A quick look at Seek's new 320x240 mobile phone thermal imager. www.thermal.com... Original Seek teardowns : Part 1 : www.youtube.co.... Part 2 : • Seek Thermal camera te...
I talked with seek about adding image rotation and they said they have no intention of adding it as an option for fear of users enabling it by mistake...
It's now June 2019...The Seek is now available with a USB-C connector, so you can reverse the camera direction to take thermal selfies, just like you can with the IOS version with the lightning connector, the problem with USB bandwidth is no longer an issue as the USB-C connector allows for a much larger bandwidth, and the best bit is the Seek is at least £100 cheaper than the Flir One! Pass's price for the Seek Thermal Compact Pro is about £270...Even on ebay the cheapest Flir one is about £380...So now it's a no brainer!
The "new app" is garbage. Requiring users to create an account in order to use an existing product is ass backwards. The interface is terrible and the stability is questionable. I've had the gradient bar show over 1 million degrees during a video recording, and it's corrupted several videos.
I have the first version on iphone, i can type in any random email and password when logging in, it says sign in failed and then it just starts and you can use the camera. The old app was much better, i want a app to take pictures not a stupid social media app,...
I've no doubt that you've done a very thorough job of checking out this equipment. Give your review the delivery it deserves. Please sow down and listen to yourself. Not only do you jump around a lot, but the verbiage is also non-stop and exhausting to follow. You sound frantic especially when you accelerate and start to stumble and stutter. We're interested in what you have to say. Let us hear it clearly and remember to breathe. :)
You fidget too much, when you wave your hand and shake around I get aggravated because I am trying to see the item and get information and it is really distracting. It is as if you are hyperactive.
That drop-and-redetect could be a showstopper if you're using it to record video. You shouldn't need to keep an eye on the phone all the time to make sure it's not stopped.
The new resolution is awesome, a real MUST since the original sensor is very blotchy. But I can't believe they haven't fixed the framerate issue. I've seen their handheld, stand-alone device, which I'm certain uses the same sensor, and it's easily a constant 20fps, if not 30fps. This is still 5fps at most, with constant stuttering. I know the USB bandwidth isn't terrible, people run HD webcams off USB and USB power all of the time. So what gives?? Is it thermal data really THAT big of a bandwidth issue? It can't be the CPU on the phone, those things are crazy powerful now.
I heard the same thing, but SEEK has a stand-alone, hand-held unit that has a great framerate and no stutter. I don't believe there is even a limit on it's sale outside the US. So I think it's just USB input bottom-neck they haven't fixed. Go check out the SEEK Reveal Pro.
Samsung Galaxy J5 2016, processor would be affecting your refresh rate quite significantly. Nice video. I agree about the annoying app. and clumsy settings.
🤣 yeh it was a nice touch. i might start collecting those capacitors just for fun. just to look weirder than i already do. how do you even solder those on 😆
This video has a much improved quality, at least that's what I perceive. The sound quality is awesome, if a tiny bit muffled. It would be interesting to see if you can read the digital output directly from the sensor - the earlier seek had all the connections going to test pads/accessible traces and vias.
FYI, the part 1 link in the description is broken. If I click on it, it says video unavailable. Appears that youtube chopped off the end of the URL. The part 2 link works fine
oh wow, this is really cool, besides the app bullshit. i find the app unbearable with my current Seek camera. thanks for this review. i've been looking at upgrading to the Therm-App camera recently.
would be interesting to see if you can get some custom firmware running on it to just dump the raw sensor data over usb or even spi as the data stream is at most under 30mbit and more likely under 10
Hi Mike , I have a xr model! And looks like a pro version inside ,is completely the same(dimensions and attachment)change just a lens field 32 vs 20 degrees! do you think that is possible Change the lens and put a 20 degrees in a pro version?
