I'm after a cheap thermal camera that connects to my iphone

[HobGoblyn]

Three reasons to (justify) get it.

1) One bedroom gets much much colder than the rest, (cavity wall insulation and ceiling lagged), and it would be much cheaper buying one than getting experts out to find out for me.

2) I'm thinking that once I got it, I could use it to find hot components on a PCD (save on freeze spray)

3) To generally play around with and have some fun, indoor use only.


So I'm looking at the Seek Compact XR (£214) or  Compact (£279)

or

Flir One Home user (£194)  or  Professional user (£314)

AmazonUK also has the previous version of the Seek compact, labelled "Seek Thermal Compact High Resolution Thermal Imaging Camera"  for £198  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seek-Thermal-LW-EAA-Protective-Waterproof-Black/dp/B00Y2QO6JO/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=thermal+camera+ios&qid=1587925285&sr=8-9


The more I read various info on the web, the more confused I'm getting


Ipadrehab say they have an inhouse made  macro lens

https://store.ipadrehab.com/Macro-Lens-for-Seek-Compact-and-CompactPRO-Thermal-Camera-p146857762

Are such lenses available elsewhere?

I know I'm looking at the low end, but that's all I want and need for now, any advice which of the above to chose, and whether macro lenses are available, greatly recieved.

Thanks

[HobGoblyn]

Spent a lot of today watching youtube vids and various similar questions over the past few years in this thread.

I'm wondering whether it might be better just to forget buying the phone plugin ones, and either wait until I can afford something better (well affording it isn't the problem, justifying it is   ). 

Or possibly I only want it because I've always fancied having one rather than really need it at all.  Llast time I had a play with a thermal camera was when I was a computer operator  in the 80s and we had a Cray supercomputer, the Cray engineers had one that they would use to examine the machine. If I remember correctly (and it's very possible I don't), that thermal camera also had some sort of gas.

I don't do repairs for money, I'm just a hobbyist (and a beginner when it comes to knowing electronics properly)

The other thing I've always fancied is a 3D printer   I suspect that will be the same sort of thing, cheap ones are rubbish.

Obviously I could simply not spend it and keep it until later, but my lovely wife is being overly generous in how much I spend on myself during this lock down, and chances are, it's 10000 times easier justifying things now than it will be when lock down is over

[hendorog]

I got a very cheap 3d printer from Aliexpress and it is very useful. Great way to get started for a technical person I'd say.
I had already DIY'd my own, so knew a fair bit, but the cheap one was very simple to get working.

Someone posted about the Blackview range of phones (BV9800 Pro/BV9900 Pro), which have a built in FLIR module - similar to the Cat60/Cat61 phones but with newer phone hardware.
Only 80x60 rez, but worth a look and they are not crazy priced.