# Seek Thermal Camera



## peakbagger (Jan 18, 2015)

After hearing a positive review I ordered a Seek thermal Camera. It plugs into my Android phone. Hard to justify buying a dedicated FLIR. When it gets delivered and I have had a chance to use it I will do a review.


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## tomc585 (Jan 18, 2015)

I have it in my wish list on my amazon account but I just cant seem to bring myself to spend the $200 just yet. I have an LG G2 which isnt on the compatability list just yet. I have a Fluke Ti30 that is ok but just to bulky and requires software install on PC to download images.
I thought about buying, trying and returning but I think these phone modules will come down in price over time.


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## laynes69 (Jan 19, 2015)

I'm hopeful I got one for Christmas, but not sure since my wife won't tell me. Whatever I got keeps being put on backorder. If it's not a seek cam, I'm going to buy one. With this old home, it's hard to find all the airleaks. We had a blower door test done, and we've done some large improvements since, but they didn't do thermal imaging. Being able to pinpoint and stop leakage would be great.


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## TonyVideo (Jan 19, 2015)

I had a blower test done on an old 1880 home and the guy laughed and said you have more leaks than Swiss cheese. Marked this to follow. Knocked down the leaks by 50% but this device would make it much easier.


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## laynes69 (Jan 19, 2015)

TonyVideo said:


> I had a blower test done on an old 1880 home and the guy laughed and said you have more leaks than Swiss cheese. Marked this to follow. Knocked down the leaks by 50% but this device would make it much easier.


Lol, we were told our home was as tight as a barn. I was shocked however when they said our home (mid 19th century victorian) was tighter than the neighbors new 3000 sqft home. They were complaining of high heating costs, so they called the electric company to do a blower door test.


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## peakbagger (Jan 19, 2015)

I have a fairly tight house and has been tested with blower door. A blower door really only deals with infiltration. Since that is the majority of the heat loss for a typical house most firms go for the low hanging fruit and skip the thermal gun. A thermal camera picks up both poor insulation as well as infiltration so for a tighter home its worth doing both. I know that all electrical outlets on the exterior walls have leaks. I am about ready to get some fire sealant and seal up the wire openings in the boxes and any other gaps around the boxes to try to reduce it.

My house is a modular built in a factory and the one wall I opened up had several gaps where the insulation was cut short. I have 6" walls so the window headers have an air gap between them. They were not insulated either. If I can pick up these spots in the other walls without removing the drywall, it will be worth the price of the unit.


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## tom in maine (Jan 20, 2015)

Have had my Seek for about a month. Just got it set up on my iPad mini. Been using it on my iPhone.
It is a great tool for not a lot of money.
Resolution is low, but better than most IR cameras I have had in the past.
Curious to see what you think.


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## Where2 (Jan 20, 2015)

Tom, looking forward to your thoughts on how the Seek works with your iPad.


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## AK13 (Jan 21, 2015)

I would love to try one of these out but $200 for a toy is a bit much. And if I had one then I'd create a whole lot of air sealing and insualtion work for myself! Better to just toss another log on the fire I think. Haha. 

Please post up a review though. In all seriousness I'd really like to get one someday.


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## hamsey (Jan 21, 2015)

Looking forward to your review. Have one of these on my radar. We just finished an energy audit and I need to make some improvements.


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## tom in maine (Jan 21, 2015)

Unit seems to work the same with the iPad mini. It will not work with the standard iPad.
I find it to be an extremely useful tool for what I do. If you are renovating an old house, I suspect it is worth its cost for making sure things are done right.
Photos below are a prototype pellet boiler we are working on, a standard pellet stove and a taco 009B pump on the side of a tank.


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## razerface (Jan 21, 2015)

Would these show living bodies out in the woods at night? Like if i pointed it outside thru my window at night,,would it show someone standing out there in the dark?


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## tom in maine (Jan 21, 2015)

It will to some degree. No one around my house at night to try it.
Too cold out tonight to give it a go!
I believe there is some info that indicates the distance somewhere in their website.


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## razerface (Jan 21, 2015)

I downloaded free app from itunes for my ipad. Thermal camera, by fingersoft, but i think it is a simulator. Only works on mini, wont work at all on my big ipad.


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## tomc585 (Jan 22, 2015)

razerface said:


> Would these show living bodies out in the woods at night? Like if i pointed it outside thru my window at night,,would it show someone standing out there in the dark?


You would see a heat signature but not through a window.


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## Highbeam (Jan 23, 2015)

razerface said:


> Would these show living bodies out in the woods at night? Like if i pointed it outside thru my window at night,,would it show someone standing out there in the dark?


 
If it was 98.6 degrees ambient would it show a body at all?


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## tomc585 (Jan 23, 2015)

IT will show any differential of heat/cold. When you look at someone the extremities show colder. face, chest, armpits and crotch areas show warmer.