I just bought a Seek compact and based upon my experiences with the App, I would never buy a Pro version unless they fix the App software. They are promising to fix the issues with the forced login every-time you run the app within the next few days. That is a problem that is absolutely intolerable. They also claim they are going to fix the +/- 6000000 degrees temperature problem. If they don't fix both of those problems, the Seek compact is going back for a full refund. The USB disconnect problem seems to be phone dependent and it sounds like they don't have a handle on that issue.
I'd vote for a small usb extension cord also. I'm sure if a phone like the s4 can handle the thru rate of drone control such as 720 vid, it should be able to handle thermal.
When I saw the video and I'm very glad I bought the argument 14 days Reveal XR FASTFRAME, its image quality is much higher and there is absolutely no slowdown and stuttering. Please excuse my English I come from the Czech Republic.
You have such thorough information, but the audio is very hard to understand (beginning half of video). It really sounds like the mic is trimming the frequency range. Please continue these kinds of in depth reviews, just with a different mic. Cheers
Mike, love your vids, but please... Don't wave your hand around so close to the camera. It causes a horrible strobe efeect. Very uncomfortable to watch.
Have you tried to put it in the video recording mode? Looks like they are reusing source code from default android camera and it has better frame rate in video mode.
the UI could be better, but so could this socalled review of an freebie shipped from Seek free of charge. Mike dont you use just a second of ease to actually think about what could be relevant to show to the viewer before you do this review..? Its mindblowing that you don't align a subject and put it into focus before going thru all the features so the viewer at least could see how it handled these in all the different parameters, instead of this crap of nothing and only noise from freaking table..look at your own review 0 to 12 minutes.. (is that good?) its rabling on rabling and I as viewer get the impression that you have put as much as one thought into this review and thats a shame both for you and the viewer and also Seek who have given this to you to display its pro & cons. .and yes you can also get the HZ rate by hitting that UI version number a bunch of times in preferences, like people are familiar from Android to get that Easter Egg game and here you will get extra features not least framerate in the top.. i iuse it in the few videos i have taken with a seek pro FF on an Ipad 2018 and Im getting mostly 15 to 18fps even thow the framerate varies greatly in spec, but its pasted under the videos, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zFsjSX8B0mE.html ru-vid.com/show-UCTJtb7oyUVo0CVfd0RQ5rsw anyway thx for the video +1. it was a huge help and also great that you took it apart, even thow the first many minutes certainly also have its shortcommings,
There is less noise in the Flir app because the MSX thingy includes a filter that makes all the edges blurry and everything look like blobs. I downloaded a 3rd party app in which you can turn off MSX (which apparently is just included in the SDK) and it looks just as grainy as the seek, however, it has way less lag and much better detail. I really prefer it to the stock app in most respects.
Not sure if you will see this because it is an old video but I have a seek camera with lightning connection but my new ipad takes USB-C I bought adaptors but they don't seem to work. When plugged in to the adaptor and ipad it does not automatically pull up. Can you recommend an adapter? I am having a hard time finding female lightning to male USB-C
Hi Mike, I'd like to use a thermal image product for two purposes. 1. PCB hot spots. 2. Looking for cold / damp places in houses. What are your comments on this? Regs Joe
Yeah go for it. Perfect use cases... spot the hot spots in a snap. Getting a Infiay device with a overlay dual image is nice since you then get outlines or more detail of what you are exploring...but, for just hot spots, then you will most surely see them. Will be hard to miss..especially any shorts, faulty components, shotty soldering....and the like
Thermal is great when used in the dark. Like the woods to pick up animal/human activity , great home protection. This review is quite funny. Who would use thermal tech for this application?
I'd highly recommend ThermApp. Yes it is 1K$, but it so much better in every aspect. Always 9.9fps, No export reg, No shutter, better optics, way better resultion, software written by people actually know what they are doing.
Please excuse any perceived irrelevance, but I'm curious what do you use for rendering your videos as far as hardware and software solutions? CPU vs GPU, operating system, rendering software, codec, etc.
