so good that even a +20% difference between these two microbolometer sensors, doesn't ring a bell or get any mention at all.. but yeah 20 to 25% difference between two brand-names that is sold on their specs & accuracy.. who cares. The E4 is sold with a max +/-2 degree accuracy difference, and the Fluke VT02 is likewise also braging a 2% accuracy specs difference from reference. so something doesn't add up, and could have been relevant to digg into that..
One correction. at 19:00 you talk about how the Flir cannot be captured or monitored, and also mention the alarm feature of the vt04. The alarm part is one thing, but what you don't mention is that the Flir E5, through it's usb charging port, can be hooked up to a PC and is instantly recognized as a regular web cam. And this is really cool because you can then just run many of the widely available software that can record webcams. So for example I set mine up at the beginning of a rain storm, pointing at a skylight and made a 3 hour recording. I then played this back in windows and could drag the slider back and forth and watch where the leak started. I feel pretty sure the E4 would also allow it to turn into a web cam. All I did was plug it into the usb port while on, and software in windows saw it as a camera. Also the E5 has a mode to allow full blending between thermal and pictures (or video if you use it as a web cam.. and you don't have to broadcast over the web if you don't want to of course. just record it)
I see a potential value in the use by chiropractors such as myself. I often use an IR digital thermometer to determine the relative heat of an inflamed knee or elbow, for example, but with either of these units giving me the ability to 'visually scan AND record' problematic areas of the body - awesome! I may never have seen this if I didn't subscribe to your excellent videos! Thanks, Martin!
Hi Robert, medical use of thermal imagers is a growing area. Vets in particular are using them in equine diagnosis, sprains etc. There is research that seems to show that thermology is being used for early diagnosis of breast cancer. A very handy tool if used correctly. Thanks for your post. Cheers, Martin.
Fluke repriced the VT02 (after Black Friday) to about $250 (see Amazon), so priced at the mid-high end IR thermometers and much lower than the FLIR. As part of the price drop it no longer comes with the hard case, and comes with a soft (I guess: cheaper) case instead. At that price, (IMHO) it becomes a more value option for hobbyists looking for something a bit better than an IR thermometer.
Brilliant review! and much better than either manufacturers efforts! I bought the FLUKE VT02 As its perfect for my work as an Electrical tester as the feild of veiws pretty narrow. Im utterly delighted with it especially as it only cost £200 uk. Many thanks for the fab review! ..All the best DAVESOUNDS
Thanks for this video, Very helpful for deciding which thermal imaging camera to buy. I have been thinking of getting one of these to diagnose water leaks and blockages in heating systems. With this comparison it has been easy to decide and the flir E4 has now been ordered. Thanks
with the price reduction of the VT04, it would be a better comparison than the VT02 which is now half the price of the E4...as would their upcoming VT06 may be even a better comparison. Thanks for the information.
First of all, thank you so much Mr. Lorton for your videos. In my country I see an opportunity to provide solutions for buildings in some problems such as moisture on ceilings and walls. I want to venture into such services and do not know which equipment to buy and see that both brands are expensive, but is cheaper than FLIR FLUKE. I do not know which one I need to buy. What is your recommendation for a person who wants to provide economical solutions for the correction of moisture and energy loss?
Great comparison Martin :-), I like the FLIR. Reminds me of an image at work near my computer of a dog taken with a FLIR camera. We developed some thermal images (high end model FLIR) for a customer some years ago on photo paper and I keept this one :-). The FLIRs have really nice resolution and image quality, can say this for sure - would like to have one some day. The Fluke is a little bit disapointing, price is hot, but the temperature resolution looks really not so good. But nice sd card feature and glad to see that the prices come down for such gear.
Great product review's, but two different tools, at two different price points. TheFluke is a virtual thermometer, while the Flir is a thermal imager. This was kind of like comparing a Monte Carlo SS to a Corvette, both great cars but no comparison. Even if you stepped up to a Fluke VT04, it would still be like comparing a Camaro to a Corvette. Still very good info, thanks.
