Now I may be biased as I've been waiting for a price effective thermal camera for years.But I don't need it enough to pay more than $300.I searched the web thoroughly before I decided what to buy. I considered the Flir One and Therm-App and read all I could about them as well.The first thing I noticed was that temperature range is way better on the Seek.Thermal-App can't detect high and low temperatures (from 5°C to +90°C (41°F to +194°F)) so that limits the usefulness for me and the price is quite high (almost 6 times the Seek).Flir doesn't go subzero at all (32 °F to 212 °F (0°C to 100°C))So with (much) better range and a good price the choice was easy (I live way up north and intended to use it outside some of the time and it actually gets that cold here sometimes)When I got the camera I liked the retail packaging. Feels as a good product even before you open it. (My seal was broken by Amazon for "inspection purposes" - I expect someone couldn't help themselves to try it out - I'm not complaining and I understand - hope you had fun).The camera was much smaller than I had anticipated (I knew the specs but never thought of size as an issue). The carrying case was sturdy and watertight (I removed the camera and held the case under 2 feet of water for 45 minutes without any leaks - I floats by the way also with the camera inside).The camera itself felt rough as well, nice magnesium body and very light.There's no instructions what so ever other than to get the app and plug in the camera. The app has a reasonable size and I had downloaded it before I got the camera.If you buy directly from Seek you will have to setup an account (I got cameras directly from Seek and from Amazon).When you attach the camera you can setup another account (not the same as the one you setup for a buy).And if you want to ask questions on their support site - you've guessed it - you have to setup a third account.If you worry about privacy don't setup accounts just press an extra button when you start the app to accept the terms of use.I use a wallet type case for my phone and had no problem fitting the Seek without the case getting in the way. It seated just fine. I realize that this may not be the case (no pun intended) with all case types but depends on design of your specific type of case.First thing I realized using the camera was that 20° FOV (Field Of View) is very narrow.I had to keep my distance from objects if I wanted an overview of things.It was the cause of a little irritation to begin with but now I'm used to it and it works fine both indoors and outdoors.It's not that I have to stand 20 feet away as other reviewers has claimed. I was able to take reasonable pictures in a small room 6 × 6 feet.Next thing was the software. It's not intuitive at all. Often you have to look for the right button and while in changing settings you have to go through 2 steps to get back before you can take a picture or movie (not sound on the movies by the way - but you know that if you read the specs).That is a constant source of irritation together with the fact that some controls switch places and gets mirrored when the camera (phone) tilts.I hope an update will change that one day (updates can update your camera's firmware by the way).The focus lens (not a zoom lens) works as expected. I've successfully focused on objects as close as 4 inches and as far as 1500 feet. On short ranges a picture can get very detailed because of the good resolution. On a distance it makes a difference as to how small and how far you can detect a heat source. Pictures from afar does not get sharp but you would know that if you researched just a little (you still "only" have 32,000 measuring points).Focusing on most objects with just a little texture shows how accurate this camera is. It's possible to get very detailed pictures.Most low resolution thermals produce blurry picture and Flir introduced the msx technology to outline the picture so you can see what it was you took a picture of, but in most cases the Seek pictures are very clear and objects are easily distinguished. Provided there's enough contrast in temperatures. Therm App (384 × 288 gives more than 110,000 temperature measurements in a picture) has a higher resolution than Seek but as mentioned the price is way up and temperature detection is much narrower than the Seek.I bought an extension cable for my camera because I'm lazy and won't bother to get out of my car. I can hold the camera out the window and it works fine. It can be a little difficult to point but it does work. Only thing you have to take in to account is that the app orient itself according to the phones position and not the cameras. (You can take pictures that shows upside down on your computer, but even native programs on any Mac or pc can easily turn them).I wrote to Seek regarding EXIF and thermal data in the pictures. There's no data stored with the pictures and what you see is what you get (other companies