FLIR One iPhone Attachment for Thermal Imaging

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GoldenDawn

GoldenDawn

Senior Member
Joined
May 10, 2011
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262
Location
Canada
Vessel Name
Golden Dawn
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Krogen 42
A few years back I recall a thread on the FLIR One attachment for an iPhone that allowed thermal imaging. A lot of people thought it was a good idea but hadn't tried it.

If you have used it, could you share how it is useful?

Thanks
 
GoldenDawn said:
A few years back I recall a thread on the FLIR One attachment for an iPhone that allowed thermal imaging. A lot of people thought it was a good idea but hadn't tried it.

If you have used it, could you share how it is useful?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes I own one, it works better than expected..if you walk across the floor in socks you can see your foot prints. I use it to locate radiant heating tubes in floors or the homes I build and to check insulation coverage in walls. I am using it more than our old $ 5000.00+ flir hand held unit.
Hollywood
 
There was a thread just a week or two ago where a guy used one to track down a dangerously overheating wire on his boat. After seeing that I ordered one, but it's back ordered until late January.
 
I thought I was losing my mind.."didn't I just post a response to this?"...
Nope another similar thread!
I went in looking for the Flir One and instead came out with the Flir Ocean Scout TK instead.
My thinking that the next time Apple changes the usb port on the iPhone, this won't immediately be obsolete. It is amazing to look around the house at electrical devices and see the heat produced. That and you can see heat leaking through less than perfectly insulated areas too. I've also scanned the property at night to see little animals lurking.
It is really kind of fun!
Bruce

FLIR Ocean Scout TK | FLIR Systems
 
Checking out the Cat-40 phone as compared to the FLIR Ocean Scout, I think that I'll take the Cat-40 at half the price, and it's a phone to boot.
 
mramoo said:
Checking out the Cat-40 phone as compared to the FLIR Ocean Scout, I think that I'll take the Cat-40 at half the price, and it's a phone to boot.
Click to expand...

I have no idea how long that phone might last but having the Flir with you is pretty handy...
My issue with phones is that they are so integrated into my life that the last time I tried switching from my current platform I was miserable.
Nope, I will keep my technology brands in the same camp for now and enjoy the Scout for what it is.
It will be interesting to see just how long my Scout lasts though.
Bruce
 
Bruce,
I know how you feel about having a good phone, I have had my contractors flip phone for 8 years now, it has fallen off the roof and into the lake, and it still works, my wife has gotten a new phone every other year and always complains about having to learn how to use it. LOL
 
mramoo said:
Bruce,
I know how you feel about having a good phone, I have had my contractors flip phone for 8 years now, it has fallen off the roof and into the lake, and it still works, my wife has gotten a new phone every other year and always complains about having to learn how to use it. LOL
Click to expand...


8 years is an eternity when it comes to phones!
Couldn't do that with a smart phone...
I'm hoping that my little Scout will outlast many smart phones. We will have to wait and see though.
Bruce
 
I was worried that might be a recent, active thread and did a search before posting but didn't turn up anything more recent than 2013. Go figure . . .

Having done a couple night passages this summer, I was curious if anyone might have used FLIR 1 during their night travels - maybe to ID a pesky radar target.

I have used the FLIR First Mate (about $2,000 new) on our local SAR boat but it is a bit pricey.
 
Is the intended use to scan for electrical system hot spots? If yes, ok makes sense.

If you are planning on using this device for night vision on the water, I am very scepticle.

I have a Flir ocean scout 320. It cost about $2500 and the resolution is fairly decent to see other boats, buoys, etc at night. It is definitely not equivalent to a Flir m series camera.

Point of post, an add on to a camera to see things in the dark while on the water will probably not work well , but again, I may be confused as to the intended service.
 
I just received the Leupold hand held FLIR, I was about $500 to $600. It goes to 6x power, is very fast so your not seeing a choppy copy (30 ) and works really good. It uses a 123 battery which lasts for ten hours.
 
Fletcher500 said:
Is the intended use to scan for electrical system hot spots? If yes, ok makes sense.

If you are planning on using this device for night vision on the water, I am very scepticle.

I have a Flir ocean scout 320. It cost about $2500 and the resolution is fairly decent to see other boats, buoys, etc at night. It is definitely not equivalent to a Flir m series camera.

Point of post, an add on to a camera to see things in the dark while on the water will probably not work well , but again, I may be confused as to the intended service.
Click to expand...