I just press the 'make movie' button in Sony Vegas. Sometimes I have to select a diferent codec if one crashes during rendering. RU-vid probably then mangles it further
WOW!!! I clicked on the like for this..... LOL... I was all sorts of excited, for a small portable plug in and go, thermal cam... I am not bashing the company, but, the cost !!! I didn't see any info on the life expectancy of it, before it wears out as thermal chips do... at least the models I have owned, about one a year, no matter the cost or brand or how careful you handle them... Hopefully, in time, they will come down in price.. Thank you for showing this though
Nice review, I didn't know they made a new model. Heard that there's now an android phone with a built-in Flir sensor - IMHO the best thing as these add-on modules remind me of early Ericsson ComuniCam camera add-ons - not more than just a toy.
Hi, nice video. Where do I get the satellite lenses you have used that are not absorb the temperature? Have you made a video and is it possible to define e. g. 3 spots or areas where the temperature is shown in the video? Thanks in advance. Best regards Uwe
Where did you get those external thermal imaging lenses?? I've been trying to find something similar and have only been able to find EXCRUCIATINGLY expensive lab type lenses for zoom and wide angle.
Still 500 and it's still the cheapest 320p 15fps (mine puts 15fps and needs speedy phone with speedy usb connection. One shelf higher and it is 20x pricier.
HI MIKE! I WOULD LIKE TO BUY A NEW SEEK PRO BUT I SAW THAT THE LESN IS ONLY 32 DEGREE IT LOOKS LIKE A COMPACT xr MODEL! DO YOU THINK THAT IS POSSIBLE CHANGE THE LENS AND PUT ON THE LENS OF THE XR MODEL WITH 20 DEGREE? THANKS IN ADVANCE LUCA
Probley a while to go. Even when they drop below the ones by than priced 500-600 will be that much improved. So if that’s what your waiting on you’ll basically have junk
Hi Mike. Great vid as always. just a thought could it be used with a short lead? save mucking up the USB socket on the phone., or would that affect the frame rate?
No, mine works just fine. Will save your usb connection in the long run, though, having a long dangly thing hanging off isn't he best thing either. . What others have done is built 3d printed holders...handles....triggers....there are some people mention a magnetic usb connection from amazon.... so it disconnects easily if yanked. Looks promising but haven't tried it...getting an adapter...not for actually adapting but to save the phone's usb...that is something i do. I've used a coiled cable and then a hefty case where i placed velcro on both the phone case and back of thermal...which i secured onto the back of the phone instead of dangling down below being so vulnerable there. With that application, I had used a usb hub and a external battery pack...all of which was velcroed to the back of a "rugged" case...just had to be a little creative with the cables and mindful of their length..plus placement arrangement of all the things attached to the phone case. It was bulky, but very utilitarian- lasted a very long time... my setup was pretty much dedicated to the use of the thermal
Hi, did you have a problem with phone compatibility? I have a samsung a40 and my wife has a Huawei p smart and the camera isnt recognise on either of them. Seek and the wildcare in the uk have been unhelpful and dont seem to know themselves what makes it work on a phone, or not. The list and guidance they have for compatibility is from 2017.
Hi Mike. Wondering whether you have ever tried to see through a scope/binoculars using your thermal cameras? Do they register any thermal signatures when they are behind such optics?
Which "Flir One" were you using in the comparison to the Seek Pro (320x240)? The Flir One PRO (160x120) or the previous version (80x80)? It was the previous one, right? ...and the detail was the same?!? :-O
i thanks can you answer for some qestions please? 1. so do you recomanded flir one pro over seek compact ot pro ? 2. seek pro or compact? 3. did you recomanded macro lens for all the model above ? :) thanks yossi
Even more stupid thing: on my HTC One M8s the usb socket is on the bottom of the screen, but the "wider" side of the plug is on the same side as the screen. So the lens of that thing would be facing in the same direction as the phone screen. Fail
Why oh why can't they add interchangeable port inserts? Why sell different versions, microUSB, Lightning (and no USB Type C!). Type C ports fit considerably more snug and would eliminate all the movement issues if your phone is modern enough. It would also be cheaper for them to sell the unit and supply the correct insert.
