PROS: High IR resolution, 10-11 hours battery life, great thermal sensitivity, cool design
CONS: No image fusion, LCD screen could be bigger.
| Product | Type | Resolution | Battery capacity | Waterproof | LCD screen | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seek Thermal Reveal | Handheld | 206 x 156 pixels | 10 hours | No | 2.4″ | Click for more info |
Seek Thermal Reveal Specifications
| Type | Handheld |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 206 x 156 pixels |
| Pixels | 32136 |
| Connectivity | USB Micro-B |
| Temperature range | -40°F to 626°F (-40°C to 330°C) |
| Accuracy | |
| Thermal sensitivity | 0.05°C |
| Distance | 500 feet |
| Storage Type | SD Card |
| Battery capacity | 10 hours |
| Dimensions | 4.8 x 2.4 x 1.3 inches |
| LCD screen | 2.4″ |
| Refresh rate | 9Hz |
| Applications | Contractors, Engineers, DIY Homeowners, Energy Loss, Pumps, Motors & Pipes Inspection, Electrical Checking, Hunting, Tracking Games, Home Use |
| View Angle | 36° |
Seek Thermal Reveal – Specs & Review
The Seek Thermal Reveal is actually one of the coolest looking and smallest pocket thermal cameras that we have reviewed. In the meantime, after this camera was launched, Seek expanded their line with the Seek Thermal Reveal FirePro, Reveal ShieldPro and RevealPro.
What is interesting about the design of this camera is that the sensor and LED light are on the top edge of the device not on the back as you would expect. Interesting choice from Seek Thermal.
This thermal imaging device connects to your computer through a micro USB port and included micro USB cable to download the thermal images.
Let’s have a look at the menu, the settings and how the camera operates. First of all to turn the camera on, you just need to hold the menu button for a few seconds.
If you don’t like the color filter (color palette), you toggle between filters if you press the LEFT button. There is Iron, Cool, Tyrian, Glory, Glow, Black and White to choose from. Most users go for the black and white when they want to quickly identify where the higher or lower temperatures are.
You can also adjust the display brightness between 10-100% to save battery life, but with this battery you can keep it on max and still get plenty of hours of good use out of it.
It has a 300 lumen LED flashlight which is much more powerful than the standard LED that you get on most infrared cameras. and you can turn it on by pressing the SIDE button. If you press it three times you can switch between the following modes: OFF, HIGH and LOW. You can further adjust the power of the light, on high mode between 50-100% and on low mode between 15-49%.
The temperature is measured at the center spot by default and it is shown on the bar at the bottom of the screen. You can easily view the gallery of thermal images using the LEFT and RIGHT buttons.
It has 7 languages to accomodate most users, English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese. You can obviusly switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit. The device can automatically shut off after a certain amount of time to save battery life.
There is no visible light camera and thus no fusion and image overlay technology for image enhancement. This is just a pure infrared thermal camera. Now given that time has passed since this device was launched and most devices now offer a visible light camera in addition to the infrared vision, this should come into question in your buying decision.
There is also no video recording, but this is not something we would have expected at this price point.
Seek Thermal Reveal – Thermal imaging quality
The IR resolution is the average for handheld thermal cameras in this price category, the infrared resolution is 206 x 156 pixels. The total number of pixels accounts to 32,136.
The frame rate is decent with a refresh rate of 9Hz and there is no manual focus mode on it.
When you move the camera around it makes kind of a clicking noise because it is focusing and calibrating the image to get the best level of detail.
To download the digital images to your computer, you just connect the device using the micro USB cable to your computer or by removing the SD card. The thermal images are stored in PNG format and some metadata is put into them: The temperature, the time at which it was taken and the state of the battery. The downside is that you don’t get the full thermographic data embedded for each pixel and for that you have to look at the Pro line.
Seek Thermal Reveal – Temperature Range, Accuracy
The Seek Thermal compact infrared camera has a very fine spot thermal sensitivity of just 0.05° C, beating out its competition which usually stands between 0.07 and 0.15.
The temperature measurement range is a very wide one: It can go down to -40 degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit and up to 330. This means that this camera could do well with inspecting insulation on freezers, ovens and also firefighting or applications with very high temperatures.
You can use it in automotive diagnostics to check if and where an engine will overheat, it can easily spot the ultrahot areas . Another great application is checking if the brake calipers are blocked. You can also thermally check the calipers on both sides and if you spot warmth on only one of them, it may mean that the other is blocked. Infrared radiation can reduce the time it takes to diagnose a car’s issues from hours to minutes.
The wide temperature range of the thermal detection system makes it usable in most applications.
This thermal camera has a 36 degree viewing angle.
Seek Thermal Reveal – Battery life & Memory
The Seek Thermal Reveal thermal camera stores the thermal images on a removable microSD Card.
The battery capacity is amazing and the device itself is energy-efficient, because it lasts for over 10-11 hours. This device absolutely thrashes its competition in battery life. That lithium battery can store a lot of power in it and the device is optimized for the best battery life you can get on the market. You charge the battery using the micro USB cable.
The color screen could be bigger, it has a diagonal of only 2.4″.
But beware that this device is not waterproof nor it is dustproof, so you need to be careful where you store it and how you use it. That being said in this price range, it is a rare thing to find a waterproof thermal camera, only about 1 in 5 have this kind of IP rating. As far as potential applications go: HVAC inspections, electrical inspections, the IR resolution is good enough even to inspect simple circuits on PCB boards. The camera will ace plumbing applications, building inspection, roofing and you can also mount it on a tripod for general temperature screening and monitoring.
As far as warranty and return policy is concerned, Seek Thermal offers you a 30-day return policy, a 1-year warranty and an extra year of warranty if you register your thermal Camera online within 90-days of purchase.