My goal is to scan for hot spots, but it will be interesting to see if it's of value for night vision while cruising. But I have a FLIR installed on the boat and have to say I find it of little value while cruising. It was not money well spent.
 
Twistedtree

What is your complaint about FLIR? What doesn't it do for you?
 
Bigsfish said:
Twistedtree

What is your complaint about FLIR? What doesn't it do for you?
Click to expand...

I would be interested to hear your feedback as well. Can you tell us what you are using now, the gen, and the shortcomings you have found?
 
Fletcher500

As stated above I just took delivery of the new handheld Leupold. It measures frames at 30 per second so it us smooth, it has power from 1x to 6x, it's waterproof, it uses one battery (123) and it's good for 9 hours, it also has a choice of five colors to view. It also fits in my pocket. It's new so I have used it very much but the one drawback is it a cylinder so it can roll off a flat service. Considering the price I'm pleased with it but since it really hasn't been used in an actual stressful situation I reserve final judgement.

Hope this helps. I will have it with me at the Ft. Pierce gathering in February if anyone would like to see it.
 
Fletcher500 said:
I would be interested to hear your feedback as well. Can you tell us what you are using now, the gen, and the shortcomings you have found?
Click to expand...

It's a current model, the M-625XP. I ran it our whole trip up the coast in moderately bouncy weather. Between movement of the image due to boat movement, and modest resolution (640x480), I'd be shocked if you could pick out anything in the water. I could barely find the horizon. I think it might be like the great debate over who's radar can see crab/lobster buoy, and all the screen shots to prove it. Sure, if calm, flat water pretty much any radar can pick out a small object, but in anything other than perfect conditions, fugettaboutit.

That said, I know other people with them and they say they are a lifesaver entering ports and anchorages at night, and I haven't tried that.

But for me, so far, I'd say it was the biggest waste of $$ on my boat. Maybe the day will come when it saves by butt, and I'll feel differently about it.
 
twistedtree said:
It's a current model, the M-625XP. I ran it our whole trip up the coast in moderately bouncy weather. Between movement of the image due to boat movement, and modest resolution (640x480), I'd be shocked if you could pick out anything in the water. I could barely find the horizon. I think it might be like the great debate over who's radar can see crab/lobster buoy, and all the screen shots to prove it. Sure, if calm, flat water pretty much any radar can pick out a small object, but in anything other than perfect conditions, fugettaboutit.

That said, I know other people with them and they say they are a lifesaver entering ports and anchorages at night, and I haven't tried that.

But for me, so far, I'd say it was the biggest waste of $$ on my boat. Maybe the day will come when it saves by butt, and I'll feel differently about it.
Click to expand...

Scratch that one off the list... it wasn't actually on the list in the short run but maybe later I might have considered it.
Bruce
 
A friend of mine who works search and rescue claims its invaluable in finding people in the water at night, you can put a spotlight on them and never see them but Flir leaves a great signature. Of course the one he has is very expensive.
 
Bigsfish said:
A friend of mine who works search and rescue claims its invaluable in finding people in the water at night, you can put a spotlight on them and never see them but Flir leaves a great signature. Of course the one he has is very expensive.
Click to expand...

I think that's a good example of the problem. You hear about these great stories that end up being the result of the very high-end models with stabilization, etc. The "affordable" $10k-$20k units perform differently.

So maybe I'm a complete sucker for buying a FLIR One, but after seeing the images from the other thread of an actual user operating the actual product, I think it will serve a valuable and useful purpose. Time will tell.
 
Twistedtree

I haven't used mine enough to pass judgement but if it saves my bacon one time it is worthwhile besides most boaters are gadget collectors who like playing with their toys. I still haven't learned my radar 100%. LOL
 
twistedtree said:
It's a current model, the M-625XP. I ran it our whole trip up the coast in moderately bouncy weather. Between movement of the image due to boat movement, and modest resolution (640x480), I'd be shocked if you could pick out anything in the water. QUOTE]

Interesting, that is the high end model and you have, and you have a big boat. Perhaps the image stabilization will improve over time. Thanks for the feedback.

Getting back to the handheld, as noted I have had the Flir Ocean Scout 320 which has 640x480 res. It has been fairly useful, but I would say it is limited to stopping and looking for things at night such as a bouys at a marina entrance. I am sure there are others on here with more experience with these.

