Yet another cheap thermal imager incoming.. Seek Thermal

[efahrenholz]

Has anyone else had dead pixel issues with the last few updates? Starting with version 1.5.x I had a bottom eight of the screen containing dead pixels and now with the most recent update nearly 75% of the screen contains dead pixels and makes it unusable. Attached is a video of the Seek Thermal module on the 1.8.4 update, interesting enough when using the module on 1.3.1 it works perfectly fine without any issues. I've been in contact with the developers and the most recent update sounded promising, yet it turned out disastrous.





https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Zl4KisxaP8cENFN0I3XzFnU0U/view?usp=sharing

Unless you did something purposely wrong, that camera needs to go back to the manufacturer. That is UNUSABLE.  They will not be able to fix that with a software update. It's a hardware issue, probably one of your bonding wires has lost its connection. Something is terribly wrong.

[c4wd]

I've already contemplated that, but by reverting to the 1.3.0.1 version of the app it works perfectly, which means it's a software issue!

[frenky]

New version of app is out: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tyriansystems.SeekThermal
It's "1.8.7".
 
I cant test what is new because I don't have seek module at work...

Edit:
Image processing software version went from 1.6.0.0 to 1.7.0.0 so I guess there are the main changes...

[ixfd64]

And the other bad news is that the "coupon" for the Seek discount expired about 10 days after it was announced.

From the comments page:
"Coupon code “MUOPT15” is not valid. The coupon expired on Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 PST 2015."

Chances are that the Flir "coupon"  has expired as well, or will not be applicable to the "new" Flir One for android.

Mu ==> bad situation all around.

Damn.

I suspect Seek Thermal didn't want to lose profit over a competitor's failure, hence the short window.

[Kilrah]

1.8.7 doesn't seem to change much for me - all I can see for now is they fixed the "gallery" that would always display a black image as last photo since the previous update.

I've read most of the thread today after coming across Mike's teardown videos this morning and learned a lot. Never witnessed the gradient issue myself as I got my cam 2-3 weeks ago.

I must say I'm 100% happy with my Seek and had to laugh at some of the comments. It's my entry point in thermal imaging, and I would not have gotten a thermal camera if it wasn't priced like the Seek is. So in my opinion the low price pretty much excuses any and all small defects and noise it could have. Even if it's not awesomely clean, detailed and precise it is a thing I could buy "just to try it out", and can even serve as a tool I can use "for real" should I need it. I.e. I'm the exact target customer and 100% satisfied with it, so to me Seek is right on the ball with their product regardless of the shortcomings the pros will find. Actually screw that, I'm 110% happy as thanks to the work of some on here I can even run it with my PC, which wasn't expected at all.

Regarding competition the "first" FLIR One is dead in the water because who would want to buy the only, now obsolete phone that is required to run it - I can't understand how they've gone with the sleeve design, so many companies have been bitten by that in the past and everybody now knows Apple device designs change 2 years.
The FLIR One 2015 will no doubt be better, but we don't know at what price, and more importantly it's still many months away. In the meantime there simply is no competition, and by the end of the year any improvement the FLIR would have can be passed as simple "evolution" from the Seek that will be a year old by then.

[WS-PI]

@Kilrah

That's great, now I am not the only one that is happy with the SeeK. I posted several time that the SeeK is performing very well if you take the price into account. Unfortunatelly the majority in this forum is just requesting the best technical possible today without looking if that is reachable for that price. For me the SeeK is currently the number 1 because there is no competition in this range.

[khaahk]

Will also step up on behalf of seek, for the price it does the job i intended it to do. Minimal focus for XR seems about 10cm.

[all_repair]

@Kilrah

That's great, now I am not the only one that is happy with the SeeK. I posted several time that the SeeK is performing very well if you take the price into account. Unfortunatelly the majority in this forum is just requesting the best technical possible today without looking if that is reachable for that price. For me the SeeK is currently the number 1 because there is no competition in this range.

Happy camper here I am too.  I was in the midst of the price change and mixed evaluation.  Rushed an order before Amazon followed the increase of price, but could not cancel in time after reading some posts.  Not that Seek wasnt value for money but because I could somewhat wait further with a E4 on hand.  Now E4 is for the lab and is heavily used, and Seek is useful for recording and documentation when there is a need.  Though I have not used Seek on the field yet, but  having it readily with me for site work for several ocassions by itself has made the money worth. Shall be gettng the new Flir1 also, but now in a position to wait for the next best and stable candidate to emerge.

[miguelvp]

Another +1 for Seek, I used it to winterize my house, and it worked great for my needs, specially when we reached around 10 below F (around -22C) it paid by itself with what I saved heating the house.

