handle this. One less thing for your team to forget.
The most frustrating part of inspection tooling: seeing a project delayed because the 'owned and calibrated' tracker was still in transit to the lab. The rental unit on the shelf was ready to go.
Is buying support better? Not automatically. It depends on your team's ability to keep up calibration schedules. If you only have one person who knows how to check the calibration certificate, you're a vacation away from an invalid measurement.
Dimension 3: Flexibility and Scheduling
An owned tracker has one job: stay available in your lab. That's good if you need it every week. But it also creates pressure to use it, even when another method—like a Faro portable CMM arm or even a simple fixture—might be more efficient. Renting flips that pressure. You plan measurement work in advance, and you only pay for the days you actually measure.
I noticed this in our team after we started renting. We weren't just saving money; we were scheduling better. Measurement tasks got bundled into one site visit. Our shift leads started treating the rental window as a deadline. I don't have a controlled study, but we reduced dimensional rework by about 18% that year. The improvement wasn't the hardware. It was the discipline that rental created.
The downside of renting is obvious: you don't have instant access. If a customer calls with an emergency, a rental provider needs a day or two to ship. Buying or keeping an in-house Faro system gives you that responsiveness. So the direct comparison isn't 'cost per day.' It's 'what is the cost of being unable to measure right now?' For our operation, that emergency rarely happened. For yours, it may be the whole business case.
Dimension 4: Technology Risk
Faro products improve over time. New tracker models can offer faster scan rates, better environmental compensation, and lighter transport cases. When you buy, you accept that your investment may be outdated in five years. When you rent, you get access to a current-generation unit without a capital commitment. That's real value, and it's often ignored in the 'buy because it's cheaper eventually' calculation.
I'm not a forecasting expert, so I can't tell you when to wait for the next model. What I can tell you from a quality manager perspective: if your customer contract requires reporting to a specific accuracy standard, the tracker's data sheet matters more than fashion. Don't rent or buy on the latest model name alone. Ask for the calibration certificate and the specification sheet. Also, if you're measuring with a tracker under large temperature gradients, confirm that the unit has current environmental compensation settings enabled.
Here's the Bottom Line on Rent vs. Buy
- Rent a Faro laser tracker for: a defined project, seasonal inspection campaigns, a new customer contract where workload is uncertain, or a one-time critical alignment task.
- Buy or lease Faro products for: daily dimensional inspection, R&D operations with constant measurement needs, or when your customers require a machine always available on-site for audits.
The conclusion that surprised me is this: renting is not the 'budget' option. Buying is not the 'executive' option. They're two risk-management strategies. If you have a stable, high-utilization workflow, buying gives you lower marginal cost per measurement. If your workload is lumpy, renting gives you lower total cost and less administration. Value over price means choosing the option that costs less when you include calibration, downtime, and support—not just the quote.
Other Tools You Still Need in Your Quality Kit
A Faro laser tracker is a powerful metrology instrument. It is not a one-stop shop. One of our sister teams once bought an $80,000+ measurement system and then questioned whether to spend a few hundred dollars on handheld electrical test tools. That's backwards. The best inspection system is the combination of the right 3D tool and the right electric, electronic, and thermal tools.
A 177 True RMS multimeter is the workhorse for verifying power, signal wiring, and control circuits. If you've ever chased a phantom sensor fault, you know the value of a meter that measures True RMS rather than a cheap average reading. It won't measure geometry, and that's okay—it's part of a broader toolkit.
An LCR meter measures inductance, capacitance, and resistance of components. Use it when you need to match replacement parts or verify incoming components before assembly. I once rejected an entire batch of capacitors because the LCR meter showed capacitance drift after warm-up. The supplier's paperwork looked fine, but the meter didn't lie.
And if you want to catch electrical hotspots before they become failures, learn how to use a FLIR thermal camera. The basics aren't hard, but you need to respect them: set the correct emissivity for the surface, adjust the temperature span, and save both thermal and visual images for a clear record. A thermal camera is not a toy—it's a diagnostic tool that belongs in preventive maintenance. Knowing how to use a FLIR thermal camera properly will save you from a lot of unplanned downtime.
Suggested Approach for Your Budget
Start with the highest-utilization tool. For large-scale 3D measurement, consider a Faro laser tracker rental for your first project. Collect real utilization data. If your team uses it for more than one week per month over a year, talk to Faro or a certified distributor about purchasing or leasing. Keep your electrical and thermal toolkit stocked with a calibrated 177 True RMS multimeter, an LCR meter, and a FLIR thermal camera. These are low-cost relative to a tracker, and they'll be used daily.
Before you sign anything, ask two questions: what does the calibration certificate say? And what happens if the equipment goes down? In quality work, the real cost isn't the price of a tool. It's the cost of a measurement you can't trust.
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