What's better than having a thermal camera capable of finding the freshest cinnamon buns — among other prey? The FLIR ONE accessory gave iPhones Predator-like thermal vision which turned out to be as awesome as it sounds, and now a company called Seek Thermal is promising the same with an iOS and Android-friendly smartphone accessory that makes a few compromises for a cheaper price tag.
What Is It?
Thermal
cameras have been around for decades now, and over time they've gone
from huge units strapped to the front of police helicopters to handheld
devices that can be carried into dark buildings. But Seek's Thermal is
the first infrared camera that's small enough to be attached to the
bottom of your smartphone. It relys on your device's processor, battery,
generously-sized touchscreen, and a free accompanying app. It's quite
possibly the smallest thermal camera currently on the market, and that's
awesome.
Who's It For?
With a price tag of $200, the Seek Thermal is $150 cheaper than the FLIR ONE iPhone accessory,
so first and foremost it's for anyone who's ever wanted a thermal
camera, but doesn't want to spend a fortune. Most people interested in
the Seek will probably never use it as anything other than a toy or a
fun party trick, but it does have practical applications: You can use it
to do anything from spotting intruders, to saving money on your heating bills by hunting down cracks in your home's insulation.
And let's not forget that the FLIR is only accessible with the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S at this point.
The Seek can be used with iPads, the new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, and
many of the millions of Android smartphones in the world—as long as
they support the USB on the Go (USB OTG) standard. (Sorry, Nexus 4
users.)
Design
Because the
Seek relies on a smartphone for so much of its functionality, the rest
of the hardware can be incredibly small. It's barely an inch-and-a-half
long, and I found I could easily slip it into a pocket when it wasn't in
use. Instead of cheap plastic, the Thermal's housing is made from
magnesium so it feels incredibly durable. And even though it's tiny, it
doesn't feel delicate, so you'll never have to baby it. You'd have to be
pretty determined to damage it.
The
Thermal's camera lens is recessed about a quarter-inch into a sort of
carved metal lens hood that helps to protect it from scratches. Seek
claims the lens provides a 36-degree field-of-view
which isn't as wide as you'd get from something like a GoPro, or even
most smartphone cameras. But it never feels particularly narrow or
cramped while you're using it, and the narrower field-of-view helps
maximize the sensitivity of the camera's limited resolution.
Inside the
housing you'll find the Thermal's infrared sensor, with a resolution of
206 x 156, for a grand total of 32,136 thermal-sensing pixels. That's
considerably smaller than the sensor you'll find in the camera of even
the cheapest of smartphones, but it's actually far more than the Lepton sensor used in the FLIR ONE with a resolution of just 80 x 60 pixels, or 4,800 in total. So in terms of resolution, Seek claims a win.
The back of the Thermal is just as plain as the front (save for a
silk-screened logo) and is devoid of any buttons, toggles, or blinking
LEDs. Settings, modes, and calibration are all handled by the
accompanying Seek Thermal app, which is what allows the actual hardware
to be as plain and simple as possible.
In fact, the only physical feature that distinguishes the Android
version of the Thermal from the iOS model is the connector you'll find
on top. For iPhone and iPad users it comes with a Lightning port, while Android users will find a microUSB port.
And for those who refuse to leave the house without their pristine devices protected in cases, sleeves,
or durable housings, the Thermal comes with a surprisingly sturdy case
of its own—complete with a thick rubber lining with a cut-out for the
camera to cozy into, and a lid that snaps shut tight to keep dust and
moisture out.
Using It
Given how
simple Seek's hardware is, all of the actual functionality is handled by
an app. And surprisingly, despite a price tag that's $150 cheaper than
the FLIR, the free Seek Thermal app manages to pack in a bit more
functionality.
When the app is launched you immediately get the live Predator-like
thermal vision you probably bought this for, with the ability to snap
photos or shoot videos in that mode. Given the limited size of the
Seek's IR sensor, its quality is very limited compared to the images
your smartphone's camera can snap, resulting in photos with a resolution
of just 832 × 468 pixels after interpolation. But unlike with the FLIR,
your thermal images aren't automatically and permanently watermarked
with the company's logo—which is nice.
If you're not interested in taking pictures, the app includes other
modes that provide additional useful functionality. You can activate a
simple text overlay that shows the exact detected temperature of
whatever's in the center of the frame.
Or you can have the app automatically track and display the hottest and
coldest areas of what's in frame, updated in near real-time.
Unfortunately the sensor doesn't seem to update at a full 30 frames per
second like full-motion video does, but the stuttered updates are
frequent enough so that the app doesn't feel sluggish to use.
