$200 FLIR Camera available Q2

[Eigenvector]

Just ran across this. Plugs into your smart phone. Pretty cool.

FLIR ONE Thermal Imaging Attachment for iOS and Android | FLIR Systems

[Scott Berg]

I use that camera often; wonderful for finding leaks in refer lids/etc and mailing them to customers; works well on electrical systems and engines as well!

[Maine Sail]

I have a FLIR ONE (IOS version) and have been less than impressed with the customer service and quality.

The first one was DOA right out of the box. I called FLIR, "Sorry we don't support that product you need to call this number." etc. etc. runaround runaround. I wasted about 2.5 hours just trying to get some answers and then days for an actual conversation with a human being only to be told it was defective and I needed to communicate via email only. A defective unit that I had patiently waited nearly 1 year to get my hands on due to horrendous supply & demand issues... Because there was no supply in the chain I did not have an opportunity to read any reviews on reliability.. D'oh....

My other issues are that I need to remove my phone case in order to actually use it. Heck even makers of $3.00 3.5mm iPhone audio cables have figured this one out..

The case that it stores in essentially child proof and on more than one occasion when attempting to get it out of its case, it has has launched itself across a boat, even when knowing this and being very, very careful. Lucky for me it has landed on berths or cushions each time. Someday I won't get so lucky, so I finally bough a case for it other than what it comes with.

Long and short was that it took over a month to get the brand new unit replaced, this after I had already waited over 12 + months to get one. When I got the replacement unit it was not even the same model number and looked "refurbished"..

Beyond all that the battery on the FLIR ONE is DEAD almost every time I reach for it. Even when I know it is fully charged battery life is still horrendous.

For the price it's unimpressive to say the least. Handy, sure, when the battery actually stays charged...

[Scott Berg]

I'm wondering if you got another bad one; I bought mine at West Marine about 3 months ago; worked right out of the box and holds a charge. For what it's worth I have a short patch cord (2" or so) that extends a lightning connector for this and other flush mounted devices. Maybe I got lucky with mine...

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

I'm wondering if you got another bad one; I bought mine at West Marine about 3 months ago; worked right out of the box and holds a charge. For what it's worth I have a short patch cord (2" or so) that extends a lightning connector for this and other flush mounted devices. Maybe I got lucky with mine...

I can only hope they have made improvements since I bought mine.......

[John Holbrook]

Gen 3 will be released 1 May per their website.

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I can only hope they have made improvements since I bought mine.......

[CarinaPDX]

FLIR is trading on their name. For a less expensive, higher resolution thermal camera take a look at the Seek brand: Infrared Thermal Imaging Cameras | Seek Thermal My brother has been using this for a year or two, primarily to help find thermal leaks in his house in Bend, OR (cold place). It works very well. For navigating it might be worth it to opt for the newer, higher resolution model. They have both Android and iPhone models.

Greg

[CarinaPDX]

I just checked the specs. The "new, improved" FLIR One Gen 3 has an 80x60 thermal sensor - very crude. The $249 Seek Compact is 206x156 - much higher resolution. Go up to the $499 Seek Compact Pro and you get 320x240 pixels.

Greg

[autumnbreeze27]

I talked to somebody who does thermal surveys and he said the FLIR has better sensitivity than the seek.

I have a seek, the android version. Really lame that the port is facing the wrong way on my tablet, so I bought a converter they recommend to flip the camera around the right way, but then the app is upside down, and they're too lame to fix it.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by autumnbreeze27

I talked to somebody who does thermal surveys and he said the FLIR has better sensitivity than the seek.

That makes sense. The much fewer pixels would allow for larger pixels on the same die. The FLIR pixels on the gen3 are 17mm and the Seek are 12mm, although exactly what they are measuring is unclear as that couldn't be the size of a single pixel.

I have a seek, the android version. Really lame that the port is facing the wrong way on my tablet, so I bought a converter they recommend to flip the camera around the right way, but then the app is upside down, and they're too lame to fix it.

My Android phone also has the USB reversed (the spec calls for the "up" side on the cable to be marked with the USB logo, and most phones do respect this - but clearly not all). The converter they currently recommend has a 2-sided male connector so the camera can face either way. What converter are you using? Anyway it sounds like some flexibility in the software to flip/invert/rotate would be useful, and is pretty common. Have you contacted them about adding those features?

Greg

[tanglewood]

I recently bought a Flir One iOS, gen 2 (not the yet to be released gen 3). I returned it about a week later.

I LOVE what the product can do, and think it's a really valuable tool to have on a boat, but..... the darn thing doesn't work worth sh$#t. The phone is constantly "disconnecting" and the camera image in the app goes black. Then it reconnects and the image comes back, then repeat. It never runs for more than maybe a minute before it disconnects.

I talked to FLIR and did a bunch of stuff they suggested - all the stupid crap to make you go away when they can't fix the problem - turn it off an back on, do a hard reset, do a really really hard reset, reinstall the app, try another phone. The behavior was exactly the same across all the resets and across two different phones. Just read the app reviews and you will see this is a very common complaint. So I sent it back.

When the gen 3 comes out, and when/if the app reviews suggest the problems have been resolved, I'll happily buy another one. But not until they release a product that actually works. This will be gen 3, so it looks like they got their management training at Navico.

[Pauls]

The FLIR 1 is inherently a more sensitive, higher performance IR camera. The FLIR sensor pixels are made from vanadium oxide. Seek Thermal uses silicon, which is easier to manufacture but creates a lower quality image due to the higher signal to noise ratio inherent in the silicon. If you compare image quality of the two cameras this will be apparent.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by Pauls

The FLIR 1 is inherently a more sensitive, higher performance IR camera. The FLIR sensor pixels are made from vanadium oxide. Seek Thermal uses silicon, which is easier to manufacture but creates a lower quality image due to the higher signal to noise ratio inherent in the silicon. If you compare image quality of the two cameras this will be apparent.

Not correct, sorry. The (current) Seek Compact also has a vanadium oxide sensor - check the data sheet. I don't know if there was an earlier version with silicon, but not now. Unfortunately the Compact data sheet doesn't include the sensitivity spec, but the more expensive ($499) Compact Pro has a spec of <70mK, which is less than half (i.e. more than twice as sensitive) as the FLIR gen 3 of <150mK. I would still suspect that the Compact has a poorer spec due to the smaller pixels but that is just a guess, and the other report above.

Another advantage with the Seek is that it does not require a battery. It has a mode where the phone camera is displayed beside the IR camera, which is sometimes useful. The FLIR uses its daylight camera to superimpose outlines over the IR image - don't know about the side-by-side display. The outlines give the impression of a sharper image and seem genuinely useful.

Greg