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Thermal cam, best purchase I've ever made....

Any comments on the KleinTI250? HomeDepot is having "pro appreciation event" which gets them down to $240. Check it out here.
I have one and really have not done anything with it like demo'd here, it works but the annoying part is when it re-Calibrates every 30 seconds or so.
 
Shouldn't affect you if you never use it, I use mine all the time and I don't mind the occasional screen pause for less than a second to save the thousand dollars or more over Flir's.. PS, they all calibrate..... https://www.flir.com/discover/professional-tools/what-is-a-non-uniformity-correction-nuc/
Duh, but when I do use it for something its a pain. Since I have never had one before its nice to know they all do it. I read all the negatives about the Flirs and decided to pass but I did us mine for checking wall and window insulation. I will use it more when I get my solar up and running.
 
I was going to stay out of this post but since it popped up again I am just going to say that anybody thinking of getting a Thermal Camera made in China should think again. I have tried three different models and they all suffer from the same issue, which is low dynamic range.
[...]
Here is the most expensive one i tried and I put it up head to head against the iPhone Flir One Pro Camera.
HiKMicro B20 (Price $550) (Resolution 256 x 192)

Flir One Pro ($399) (Resolution 160 x 120)

Almost all the Chinese cameras I tried had much more resolution than the Flir, so they should have beat it easily in image quality but they didn't. Add that to the Dynamic Range issue and it makes things a lot worst.

So here is an example with the Visual Light Camera Turned off and all you are seeing is the Thermal Camera image of my Work bench soldering Iron.

HikMicro B20
View attachment 90643

Same Image on the Flir One Pro
View attachment 90645

As you can see the Chinese IR sensor is able to easily pickup the heat at the hottest spots but it cannot detect heat that is radiating nearby. One would say the sensor is blinded by the heat but that is really not the case. I did extensive comparisons on all four models and it is just a case of low dynamic range. It can only see within a limited range at one time.
@robby
On the HIKMICRO B20 pic above it shows a temp.-range between 338.6°C and 19.5 °C. But what range has the FLIR One Pro? That's not displayed. Thats for sure a software issue. I would also bet that the temp range on the FLIR One Pro is not as high as the HIKMICRO B20 and the lowest temp shown on the FLIR pic is in my opinion much higher.

Coincidentally, I saw exactly the two photos in the Amazon reviews recently. I assume that was you? ?

Incidentally sensors from "Infiray" are installed in the UNI-T devices, quite high-quality sensors (in-house development). The problem with the UNI-T devices is that they are cheaply assembled. Here is a comparison between the quality of the UNI-T devices and the devices from HIKMICRO:

1. UNI-T 260B Teardown
eevblog: UNI-T 260B Teardown (click here)
There are many users on the eevblog-forum who keep complaining about image spots on newly arrived UNI-T devices. Apparently there's something wrong with quality control: some people found fingerprints from inside the device on the lenses or the lack of brass screw inserts in the plastic casing. Fingerprints on the lens is not particularly annoying with thermal imagers but fits in well with the rest of the quality design. It is clear: If you offer something cheap you have to save costs somewhere!

The problem is that if there is a speck of dust on the sensor somewhere and it falls off during shipping the calibration is no longer correct and there will be uncorrectable image errors.

Also the batteries in the UNI-T have no temperature monitoring for charging. Quite risky.


2. Hikvision DS-2TP31 (which is the same company 'HIKMICRO')
eevblog: Hikvision DS-2TP31 [=HIKMICRO] (click here)
Clear difference with much better quality of the device compared to the UNI-T. The battery temperature is monitored when charging. The sensors in HIKMICRO devices are also in-house developments. See especially the authors summary in post #6.

The assertion that the same sensor is located in each of these Chinese thermal imaging cameras is quite incorrect.

I have to say that I also tend to associate China with cheap goods but there are a few companies that are now catching up. And the quality of their own developments are now on the same level as that of established companies. What is still missing are such software subtleties as here this dynamic range in automatic mode. But honestly: You can easily set it manually to your needs!? From my point of view this is no reason to buy a significantly more expensive device which usually only has 9 Hz.
 
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@robby
On the HIKMICRO B20 pic above it shows a temp.-range between 338.6°C and 19.5 °C. But what range has the FLIR One Pro? That's not displayed. Thats for sure a software issue. I would also bet that the temp range on the FLIR One Pro is not as high as the HIKMICRO B20 and the lowest temp shown on the FLIR pic is in my opinion much higher.

Coincidentally, I saw exactly the two photos in the Amazon reviews recently. I assume that was you? ?

Incidentally sensors from "Infiray" are installed in the UNI-T devices, quite high-quality sensors (in-house development). The problem with the UNI-T devices is that they are cheaply assembled. Here is a comparison between the quality of the UNI-T devices and the devices from HIKMICRO:

1. UNI-T 260B Teardown
eevblog: UNI-T 260B Teardown (click here)
There are many users on the eevblog-forum who keep complaining about image spots on newly arrived UNI-T devices. Apparently there's something wrong with quality control: some people found fingerprints from inside the device on the lenses or the lack of brass screw inserts in the plastic casing. Fingerprints on the lens is not particularly annoying with thermal imagers but fits in well with the rest of the quality design. It is clear: If you offer something cheap you have to save costs somewhere!