There's
even a particularly useful mode that lets you set a specific threshold,
highlighting only areas in the image that are above a given temperature.
This makes it particularly useful for hunting down drafts in your home,
letting you easily ignore everything but areas that are being
registered as colder than the rest of a room.
One
point of frustration with using the app, though, is that its camera
functionality is disabled when using these other modes. Snapping thermal
image photos with the actual temperature info overlaid could certainly
be useful to some users, but unfortunately the only way to do so is to
take a screenshot, assuming your device allows it.
At its worst, the Thermal produces images like this. Can you tell what
was photographed here? The same photo taken with the FLIR (below) is a
lot easier to decipher.
Believe it
or not, those are both photos of the same display case full of sushi.
The Seek's image still shows variations in temperature, but figuring out
exactly what you're looking at is almost impossible. (In fact, there
were a couple of photos I took for this review that I still can't quite figure out.)
In the
thermal images taken with the FLIR you can actually spot the different
types of Maki in the various plastic food containers. But why the huge
discrepancy? Because the FLIR is actually taking multiple images at
once.
The compact Seek Thermal uses a standalone thermal sensor to produce its
images, whereas the FLIR iPhone case uses a pair of side-by-side
cameras and software tricks to produce hybrid shots. One generate
outlines of objects in the frame, the other takes temperature data,and
the app merges them together in real-time. It makes it easy for someone
who's never used a thermal camera before to tell what's going on.
To its
credit, the Seek Thermal app does try to mimic the FLIR ONE's neat
hybrid image functionality with an additional mode that puts the thermal
image it generates alongside the image from your smartphone's built-in
camera, allowing you to swipe back and forth between the two. But
because they have different field-of-views and are so far apart, the
images don't line up, particularly when shooting objects up close.
How well
this mode will work will vary from smartphone to smartphone since the
position of their camera lenses will vary, but for the most part it
doesn't quite match what the FLIR is capable of.
Like
Even if you
have no practical use for a thermal camera, the Seek Thermal makes for a
fun accessory that adds some truly unique functionality to your
smartphone—there's no denying that. Unlike the FLIR which requires you
to put your iPhone in a case, the Seek can easily hang off most iOS and
Android devices or be easily stashed in your pocket.
But
it wasn't just the hardware's small and durable form factor I liked.
While using the Seek Thermal you can hear it making frequent quiet
clicking sounds, almost like the sound of the iris stepping down on a
camera. It turns out that sound is actually the Seek
Thermal's camera automatically and continually recalibrating itself
while you use it. On the FLIR you have to pull a manual lever every so
often as you find the thermal images degrading, which is a bit of a pain.
The
FLIR comes with its own built-in rechargeable battery so as not to
completely drain your smartphone while you're using it. But while the
Seek Thermal camera leeches power from your smartphone, I actually
preferred not having yet another device to remember to charge. The
battery drain while using the Seek Thermal wasn't significant enough to
worry about, anyhow.
Overall,
Seek's app feels a little snappier than the FLIR, which felt like it
could use a bit more TLC before it officially made its way to the
consumer.
No Like
Even though
the thermal sensor on the Seek Thermal is packed with more pixels than
the sensor in the FLIR, it's clear why FLIR designed its hardware with
the additional side-by-side cameras. It adds to the size and cost of the
FLIR, but it also increases the functionality and usability producing
thermal images that are always easy for anyone to distinguish.
That's
unfortunately not always the case with the images produced by the Seek
Thermal. When using it as a tool to provide real-time thermal images of
what you happen to be looking at in the moment, it's straightforward
enough. "Is this coffee to hot to sip? Yes it is." But after the fact,
you might have a difficult time remembering what's going on in a photo
you snapped.
Should You Buy It?
Yes, if
you're willing to make some compromises. On paper the Seek Thermal
sounds like an improved version of the FLIR in every way. The hardware
is smaller, its thermal sensor has more resolution, and it's $150
cheaper than the competition. But it turns out what makes the FLIR
bulkier and more expensive also vastly increases its usability and user
friendliness.
That's not
to say the Seek Thermal doesn't work—far from it. It certainly generates
accurate thermal images with enough extra functionality in the
accompanying app to justify it as more than just a fun accessory for
your smartphone. It's just that the FLIR approach results in images that
are more than just blobs of color.
So if
you're happy to sacrifice a small bit of usability to save $150, you
won't be disappointed by the Seek Thermal's capabilities. Or if you
happen to use a smartphone that's not an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S, this is
currently your only option when it comes to a compact thermal camera.
But if you're hoping to be the hit of your next party, you might be
better off spending the extra money for the FLIR ONE — so your guests
aren't left scratching their heads.
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