Several months ago I ordered a FLIR One for Android, a small attachment which adds infrared thermal vision capabilities to most Android smartphones and tablets. After the backlog of pre-orders finally cleared out, I got my hands on mine today!
FLIR, of course, has been around in the military and industrial arenas for many years making things like heat sensors used by engineers, thermal rifle scopes, thermal sensors on heat-seeking missles so on. They’ve had a few previous consumer products, including a somewhat less capable version for the iPhone 5S only, but this is an improved and mass-marketed upgrade which looks like a ton of fun.
The FLIR isn’t the only game in town even as far as thermal Android smartphone attachments go, but it’s the only one to feature MSX technology which overlays a wireframe of the visible light image on top of the thermal image, giving it more context. It’s not just blurry heat blobs, which makes it way more useful.
Let’s unbox it!

I was surprised by the clean and easy to access packaging.




That’s it! The unit plugs into your phone’s micro-USB port for its data connection, but it’s actually powered exclusively through an internal battery, charged by the FLIR One’s own micro-USB port on the side which has a reported runtime of about 45 minutes. The battery status is available in the companion app, and it can charge from the external charging power while also in use.
The companion FLIR One app is installed from the Google Play Store. It’s a little quirky on my phone, but nothing too bad. It’s important in my experience to have the sensor plugged in and turned on prior to launching the app, or you need to close and re-launch, even though the app does seem to imply that it can be hot-plugged. Maybe on certain phone models it can, but not my Xperia Z3.

This add-on is clearly designed for phones with the USB port on the bottom center as there is no software provision for rotating it’s orientation. On my phone, with the USB port on the side, this is a bit annoying but a short extension cable would fix that. The app is fairly no-frills, and could definitely use some polishing compared with the very sleek physical product that it drives.

Sadly, the phone’s hard shutter button doesn’t cause the FLIR One app to take a photo, you have to use the on-screen button. In addition, most of the controls are un-labeled – and there’s no “Help” menu, or manual included in the package.

Because the sensor combines a visible-light image with the infrared image, there’s an option to turn the light on (top row left) which crashes the app. There’s also 3 and 10-second self timers, a setting I’m not sure of on the top row far right, a macro setting of some kind on the bottom row, and the settings slider. Selecting the Macro button brings up a slider to adjust the camera parallax, but I don’t see anything actually change while moving it.
You can also turn on the temperature display. It’s fixed to display the temperature of the center point of the image.

There’s a few other modes, including thermal video, panorama, and time-lapse.

And a number of different color pallets and color weights to help visualize what you’re seeing. One complaint from Internet users is that, while you can pick from a number of emissivity pre-sets (Matte, Semi-Matte, Semi-Gloss or Gloss) there’s no option to enter a defined emissivity, if you happen to know it for the material you’re measuring.

Lack of emissivity settings isn’t a problem for me, though, as I’m primarily going to use this to measure heat dissipation in stereo receivers and radios to ensure correct operation.
My impression is that the software feels pretty clunky, which in my experience is common when hardware companies have to write actual software. Most of the companion PC apps for lab test equipment that I have are awful to use, too, so I’m going to chalk this up to early-adopter pains, but I expect as more of these get out to consumer’s hands the app will evolve to be more user-friendly.
Even with clunky software, though, this is a really fun toy to play with and it’s going to be a very useful tool once I take it up to the shop. In addition to my use, checking electronics for faults, it would be great for checking for insulation and leaks in your home or car, seeing what that noise was in the backyard, or any number of other things that rely on heat more than light.

I also took some photos of my workbench.

I need to add my isolation transformer to a switch! I’ve never noticed that it’s idle current generates some noticeable heat. It’s only slightly warm on the touch but it lights up on infrared.

Laptop and cell phones:

What gets hot in a Bose equalizer?


