Seek Thermal CompactXR – Outdoor Thermal Imaging Camera for iOS, Black (LT-AAA)

Now I may be biased as I've been waiting for a price effective thermal camera for years.But I don't need it enough to pay more than $300.I searched the web thoroughly before I decided what to buy. I considered the Flir One and Therm-App and read all I could about them as well.The first thing I noticed was that temperature range is way better on the Seek.Thermal-App can't detect high and low temperatures (from 5°C to +90°C (41°F to +194°F)) so that limits the usefulness for me and the price is quite high (almost 6 times the Seek).Flir doesn't go subzero at all (32 °F to 212 °F (0°C to 100°C))So with (much) better range and a good price the choice was easy (I live way up north and intended to use it outside some of the time and it actually gets that cold here sometimes)When I got the camera I liked the retail packaging. Feels as a good product even before you open it. (My seal was broken by Amazon for "inspection purposes" - I expect someone couldn't help themselves to try it out - I'm not complaining and I understand - hope you had fun).The camera was much smaller than I had anticipated (I knew the specs but never thought of size as an issue). The carrying case was sturdy and watertight (I removed the camera and held the case under 2 feet of water for 45 minutes without any leaks - I floats by the way also with the camera inside).The camera itself felt rough as well, nice magnesium body and very light.There's no instructions what so ever other than to get the app and plug in the camera. The app has a reasonable size and I had downloaded it before I got the camera.If you buy directly from Seek you will have to setup an account (I got cameras directly from Seek and from Amazon).When you attach the camera you can setup another account (not the same as the one you setup for a buy).And if you want to ask questions on their support site - you've guessed it - you have to setup a third account.If you worry about privacy don't setup accounts just press an extra button when you start the app to accept the terms of use.I use a wallet type case for my phone and had no problem fitting the Seek without the case getting in the way. It seated just fine. I realize that this may not be the case (no pun intended) with all case types but depends on design of your specific type of case.First thing I realized using the camera was that 20° FOV (Field Of View) is very narrow.I had to keep my distance from objects if I wanted an overview of things.It was the cause of a little irritation to begin with but now I'm used to it and it works fine both indoors and outdoors.It's not that I have to stand 20 feet away as other reviewers has claimed. I was able to take reasonable pictures in a small room 6 × 6 feet.Next thing was the software. It's not intuitive at all. Often you have to look for the right button and while in changing settings you have to go through 2 steps to get back before you can take a picture or movie (not sound on the movies by the way - but you know that if you read the specs).That is a constant source of irritation together with the fact that some controls switch places and gets mirrored when the camera (phone) tilts.I hope an update will change that one day (updates can update your camera's firmware by the way).The focus lens (not a zoom lens) works as expected. I've successfully focused on objects as close as 4 inches and as far as 1500 feet. On short ranges a picture can get very detailed because of the good resolution. On a distance it makes a difference as to how small and how far you can detect a heat source. Pictures from afar does not get sharp but you would know that if you researched just a little (you still "only" have 32,000 measuring points).Focusing on most objects with just a little texture shows how accurate this camera is. It's possible to get very detailed pictures.Most low resolution thermals produce blurry picture and Flir introduced the msx technology to outline the picture so you can see what it was you took a picture of, but in most cases the Seek pictures are very clear and objects are easily distinguished. Provided there's enough contrast in temperatures. Therm App (384 × 288 gives more than 110,000 temperature measurements in a picture) has a higher resolution than Seek but as mentioned the price is way up and temperature detection is much narrower than the Seek.I bought an extension cable for my camera because I'm lazy and won't bother to get out of my car. I can hold the camera out the window and it works fine. It can be a little difficult to point but it does work. Only thing you have to take in to account is that the app orient itself according to the phones position and not the cameras. (You can take pictures that shows upside down on your computer, but even native programs on any Mac or pc can easily turn them).I wrote to Seek regarding EXIF and