I have been looking for a thermal imaging camera for over a year, the main use case was for PCB fault finding but a secondary use would be for checking heat loss around the house. My requirements are a high resolution sensor (for reasonable accuracy of SMD components), macro lens availability, direct connectivity with PC/Mac/iPhone/Android and small enough to poke through holes and see inside tight areas.
Background
It’s taken some time to dip my toes into this arena but, quiet unexpectedly, my sons bought me a stand-alone thermal imaging camera for my recent birthday. It was the NOYAFA NF-521S Industrial Thermal Imaging Device which, without appearing ungrateful, did not quite meet my requirements. As they ordered it from Amazon it was easy for them to return it and offer me a cash equivalent.
My research had been taking me down two routes that would fit my requirements:
- TOPDON Thermal Camera TC001 or TC002
- InfiRay P2 Pro
Both of the above cameras have great specifications (both based upon the same 256×192 resolution device), are connected directly to an iPhone, iPad, PC or Android phone (depending on interface) and are small enough for tight spaces. Although I am committed to Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac computers etc) I do realise that a plug-in device with a lightning connector could soon be redundant (as Apple move away from lightning due to pressures from the EU). That being said, if I were to switch to Android/PC now it would increase my total-cost-of-ownership, which is not appealing.
Whilst digging around the internet and watching numerous reviews, I stumbled across a hybrid solution that could just fit the bill. The Doogee S98 Pro is an Android 12 mobile phone with an InfiRay P2 sensor built in. This, I figured, would provide me with both the device and a future-proof-ish platform that could also be used for other Amateur Radio activities (especially those that are pro-Android and against iPhone).
Now, on first impressions this phone appears to be great but then you read that there is a new version the Doogee V20 Pro that has a better processor and a slighly less “chunky” profile. It also offers a significantly higher thermal imaging resolution of 1440×1080 which looked great… on paper. I ordered one.
First light
Coming soon…