The problem is that if there is a speck of dust on the sensor somewhere and it falls off during shipping the calibration is no longer correct and there will be uncorrectable image errors.

Also the batteries in the UNI-T have no temperature monitoring for charging. Quite risky.


2. Hikvision DS-2TP31 (which is the same company 'HIKMICRO')
eevblog: Hikvision DS-2TP31 [=HIKMICRO] (click here)
Clear difference with much better quality of the device compared to the UNI-T. The battery temperature is monitored when charging. The sensors in HIKMICRO devices are also in-house developments. See especially the authors summary in post #6.

The assertion that the same sensor is located in each of these Chinese thermal imaging cameras is quite incorrect.

I have to say that I also tend to associate China with cheap goods but there are a few companies that are now catching up. And the quality of their own developments are now on the same level as that of established companies. What is still missing are such software subtleties as here this dynamic range in automatic mode. But honestly: You can easily set it manually to your needs!? From my point of view this is no reason to buy a significantly more expensive device which usually only has 9 Hz.
I suggest you take a look at the Hikmicro Portable 2.
They really listened to the advice given and have created a thermal camera that rivals the $800 Flir units. I would go as far as to say it has better image quality and dynamic range than most sub $1000 Flir units.

I don't remember the Temp range of the Flir one Pro as that quickly got dethroned by the Hikmicro Portable 2 as my go to camera.
 
I suggest you take a look at the Hikmicro Portable 2.
They really listened to the advice given and have created a thermal camera that rivals the $800 Flir units. I would go as far as to say it has better image quality and dynamic range than most sub $1000 Flir units.

I don't remember the Temp range of the Flir one Pro as that quickly got dethroned by the Hikmicro Portable 2 as my go to camera.
The HIKMICRO Pocket 2 is the same like the B20, but more handy. I also really like to see their updates for device firmwares several times a year and make improvements to their devices. They may have adjusted/solved the "dynamic range" issue in their recent firmware updates if you are happy with the Pocket 2 now?? I don't know, I have never tried the experiment that you have done above with a soldering iron. I'm very sure the devices function now the same, even though the Pocket 2 has a touchscreen and the B20 not. The last firmware update for the B20 was in October with some pic and process improvements.

The processor in the HIKMICRO devices also seems to work faster: the start of the device takes only 8 seconds. With UNI-T it is 20 seconds. :oops:
Oh wow, I saw they also updated their Analyzer Software...

searching finds:
HIKMICRO Pocket2
????
Looks good.
See here:
 
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Thanks! I was planning on buying the Hikmicto Pocket 2. It’s in the Cyber Monday deals on Amazon Now.
 
You folks have got me all worked looking at this again. LOL Is this the same one for cheaper than Amazon?
Its the same one ($479.00) - but: "Temporarily out of stock - back in stock in 2 to 3 weeks". ?
Black friday/Cyber Monday will then be over...

On Amazon its $439.20 (Prime Exclusive Deal) at the moment for US.
 
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Its the same one ($479.00) - but: "Temporarily out of stock - back in stock in 2 to 3 weeks". ?
Black friday/Cyber Monday will then be over...

On Amazon its $439.20 (Prime Exclusive Deal) at the moment for US.
That cheaper one on Amazon is the lower resolution "Pocket 1"

TruTech let me put "Pocket 2" in my cart and I assume will let me check out.
 
I have wanted a thermal camera for a while, glad to see the tip about Amazon!
Ordered one of these, supposed to be here Friday:
pocket_2.png
 
$150 off in Canada for black Friday.. Cheaper than the HIKMICRO Pocket 1…. Arriving on Dec 7th! ?
 
up until now, the seek thermal camera is what i’ve used to do thermal imaging. it has been… okay… and requires a phone to use. and is kind of buggy, low res, and slow refresh rate.

ordered the pocket2 as a hopeful standalone replacement. will share example pictures when it arrives.

excited to have a more powerful standalone device to diagnose and inspect my installs.

thanks for the tip folks.
 
WoW!

I just love it…. Just received it, a week before estimated delivery. Very simple to use, the image is clear, connection with my iPhone completed in 20 seconds. Temperature reading seems to be good (I will confirm next time I go to my chalet), I can easily see warm spots on everything so any issue with my wiring will be obvious for sure…. Really exactly what I was looking for and for less $$ than expected. Very happy…

(Now I have to find out how to capture an image without the onscreen information ?)

A83B78D3-D360-490A-92C9-42AFF0F9465D.jpeg
 
Here is an example that made me confirm that an Apple TV consumes power even when turned off…. Impossible to feel the difference with my hand. If I remove the device from my speaker, I see the warm spot even if there are only a few degrees between it and the rest of the surface…. (Sorry if the image seems off, the camera was set to 5 ft).

7E1338C5-72C0-4862-B6A4-22BE1FD763BB.jpeg
 
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