thermal data in the pictures. There's no data stored with the pictures and what you see is what you get (other companies saves thermal data with pictures thus making it possible to process the pictures later on a computer - change the color scheme for instance).Seek wrote to me that they might update firmware later to include this data witch would be a major improvement but not necessarily something all users need.In the settings you can change what temperature scale to use (Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin).Aspect ratio can be set to 4:3 or 16:9. The first will utilize more of the thermal sensor and the latter fits better on modern screens (but be advised that what really happens is that the 4:3 picture is cut to fit)It's possible to ad watermarks to your pictures. You'll find 3 options in the settings: "Date & Time", Location and Seek Logo. They can be chosen individually and the fact that you can turn off the Seek Logo is a plus (not possible on Flir cameras - don't know about Therm App)..The date, time and location is taken from your phone so if the date or time is off so will the watermark be. If your location on the phone is turned off you won't be able to get a precise location on the picture (I don't know why I have to tell you this but apparently not all think about this)The camera I heavily relying on the phones cpu and that's what keeps the price down.The software allows you to change between 9 different color palettes: white, black, iron, cool, amber, indigo, tyrian, glory and envy.They will each show temperatures in a mix of gradient and different colors.I've found that the same motive can be more or less clear/obvious depending on the palette used.it's possible to have the temperature shown on the picture either in spot mode (temperature measured and shown in the middle of the picture) and High/Low mode where highest and lowest temperature within the frame is shown.There is a search mode where you can have the camera highlight temperatures higher, lower or exactly a given temperature.In the thermal+ mode you can use the camera together with the phones camera and slide between the 2. If you double press on the normal picture you'll be able to zoom and pan the picture so it fits the thermal picture. With a little practice the 2 pictures can be lined up to almost perfection a feature that is very useful.When you take a picture in this mode 2 pictures will be saved to the phone. An ordinary and a thermal. Within the app you can still slide between the two but that is not the case when you export the pictures or see them in your phones image viewer (goes without saying, but still saying it)If you take the picture in one of the temperature modes the temperature will be shown on both pictures.All in all I'm very satisfied with this camera.I have both ios and android version and this review goes for both.Only difference I've noted is that the ios version seems to fit firmer in the phone and can be set both ways in the phone.For the android version, on a phone with the micro usb turned the "wrong" way a small cable works fine.The narrow field of view can be irritating at first but when you get used to it it's not a problem.I'd say that the fixed focus on the regular version would be a greater source of irritation to me.Pros: price , temperature range (-40C to 330C), adjustable focus, size (smaller than expected), sturdy carrying case, build quality, app has many useful features, range of detection (from macro to long distance), ability to adjust normal and thermal picture to line up (thermal+ function)Cons: flat photos (no exif or thermal data saved with the photos, thus no possibility of tweaking the photos on computer later), fov is very narrow, (20 degrees compared to regular versions 36), app is messy and not intuitive (some controls even move around on the screen when entering functions or tilting the unit),

My experience with this *Seek Compact* version of the camera put my fears to rest and I'm thrilled!In 2020 I air-sealed my attic & basement rim joists. I then discovered that exterior insulation (under the vinyl exterior) was poorly installed. I looked at 6 more houses in other communities and found the same result...i.e. look "under the hood" of your house and you're likely to find crummy workmanship that reduces your energy efficiency.I want to kill drafts and save $$ heating/cooling my house (and my kids houses). Where to focus my effort? A thermal camera would help, but I can't afford a pro camera. So for 2-3 weeks I read dozens of reviews on affordable thermal cameras. This Seek camera stood out due to the many favorable reviews. I favored the Seek over its nearest competitor because Seek has the higher pixel count. I did hesitate 'cuz of reviews reviews saying: image quality is terrible; the camera won't work unless you register; the camera steals information. But some excellent reviews addressed these issues