I will be interested to see how this flip phone compares, if someone has both, because that is a heck of a lot cheaper than the ocean scout models.

The reason I bought this, was based on an encounter I had at night leaving Catalina Island at 4 am a couple years ago. Leaving the entrance, there was a guy in a very small boat, no lights, and combined with the lights from the marina behind me, caused me some havoc. I was stopped dead my wife and both staring trying to figure out what was going on so we could leave. If I had this Flir back then, a quick check would have pinned down his location because he was ghosting in and out on the radar. It is also a great tool for night time search and rescue in that unlikely event.

And to be honest, its been a fun toy to play with in between its "useful" moments.
Click to expand...
 
Mine isn't stabilized. It has pan and tilt controls, but no stabilization.

Maybe I just need to use mine more. I'll try to do that over the next month or so.
 
I'm cross posting this review of the FLIR One.

-------------

After reading this thread, I went and bought a FLIR One for iPhone.

I REALLY like the device, but I returned it because it’s totally unreliable.

The good part is that it does provide good thermal images. For example, I could see where my heating tubes snake through the concealed wall of my pilot house. And a couple of pictures of my electrical cabinet clearly showed the consumers of standby power - namely the fire shutdown control boxes, and associated external relays, all of which were glowing brightly in the image. I could also see at a glance that I didn’t have any overheating breakers or electrical connections. It’s much faster and more comprehensive than shooting everything with a temp gun. I also checked the power plug for our coffee maker while it was running this morning. The plug and cord were warm which is to be expected, but I could confirm that the receptacle was not. I can also see where the heat is getting out of my boat the most, and where the cold is getting in. With all this, I would rank it as one of the most valuable $250 diagnostic tools that I have.

But here’s the rub. The camera continually disconnects from the phone app, and the image goes black and says to reconnect the phone. A few seconds later, it comes back on and resumes with a correct image. And it continually goes through this disconnect, reconnect cycling every 10 seconds to maybe a minute. Reading the app reviews, it seems this is very common, so it’s hard for me to believe FLIR was not aware of it when they shipped.

I contacted FLIR support and they gave me a list of things to do. It was the usual cycling of power, do a hard reset, reinstall the app, try it on a different phone blah, blah, blah, useless stuff to get you off the phone. I did all of that, and the behavior is still the same. So rather than going down the rabbit hole with FLIR getting a replacement and trying to debug this thing, I’m just returning it for a refund. Maybe when the app reviews start to show a product that consistently operates for more than 10 to 60 seconds at a time, I’ll buy another one. I’d really like to have one, but it needs to at least stay turned on.
 
Peter,
Thanks for this really useful info. My take so far on this thread is, a potentially useful on-board diagnostic tool, once FLIR gets the interface fixed, but not a useful night-vision tool.
 
GoldenDawn said:
Peter,
Thanks for this really useful info. My take so far on this thread is, a potentially useful on-board diagnostic tool, once FLIR gets the interface fixed, but not a useful night-vision tool.
Click to expand...

I agree. Any BTW, thermal imaging and night vision are apparently pretty different things. Maybe someone who knows more can explain more?
 
As I understand, and I have both NV and FLIR, is that FLIR recognizes a heat signature while NV enhances the image. Both have their place and some Special Forces units have both on their weapons. If a person has been laying on the ground and left FLIR will still report a heat signature until the temperatures equalize, NV will not give a signature if nothing is there.

One of he most amazing features of NV is to look at the sky at night, you'll be amazed at the amount of stars you can see.
 
twistedtree said:
I agree. Any BTW, thermal imaging and night vision are apparently pretty different things. Maybe someone who knows more can explain more?
Click to expand...

Night Vision (as in Night Vision Goggles) uses a technique that vastly multiplies the tiny amounts of light that are normally present from starlight, moonlight, etc. So in that way, its a completely different technology from thermal.

Thermal Imaging creates an image based on differences in temperature.

Ken
 
Last edited:
Hmm, I thought I posted this, but it doesn't seem to be here, so I'll try again.

I bought this unit for my iPhone from a company called Seek Thermal for use at work. I have used it quite a lot and it has performed great.

I tried very briefly to use it for night vision aboard the boat and it didn't seem very good for that, but I did not try to make any adjustments which may have helped a lot. Perhaps I'll try it again some day.

Compact | Seek Thermal

Ken
 
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