Review on 🔍 HiLetgo 2pcs VL6180X Optical Range Finder Sensor Module with Gesture Recognition, I2C Interface, 3.3V/5V, Emitter and Ambient Light Sensor by Roger King

I used this sensor to measure the level (after removal) of a mechanical gauge on my 300+ gallon oil tank. At first I wasn't sure if the laser wavelength would penetrate the sensor's plastic shell, but it did! I taped the sensor to the top of the sensor and then connected VIN, GND, SHDN, SDA to my ESP8266 at pins VIN, GND, D1 and D2 (see pictures). I used the Adafruit_VL6180X library and the sensor worked easily using the example code in their github repo. I noticed a deviation of 5 +/- mm during the measurements, even when I took about 20 samples and averaged them (with lags in between). Since my tank is larger, this equates to a difference of about +/- 20 gallons, which is acceptable for my dataset but may not be acceptable for others. The sensor can also measure LUX (unit of light) but I didn't need it.