Thermal Master T2S Pro review

[tszaboo]

I've written this review for the Thermal Master T2S, by comparing it to two other thermal cameras to have a frame of reference. The specification of the cameras, including the current price I could find.

Thermal Master T2S Pro; 339 EUR
Form factor: Smartphone attachment USB-C or Apple
Release year: 2023–2024
IR Resolution: 256×192 @ 12um pixel size, with an HD super-resolution mode that effectively doubles it to 512×384. Frame rate is 25 Hz and NETD is ≤40 mK.
Temperature range: -20°C to 450°C, with ±2°C accuracy
Its standout feature is an 8mm manually adjustable macro lens ("Smart Spin") enabling close-up inspection down to 0.25mm components. Digital zoom up to 15×, FOV 42°×32°, weight ~19.5g. Compatible with Android and iOS via the IR Master app.

Seek Compact Pro; 360 EUR
Form factor: Smartphone attachment (USB-C / Lightning)
Release year:  2017
IR Resolution: 320×240 (76,800 pixels). Frame rate: 15 Hz (FastFrame).
Temperature range: -40°C to +330°C. Thermal sensitivity (NETD): <70 mK. Features an adjustable focus lens with a FOV of 32°.
Adjustable thermal span, level, and emissivity settings.

GOYOJO GW256; 216 EUR
Form factor: Standalone handheld camera
Release year: 2023
IR Resolution: 256×192. Frame rate: 25 Hz. Temperature range: -20°C to 550°C (-4°F to 1022°F). NETD: ~40 mK.
Features a 3.2-inch LCD screen, dual-light fusion mode (overlaying visible and thermal images), auto hot/cold spot tracking, adjustable emissivity, 4 GB internal storage (JPG/MP4), FOV 56°×42°, and a 2000 mAh battery with ~5 hours runtime.

[tszaboo]

Other, far away targets.
First two: GW256 and T2S, a heating system.
Next two: Seek compact and T2S of a notebook, desk monitor from 2m distance
Next two: Seek compact and T2S of a notebook

[tszaboo]

Picture of the same test PCB in different angles from the three camera.
The thermal master has watermark.

[tszaboo]

Probably the most important feature of the T2S for me as an electronics engineer is the manual focus. It has down to 8mm focus point, which makes it very well suited for PCB inspection. So I included some sample pictures of a board with a D2PAK transistor dissipating ~0.5W, something that I would actually use it to investigate. The pictures are with default settings out of the box, so I didn't set emissivity or any other settings. Of course I made sure the pictures are in focus.

T2S vs Seek: My general view is that the Thermal master is much more usable than the seek thermal. The seek thermal has higher resolution, but more noisy, and seems to have a lot bigger steps (thermal resolution?) resulting in pictures that are hard to identify the component. The thermal master has some sort of interpolation algorithm, as you can see the images are 1600x1200 resolution, higher than the IR resolution. It's also more "responsive" than the specifications would suggest (15 vs 25FPS) meaning that the higher frame rate make the image sharp while moving the camera.
Focusing it close is a plus. And it has a PC software that I haven't tested yet.

T2S vs GW256: They have the same resolution and with the included phone holder and grip about the same size. One is standalone, the other needs your phone. I guess if you want to always use it in this configuration professionally, you can just buy an a used android phone for 20 EUR and set up some cloud storage to have your files on your PC.
The GW256 is easier to start up and do a quick check. It also has the blended image sensor, that's a bit fiddly to get right. You basically have to align the image every time. There is a feature like this in the app of the T2S, where it also takes an image with the phone camera. It's not usable up close, there is like 10cm between these two cameras.

The good:
Resolution and image clarity
App doesn't want you to register
The app is fast and snappy
Very usable for PCB thermal imaging
Lot's of mounting points on the included grip and phone holder

The bad:
App is third party, feels like an afterthought
App seems to have some bugs where it leaves deleted measurement points on the image
Or it doesn't show the maximum temperature on the
Not a standalone
The camera rubber cover blocks the rotation of the focus, I had to take it off

Finally the three cameras

[tszaboo]

Finally: The GW256 and the T2S of a roof from 10m:
Disclaimer: The T2S was provided to me free for the review, but no payment was made, and the review is my own thoughts.

[Profsen]

Thank you for the good review.

Do you know whether it's possible to set manually the temperature range (which would be the exposure on a normal camera) so that the dynamic range of interest can be maximised?
For example, I know that I have something very warm in the field of view but I can avoid the auto scaling to maintain good thermal details on the object of interest.

To put it in perspective, Flir does it only on higher end models, while the cheaper consumer models don't offer such a feature.
It's not digital processing after acquisition, it must be set by the camera before/during acquisition.

[tszaboo]

Hi. It has 2 ranges, one goes to ~120C and the other to 450C.
Otherwise it sets the max and min of the scale automatically. And I didn't find a way to lock this.

[Profsen]

By checking the python code in https://github.com/diminDDL/IR-Py-Thermal/blob/edf7d5619f77c18c54d7c618fa9ea3f78bdf02d6/pyplot.py it seems that even that one only does postprocessing to change exposure range, the hardware exposure range is fixed (or selectable normal/high for T2S Pro).

That's a pity, it means that even in normal mode it's unlikely to achieve anything better than 2 °C resolution (reliably). It can't be used to monitor solar panels defects and deterioration

The guy presenting at this webinar @54:45 was then right when he stated that he measured the performances of a (different) Thermal master camera and he found that the specifications of 1 K resolution was not achieved.