Reasonably priced IR/thermal imaging camera

December 11, 2013 8:08 AM

I don't need something like the Predator's thermal/IR graphics, but a thermal imaging camera seems like something that would be interesting to have/use. Except they are $800 and up. Are there any cheaper options ?

I'm not looking to do serious work like house energy audits or finding overloaded wires behind walls or any creeper stuff. Just always liked the Predator images, and wondered about making my own.

Years ago, when I played woods-paintball, I always thought it'd be great to have one, since foliage provides a lot of cover to sneak up, I could spot folks coming. Plus it'd be neat to see the heat loss in my house. While I don't play paintball any more, it still seems like a neat/fun thing to have or play with, but holy cow they are expensive. FLIR and Fluke both make models, but they are not cheap.

posted by k5.user to Technology (3 answers total)

There's this project, which looks like it requires a bit of hacking stuff together but not too much. Cost is ~$300 USD.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:02 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

There are several Home Depots that rent them out.
posted by supercres at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2013

The project Wretch729 mentioned, (mu thermal) while intriguing, should be approach with caution; there is a wide-spread belief that it's largely a scam and will never deliver. They were due to deliver in May 2013, and so far, there's only a rendering available.

I would love for this to be true, though!
posted by JMOZ at 7:01 AM on December 12, 2013 [1 favorite]