FLIR ONE PRO LT USB-C Thermal Imaging Camera

Product Information

Earlier I mentioned the two temperature range settings: -4 to 248 and 32 to 752. So if you point the camera at an object with a temperature that's outside the range you've selected, you don’t get a warning. It just displays the temperature at the end of the selected range. For example, when I set the camera to the lower range and pointed it at a gas flame, it showed the max temperature at about 266 degrees. But when I switched the camera to its higher range, the temperature reading of the flame rose to over 700. It is nevertheless a noticeably higher resolution than the device’s immediate predecessor, the IR0102, which had a 32 x 32-pixel resolution. As a low-priced device, adding this to your toolkit is a lot less painful than some of the devices on this list, and with fuel prices on the rise, locating leaks (an ideal task for this adapter) could cover the cost surprisingly soon. How thermal imaging cameras work Thermal imaging works in the dark, or through smoke, but can be fooled by the reflectiveness (emissivity) of a surface. Because IR is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, like visible light, it also has similar properties when it encounters lenses or rain. For professional use, it pays to read up a bit on understanding thermograms, but you’ll understand the basics the moment you power on your thermal camera. Depending on the software, you can also take retrospective measurements from the thermal JPEGs. How we test thermal cameras Note: the older CAT S61, still available in places, had a lower resolution IR camera, but offered laser measuring, offering an alternative with even more flexibility. Additionally, app developers have access to the FLIR ONE software development kit (SDK) to create custom applications for exclusive use with the FLIR ONE Edge Pro.

Teledyne FLIR, a Teledyne Technologies company, is a world leader in intelligent sensing solutions for defense and industrial applications with approximately 4,000 employees worldwide. Founded in 1978, the company creates advanced technologies to help professionals make better, faster decisions that save lives and livelihoods. For more information, please visit www.teledyneflir.com or follow @flir. The device charges through the USB-C port on the side, and a single button on the front turns the camera on. The FLIR One app controls everything else. Near the top of the body are two cameras: a 160- by 120-pixel infrared camera and a 640- by 480-pixel visible light camera. In standard lighting, the images from the two cameras are combined to give you a picture with the invisible detail of the thermal image overlaid on top of the visible light image; a process FLIR gives the rather grandiose name of Multi-Spectral Dynamic Imaging. These dynamic visuals can be saved as 640- by 480-pixel photos or as a video that runs at about nine frames per second—rather choppy, but it's a limit imposed by the US government on technology that might be exported. The FLIR ONE Edge Pro is the most versatile and advanced thermal-visible mobile camera yet thanks to its detachable form factor, designed to fit comfortably in your hand. It offers significantly greater flexibility by eliminating the need for specific connection ports or operating systems,” said Chris Bainter, vice president of marketing and business development, Teledyne FLIR. “In addition to the new hardware design, Teledyne FLIR is providing more software tools to empower new and untrained users to conduct thermography inspections, process images, and create reports. Common uses range from building inspection and auto repair to industrial maintenance applications.” A rectangular bump near the top of the One Edge Pro contains the two cameras, which include a circular cutout for the thermal core and a more conventional smartphone-style camera for visuals. A power button positioned below the bump turns the camera on and off, and three LEDs indicate the camera’s status. A USB-C port on the right side is for charging. Flir estimates battery life runs up to one and a half hours. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s longer than the Flir One Pro’s single hour of battery life. Although there are several of us on the team, including me (Adam Juniper), we generally test thermal cameras by using them in day-to-day tasks like inspecting ventilation/insulation, heating equipment (radiators, boilers) and plumbing (hot water pipes and taps). We also test any special claims made by the manufacturer about individual products, as well as the overall experience.The Flir One app offers a live display of the One Edge Pro's camera in MSX view by default, combining the thermal and visual feeds into one picture. You can customize this view in a variety of ways, including showing just the thermal or just the visual pictures, using any of several color palettes for the thermal information, and setting the temperature range to one of the two aforementioned settings. The camera's default setting combines images from both cameras, so you can see an “outline” of a real-world object colored in with the temperature information. You can choose to view just the IR or visible light images. These settings can be selected in the FLIR One app, which is available for iOS and Android. This app controls the camera and keeps a library of saved images and video; no data is stored on the camera itself. This easy-to-use app allows you to control how the sensors’ temperature measurements are displayed in the images and videos, either by marking the hottest and coldest spots with crosshairs or setting up to three spots in the image to be continuously measured, which is especially useful in video mode.

Combined with its 15Hz refresh rate (many are only 9Hz), it can easily be used to spot animals or people in the dark, or through dense foliage. There’s also a 300-lumen LED light, should you want to surprise someone you’ve spotted in the dark. The simple menu system provides access to other useful features too, such as Level and Span adjustments (a little like manual exposure, allowing you to isolate a thermal range), and Emissivity adjustments (manual or pre-sets). For the most part, the best thermal-imaging cameras work like regular ones, except that the image sensor detects invisible IR light and it is translated to a visual “thermogram”. This is what you see through the creature’s perspective views in The Predator and Prey. Both versions have a 3-inch touchscreen and can store around 500 images onboard to transfer via Micro USB. The ability to type notes via a touch keyboard can be handy, too. If you can stretch to it, the FLIR C5 model adds more analysis features and Wi-Fi so you can get images to your phone and to your software. But now anyone can access thermal imaging, whether you want to spot heat sources in dark places – ideal for wildlife spotting – or identify where heat is being lost from your property. If you simply want to measure temperatures, you may prefer our guide to the best infrared thermometers, but for HVAC, electronics, and plumbing these are now essential.Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. Read our editorial mission & see how we test. FLIR’s analysis software, FLIR Tools, allows you to change the color palettes and take readings from 4,800 measurement points in the image files, a little like using the eyedropper in Photoshop. The FLIR Ignite app allows users to upload images and videos from the FLIR ONE Edge Pro to the cloud (Image credit: Teledyne FLIR) FLIR ONE Edge Pro features At first glance, it might seem that the chunkier One Edge Pro isn’t a step forward at all, but in reality, the larger size and the removal of the Achilles heel that was the physical connection makes this a much more practical device (it also means you can use on iPhones and Android devices without having to buy another!)