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## peakbagger (Jan 29, 2015)

Well not so good news. I got the camera today and surprise, its incompatible with my phone. I ordered from their website, thermal.com which had no compatibility info. I had read elsewhere that I needed USB on the go capability and had confirmed that the phone did. When I got the phone, there was a separate support address that lists compatibility and my phone is not listed either compatible or incompatible. But there is a general statement that it has to be Android 4.3. It would have been nice for them to make their website less slick and put a link to compatibility on the page or at least on the order page.

I have sent them an email and am awaiting either a fix or where to send it back. It was paid for by a credit card so I am covered if they aren't responsive.


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## Cynnergy (Jan 29, 2015)

Booo... what a disappointment!  I hope there's a fix.  

Still bummed that we can't have a Nest thermostat (we have baseboard heat at the duplex in town).


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## tomc585 (Jan 30, 2015)

My phone isn't  listed as per Amazon which is were I would have made the purchase and return if needed.
What phone are you using and what version is it running? I ask because you may be able to upgrade to 4.3 if you wanted to.


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## peakbagger (Jan 30, 2015)

I have Casio Gzone Commando 4G LTE which is mil spec phone (water resistant and drop resistant), unfortunately is looks like Android 4.1.3 is the latest version from Verizon.

No response yet from their customer service. Had I known that Amazon sold them I definitely would have bought it through them.


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## woodgeek (Jan 31, 2015)

Have you checked to see if there are any cheaper prepaid droid phones that are compatible?  I just bought a $25 'phone' just to interface with my cars OBD bus.


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## peakbagger (Feb 4, 2015)

An update, after several days of back and forth they finally did send me a RMA number and I have sent it back. I had originally attempted to call them and after 5 days they finally called back and left me a message to e-mail them. Its a small US company and I expect the crush of orders is proving hard to deal with.


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## tomc585 (Feb 4, 2015)

good to hear they are acting on it, makes better  PR


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## semipro (Feb 5, 2015)

Cynnergy said:


> Still bummed that we can't have a Nest thermostat (we have baseboard heat at the duplex in town).


I'm not sure but the Nest may not be the best choice out there based on some posts I've seen here.


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## semipro (Feb 5, 2015)

woodgeek said:


> Have you checked to see if there are any cheaper prepaid droid phones that are compatible? I just bought a $25 'phone' just to interface with my cars OBD bus.


I'm interested in hearing more.  I have a cheap BT interface that I've been using with the Torque app for my our hybrid highlander.  
Maybe we should start another thread on this.


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## woodgeek (Feb 5, 2015)

You can get an ATT GoPhone refurb (with sim card) on FleaBay for $25.  It a low-end android device, but it has a touchscreen and all that.  Little pokey perhaps, but fine for a BT interface device.


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## laynes69 (Mar 6, 2015)

Well....I didn't get a seek thermal camera for christmas, but I did get a 4 way wedge for the log splitter. Anyhow, I went ahead and ordered a seek thermal cam today. I'm a little bummed that it will be warming up, but still hopefull the temperature difference between the inside and outside will be enough to find leaks.


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## Ashful (Mar 6, 2015)

There ain't no beating a FLIR!


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## laynes69 (Mar 6, 2015)

I'm sure, but out of my budget. For $250 the Seek should do what I need.


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## Ashful (Mar 6, 2015)

laynes69 said:


> I'm sure, but out of my budget. For $250 the Seek should do what I need.


No need to buy.  Plenty of places to borrow or rent.  Heck, even Home Depot rents the little i7, these days:  http://www.flir.com/homedepot/


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## laynes69 (Mar 7, 2015)

There's no home depot in the state of Ohio that has them. I also checked online to rent, and it was in the range of at least $300 for a rental, while an energy audit was going to be in that range with an IR camera. The man I called who did it, also doesn't use a blower door. I've done extensive remodeling on our home as well as an addition and for the money, it will serve the purpose. For only $250, it will do everything I need and the price is right.


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## mellow (Mar 11, 2015)

Ahh man, same here, closest HD that rents one is 2.5 hours away  

Hoping Seek will show some Windows Phone love but I doubt it, not buying another phone/tablet just to use it.


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## semipro (Mar 11, 2015)

If you have a buddy with a local fire department they may be willing to drop by with an IR camera.  FDs typically keep them to identify hot spots.


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## mellow (Mar 11, 2015)

semipro said:


> FDs typically keep them to identify hot spots.



All too familiar with that since I had two chimney fires before finding hearth.com.  If I had a friend in the FD I would have hit them up for sure, only people I know are EMT's  

Good tip though.


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## begreen (Mar 11, 2015)

It's probably getting a bit late in the season to do this, but I would like to do a FLIR test on the house. Will ask someone I know at the fire station.


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## laynes69 (Mar 11, 2015)

I told my co-workers just a few more -10° days so I could try out my camera. They just thought I was crazy lol.


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## laynes69 (Mar 14, 2015)

Well got it, even with it being the upper 40's, the drafts throughout the house are showing. There's quite a few. Here is a pic of the stove after cooking.


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