"hopefully they'll see the light .. .. and actually fix it" 4 years later; nope. There are some raspberry pi efforts to make a usable interface but haven't tried them due to lack of a screen.
Any USA made thermal detector has export restrictions applied to it by the USA state department. It is mainly to avoid sensitive technology getting into the hands of terrorists and unfriendly nations, so they can't use them to track and lock onto high speed vehicles (adapt for missile use?). Anything above 9Hz becomes restricted, with various licenses possible to obtain to allow export to certain countries/end users. These USA regulations are pointless because manufacturers outside of USA don't apply the same restrictions. Thus unfriendly nations can get their hands on fast frame rate thermal cameras. A bit pointless applying the rules unless your tech is vastly superior to everyone else's.If they are quoting "export restricted" in the documentation, then there must be over 25% of the camera (based on MSRP) that is USA designed/made around the thermal detector. Based on the review here, if you can't actually get 15Hz usable frame rate they would have been better to stick to quoting
6 лет назад
I wonder how it would behave if actively cooled with a Peltier module....
i want a thermal cam module for my lg g5,,, oo wait i go tear down the seek compact pro and my lg g5 cam module and dremel it to fit the seek pro in my cam module.
Ooooh, you're killing the product, man. Don't get me wrong, I like to hear every opinion, bad or good, but you have some kind of a "responsibility" (in a lack of a better term) since you are early reviewer, a lot of people, as you can see from the comments, will form their own opinion based on the WAY you made your review. And you made it with a low-mid range phone, for example, when it's explicitely said that the performance of the product will depend on the specification of the phone. For me, it is clear that your phone is the "bottleneck" of compactpro's performance...but that might not be clear to all the people who have seen your review. That's the lack of some kind of responsibility, unless you are affiliated with a competing brand, which I think and beleive you are 100% NOT. And what you get is the comments like "just get $1000 Therm app." Oh, really?! That's like saying "$25K Honda Accord is mediocre grocery getter (the quality one at that) and if you want real performance bang for your buck just buy $50K BMW M235i". Yes, ignorance of some people goes that far. What I would like is "the windows edition", so I can connect the camera to my mid-high end windows laptop and do whatever you need to do with the thermal camera. Me personaly, I don't care about latest and greatest, directly from the future, Samsung S25, 2045 model with 64 core flashdragon proccessor PHONE, and why Seek doesn't consider windows version, and instead makes androind version paired with half-assed junk unfinished android app, it's beyond me. It's their bussiness desicion, and it will (or will not) suffer from it. But that's just me, I guess...
I wish someone could explain why the phone would make a difference. I could not find any specific information at the SEEK Thermal website which says the image quality depends on the specific phone used. TBH, I was having image quality issues with my Seek Compact PRO and tried it with a Samsung Galaxy S3 and then an LG v20, which is significantly newer and more advanced than the S3. In my opinion, the image was better on the Galaxy S3 but it was not a readily noticeable difference. The issue with my camera (and reason I returned it) was that the image was excessively grainy in scenes where the temperature differential was low such as the dashboard area of a car after sitting overnight when everything was at ambient temps. Under those circumstances, the image was noisy and grainy and virtually unusable compared to others I saw on RU-vid of similar scenes that were significant;y cleaner and clearer. Perhaps I just got a lemon unit. Maybe if you mention a few Android phones on which you think the image should be significantly better that might help?
The performance could also be down to the way that the drivers probably have to be in userspace so talking to the camera and pulling the data from it is going to take long/have more delays than if the driver was in the kernel. It would be interesting if you could see what the USB device looks like via ADB.
