FLIR ONE PERSONAL THERMAL IMAGING DEVICE FOR YOUR iPHONE5 & 5s

[PFWAG]

Can't wait to get one of these:

http://www.flir.com/flirone/explore/

$350

Comments?

[jadew]

Where did you get that price from?

[Iphone_hack]

The news came out last dec , but still nothing yet.
But remember the resolution is only VGA quality for the IR picture.
Price might be very attractive for anyone.
But due of the hack of the E4, I decided to buy the E4 instead of waiting for flir one.
Because E4 resolution was 80 x 60 before the hack.
And it was really bad quality. I could not imagine VGA quality.
Now with the E4 hack quality is 320 x 240 it is way better same as E8 but paid E4 price.
With flir one, it is iPhone 5 or 5s case.
Meaning after 2 years, I would still have to keep the iPhone in order to keep using the infrared case?
Unless you are buying to have fun, it might be good enough

[kripton2035]

huh is it me or VGA is 640x480

[Mr Simpleton]

It says VGA for visible camera used for blending, cannot see any data on the IR sensor
Price says less than $350 so assue 349.99....

[joe-c]

It looks interesting... but only for silly apple i-crap.

Well... I have seen some Videos from the CES 2014... for me it looks like a  80x60 Thermal Image Interpolated to screen resolution.

For me interesting... how the camera data was transfered to the Phone?
Via a pin socked clearly, but with which protocol? Maybe it could be used with adapter to another device... like a tablet with better visual Camera.

A Tablet with Picture in Picture and this small extra camera assembled to the case. O0

[josem]

Is this coming out soon? "Reserved" one ages ago on their website.

It attaches to the iPhone via the Lightning port, uses USB transport.
According to FLIR there will be an SDK for third parties.

[mikeselectricstuff]

No sign of it appearing yet - haven't seen any real news since the original announcement.

[AndyC_772]

Maybe they fell foul of a Mu Optics patent? 

[mikeselectricstuff]

They recently announced a low- cost ($500 ISTR) lepton based security camera - maybe they figured it would be more profitable to focus on that.
http://www.sourcesecurity.com/news/articles/co-9756-ga-co-5188-ga.13978.html

I've also seen a reference to it going into a new UAV product
Perhaps they're having production issues,  - such a new sensor tech probably takes time to get decent yields on.
The website is still saying Spring, which has come & gone.
 

[Fraser]

Just to clear up the resolution issue that was previously mentioned......

VGA is 640 x 480 Pixels
QVGA is 320 x 240 Pixels

FLIR E4 upgraded to E8 is 320 x 240 thermal Pixels and is a true optical QVGA Camera.

The LEPTON core in the FLIR One is 80 x 60 thermal Pixels and does not appear to be a hobbled 320 x 240 micro-bolometer so will not be hackable to QVGA.

In thermal imaging circles QVGA is actually considered high resolution but there are 640 x 480 true VGA thermal cameras and higher resolutions available if you can afford the really scary RRP, and can obtain the required IATA licences to purchase 

Sadly, for me, the FLIR ONE is a bit of a toy for the well healed iphone owner. I have no issue with it as a product though as it opens up the market to thermal imaging which was beyond most consumers pocket until recently. This can only be good if it increased production of such technology and reduces costs. I am more interested in the thermal CCTV camera that FLIR may be releasing. 80 x 60 pixels is a real issue for me though. If the LEPTON core were 160 x 120 pixels at the same projected cost, it would be a killer product, as even with a 9 fps refresh it would be perfect for UAV experiments and security applications.

[Iphone_hack]

Just to clear up the resolution issue that was previously mentioned......

VGA is 640 x 480 Pixels
QVGA is 320 x 240 Pixels

FLIR E4 upgraded to E8 is 320 x 240 thermal Pixels and is a true optical QVGA Camera.

The LEPTON core in the FLIR One is 80 x 60 thermal Pixels and does not appear to be a hobbled 320 x 240 micro-bolometer so will not be hackable to QVGA.

In thermal imaging circles QVGA is actually considered high resolution but there are 640 x 480 true VGA thermal cameras and higher resolutions available if you can afford the really scary RRP, and can obtain the required IATA licences to purchase 

Sadly, for me, the FLIR ONE is a bit of a toy for the well healed iphone owner. I have no issue with it as a product though as it opens up the market to thermal imaging which was beyond most consumers pocket until recently. This can only be good if it increased production of such technology and reduces costs. I am more interested in the thermal CCTV camera that FLIR may be releasing. 80 x 60 pixels is a real issue for me though. If the LEPTON core were 160 x 120 pixels at the same projected cost, it would be a killer product, as even with a 9 fps refresh it would be perfect for UAV experiments and security applications.

Thanks for clear the confusion for me.
Actually I was going to point out that the cheapest or lower quality thermal camera for flir is the E4
Saying that, I don't think the $350 flir one could take same same quality as the E4
Because that would kill the sale of the E4

Unless flir is thinking selling high volumes instead of large profit margin on each unit.
In my opinion the flir one will be a toy, rather than a tool.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Just to clear up the resolution issue that was previously mentioned......

VGA is 640 x 480 Pixels
QVGA is 320 x 240 Pixels

FLIR E4 upgraded to E8 is 320 x 240 thermal Pixels and is a true optical QVGA Camera.

The LEPTON core in the FLIR One is 80 x 60 thermal Pixels and does not appear to be a hobbled 320 x 240 micro-bolometer so will not be hackable to QVGA.

