Flir E4 - Any good?

[skatingsparks]

Hi all

Looking at getting a basic thermal imaging camera for the usual electrician stuff. I don't think I need a high end unit so was thinking of getting teh flir E4 with its MSX, it looks ok.

Anyone got any opinion on it. Not planning to to do more than check overloaded cable/breakers, find loose connection etc.
Should be fine for that.

Am i gong to get much use out of it? Or is the electrical world already flooded with people who do this?

skatingsparks

[Dave A]

Am i gong to get much use out of it?

I reckon a day will come when an IR camera will be a standard tool in every serious electrician's toolkit. It really is a useful tool.

Or is the electrical world already flooded with people who do this?

If you're referring to the preventative maintenance thermography market, it's small and pretty well catered for at the moment. All the normal conditions of entering an established small niche market apply.

[AndyD]

We have a dozen or so customers we do thermography regularly for preventative maintenance but using them on a day-to-day basis they generate a lot of general remedial work. Not sure about the particular model you're looking at but we use the i7 and I'm very happy with its performance.

[skatingsparks]

I went for the Flir E4 which is going to be OK for what I'm going to do with it. The thermal picture isn't amazing resolution wise but with the MSX feature (which blends the thermal with a JPG picture of the area your taking a picture of) its looks pretty fantastic for the price. I'll see how it goes but so far looks good value for money for what I'm going to use it for.