saves thermal data with pictures thus making it possible to process the pictures later on a computer - change the color scheme for instance).Seek wrote to me that they might update firmware later to include this data witch would be a major improvement but not necessarily something all users need.In the settings you can change what temperature scale to use (Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin).Aspect ratio can be set to 4:3 or 16:9. The first will utilize more of the thermal sensor and the latter fits better on modern screens (but be advised that what really happens is that the 4:3 picture is cut to fit)It's possible to ad watermarks to your pictures. You'll find 3 options in the settings: "Date & Time", Location and Seek Logo. They can be chosen individually and the fact that you can turn off the Seek Logo is a plus (not possible on Flir cameras - don't know about Therm App)..The date, time and location is taken from your phone so if the date or time is off so will the watermark be. If your location on the phone is turned off you won't be able to get a precise location on the picture (I don't know why I have to tell you this but apparently not all think about this)The camera I heavily relying on the phones cpu and that's what keeps the price down.The software allows you to change between 9 different color palettes: white, black, iron, cool, amber, indigo, tyrian, glory and envy.They will each show temperatures in a mix of gradient and different colors.I've found that the same motive can be more or less clear/obvious depending on the palette used.it's possible to have the temperature shown on the picture either in spot mode (temperature measured and shown in the middle of the picture) and High/Low mode where highest and lowest temperature within the frame is shown.There is a search mode where you can have the camera highlight temperatures higher, lower or exactly a given temperature.In the thermal+ mode you can use the camera together with the phones camera and slide between the 2. If you double press on the normal picture you'll be able to zoom and pan the picture so it fits the thermal picture. With a little practice the 2 pictures can be lined up to almost perfection a feature that is very useful.When you take a picture in this mode 2 pictures will be saved to the phone. An ordinary and a thermal. Within the app you can still slide between the two but that is not the case when you export the pictures or see them in your phones image viewer (goes without saying, but still saying it)If you take the picture in one of the temperature modes the temperature will be shown on both pictures.All in all I'm very satisfied with this camera.I have both ios and android version and this review goes for both.Only difference I've noted is that the ios version seems to fit firmer in the phone and can be set both ways in the phone.For the android version, on a phone with the micro usb turned the "wrong" way a small cable works fine.The narrow field of view can be irritating at first but when you get used to it it's not a problem.I'd say that the fixed focus on the regular version would be a greater source of irritation to me.Pros: price , temperature range (-40C to 330C), adjustable focus, size (smaller than expected), sturdy carrying case, build quality, app has many useful features, range of detection (from macro to long distance), ability to adjust normal and thermal picture to line up (thermal+ function)Cons: flat photos (no exif or thermal data saved with the photos, thus no possibility of tweaking the photos on computer later), fov is very narrow, (20 degrees compared to regular versions 36), app is messy and not intuitive (some controls even move around on the screen when entering functions or tilting the unit), I am an engineer that does work with Electrical control panels and mechanical equipment. I was looking for a way to have have thermal imaging capabilities to examine equipment at job sites in the event that my customers were experiencing issues. I purchased this after looking around at various units and decided to give it a try. I used it ever so briefly this past week to see how it worked and it appears it worked wonderfully. The comment from a previous review about lack of focus close up was not my experience and so far am glad I tried this unit. I am able to focus within at least a foot or two of the object. (please see photo of control panel interior).I cant comment how this compares with the more expensive fluke or flir units. I do not have a basis of comparison. I will say I was impressed with what I have seen already. For someone who needs to be able to do this type of quick analysis, this product appears to be more than capable. I am eager to find a problem panel or mechanical unit to see how well I am able to pinpoint a problem with it. I like that I can keep it in its nice case in the console of my car. If I show up at a site I have it ready to go and it