New FLIR - I think I want one

[Jackdaw]

The US$2K 3rd gen thermal imagers were out of my league, but for $350 this look like the ticket, Plus I love this kind of disruptive technology.

FLIR clip-on for your iphone.

http://www.flir.com/flirone/

 

[mpr]

Very cool! Looks like an android version coming after the iphone one too. I'm wondering, though, about useful distance . . .the press release says maybe uses for birders and hunters, but nothing about how far away. Anyone with guesstimates about that issue?

 

[blackjenner]

Wow. Only a few hundred? Not bad at all.

 

[SailAR]

I think something like this would be great for checking engine and electrical problems. I bought a laser temp gauge as a quick and easy way to see what temps different engine components run at. Helped confirm that my engine temp gauge reads about 10 deg too low. Something like this would be great for looking at wiring temps, etc.

 

[Bugsy]

I am no expert, but I think the range on these things is (depending on many factors, notably temperature differential) may be a few feet.

I know someone who thought this might be a good MOB tool: look for a warm head bobbing in cold water. Nope, the signature is just too weak to be useful.

Any experts here?

 

[eliboat]

Forward this to Armido, he will surely be interested.

 

[kent_island_sailor]

The ones sold as marine gear are great for MOB. This unit looks good for at least 30-50 yards judging from the gallery photos they have. That said, it is more wide-angle than the dedicated marine units I think and it does not look even close to waterproof.

I am no expert, but I think the range on these things is (depending on many factors, notably temperature differential) may be a few feet.

I know someone who thought this might be a good MOB tool: look for a warm head bobbing in cold water. Nope, the signature is just too weak to be useful.

Any experts here?

 

[Ajax]

Forward this to Armido, he will surely be interested.

Then he'll bitch about how it should be free, and how we're all driving the cost up, by our willingness to pay the asking price.

Especially if you order one through an "agent".

 

[Bugsy]

The ones sold as marine gear are great for MOB. This unit looks good for at least 30-50 yards

I stand corrected! Thanks very much.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Well, now I know what I want for Christmas. Good timing!

 

[Kirwan]

It does look like a cool toy, and could be useful for a wide range of situations, within its limitations.

I do note this on the website:

"Thermal images shown are for illustration purposes only, and may not have been taken by the camera series depicted."

What I don't find is any sort of actual specifications; resolution of the sensor (pixels) - it could be as low as 160 x 120 based on the specs for the cores.

Also no mention of lenses or focusing. The last IR camera I played with required manual focusing, and this was necessary to do both close up (toaster) and long range (house).

 

[Cruzan1]

Waiting for the iPhone autopilot interface, wind detector, fog horn, and alcohol distilling apps. But the FLIR looks pretty sweat - MOB or Bigfoot hunting!

 

[Arcas]

Heard about this at CES this year, and was pretty interested for the MOB application as well. Probably won't have the resolution, waterproofness and optics necessary to be an effective tool, but almost anything is better than what we have right now (which is no thermal sensing at all).

 

[toddster]

Rats. The FLIR won't work with my iPhone 4.0. Ah well. Temptation removed.

Waiting for the iPhone autopilot interface, wind detector, fog horn, and alcohol distilling apps. But the FLIR looks pretty sweat - MOB or Bigfoot hunting!

Um... there are a bunch of those already (well, maybe not the fog horn.)

I just discovered and pulled the trigger on sonarphone which claims to give you a wireless fish finder image from a little dongle that you can tow or cast with a fishing rod. Hard to resist for 130 samolians.

/hijack