I was one of the first to purchase the SEEK Thermal phone dongle type camera severall years ago.
I was somewhat excited by the prospect of a competitor to the FLIR lepton core that could introduce healthy competition and choice to the marketplace. I have always hoped that thermal imaging equipment would become available to the masses and far more affordable to organisations like the Search and a Rescue services. The SEEK camera appeared to offer much and at a very affordable price.
Once I received the First Generation SEEK camera dongle I was impressed with its compact dimensions and metal case. It looked like a lot of thought had gone into the product and I hoped it was SEEK dipping their toe into the market with a view to developing market share and a positive reputation on which to build. Bearing in mind the very knowledgeable team heading the company (one being the founder of AMBER and Indigo) it looked a sensible business plan for a startup company. Start small and build a product range over time.
Testing of the SEEK dongle was relatively painless with the application and camera working well with my less than stellar Motorola MOTO G generation 1 phone. All seemed to be working as it should but there were some issues that reduced my enthusiasm for the camera. Remember, I am used to using thermal cameras that cost upwards of $35K so my expectations of the little SEEK Thermal may have been a tad unrealistic considering the price point for relatively high resolution. The FLIR E4 that I purchased before the SEEK camera had impressed me as I had upgraded its lowly 80 x 60 pixels resolution to full 320 x 240 pixels and switched off the artificial noise injection. That sadly influenced my view of the SEEK camera and, on reflection, that was unfair of me. The E4 was a sub £1K camera but was only 80 x 60 pixel resolution. Yes I upgraded it to the E8 specification, but that was a far more expensive camera from FLIR. The SEEK offered higher resolution than the E4 (as bought) and at a significantly lower price. It was $200 if I remember correctly. That is quite some achievement by SEEK.
So what were the issues that I disliked about the SEEK Thermal dongle camera ?
My first impression of the images produced by the camera was that it was very ‘laggy’ and there was a lot of random noise present. The lag may well have been partly due to my mobile phone not being exactly a fast model ! The noise was a very real presence but in retrospect I think I was being a little unfair as my brain was used to viewing nice low noise images coming from vastly more expensive cameras. Once the camera was used to image a scene with greater thermal Delta T, such as a car engine or cup of coffee, the noise level reduced as the temperature span was automatically increased by the app. The images were then pretty good considering the cost of the unit and its tiny size. There was still some noise in the images but the camera was performing well enough for many users needs.
There was a proven technical issue with the camera that caused a thermal gradient across the image. There was some investigation of the matter on this forum but I do not think the cause was ever totally proven. It could have been FFC shutter related, thermal creep on the PCB, or something else. SEEK Thermal responded to the issue by providing an updated APP and, as if by magic, the gradient disappeared from the images produced. SEEK never released information on what they had done to remove this problem but the pragmatist in me says, provided the camera behaves as expected and within specification, does it really matter what they did ?
I sold that SEEK Thermal dongle camera to someone who needed it more than me.
Since my brief ownership of that SEEK Thermal product I have sadly been a little biased against SEEK products as I already own over 80 various models of thermal camera and remember the noise on the original dongle was a little distracting to me. Remember, it was a Gen 1 core in that unit.
So move forwards a few years and I start reading comments on improved imaging from SEEK Thermal products. The PRO version of their core was released and this has higher resolution (320 x 240) with reputedly lower noise levels. Images I have seen published from the PRO cores cameras certainly seem better than I remember coming from the first Gen 1 SEEK dongle camera. I once made a somewhat negative comment about the SEEK Cores to a good friend who designs thermal imaging cameras for a living. He immediately commented that I should look at the images produced by these more recent SEEK products before discounting their performance. I was shocked to hear him say this, but pleased in equal measure as I have always wanted SEEK to succeed. It is the perfectionist in me that is to blame for my jaded opinion, formed by experience with a very early version of the SEEK core. Well just before Christmas I met up with my thermal camera designing friend and he placed a SEEK Reveal in my hand to try
The SEEK Reveal product has several advantages over the phone dongle in my eyes. It is personal preference, but I like a thermal camera to be a complete self contained solution that I can rely upon without the worry of phone related issues or unwanted app updates that change the UI. The Reveal is a SEEK Core that is integrated with a dedicated microprocessor that focuses on creating a decent thermal image with the specified frame rate. The performance can be better tuned in such a design than may easily be achieved in a dongle that uses generic configuration to work with a vast array of Android mobile Phones. Note I say Android because iOS phones are effectively a standard for which a dongle may be tuned for best performance (FLIR advised me of this when developing their F1G2) The Reveal is always ready for action, reasonably robust and the screen size is acceptable for the intended use. The relatively small screen, compared to a mobile phone, helps to improve the apparent image quality as well ! Then there is the LED torch. I thought this a total gimmick, but I was wrong. On a number of occasions I have wished for an integrated torch when viewing a target in the thermal domain, but low visible light. That torch could be a godsend to many users. Not a gimmick in my opinion. The FLIR Exx series effectively has a torch as well
So there I was, holding the SEEK Reveal with its sub QVGA resolution and I actually liked it ! My friend was right, the SEEK Reveal Thermal camera was actually a lot better than The early dongle version I had used. Sure there was still noise on the image when viewing a scene with low delta T but when viewing a ‘normal’ scene with warm targets present, the image improved and less noise was apparent. Was it as good as a multi thousand Dollar thermal camera from FLIR or one of the other big names in the Industry ? Well no, but that could be considered a very unfair comparison ! If you are rich enough to buy a new FLIR E8 or E75, you are unlikely to be looking at the SEEK Reveal anyway ! The SEEK Reveal is also compact, easily carried. I actually went home from my meeting with the SEEK Reveal with a completely different view of the more recent SEEK Thermal products. I have yet to use a SEEK Thermal PRO based camera but hope to do so in the near future. I expect to be pleasantly surprised by the Price to Performance ratio
What potential buyers of SEEK Thermal core based products need to consider is what they need the camera for and the price being asked by SEEK. If the price to performance ratio is good, then it is a sensible purchase. There is some choice in the market of phone dongle and handheld thermal cameras these days. The price of a Therm App or Thermal Expert may be too high for some people or they may want an integrated solution rather than a Dongle + Phone + App that is the Therm App and Thermal Expert topology. With time we will hopefully see even more choice in the market and I am seeing an increase in Chinese ‘home grown’ cameras coming to market.
This can only be good in the long term for the consumer as prices will fall. With the release of the SEEK Thermal cores for 3rd party use, we are likely to see more manufacturers using that relatively affordable core in all manner if equipments and camera designs. FLIR Lepton seems to have made slow progress in this respect so I hope SEEK Thermal does better.
So after that Loooooong introduction, I would like to hear from users of SEEK Thermal products and their experiences with them. Is the PRO core as good as I am hoping and if not, where does it fail to satisfy you. Is the SEEK dongle improved over the original Gen 1 ? If so, in what ways ?
Basically I would love to hear your thoughts on the SEEK Thermal products and cores. I promise to be open minded and I do now realise that I may have been unfair in my previous opinion of the cores. Tell me how it really is please
Thanks
Fraser
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