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.

VistaSort Mobile Testing Unit Looking In

Mobile Optical Color Sorting

Q: 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.

VistaSort's mobile optical color sorter brings precision seed and grain sorting directly to your yard. No hauling truckloads to a fixed facility and no waiting in line behind everyone else's crop.

Our mobile units set up on-site and sort with the same CCD camera technology used in our full commercial systems, then pack up when the job is done.

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What Is a Mobile Optical Color Sorter?

A mobile optical color sorter is a self-contained sorting unit built into a trailer, so it travels to wherever your grain or seed is sitting instead of the other way around.

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

VistaSort Mobile Optical Color Sorting Machine

From a Simple Idea to a Full Mobile Sorting Line

VistaSort's mobile units started as a simple idea in 2012, when we built our first unit for Bashaw Seed Cleaning Co-op in Bashaw, Alberta. That "Innovation on Wheels" project proved a color sorter could do real commercial work from the back of a trailer, and it's grown from there into a full mobile sorting line, including the compact VistaSort Mini Optical Color Sorter mobile testing unit.

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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

Mini to 10-Chute:
A Mobile Sorter Sized for Your Operation

VistaSort's optical sorting line runs from the compact Mini unit, built for mobile testing and smaller batches, up through 10-chute configurations for higher-volume mobile and commercial operations.

Every configuration runs on the same core technology, just 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 Bring the Sorter to Your Facility?

Sort right where your grain already is, with no extra trucking or handling.

Get a one-operator setup that's running fast, as long as you have a free bin to work into.

Remove foreign material, ergot, disease, immature and diseased kernels, splits, and undecorticated seed in a single pass.

Hit export, food-grade, or certified seed standards without a trip to a commercial plant.

Add a final polish after your existing air-screen cleaner or gravity separator, or run it as a standalone step.

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.