FLIR just announced the new Extech i5 Thermal Imaging Camera. It has a resolution of 80x80 and a price tag of 2,995.00.
No excuses to not get into IR now!
I think it will be posted to the Professional Equipment site soon. The camera is in thier latest catelog that I just got in the mail today.
Kevin
Kevin and Others…
Do you think 80x80 is going to work for a home inspector?
No. Not if 120 x 120 is considered low res.
Sure, it will work just fine, but I much rather have at least a 120x120. FLIR will no doubt sell a ton of these cameras due to the low cost. This is an entry level camera nothing more. I would guess that the owners will soon find out after a few uses that the higher resolution will make thier job a lot easier.
IMHO.
Kevin
I’m concerned that this level might be so poor that it will greatly increase the
chance for error and not finding issues that need to be found.
I share the same views. We do not need untrained people using low res cameras and missing things. Puts a bad name on Thermal Imaging. 320X240 is as low as I want to go. You get what you pay for and people pay me to get good images. Thats my job.
Just my opinion
Lawrence
You might be right…
Kevin
I just got the catalog also. My Fluke will be here tomorrow, I saw that price and thought “sh!t”, just my luck. But then I checked the specs on the ExTech model and felt relieved. For $1k more I’ll have the 160x120, plus the IR-Fusion feature and the removable SD card.
Tomorrow can’t get here fast enough! 
80X80. Thats like taking a picture with a cell phone!!!
Congrats Brian…!
Once I have the camera in hand, I’ll be signing up for your class in Nashville on the 10th, 11th.
Brian,
If the camera dosen’t arrive for some reason, sign up anyway and you can use mine for the class.
Congratulations Brian!!!
I look forward to seeing you Brian.
I have the Fluke Tir which works great for helping do home inspection. The battery life is not a factor; screen size is great; focusing the IR picture is really easy since all you have to do is line up an item in the IR picture with the same item in the digital part of the picture.
I found that the flex case that comes in the hard plastic case fits nicely in my tool bag. This keeps the IR camera and other meters separated and protected.
You’ll love it.
I had to stop and take a look with the IR camera. One day I might stop and find something completely different.
I was just looking at FlIR i5 in the Professional Equipment magazine. The FLIR i5 seems to be weak. Temp. Range is only up to 50 Degree C. Thats around 120 degrees F which isn’t to hot. 12 oz. or .75 lbs. is light. Wonder what they had to do to drop it down to that size, weight and price. (Speaking of dropping, does it have cheaper/thiner plastic?). 1.21 lbs for the BCAM SD to .75 lbs for the i5 is a lot.
It’s basically pure marketing…Notice also that they took the B400, which is a 19,950 camera and broke it down into four different models all with different price ranges.
I believe they want to market to everyone and get rid of the big price gaps.
i5 (80x80) = 2,995
BCAM SD (120x120) = 4,995
ThermaCam B2 (160x120) = 8,450
B200 (200x150) = 9,995
B250 (200x150) = 12,950
B360 (320x240) = 15,950
B400 (320x240) = 19,950
Notice that thier are no more large price gaps. Before this release you had to leap from 6-8k all the way up to 18-20k.
Giving consumers lots of choices is smart marketing
I still think FLIR will sell a ton of these i5’s, but what will happen is that many will trade up to the next camera after using it for a while. Again, another smart marketing tactic by FLIR. If someone purchases a low end camera then upgrades a year or two later, FLIR wins and makes more profit.
I did the same thing…I had my BCAM SD for about a year then ugraded to a T400 that was fully loaded, a wide angle lens, and the Pro software, with half off voucher for the BS certification class. I lost a little money on the deal, but my business is evolving, so I was not worried about loosing some money on the upgrade.
I think this is FLIR’s thought process, but I could be wrong.
Kevin
This camera is for electrical evaluation. Close range, high temp differential.
Fixed focus.
“suitable for general use.”
The i5 would be very “limiting” for electrical use. It has a temp range of -15 to 50 Deg C, which is 5 to 122 Deg F.
I think you’re completely correct on FLIR’s thought process.
Creating more options is great. Dropping the price due to features/design is fine as long as they don’t take it too far. The i5 has come close if not gone there.
I’ll reserve judgment until I actually see the camera but the information in Professional Equipment magazine doesn’t look promising.