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Sensor is one of those skills whose usefulness rather eludes me.
I find this particularly perplexing on ALEPH's Deva (Sensor), which has a cost of 1 SWC/26pts. Compared to Deva (MSV Lvl2), which includes a Spitfire and is priced at 1 SWC/34pts this seems quite useless to me.

Maybe I'm missing a crucial point about Sensor, but considering the comparison mentioned above I don't see any reason to take the Sensor version for two reasons:

Sensor only has two advantages over the MSV:
1. The ability to detect within ZoC without LoF. While this is certainly safer, it can also be more order consuming.
2. The ability to detect troops in hidden deployment. This seems highly situational. Not only won't I even know about the existence of anything in hidden deployment, but it will also require me to take a good guess at where someone might be set up, thereafter taking a wild shot in the dark at a chance to detect "something". Has anyone ever done this?

This is not meant to be a complaint about a broken skill, but rather a genuine interest in how to properly use the skill.
I can certainly see the advantage of Sensor when combined with Forward Observer (ALEPH has a bot for that), but the use on the Deva, who has nothing else to write home about, eludes me.

Enlighten me. :-)

it detects everything in one go within its range
you can retry if you fail (while you can't discover the same target twice with the same active miniature if you failed the first roll)
I believe it detects without any minuses due to camo (straight WIP roll)

Sensor on a WIP 15 Deva means that you have a 75% chance of discovering any (regular/ TO) camo marker. You don't need line of sight so you can avoid ARO's when using the skill. You can also discover multiple units within your ZOC with a single unmodified WIP roll. An 8 inch ZOC also lets you sweep a wide area so catching out hidden deployment units isn't as difficult as you might think. So if you are playing against someone who likes to use lots of camo troops, mines or hidden deployment then it is a very useful skill.

That seems like a pretty expensive Sensor - maybe try the basic Sensor/FO bot instead? Cheaper, faster, specialist, losing out on durability though.

The main things for Sensor were, IMO (and as someone who fields it every list), the repeats if you fail and the ability to ARO with sensor.

Theres nothing worse than sending a troop to attack that camo dude, then just flubbing your WIP roll. Thats a giant waste of orders that leaves you vulnerable to your opponents active turn. That won't happen with a sensor.

And if you've been bum rushed by ninja, monkey man, or, good god, by SAS, you'll soon learn to appreciate Sensor ARO.

Pretty much as above. Its definitely useful and I make use of it a lot in nomads, just the normal REM type but nomads one has climbing plus too which is awesome. But some skills are more useful in some factions than others. Aleph have more msv options than say nomads for this case and in the deva load out the spitfire definitely looks more appealing. But even with the intruders that nomads can take, I still often grab a sensor bot as of no aros, and it can see around corners. Plus nomads have lots of hacking device plus so... again it comes down to what else you can take to complement it. I wouldnt take it unless you have a specific intent for it, kinda like anything really. Especially for 1swc

I'll add that my main use of them is to reveal camo infiltrators that deploy up high out of LOS which you can't get to otherwise. Then Mcmurrough, but that's another story

And I suck at typing on my phone, geeze

Thanks for the input everyone, that definitely gave me a new perspective.
Though I'm still not too sure about the Deva(Sensor), I'll give the FO/Sensor bot a try.

It's certainly one of the things I enjoy so much about Infinity: Every tool has its use. You just need to figure out how to use it.