[Kilrah]

For the record I had a go at support when I saw the videos with the emissivity setting yesterday, as I had previously thought I'd want to be able to adjust that... Got a reply this morning:

Me
Mar 13, 01:31
Hi,
I’ve seen several reviews showing a setting for object emissivity in the android and iPhone apps, but I don’t seem to be able to find it (I use android). Has it been removed and if yes why ? I’d have needed it a few times lately.
Regards,
Andre


Seek Support (Seek Thermal)
Mar 13, 16:42
Hi Andre,
It was removed several versions ago and is being reevaluated before possibly returning in a different form later.
Ryan
Seek Support

Quick reply and it seems there's a chance it will come back. The "returning in a different form" bit really sounds like "we got thousands of mails from people who had no clue what it was for".

BTW I was a Mu backer, their update/coupon was what reminded me of the Seek. As I am not in the US I couldn't order from the website and use the coupon, but I bought from an eBay seller for $228 on Feb 17 (official price was already upped to $250, so I kind of got my coupon there...)

[trevordd]

Hi there, guys. I am new to this forum. I want to buy some thermal sights for my father's birthday. One of my friends recommended me night vision goggles from atncorp. What do you think of them? He says that they are very good

[encryptededdy]

Hi there, guys. I am new to this forum. I want to buy some thermal sights for my father's birthday. One of my friends recommended me the one from atncorp. What do you think of them? He says that they are very good

You're probably better off asking here: http://www.ar15.com/forums/f_6/18_.html

They would know more about thermal weapon scopes.

[brianmichalk]

I'm trying to get my SEEK to face the right way on a Nexus 7.
I bought these two cables:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HAOKCE8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
YCS Basics 3 foot USB Micro male to female OTG extension cable

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B5HSCW0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
YCS Basics Black 3 Foot Cellphone / Tablet USB Micro Male to Female Sync & Charging Extension Cable

But neither one works for me.  The camera works when I plug it in, so it must be the cable. 

[Seeker]

Tried swapping the OTG and extension cable around? Could be that the bridged pins (4+5) on the OTG need to be in the phone socket. If no go, could be that you got sent a charging cable by mistake for the OTG...check it with a USB stick.

[Seeker]

Bah--this thread is bleeding demised....bereft of life, it pushes up the daisies.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Bah--this thread is bleeding demised....bereft of life, it pushes up the daisies.

Sometimes there's just no more to say.....

[Fraser]

This what I find so sad about the SEEK camera. It broke new ground and I hoped the user and 'maker' community would rush to support it and improve upon the software and even the physical device.

It just appears to have been a damp squib. A lack of meaningful engagement from SEEK thermal with its user base and no SDK have limited the products development and the initial 'honeymoon' euphoria seems to have died down. I am genuinely sad that this product remains limited by lack of manufacturer enthusiasm to promote 3rd part development of apps etc.

The next big news on thermal imaging will likely be the new FLIR One Android etc. Once that happens the SEEK may sadly drift into obscurity. Not my wish but it will all depend on the quality of the image produced. The best will likely win.

Aurora

[mikeselectricstuff]

..and why are they still not shipping outside US?

[Uho]

 Erik soon starts the project HemaVision.    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ebeall/906137627?token=b4c4cce0 I do macro and telephoto lens for this project. It is more promising. I wasted time on Seek.

[Seeker]

Wonder what SeeK's reticence to interact with the feedback was about...either they knew it was flawed when they put it out (i.e. they're bent), or they're just the wrong kind of people to be in business.
Still waiting for an SDK and some candour. Mine does what it's supposed to, but only intermittently--any molecule of bad USB contact (on my brand new Moto G and brand new SeeK) and it's on and off like a...flakey flashy thing. Or freezes, the odd time. Groan. Darn shame, it's a nfity gizmo.

[all_repair]

It is on offer now at 18x on Amazon.

[Fraser]

UK eBay prices have also dropped from £250 plus to less than £200. The sellers may have thought they could make a killing whilst Seek were not shipping to Europe, but demand seems to have dried up so prices are falling.

Aurora

[frenky]

Hemavision has surpassed 40k$ goal in a few hours: http://goo.gl/4S1qQX 

[eneuro]

Erik soon starts the project HemaVision.  It is more promising.

A computer vision-enabled thermal imager that helps you diagnose problems in your building or anywhere temperatures are important

I used cheap Melexis to diagnose problems in building and another thermal imager not needed.
Especially this what you showed looks like..... 70's Soviet Union era equipment with sensor hidden inside rectangular box

Anyway @Aurora didn't wrote any custom OpenCV code to get more from this Seek device-basicly no special SDK needed since OpenCV with Nvidia CUDA support can do quite powerfull postprocessing in realtime 

It costs < $1000, so better invest more in something like this than buy another  thermal ??Vision toy 

Did you tried circular motion with Seek dongle? Probably you had no chance without significant processing power on crappy phones

[frenky]

I went with square motion instead of circular because it's easier to overlay partial pixels.
This was one of the latest captures:(haven't played with it lately)