Note: the older CAT S61, still available in places, had a lower resolution IR camera, but offered laser measuring, offering an alternative with even more flexibility. Combined with its 15Hz refresh rate (many are only 9Hz), it can easily be used to spot animals or people in the dark, or through dense foliage. There’s also a 300-lumen LED light, should you want to surprise someone you’ve spotted in the dark. The simple menu system provides access to other useful features too, such as Level and Span adjustments (a little like manual exposure, allowing you to isolate a thermal range), and Emissivity adjustments (manual or pre-sets).

Teledyne FLIR Announces FLIR ONE Edge Pro – The First Truly Wireless Mobile Infrared Camera Detachable form factor is i deal for inspecting hard-to-reach places A rectangular bump near the top of the One Edge Pro contains the two cameras, which include a circular cutout for the thermal core and a more conventional smartphone-style camera for visuals. A power button positioned below the bump turns the camera on and off, and three LEDs indicate the camera’s status. A USB-C port on the right side is for charging. Flir estimates battery life runs up to one and a half hours. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s longer than the Flir One Pro’s single hour of battery life.The camera is more rugged than the Flir One and Flir One Pro, but only slightly. Its solid, rubber-coated form is rated to survive a 6.6-foot drop compared with a 5.0-foot drop for the other cameras. It also meets an IP54 rating so it can handle drips and splashes, though it isn’t designed to be rinsed off under a faucet or submerged.

The ergonomic advantage in this instance isn’t enough to make up for the shortcomings of the wireless connection that make it possible. I found the live video feed to be laggy and jerky, forcing me to wait seconds at a time when trying to position the camera at a good angle. The thermal imager only scans 8.7 times per second and must occasionally “hiccup” to calibrate the temperature range. The lag I saw with the Edge Pro, however, went far beyond these technically necessary quirks, particularly in comparison with the Flir One and Flir One Pro. When clipped onto my Samsung Fold 4, the FLIR One Edge Pro stayed firmly in place, but it felt like it could slip off at an inopportune moment. I found myself instinctively keeping a firm hold on both the camera and the phone. Are you a zebra fish? If not, you are missing out on something: the ability to see infrared light, the thermal radiation beyond the scope of human vision given off by everything around you.

Order Approval

Thermal imaging works in the dark, or through smoke, but can be fooled by the reflectiveness (emissivity) of a surface. Because IR is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, like visible light, it also has similar properties when it encounters lenses or rain. For professional use, it pays to read up a bit on understanding thermograms, but you’ll understand the basics the moment you power on your thermal camera. Depending on the software, you can also take retrospective measurements from the thermal JPEGs. How we test thermal cameras The camera's default setting combines images from both cameras, so you can see an “outline” of a real-world object colored in with the temperature information. You can choose to view just the IR or visible light images. These settings can be selected in the FLIR One app, which is available for iOS and Android. This app controls the camera and keeps a library of saved images and video; no data is stored on the camera itself. This easy-to-use app allows you to control how the sensors’ temperature measurements are displayed in the images and videos, either by marking the hottest and coldest spots with crosshairs or setting up to three spots in the image to be continuously measured, which is especially useful in video mode. FLIR’s analysis software, FLIR Tools, allows you to change the color palettes and take readings from 4,800 measurement points in the image files, a little like using the eyedropper in Photoshop. At first glance, it might seem that the chunkier One Edge Pro isn’t a step forward at all, but in reality, the larger size and the removal of the Achilles heel that was the physical connection makes this a much more practical device (it also means you can use on iPhones and Android devices without having to buy another!)