for me, so now I'll add my experience. It may help others who'll consider this for future purchaseAPP ACCESS TO PHONE:I did NOT need to give the Seek app access to my phone. I did NOT need to register the camera. Here's what I did. I dug up my 2014 LG G3 phone (no SIM card). I charged it, connected to a guest network, snapped the camera into the phone port and I installed the Seek Thermal app. Pop-up windows appeared asking for access to camera, photos, mic. **I denied access**. To my delight, the thermal camera image nevertheless appeared and I was quickly seeing images! Yes the Seek focus knob is a little tricky. It requires patience. When you change the focus knob you need to wait 2-4 seconds for the image to update. If you're not patient the focus knob could appear to be useless. I also adjust my range further/closer to the target of interest as part of my focusing process. Well, in less than 5 minutes I was getting the hang of it and could easily recognize my thermal images. This was especially true when I switched the color palette. For me, 'amber' screen images were very clear.Here's the limitation in my strategy. Because I denied app access on my phone I couldn't save thermal images as I walked around my house. For many uses that doesn't matter. Looking for a hot, or cold or wet spot? There it is - problem identified and you never needed to grant the app phone access or register the camera. But if you're surveying areas in your house like I am (for work when Spring returns) it could be cumbersome to record/diagram/inventory all the needs. You probably already saw that I attached pictures to this review, so yes, took the next step and gave the Seek app access to storage on my old LG G3. Then I could walk around cataloging areas that need work. When I stopped using the camera I disconnect it from the phone, powered off my G3 and put them both in a drawer.CAMERA FIT:I bought the older micro USB style. It snapped into my phone and is a very rugged connection. There's no danger of the camera falling out even if I shake the phone. It would require dropping the camera or solidly smacking the phone on something to dislodge the camera. I did have to remove the hard-shell case and rubber cover from my LG phone to fit the camera, but this is a minor issue.BATTERY LIFE: I agree that the camera is a battery drain. I walked around with the camera on for ~30 minutes and my phone battery went from 98% to 62%. Your experience will differ. For sure my 5+ year old G3 phone battery is nowhere near its original 3000mAh. May be best for you to guess you'll get an hour of power before your phone will need juice.Temperature accuracy:I brought a pot of water to boil on my stove and viewed thru the Seek compact camera. The imaging spot jumped around due to the rigorous boiling, and was reporting temperatures of 207-210 degF. Or, when I image a person, the camera shows readings of 96-97 degF. These are both more than good enough for the current and expected work I plan with this camera.IMAGES (attached)One pic is my fireplace. You can see logs in the fireplace. The heart-shaped glow centered above the fireplace is a hanging wreath at room temp (bright). You can see the horizontal mantle, the candles on the mantle and even draped decoration. Lower left corner reading of 78F is the edge of a charging plug.Another picture is of my front door - poor insulation around the door perimeter. The door window showed 57F. I have clear heat-shrink plastic insulation covering this window. The thin plastic insulation might be invisible to the Seek camera and it might be reading the temperature of the inside surface of that window. The high temp reading in the lower right corner is from an adjacent heat register.3rd picture shows exterior wall next to my kitchen sink. Can you see the dish-drying rack, a coffee filter cone and a wall plug and power cord on the right? What troubles me is the dark blob that's about in the center of the pic. It's . the light/disposal switches. Even though I previously insulated that plate with 'foam pads' from a big box store and later w/Great Stuff, it's still really cold. The cold even 'flows' down the wall and chills my sink counter. The Seek compact reveals that there's ~6" x 4" section in the wall cavity that's missing insulation. The camera revealed 3 other exterior wall outlets in my kitchen with the same missing insulation defect.4th picture is a section of exterior wall. Maybe you can ID what it shows without my description and then decide for yourself if the image quality from the camera is useful.I'm very happy with the performance/price ratio. Its' working really well and I anticipate getting lots of data that will direct my work to make my house more comfortable, less costly, and more environmentally green. Thanks again to the positive detailed reviews from people before me. Good luck to those of you considering this Seek compact camera..