FLIR One Pro Vs Seek Pro – Phone Thermal Cameras

I’ve been looking at these 2 cameras for a while, now finally got the chance to test them and here is what I found, things that I think are relevant for an inspector or a home user.

But written words can go so far. so the video is coming soon.

Thermal Resolution

FLIR ONE Pro is famous, and has an overlay mix of regular photo with the thermal image which makes it a favorite for many reviewers. FLIR says visual resolution is 1440X1080, but the REAL thermal resolution is only 160X120 vs the Seek PRO thermal resolution 320X240 

Viewing angle

FLIR ONE Pro has a wide viewing angle, and Seek PRO leans towards the “zoomed in” view, not as wide. I found Myself in many cases lacking detail on the FLIR ONE Pro due to the lower resolution and side angle which make the pixels capture less detail. And Seek PRO image is way better when the area you are looking at doesn’t have a contrasting color. like looking to a humid wall, the seek will give you much better res than the FLIR, the flat wall doesn’t give any advantage to the overexposed photo of the FLIR. Both photos were taken at the same distance from the target. (you can see the poor resolution of the FLIR)

Temperature Range

The temperature range is similar but shifted, FLIR starts at 0º and Seek starts at -40º and ends in the 700s and 600s respectively.

Hardware

FLIR ONE Pro needs to be charged, Seek PRO does not. so FLIR does not drain your phone as the Seek does, but with Seek you don’t have to worry about another thing to charge. and the connector plug, FLIR ONE Pro has a plug that unscrews out to reach the phone with a thin case, Seek PRO you need to remove the case to use the camera. (1 red square in the photos is 1 inch)

And thats it for the written part. I hope the video gives you more details to choose. What gets me the most is the advertising of over imposing a 1440X1080 photo over the low resolution photo and calling it a fancy name (MSX) to sell probably left over sensors 🙂 To give you a better perspective, the quality ratio between both cameras is the same a the difference between a regular HD TV and a 4K TV. The Seek PRO has 4 times more thermal pixels than the FLIR ONE Pro.