Anyone played with the Milwaukee?

[Myself]

The Milwaukee 2258-20 looks really interesting. Oddball resolution of 102x77 pixels, saves images on an SD card, and has a removable battery that many of us probably already own several of...
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/instruments/thermal-imaging

They seem to fetch $250-300 on auction sites, and home depot has it on special for $300 new including battery and charger right now. Tempting!

Curious if anyone's played with or torn down one of these yet. The SD card is a pretty huge feature lacking in most other sub-$1000 cameras, IMHO.

[Vipitis]

I can't find information on fov

[Myself]

Well I take it back, it's out-of-stock at Home Depot, looks like a teaser price. Only places I can find it actually in stock, it's $500 and a lot less tempting.

Anyway,
Field of View: 26.8 (H) x 35.4 (V)
Temperature Measurement Min. (C): -10
Temperature Measurement Max. (C): 330
Distance to Spot Ratio: 83

Full specs in the manual: https://www.cpomilwaukee.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-cpo-master-catalog/default/dwe53acc47/product_media/mil/miln2258-21/documents/miln2258-21_manual.pdf

[lavardera]

I just got the 2258 - because I already had the M12 battery and charger from my screw gun, so I got an open box on eBay that was missing the charger and case for 300. I did not have a specific demand for a thermal imaging camera, but felt it would be a useful tool for me in assessing existing buildings in my architectural practice.

The low resolution is not great, but I find I can generally recognize what I was shooting from the image. I can always take a regular photo of the subject with my phone if needed, but clearly a camera that took a regular photo at the same time would be useful. I'm fine with that because taking pictures with it is less important to me than seeing where heat is transferring or leaking.

The function it has with max/min tracer spots on the screen is actually very useful for focusing in on the spot where you want to take a max/min temp.

It has flashlight and laser pointers built in which is helpful - the lasers particularly if you can't tell what you are aiming at from the screen.

There is no tripod mount, as the M12 battery at the bottom of the handle has no such mounting hole. Not a huge deal, but be aware if you were thinking of mounting it.

File transfers from the card or cable are easy. The Milwaukee software does not run on a Mac - so no value there. I also find that whatever version of .PNG files that the camera generates, they come in to my MAC as all black if you open them with the native Preview app. But the appear fine with other image editing software, so I'm not sure why Preview is not reading them properly. If transferred to my phone they read correctly as well. Just some quirks for Mac users - lazy programming on devices as such is not unexpected.

[lavardera]

Here are a couple of examples.

One shot in my office. You can see the exposed heating duct above, computer on the desk lower left, the floor and exterior walls, and ceiling under roof making up the rest of the cooler temps.

And then one shot into the glowing embers of my fireplace - 1200deg F, way out of the stated range, no idea if that is accurate.

[giantsean]

Hi.. I have some M12 stuff and am also shopping for a sub-$500 thermal camera for home energy / HVAC / general use.  I am down to the Seek Compact Pro or this 2258-21.  Found a good deal on an open box Milwaukee which puts the prices close.  Does anyone have experience using both?  Aside from the lower res of the Milwaukee, are there any additional bells and whistles that would set the Seek apart?  The Milwaukee seems much more like a tool than a toy, but whatever I get will probably be babied as it's only for personal use.  Thx in advance for any input!