Interestingly, one of the rectifier diodes is dissipating heat but the other is totally cool.
All in all, a good buy! Available from Amazon for $249.
The Speaker Spotter – September 30th, 2015
It’s back! Another installment in this occasional series, “The Speaker Spotter”, picking out the most interesting speakers available on my local Craigslist. Today’s Speaker Spotter focuses on bookshelf speakers for the best sound possible in a small package. As always, I’m not affiliated with any of these sellers, and if the ad is gone then it’s likely the speaker sold already.
Here’s what’s interesting this week!
Bose® Direct/Reflecting Speakers – Model 201 Series II
$40 in Lakewood, WA
Bose doesn’t get a lot of love in audiophile circles, but I’m a pretty big fan myself, and these 201 Series II speakers are back from the era where they devoted a bit more to quality engineering than many of their products do today. I’ve heard various sets of 201s myself, and they provide a great room-filling sound with pleasant tone characteristics, as long as you don’t expect too much volume or earth-shattering bass.
Boston Acoustics CR-8 Speakers
$100 in Port Townsend, WA
Boston Acoustics is a venerable audiophile speaker brand, and these little 2-way bookshelf speakers designed for 15-125W of power can deliver a pretty great 90 dB efficiency and should give a great, detailed sound. Some people find them to be a little bright, though – I prefer a bright sound signature personally, so that sounds right up my alley!
Pioneer CS-33a Vintage Speakers
$149 in South Everett, WA
Pioneer vintage speakers are nicely well regarded, and these feature those beautiful latticework grilles they’re known for. Great looking shape for a speaker that was built in 1971! They’re very efficient but only accept up to 35W of output power, so proper amp pairing is a must with these.
Tannoy Revolution R1 Bookshelf Speakers
$150 in Shoreline, WA
Tannoy is a well-known British hi-fi brand, and their speakers are top notch, from their flagship Westminster GR on down. These little speakers support bi-amplification and deliver 87 dB sensitivity at 8 Ohms, and I expect will sound fantastically accurate for any music source. Nice under-stated design and cherry finish, too!
KEF 101/3 Reference Speakers
$199 in Lynnwood, WA
KEF is another UK speaker brand, with a very interesting time-aligned coaxial driver system to help these speakers present as more of a point-source, which can reduce certain kinds of phasing distortion you’d get from separately positioned drivers. This gives them a cool, monolithic design – although they, too, support bi-amplification just like most higher end speakers. They’re 6 ohms nominal, but that’s not a problem for many amplifiers these days, and they’re middle of the road efficient at 87 dB 1W*1m.
Heco Phon 3 SF Speakers
$200 on Snoqualmie Ridge
These vintage German hi-fi speakers are a bit of a mystery. They look to have an interesting 3-way design, and the labeling indicates they’re 4 Ohm impedance speakers for 60-100W of power handling. Beyond that, they’re a bit of a mystery! Looks like this could be an interesting addition to any speaker collection.
Polk Audio RTi A1 Bookshelf Speakers
$205 in Seattle’s Crown Hill neighborhood
Polk Audio’s offerings go down pretty far into the economy side of the spectrum, but their higher end offerings are quite good, and these RTi speakers are a respectable offering. They’re 89 dB efficient and offer extended treble frequency response to 27 kHz. Looks fantastic in the beautiful cherry finish, too! These routinely sell for around $300, so this is a pretty solid deal.
ERA Design SAT 5 Bookshelf Speakers
$350 in Kirkland, WA
These are interesting little high-end bookshelf speakers. Nominally 6 Ohms ant 87 dB efficient with a long-throw 4″ woofer and horn-loaded 1″ dome tweeter, I expect they sound extremely crisp and efficient, and with that woofer design punch above their weight in the bass department – and High Fidelity Review agrees! Looks great in piano-black, too.
JBL L-96 Bookshelf Monitors
$500 in Kirkland, WA
Anyone familiar with vintage speakers knows JBL and knows how great they sound. Recently re-foamed, these should be in good shape for decades to come. They’re pretty efficient at 89 dB, and the titanium dome tweeter provides incredible clarity and detail in the upper ranges. So much so, in fact, that people often turn the treble down a bit. A great addition to your collection if you’ve got the room and the cash!
Like what you see? Click through to the ad and contact the seller!
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