What is a mobile optical color sorter?

It's a self-contained optical sorting unit built into a trailer, so it can be delivered to a farm, seed plant, or grain terminal and set up on-site instead of requiring product to be hauled to a fixed sorting facility.

What chute configurations are available?

VistaSort's optical color sorters range from a compact Mini unit for mobile testing and smaller batches up to 10-chute configurations for high-volume operations. Documented models handle 1 to 15 tonnes per hour across the 1-chute through 5-chute range, with larger configurations available on request.

How accurate is the sorting?

VistaSort's color sorters are rated at 99.99% sorting accuracy, with a 10:1 bad-to-good rejection ratio when using re-sort.

What power and air supply does the unit need?

Depending on the model, VistaSort color sorters run on standard 120V/60Hz power, drawing 1.5 to 3.6 kW. They also require 0.6 to 0.8 MPa (90 to 115 psi) of air pressure and 300 to 750 L/min (10 to 25 cfm) of air volume.

What can it remove from my crop?

Foreign material like sticks, hulls, and stones, ergot, off-color kernels, disease, insect-damaged seed, splits, and undecorticated seed, depending on the crop.

Where does the mobile color sorter operate?

VistaSort's mobile units operate across Western Canada, bringing precision sorting on-site to farms, seed plants, and grain terminals.

Mobile Testing Unit

The VistaSort Mobile Testing Unit is an optical color sorter that we bring to your farm or facility, so you can test your own product before you commit to a machine. We come to you.

It sets up on-site and sorts with the same CCD camera technology used in our commercial systems, so you see real results on your own seed, grain, pulses or beans.

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What Is the Mobile Testing Unit?

The Mobile Testing Unit is a transportable optical color sorter. Instead of you shipping samples away, we bring the sorter to your site and run your own product through it, so you can see how optical sorting performs on your crop before you invest.

Inside, high-resolution cameras and precision ejectors scan every kernel passing through and remove anything that doesn't belong: off-colour seed, ergot, disease, insect damage, and foreign material like sticks, hulls and stones.

VistaSort Mobile Optical Color Sorting Machine

On the Road Since 2012

Vistasort first took optical color sorting on the road in 2012, with a mobile unit at Bashaw Seed Cleaning Co-op in Bashaw, Alberta. That project proved a color sorter could do real work from the back of a trailer. The Mobile Testing Unit carries that idea forward, so processors can test their own product before they commit.

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High angle shot of grain and the VistaSort Optical Color Sorting unit in action working in Alberta, Canada

Mobile Optical Color Sorter Demonstration with Steven Chivilo

VistaSort optical color sorting mobile units - scaled for any size with exceptional accuracy

Inside the VistaSort Mobile Optical Color Sorting Unit

Test First, Then Choose Your VistaSort

What you learn from a Mobile Testing Unit trial helps us recommend the right VistaSort for your plant, from the compact Mini up to 10-chute configurations for high-volume operations.

Every VistaSort runs on the same core technology, scaled to the throughput you need.

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The Technology Behind Every VistaSort Unit

VistaSort Optical Color Sorter Technician Hamid working on a VistaSort Mini at Ag in Motion 2026 in Langham, Saskatchewan

0.04mm² resolution CCD cameras imported from Japan detect a discolored spot smaller than a pinhead on a single kernel, processed in real time by onboard DSP and FPGA systems for consistent, accurate sorting.

Precision Optical System

Electromagnetic solenoid ejectors from Italy, rated for a 10 billion ejection life, pull a single flagged kernel out of the stream without disturbing clean product around it.

Ejector Precision

An optional IR camera upgrade adds 0.16mm² resolution and high-intensity halogen lighting, catching foreign material that visible light alone can miss.

Infra-Red Detection

A 300mm anodized chute, dust extraction system, and multilingual touchscreen interface let one operator run the unit with minimal training, wherever the trailer parks.

Built for the Road

VistaSort Mobile Optical Color Sorters For Seed and Grain

Why Test On-Site?

Test your own product right where it already is, with no samples to ship away.

See real-world sorting results before you commit to a machine.

Watch it remove foreign material, ergot, diseased and immature kernels, splits and undecorticated seed, depending on the crop.

Find out how optical sorting fits with your existing air-screen cleaner or gravity separator.

Clean barley accepted by a VistaSort optical color sorter after removing defective kernels and foreign material.

Clean Barley After Optical Color Sorting

High-quality barley after processing through a VistaSort Optical Color Sorter. Advanced optical color sorting removes defective kernels, foreign material, and off-colour product to improve barley quality and market value.