Thermal imaging camera for device development

[mwiens]

Hello,

in our small software company we'd like to start with hardware development and started to build some hardware prototypes. These will be more or less embedded PC's in custom enclosure with our I/O PCB - so no "heavy" PCB development here.

Nontheless we'd like to see the thermal dissipation and thermal propagation of the prototypes in idle and under load and find hotspots. For that we need a thermal camera. The measurements will be done in room conditions.

I have read here several threads on starter (~500€) cameras and came to the conclusion to take one from Hikmicro, because we will need a PC software to analyze the data and they seem to be the only brand in that price category to provide analysis soft for PC.

We'd like to Analyse the PCBs and the assembly by making several images over time and get temperatures on different spots. Video option is cool, but not necessary.

So I see three options for now:

- B10 (480€)
- B20 (555€)
- Pocket2 (575€)

Once we have a camera, we'll print an enclosure and attach ZnSe lens for additional macro option.
All of the above cameras have a decent sensor. As I read, some have better image processing etc.

Which one would fit the purpose and is the extra money worth to buy a B20 or Pocket2? Or are there no extra benefits for this use case and B10 would do the job?

Thank you

[katzenhai2]

Its an old post but I would like to add the following, although you've probably already decided which one to take:

B20 = handheld thermal camera
Pocket 2 = cooler chassis + higher resolution of the screen + touch gestures (same screen like the M-Series of hikmicro)
B10 = same as B20 but without WLAN (so no ability to record videos or transfer files via WLAN).

If you use keepa.com you can find the best prices on Amazon. B10 is 350 € sometimes, B20 520€.