Newcomer / Intro Purpose of Discovery Scanner?

[Jumpman_x]

Hey all, I've been wondering... how exactly do you use the discovery scanner and what does it do? It came equipped on my starter Sidewinder ship, and every once in a while I charge it up and discover a few space objects. Most of the time, however, I charge it up and it does nothing.
I've also noticed all the variations of this device, ranging in price and ratings.. care to shed some light on a newcomer? Thanks!!

 

[777Driver]

Hey all, I've been wondering... how exactly do you use the discovery scanner and what does it do? It came equipped on my starter Sidewinder ship, and every once in a while I charge it up and discover a few space objects. Most of the time, however, I charge it up and it does nothing.
I've also noticed all the variations of this device, ranging in price and ratings.. care to shed some light on a newcomer? Thanks!!

Basic scanner will pick up everything within a 500LS radius

Intermediate - 1000LS

Advanced - Everything in system

Regards

 

[lili]

Unless you're exploring systems, they're really not all that useful. I'd swap it for something else until you save up the credits for a decent exploration ship with surface scanners etc.

 

[Joe Spivey]

Hey all, I've been wondering... how exactly do you use the discovery scanner and what does it do? It came equipped on my starter Sidewinder ship, and every once in a while I charge it up and discover a few space objects. Most of the time, however, I charge it up and it does nothing.
I've also noticed all the variations of this device, ranging in price and ratings.. care to shed some light on a newcomer? Thanks!!

All explained here: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Discovery_Scanner

 

[DWorth]

They're quite a handy way of making extra cash. If you happen to enter an unexplored system on the way to somewhere else, fire off the scanner and then sell the data at Universal Cartographics the next time you dock >20LY away for anything from a couple of hundred to thousands of credits.

 

[neXib]

Does it work differently on different ships? I've used mine on the sidey for ages, but once I got in the eagle it doesn't seem to work. I've assigned it in firegroup two as hardpoint 1. It says it deploys but nothing happens, I don't get the indication that it's deployed in the GUI and nothing happens. It's an effort to have to park right on top of a star to find it

 

[CMDR Sheehy]

It should work exactly the same on any ship. Switch to the firegroup and fire as normal. I have found that the first time out I need to deploy the hard-points in order to enable the scanner for the first time. After that it works as normal.