FLIR has recently released a consumer grade thermal camera for general usage, and I was all excited — until I realized that it was for iPhones only. And only specific kinds of iPhones, specifically not the new one. Enter Seek Thermal and their shot across FLIR’s bow, a small add-on thermal camera that works with both Apple iPhones and Android devices, all for only $199. I’ve got my mitts on one of their products to test out, and I gotta admit that it’s a blast watching things heat up at the range. I get the feeling it will be beneficial for things like hunting as well, so we’ll see. Expect a full review when I’m done geeking out.

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16 COMMENTS

  1. Nice! I make the thermal imager for these….in fact I’m quite sure I personally worked on the imager in the demo unit you got.

    I ordered one as well, can’t wait until it arrives.

    …you didn’t have a link in your blog. Here’s the company website for anyone else that’s interested: http://thermal.com/

    • @NotoriousAPP –

      I’m a “dig into the guts of tech” kinda guy…

      Do you know where they sourced the imager in that thing?

        • They license the technology from Raytheon. This is very similar technology to what’s being used in the weapon mounted sites that we provide our armed sources with….obviously the pixel array is much smaller.

          The chip is manufactured by Freescale Semiconductor in Austin, Texas. They’ve been supplying Raytheon with thermal imagers for years now to support their department of defense business.

  2. Nifty! Not sure I’d be able to justify one, but the perfect gadget to show my friend who got money for stuff like that.

    • Take a look at their website and see all the applications for this device. Even though I’m an avid shooter, I see more applications around the home and for the DIY’er.

  4. Just be careful what countries you travel to.

    Infrared cameras are strictly controlled for export.

  5. I wonder if it could be made compatible with the iSight rifle mount for phones. Could be a fun thermal sight on the cheap if that’s workable. Either way, I want one of these thermal cameras. However, its spot on the list is below “more guns”, and “more ammo”.

    • +1 this.

      Nick, can you point it through a couple of scopes and let us know if it does anything interesting at, say, 50 yards? Would make for a great feral hog hunting accessory . . . .

  6. I ordered one as soon as their website came back to life. Still waiting for deliver, but oh well.

    At work, I just got a FLIR brand unit back from depot repair (we have several) I liked FLIR’s concept of on-board camera overlay, but the case and the cost killed it for me, especially since the sensor was so limited. The Seek sensor seems more sophisticated and is certainly higher resolution.

    Edit to add: Just got this update from Thermal.
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    We are sorry we have not shipped your Seek Thermal order in the time we originally expected. First and foremost, we would like to sincerely apologize for the delays and for any frustration this may be causing you.

    Unfortunately, it took us longer to get our apps in the app stores than we anticipated. We did not want to ship cameras before the companion apps were available. This delay created a significant backlog of orders, plus a brief component shortage temporarily halted production. However, as of this week we are ramping up production and once again shipping Android cameras. We will likewise begin shipping Apple cameras once our app has been approved in iTunes, hopefully very soon.

  7. I got a FLIR one a while back, and there are a lot of amusing applications for this (and some useful too).

    I am excited to see competition in this market as it can only drive prices down and quality up. This sensor even appears to be better resolution (206 x 156) than the FLIR One (80 x 60).

    • I guess that with good quality comes a higher price. I just spotted Therm-App (www.therm-app.com) that seems to be offering outstanding performance results. Even at a price of $999, I think it’s worth the money, with the concept of interchangeable lenses and the highest resolution in the smartphone thermal market today.

  8. Flir is one of those few companies that has been producing thermal optics for the regular person, they are still expensive, but it’s not like the days of old where thermals used to be as much as a decent car. They’ve made a lot of jumps and it’d be cool if other companies would follow suit and we could see sub 1000 dollar optics this decade. Here is FLIR’s optic thats a lot cheaper than every other one, http://techeyes.com/flir-thermosight-rs32-thermal-rifle-scope-rs32.html

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