was not a bank breaker by any stretch of the imagination for this type of equipment.I played with it around the house. It is a fun novelty to see where all the cold breezes are coming from but I would not have a need/desire to purchase one if it were not a helpful tool in my industry. Note that you can take pictures with the data points shown (other sites have stated you can not) which is helpful for reporting purposes. I will update this as I get more time with the unit. It is really tiny and seems to be well built. It does have manual focus ring that does work. This is worth the buy if you can find practical uses for it. For example, finding studs, checking the relative effectiveness of air barriers and seals throughout the house, water leaks, electrical wire heat, appliance heat.Background and Perspective:This device brings a very unique and useful tool into the hands of those who couldn't normally afford the higher end version. The more expensive version of this tool for the public is about $25,000 dollars. Therefore it's limited to those who use it for professional use. Yet this version can be used for the home or low quality commercial diagnoses. This version cannot compare fairly to the more expensive version so to criticize it doesn't allow fairness to the fact that it still provides very useful and helpful information to those who can make use of the information you can gain from it.The 'SEEK' Ability:There are important aspects of this device that you must understand before you buy so you know what to expect in terms of range and visibility. This device will not be a disappointment as long as you know what to expect. The device doesn't have the outline overlay feature of it's only competitor but that's not as important since most of the time you will be looking for significant temperature variations that when captured in the view, will automatically allow you to distinguish what is hot/cold because it will stick out from other objects in the view. If the view on the camera is not easy to understand, just look past the phone and get oriented. It's not a big deal, use your other eyeI measured the amount of area I could view with the camera and the length at which I had to stand in order to capture an object. (see pictures) These are the distances from the objects in my pictures to the lense of the camera. See pictures for quality.1) You can see my finger when it is 4-inches from the lense2) The center of my watch is 10.25-inches from the lense3) The 3' x 5.5' window is 12.85' from the lense4) The Printer and 2 Power Adaptors are 5' from lense (there are two adaptors in the picture and they are not distinguishable from each other)Description of other pictures:5) There was a hot water leak as you can see from the hotter area in the waste pipe in the ceiling – I was able to see it unexpectedly and found the upstairs faucet to be left open.6) I was able to see the area of hot air normally invisible, from a low flame on the stove7) I was able to see a difference in temperatures from two windows where apartments where renovated and that of two windows where apartments where not renovated.8) I can see the heat from my computer and hard-drive9) I could see the cold water and hot water pipe in blue and yellow respectively10) I could see the temperature of the boiler gas fanToilet-Paper Roll as the Frame of View:In order to imagine the field of view you should expect; a good perspective for you to understand what scanning your environment would look like is to take a used toilet-paper roll and raise it to one eye. The area you can view through the toilet roll is pretty much the same area you catch from the lense of the camera while holding the camera at 9-12 inches from your nose. The default magnification of the SEEK is large. If you slightly squeeze the toilet roll, forming a vertical elliptical, it would mimic the field of view you would get from holding the phone in portrait view; and the same if you did the same horizontally for a landscape view.Lag:There is a lag of 1-second when the 'image soothing' feature is off and a 2-second lag with the feature 'on'. I don't yet see any use for the smoothing feature. I don't think it makes a difference. When scanning across the screen of the Plasma TV, the image is best when scanning at about two seconds per foot across the screen when 8 feet away from the screen.Battery:Since the SEEK uses your phone battery it can last a fair amount of time. I happen to have en extended battery on my phone which is slightly old and I also use the SEEK periodically and randomly throughout the day as I am still playing around with what I can find with it. I don't find the need to look after my battery level at all. I do not feel the seek is a battery drain.Compatibility:I have a Samsung S4 with Android 5.0.1 and the camera and features listed work fine. There is one feature I didn't find talked about much and that is the 'Image Smoothing' feature, which