FLIR One Review
FORWARD LOOKING INFRARED THERMAL IMAGING
The FLIR ONE for IOS or Android is a thermal imaging device with many applications. You can diagnose housing repairs, mechanical repairs, leaks, HVAC and Air Conditioning, take your temperature simply by pointing the camera, detect wasp, hornet and bees nests, hunting, fishing, see through walls, attach it to your drone and do some aerial reconnaissance or seeing at night.
There are many different filters to choose from in the FLIR ONE app and the FLIR Tools app can let you view both thermal and non thermal imaging. Essentially it takes a layered image or video one with the thermal imaging and one with the regular camera image. It has an indicator that shows temperature though the range of temperature is a bit limited.
One negative thing is that the image quality is not the best, it does not take high definition video or images by todays standards. But for the going price that should be expected as many of FLIR’s and other thermal imaging devices cost upwards of $1000 dollars.
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One of the reasons I picked it up is because for the first time in history, FLIR has produced a thermal imaging device that is both functional and affordable to the every day consumer. Since its release, FLIR has also introduced the FLIR ONE PRO and the FLIR ONE Gen 3 Thermal Imaging devices. When I purchased this product it was new and I spent about $299, but since they have upgraded to the FLIR ONE PRO the FLIR ONE is now available at an even more substantial discount.
The FLIR ONE PRO has made many improvements from image quality to a wide variety of things. But the applications that support all of these devices are common and still receive updates to the operating system software.
One application that I love to use it for is hunting. Wether it is night or day, anything that has a temperature signature lights up and becomes highly visible. I purchased a lightning extension for the iPhone that allows me to separate the camera from the actual phone for such an application. Since I would be carrying a pistol or a rifle I need both of my hands to be free. So I attached velcro to the back of the FLIR ONE and now it can be applied to my shirt or a hat for hands free use. You can lock the orientation in the phones camera settings so that the image lines up just how you want it to. But I still have to be able to see the phone so I bought a waterproof case that can house the phone and strap it to my wrist. So there is a cable that runs from the phone to the FLIR ONE device that I can run through my shirt sleeve to keep it out of the way, but by doing this I can still spot game at night or during the day and have eliminated the need for a thermal scope. Although it would be a nice thing to have.
The FLIR ONE is a bit quirky however, the light adjusts accordingly to wherever the camera is focused and the relative temperature of any objects around it. It also refreshes every so often which makes it seem a bit glitchy at times but it is the FLIR thermal imaging that is refreshing.
One really nice feature is that you don’t have to video tape or take pictures although you can. You can also simply just use the device to observe different objects that are around you.
