PaulS:
uint16_t blockCount;
blockCount = pixy.getBlocks();
Is this value likely to change on each pass through loop()?
Not at the moment but could depending if I want to see more objects.
PaulS:
An awful lot of stuff you are doing in loop() makes no sense there. The camera characteristics are not likely to change, are they?
The "characteristics" I think you are referring to are there to help define the shape of the object. The camera picks up quite a bit of other object with the same colour signature.
PaulS:
Dump that sketch. Create one that does NOTHING but initialize the serial port, read the ping sensor, and print the value to the serial port.Tell us EXACTLY what you see in the Serial Monitor.
I have done that using the exact same pins as in the sketch above. The sensor works fine and gives reliable distance output. To be fair, just running the example from the new ping library works fine as well.