Do you have an IR camera? can you recommend one?

[SDGuy]

gadje wrote:
I think i would like to have one of these IR cameras, like a FLIR or similar brands.

I am skeptical to get one that attaches to a smart phone. If I get one with Lightning connector, well, it won't be supported soon. I should probably get one with USB-C, but even then the App may not work at some point.

I think I want a stand alone device, something that can record images (and maybe video?) on a microSD card.

I know these have very low resolution, but I would like something to be able to see what I am looking at. if I look for cold leaks around the house, or hot spots on a computer, I want to make sure I understand what I see. Ideally 320x240, but I think those a many hundreds of dollars. I should probably sellle for 240x160 or whatever the lower resolution is below 320x240.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

I bought a standalone thermal imager just about exactly three years ago, now. My thought process at the time was much like yours - I did NOT want one that had to be plugged into a smart phone, for several reasons:
- it would mean constantly plugging it into the smart phones connector (more usage = more wear = eventual port failure)
- all of them seem to have internal non-replaceable batteries; i.e. when the battery dies, the imager dies
- what happens if/when phones change (different port, or no guarantee that an OS update would break the app that the imager relies on)

So, I settled on a HTI 220 x 160 thermal imager from Bezosville.
An earlier version of it had an easily replaceable battery (i.e. just like an old-school flashlight). The one I ended up with has a battery that can be replaced, but it means snipping/splicing two wires - but at least the battery is easily accessible via the removeable handle. Looking at Bezosville, it looks like it's still being sold (for $288, almost a third less than I paid), but I would recommend getting the newer model (HT-18+) for less ($257) - it has 256x192 resolution, but is otherwise identical to the one I bought - including micro-USB connector, and replaceable battery; here is HTI's webpage on it.

I've used it to find wall studs (aim the thing at walls in the wintertime)


and to find my sister's cat when it was hiding behind my desk (its body heat easily showed up through the 1.25" thick wood of the desk it was hiding/sleeping behind)


The things I don't like are that it does NOT take a memory card, the connector is microUSB, and the battery, although replaceable, is not commonplace (I think this is it).