works fine.The volume buttons also function as camera shutter buttons. Since the port is on the bottom I activate rotation on the phone and turn it upside down. This is useful except when you want to use dual image mode whereby your hand ends up blocking the phone camera as you hold the phone normally. I find it useful to use dual camera mode when turning the camera in landscape view while taking picturesColor Palette:The colors are varied. There are 9 color palette options. The color adjusts to what the hottest and coldest temperatures in the view are. If you have a face in the view and then light a match next to the person while in the view the color gradient will adjust to highlight the NEW hottest points to the coolest points.Menu Options:Help----Tutorials----Reset Help Overlays----Report and Issue----Visit Support CenterTemperature Units (select)----Fahrenheit----Celsius----KelvinImage preferences----Aspect Ratio (select)--------16:9--------4:3----Watermarks--------Date and Time (on/off)--------Location (on/off)--------Seek Logo (on/off)----Metadata--------Disable Geo-tagging (on/off)Image Smoothing (on/off)Terms and policies----Privacy Policy----Terms and ConditionsHelp Us Improve----Send Usage Data (on/off)About----Application Software Version----Image Processing Software VersionPhone Camera Dual Image:I find this feature not useful except for times when I want to take a picture to log the environment I was in at the time as I can imagine forgetting the context of a thermal picture and use the visible light picture to remind me what I am looking at a later time.When using the dual image overlay which is best in landscape mode, the SEEK and phone camera are usually positioned poorly in three ways. A) the thermal image and the phone camera image are at different zoom ratios B) the images do not line up next to each other in any useful way. I would find it useful to take a dual image picture while the thermal image of an object is fully viewable in half the display and the visible phone camera picture is also of the object in full display BUT this is NOT the case C) although you can zoom the phone camera in the dual overlay mode, doing so actually magnifies the thermal image as well, which make the feature even more useless.*If SEEK made the micro-usb with the ability to pivot slightly it would be extremely useful in order to line up pictures properly in dual image mode.Manual Zoom:The picture of my finger is set at the closest zoom. Even when scanning a building façade 250' away, the best focus was at the middle of the range of focus available on the SEEK device.I will add more info as I see fit in the future. This is as advertised, however, do not be fooled by their marketing schpiel. They say "Seek Thermal XR gives you the power to see heat at 2,000 feet away and as near as 8 inches", which to me implied that I could view things usefully up to 8 inches away. However, that is not the case. The zoom level is fixed, and it is really hard to use it for anything less than 20 ft away. I'm sure it's useful for hunters but for regular people who want to use it around the house, the zoom is too much. When I hold it at arms length, I can barely fit my head in the picture. When trying to use it to view the house, it is much too zoomed in to be useful.To summarize, this is probably only useful for hunters or people that need to detect heat from large distance. For regular people who want to use it in their house, get the regular Seek Thermal. I returned my XR for a regular Seek Thermal and I'm much happier. This little infrared camera, the SEEK THERMAL XR THERMAL IMAGER, is a wonderful Android/iPhone gadget! I thought that it would come with a learning curve, but it has the simplest electronic device setup I've ever encountered! You download the free app, plug the camera into your smartphone's charging outlet, and that's it!You can take thermal snapshots (1 click) or movies (2 clicks) immediately from the opening app display. Your photos and movies are stored in a folder that opens when you tap the "gallery" icon at the lower left of the display. The app is a snap to navigate, and gives you many color options and temperature display mode options. A couple of the temperature options actually add labels that give the temperatures of areas shown in the camera viewfinder (your smartphone screen). You have the option to use either a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect mode. You can focus the lens, which is designed to work from very close up to 1800 feet. You can also add location and time information as watermarks, and/or remove the "Seek" watermark.There are so many possible uses for this device! You can use it to detect hot and cold spots (find the source of drafts in your home, check whether the food on your BBQ grill is cooking evenly); to see in the dark (check out the stuff in your darkened garage); to spot hidden warm-blooded creatures (locate your "lost" outdoor