In thermal imaging circles QVGA is actually considered high resolution but there are 640 x 480 true VGA thermal cameras and higher resolutions available if you can afford the really scary RRP, and can obtain the required IATA licences to purchase 

Sadly, for me, the FLIR ONE is a bit of a toy for the well healed iphone owner. I have no issue with it as a product though as it opens up the market to thermal imaging which was beyond most consumers pocket until recently. This can only be good if it increased production of such technology and reduces costs. I am more interested in the thermal CCTV camera that FLIR may be releasing. 80 x 60 pixels is a real issue for me though. If the LEPTON core were 160 x 120 pixels at the same projected cost, it would be a killer product, as even with a 9 fps refresh it would be perfect for UAV experiments and security applications.

Thanks for clear the confusion for me.
Actually I was going to point out that the cheapest or lower quality thermal camera for flir is the E4
Saying that, I don't think the $350 flir one could take same same quality as the E4
Because that would kill the sale of the E4

Unless flir is thinking selling high volumes instead of large profit margin on each unit.
In my opinion the flir one will be a toy, rather than a tool.

Yes, Flir One is a toy, but good publicity and a useful demonstrator for more serious applications, like security.

[mikeselectricstuff]

A friend of mine who worked at FLIR for years tells me the FLIR ONE is a HOAX and will likely never be released.

Hoax may be a little strong, but it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't appear in the form originally shown, or at all. Showing it at CES certainly gave them a ton of publicity, and the demo units looked pretty well engineered.

[all_repair]

A friend of mine who worked at FLIR for years tells me the FLIR ONE is a HOAX and will likely never be released. Based on insider info, this is not surprising since FLIR has lied to international governments and its customers in the past and has been fined millions of dollars. Google it if you have doubts....

It depends if FLIR can make FLIR ONE as throwaway as a typical mobile phone, and still able to convince  people to pay $300350 for such throwaway.  The throwaway part is easy to do, but do they think there are enough people willing to pay S$300350 on a throwaway peripheral is the tricky part.

[josem]

As if to dispel speculation on this thread  FLIR just announced sales will start at the end of July:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/flir-systems-iphone-camera-sales-set-for-july-1402583719

Seems the design is unchanged, price expected to be $349.

I'm particularly keen on the developer features.

[mikeselectricstuff]

As if to counter speculation on this thread  FLIR just announced sales will start at the end of July:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/flir-systems-iphone-camera-sales-set-for-july-1402583719

Seems the design is unchanged, price expected to be $349.

I'm particularly keen on the developer features.

Paywalled article - anyone have the text?

[josem]

Paywalled article - anyone have the text?

I just put the WSJ URLs on Google, click from there and it shows me the full text - for some stupid web marketing reason.
Try this:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fflir-systems-iphone-camera-sales-set-for-july-1402583719&ei=p86ZU76uLPOS7AaXsoHoBA&usg=AFQjCNGjKJL6pPEzVRsGUpOhrQaC5qovkQ&bvm=bv.68911936,d.ZGU

edit: Here's a PDF link if that doesn't work: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6onw9zzd4yynb0/Flir%20Systems%27%20iPhone%20Camera%20Sales%20Set%20for%20July%20-%20WSJ.pdf

[mikeselectricstuff]

successful demand for its initial production run of several thousand cameras could open a market of millions or even tens of millions of units.

At that price, I doubt it, but plausible if it ever gets closer to a "cool toy" price range. The phone casing type packaging is probably a limiting factor on how cheap it can get in its current form though - tooling for different phones. etc.
A Lepton core on the end of a USB cable, or a generic bluetooth model for $99 could get really interesting though.

initial production run of several thousand....more than 35,000 pre-registered inquiries

Any bets on actual general availablity - Christmas perhaps?

and roll it out for some Android devices next year

Seems like they will be missing out on a lot of the "cool Xmas gift" opportunity then

[mikeselectricstuff]

The fact this article appeared first in the WSJ and not tech press says a lot...

[josem]

They're not aiming for niche techie market so the form fitting casing choice makes sense. It needs no dangling cables, no pairing frustations, lag or wasted battery powering some wireless interface to keep the two in sync. It's always joined with the phone even while charging and can go in the pocket.

From a usability point of view this is really the best they can achieve without getting integrated into the phone itself.

Will they find enough to convince non-techies to buy it? Not sure, but their brief list of applications looks interesting: "home inspectors to monitor insulation and energy efficiency, and others for athletic coaches and personal trainers to track body temperature." and I'm sure given time and a good SDK developers will find even more.

From the WSJ article the end of July is the actual shipping date.

[Iphone_hack]

Well
Flir has to think careful
Remember it is case for iPhone 5 or 5s
This summer apple is releasing iPhone 6
So even the price of $350, people might think again before buying.
Because meaning that you have to keep the iPhone 5 or 5s in order to use it

The longer flir waits, the more it has to think which iPhone model it will the case be used for.

[Bud]

Will they find enough to convince non-techies to buy it?

Ofcourse, just tell them it can see through clothing
 

[EEVblog]

Flir have told me they are reading this forum and will respond directly about the FLIR ONE.

[EEVblog]

Based on insider info, this is not surprising since FLIR has lied to international governments and its customers in the past and has been fined millions of dollars. Google it if you have doubts....

Care to provide the links yourself?