Seek Thermal - $200 alternative to FLIR

Just spotted this on yesterday's Bitter End Blog post: Infared from your phone for $200

The YouTube video is compelling - their site is a bit whacky though.

Oh yes!

What's the point?

Lutarious said:

What's the point?

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The point, for those who looked at the site, would be a $200 device that showed you real time ALL the temperatures on your engine - no need to scan around with a gun. Or perhaps locate a MOB at night with a device you can walk all around the boat with. Or maybe identify a cooler (or warmer) spot in your cooling system. Or look at the dispersion of your underwater exhaust. Or locate gaps in your insulation. Or maybe a thin spot or void in your hull laminate. Or...damn, can you really not think of a use for this technology? Really?

I'm in! Figured out it'll work on my android - need to read the fine print re: hardware. That's just too good. How about locating high resistance electrical connections? Lots of possibilities.

Let's see some engine room movies on YouTube !!

206x156 pixels.

I'm out.

Northern Spy said:

206x156 pixels.

I'm out.

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Well, that's between the FLIR E40BX (160x120 @ $3,995) and the FLIR E50BX (240x180 @ $5,995) - so what are you thinking would be a reasonable pixel count for a $200 camera sensor? Oh, and why do you think you'd need more pixels?

sbu22 said:

How about locating high resistance electrical connections?

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Ding! Ding! DING!!!
Once you use one you will use it everywhere!
We had one at work that cost $10k. We would find overheating terminal lugs in panels with thousands of connectors and fix potential problems before any occurred. You could see overheating bearings on pumps and fans. We even found wires that were undersized by poor design. True preventive maintenance.

Don't get me wrong. Its a great idea and I'm sure they'll get better quickly within a few generations. Just like digital photography and XRF. I guess I'm spoiled by the ones I use at work, that's all. So I'll wait.

High Wire said:

Ding! Ding! DING!!!
Once you use one you will use it everywhere!
We had one at work that cost $10k. We would find overheating terminal lugs in panels with thousands of connectors and fix potential problems before any occurred. You could see overheating bearings on pumps and fans. We even found wires that were undersized by poor design. True preventive maintenance.

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Or shorepower cords and connections. Or use it like the FLIR cameras that they sell to the building industry to find insulation leaks.

Here's a list of uses from the Seek site:

• Safety and Security: Scan a dark parking lot before heading to your car; scan the yard before investigating strange noises.
  
• Home Improvement: Identify leaky windows and doors, insufficient insulation, and other sources of energy loss; trace water damage up a wall or across a ceiling to its source; and identify the location of clogs in pipes.
  
• Pet Owners: Scan the yard for predators before letting your dog out at night; find your dog or cat in the dark.
  
• Cooking: Measure the heat distribution across your BBQ or griddle; instantly measure the surface temperature of food; detect the propane level in your tank.
  
• Boating: Detect and locate objects on the water at night.

Of course the real competition for this device is the FLIR One - $350 and and iPhone only.

FWIW, the FLIR One appears to be using the same sensor as their $3,995 handheld:

I put my money where my keyboard is - I just bought one for iPhone, will report back when I get it!

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Let us know what you think.

Northern Spy said:

Don't get me wrong. Its a great idea and I'm sure they'll get better quickly within a few generations. Just like digital photography and XRF. I guess I'm spoiled by the ones I use at work, that's all. So I'll wait.

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Its $200 bucks...cheap for the tech it offers NOW!
did you wait to buy your first GPS until after they were under $200.00?
For the money it may be the most cost effective and most versatile tool to have aboard.

just make sure if anybody is interested in purchasing one but their phone is on the list is it only works with certain operating systems.
Hollywood

Interested in this, will keep a lookout on this thread.

Refugio, good for you! Please keep us informed.
Thanks

They're sold out and on backorder. Waiting for a call from them re: how long's the delivery delay. I have an HTC (android) with the miniUSB port turned 180 from the phone's "front". In talking to a knowledgable (I think) friend in the tech side of the phone business regarding finding a hard adaptor to reverse the Seek camera to the right orientation, he advised against any rigid connections to the phone. Says the microUSB port has very little lateral strength- the added device will wear out the port - bad port = phone replacement. I'm going to use a short cable and velcro/rubber band/??? the device to the phone case when I need to use it.