cat; photograph the raccoons that are raiding your garbage cans). It works in the daytime and in the nighttime.My accompanying video slide show has photos of my husband (indoor lighting), a shopping cart (in a fully darkened garage), a partially filled cup of hot coffee (indoor lighting), two lighted LED globe lights (indoor lighting), and metal garage shelving holding plastic storage basket cubes (unlighted garage). The app allows you to easily share your photos and movies, using an established email or Gmail account.As if I didn't love this infrared camera enough already, it also comes with a hard plastic, water-resistant, protective case that attaches to a keychain or lanyard. With the camera in the case, you can safely carry it in your pocket, or store it in a drawer, so that you can quickly find it whenever you need it. This neat little thermal camera is ideal for troubleshooting or monitoring electrical systems. It's resolution is sufficient to identify several issues. Please Note this not a simple toy camera. It is intended for professional use and an operator must have the training and experience to use it. I am a level 2 certified Thermographer and at the price of 300usd, what a bargain!FYI almost every thermal camera will make a clicking noise to refresh the image on its sensor. Those reviews which complain of this noise and the low resolution plus other petty issues not related to the field of thermography please find a Thermographer to donate this amazing tool. You all need to stick to playing with your cell phone visual camera and leave thermal technology alone. Well, it definitely works and is reasonably accurate, comparing to a Home Depot hand held temperature scanner. They agreed to within a degree or two, but honestly, can't tell which one is closer to ground truth. Bought on AMZN Warehouse for like $170, vs brand new $299. Worked fine out of the box!The FPS on a Nexus 6P is like 2-3fps, and I am sure that's a limitation of the device. Probably it's sending across raw data on a USB2 bus, and then the host processor, i.e. the phone, is doing some data cleanup etc.Use a Micro to Type-C adapter, this is the one I got here at AMZN and it works just fine:VicTsing USB3.1 Type-C to Micro USB Convert Connector ,Support Data Transfer and Charging, for MacBook 12inch 2015, ZUK Z1, MI 4C, Nokia N1, Chromebook Pixel 2015, Nexus5x Nexus6P, OnePlus 2, and other Type-C Supported Smart Phones and Tablet-Sliver.I went outside to track a person walking around the sidewalk, mid day, SF area, and totally fine, it tracks her walking, and the human form is clearly distinguishable (as opposed to a moving blob) at probably out to 50-100 yards. That's fine for me, if this doohickie can make it to 100-200 yards at night, it's a winner, to identify any animals or people in my yard.The app UI is a bit hard to grok, but after a while of touching here and there, you can find how to turn on the temperature indicator.The 200x150 approx sensor resolution is a nice consumer win, for expensive bolometer technology, esp at $170!!! There is enough detail to understand what you are looking at. Watching cars going by, those tires are hot!The FoV of the XR is really narrow, but I don't see that being a problem at all. I appreciate SEEK coming out with a narrow FoV to concentrate the available pixels so as to get more detail at a farther or mid range. Thanks Seek !Overall, this product is a win! This is absolutely fantastic. As other reviewers have stated, this is a high quality thermal imaging device at a fraction of the cost of some of the high end models. My droid recognized it immediately, and after I installed the app I was ready to go.Some great features:1) Let's face it, this is just as fun to take pictures of people and random things as it is to use to check your house for heat leaks and the great outdoors for wildlife2) You can change the viewing option to only display hot/cold areas above or below certain temperature thresholds.3) It's really small. I don't think the pictures do it justice: it's about the size of a small pocket knife or iPod shuffle4) I've seen some complaints about its usefulness up close: the device has a focus feature and is pretty good from distances over a few feet. When do you ever need to be closer for a thermal imaging device?5) It comes with a great, secure carrying case.One thing I recommend: the app defaults to placing a "Seek Thermal" watermark on all images. You'll want to change that option.I love this device! Read The Specs First. This is an awesome product. It provides IR imagery for very low cost. The XR Extended Range version has a fixed zoom lens with manual focus. I found the zoom too tight for the work I do so I am swapping it for the standard version. I suspect that the XR version will be better for those who want to track game or 2 legged critters in the dark but it is too much zoom for construction details.
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