There we have it - a perfect answer.
Thanks man. Duly noted.
Well, I settled down, chilled out, sifted through the info I gleaned here and elsewhere, considered what I’d like to do now with thermography and what I may do with it in six months as I gain a little field experience. I ordered a Seek Thermal Reveal Pro. It at least has a 320 x 240 thermal sensor with a thermal sensitivity of <70 mk. It looks like it’ll survive in the field, too.
Should arrive in a few days and hopefully my girl won’t toss me out in the snow, and I’ll fill you all in on the test drive.
I would like to see what the Seek Camera will do. Please post.
This is a roof scan I took today.
It is only a Flir T-400.
See my shadow (under the span bar) ?
That is a 0.5F degree differential which happened from me standing still for about 20 sec. to take the scan.
This is what “personal cameras” do not pick up. MSX is not a thermal measurement so if you turn it off, you will see nothing.
My thought is:
No. It’s not worth buying.
At least buy a C2 or C3.
So much of even basic Thermal Imaging is relative temperature difference. Based on the screen shots at http://www.flir.com/flirone/ the Pro version, much like the original Flir 1, doesn’t provide the inspector with enough information to determine what is actually a potential problem and what is just a relative temperature difference.
This msg board and many inspector facebook groups have had tons of photos posted by inspectors who thought they found a leak or whatever with a FLIR One, only to find out they didn’t find anything outside of ordinary and/or not enough information was gathered to tell anything. (and the original poster usually ends up deleting their post in embarrassment).
A C2 or C3 should be a bare minimum to even think about inspecting with.
And even then, I wouldn’t refer to oneself as doing thermal imaging with just a C3.
And given a C3 is like under $600, it’s still inexpensive enough that it’s not a major investment.
Yep, I agree, that’s why I ended up with the seek reveal pro. About the same cost as a c2, but much better sensitivity.
I don’t think it’ll hold a candle to that.
That is the point many are trying to make.
We get the same question about personal IR cameras continuously. And it gets old.
This is not the best camera I own, and it’s the lowest end camera I would ever use as a professional thermographer. No one is trying to be bigger and badder than the next guy through the equipment they buy (as many feel). Anything else is just fooling around with someone else’s money and investment. It will come back and bite you, and there is no recovery from that reputation.
The Seek Reveal Pro does have a thermal sensitivity of 0.07 °C. A little less than your camera, but still well above the minimum standards set by RESNET. With a thermal sensor resolution of 320 x 240 pixels it doesn’t offer (or need) image combining to show you what you’re looking at. The adjustable measuring range from -40 °F to 626 °F will make it suitable for any home inspection tasks I can think of.
I’ll have it on Monday and will use it during my standard inspections until I feel comfortable that it is a value-added service. Then and only then will I make changes to my web site offering it.