My order confirmation said they are on a 5 to 7 day delay in fulfillment.

I agree that a nonrigid connection between the phone and camera might be a great idea, but I have the feeling that the software takes pictures from both devices at the same time, and the separation may make that capability moot.

If you could get a really long cable then it might be interesting to keep it permanently mounted in the engine room and to have a thermal/IR view from the helm.

For the big bucks Apple gets for the iPhone 6, I don't know why they couldn't build an IR camera into it.

Donsan said:

For the big bucks Apple gets for the iPhone 6, I don't know why they couldn't build an IR camera into it.

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I believe competition for the phone market will provide this feature very soon, perhaps the "Predator" option after the movie of the same name.

Would only add a few bucks to the construction of a very high markup item.

I can see IR being marketed as a safety/useful feature in phones.

1. Going to your car after dark
2. Walking the dog.
3 Checking your yard after hearing a noise.
4 Searching for game hit but ran off a bit in dimming woods. (Works very well for this, just follow the heat trail)
5 Locating places needing caulking.
6 Keeping a MOB in sight at night.
7 Finding hidden cameras using IR lighting. Works well for this, I used an IR camera to find a lost game camera in the woods once, it was like looking for a blinking search light tied to a tree at night.
8 Seeing in the fog.
9 Scanning bushes near an ATM.
10. Checking in the back seat of your car for someone hiding before you get to it in a dark parking lot.



Giving humans the ability to see in another spectrum by using their phone will just flat out be a big plus in the competitive world of smart phones.

"In the Country of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King"

Received this today:

"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.

Our top priority is getting all of these orders fulfilled as quickly as possible in the next few weeks.

Regards,
Seek Thermal Team"

Refugio - did your Seek order show up yet? If so, would you give us an evaluation. I've not succeeded in getting a response from them.

Here's the email I received Friday - still "next few weeks":

"Hi Keith,

We apologize again for the delay in shipping your camera. We have had several unanticipated issues that prevented our production from ramping up as quickly as originally planned. We’ve been working closely with our manufacturing partner to address these issues in order to fulfill our backorders as soon as possible.

This is the first time that thermal cameras have been produced on a mass production line, and assembling, aligning, and calibrating the high tech lenses and sensors requires multiple unique steps that have taken longer than we anticipated to ramp up to full capacity. Our company and our manufacturer are both dedicated to continue to increase production as quickly as possible, and we will also be adding a third shift next week. With these measures, and given our current production trends, we hope to catch up with all of the backorders within the next few weeks.

There is an additional issue that is currently preventing us from shipping any further iOS cameras from our existing inventory. Prior to accepting any orders, our cameras received hardware approval from Apple. However, we have recently received unanticipated additional requests from Apple, which we are actively working on with them. We hope to resolve these issues quickly so we can resume shipping the iOS cameras we are now manufacturing and building inventory on.

Our number one priority is getting cameras out to our customers as quickly as possible over the next few weeks.

Best Regards,
The Seek Team"

Uh oh. I ordered one as well. Hopefully they wont go bankrupt before they ship. Maybe we should get a refund just in case. (I ordered one as well)

my order number is 15367. Just for kicks, lets say that order numbers started at one. That gives seek thermal over 3 million dallars to deliver 15 thousand cameras. If they have production problems that cost a significant amount, then couldnt our money be long gone ?

(I ordered an android unit)

I am willing to wait a bit longer for them to get their act together.

Thanks for the update, this item is relevant to my interests.

It sounds like they are being very responsive to your questions, not something that a company going out of business is likely to do.

FWIW my order number is 2356 from October 1 for iPhone version.

refugio said:

FWIW my order number is 2356 from October 1 for iPhone version.

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My order was from last week.

refugio said:

I am willing to wait a bit longer for them to get their act together.

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Me too. It is a pretty cool gadget and its not a huge amount of money at risk. But it would be good to keep an eye on them.