I like you videos and Ive been wanting to see a side-by-side comparison between Flukes IR thermometers and Flirs E4. I have noticed watching your videos that you say the word "actual" quite a bit. I wanted to point that out simply as a bit of friendly criticism.
***** Dear Sir. Thank you for your feedback on my grammar. As you can probably tell, I don't write for a living. However, Martin does speak in front of a camera for a living. It is hard to notice personal habits and sometimes another view is helpful. My comment was merely an observation; I posted it neither as a suggestion nor a complaint. Contrary to the popular conception, criticism can be constructive and can exist separately from personal attack.
Martin, Great video and very timely for me as the new lower prices on the Fluke VT models recently caught my eye. However... The price you stated for the Fluke VT04 is not current. They can be bought on Amazon (and many other places) for $629. That would make it hundreds less than the Flir E4, not more as you stated. Therefore a fairer comparison would be the VT04 against the E4. Honestly, looking at your review of the Flir multimeter, I was not impressed with their quality control. I know you've had some issues with Fluke but I still think they're the proven brand. Is it possible to get a VT04 for comparison? Thanks for the videos. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the comparison. Just wanted to know the range of the fluke vt02. For example, if I want to view wildlife or animals in the bush, how far can the fluke detect the hotspots?
forget about observing wildlife with theese cammeras the ir resolution is way to low.. with e4 model on 80x60 u can get range at about 30 yards that is it.... with 320x240 ir resolution and 8x digital zoom i can get about 200m on simmilar cammera you also have to look for the field of wiev... in your case the narower is better all in all u have to look into flir scou ps24 its about 2000$ anything less is usless
I couldn't help but notice the temperature reading, especially on your wall with the picture, seemed to be pretty different between the two units. Do you feel one was more accurate than the other in showing a surface's actual temperature? (Great videos by the way. I love your channel)
Thanks for the feedback. The way I was holding them might be part of the issue so it's best not to judge by this video. I hope to do a full review in the future and then I'll use a better target (known temp) and compare. Cheers, Martin.
Very good and helpful review. However, your way to calculate temperature measurement error at 50,120 and 250 degrees Celsius is completely wrong. You selected wrong reference point - in our universe the only ref point for temperature is zero, but Kelvin, not Celsius. So, all these cameras do not differ so much as you've highlighted in this area. Nevertheless, thank you very much for the most serious and comprehensive test!
only 2 pictures..?? after all just having an cam on the freaking screen, certainly doesn't help a lot to sense a IR-level. even a 32x32 IR sensor can look decent if you just fit it on a very little res-screen. More inseerted pictures. would help a lot.
The VT04 is not radiometric, it uses a seperate ir sensor for the temp spot in the middle. The display is only for pretty colors, no radiometry.The FLIR images are fully radiometric and can be analyzed for diiferent temps in the images. So a complete apples to oranges comparison here....
As Mike demonstrated the E4 can be firmware modified to be an E8 with 320x240 resolution. Then it's suddenly a pretty good deal at 1000$ I'm not sure if Mike has shared how to do it though. I think the MSX is gimmicky bs. I'd prefer the pure thermal and have a momentary button to show the visual image. The gun style layout of the products is also bs. That's legacy irrationality at best. The huge carrying cases is also bs. When thermal was a 30k$ device then sure it could have a large case for showmanship reasons but sub 1000$ devices don't warrant any such theatrics nonsense. Ultimately I think it speaks great volumes about the douchiness of FLIR and how massively overpriced the products are that there is a 320x240 sensors in all of them and they just differentiate them with firmware. If most of the models they sell are E4s and knowing the profit margins in companies like these then the sensor can't cost more than 100$ a piece. So what they could do is make it a great mass market product at 499$ with 320x240 resolution so millions will buy them but instead they choose short sighted unwise greed and hold the entire world back decades. It's so stupid. You see the same pattern over and over again in new technologies. They want to hold on to super high prices for as long as they can never stopping to realize that because of it they only sell very very few of them when they could make the same money or much more by aiming for mass production with mass production prices. Oled is a good example. It's seemingly cheaper and simpler to make than LCD yet they have been stalling that for many years and they want absolutely ridiculous prices for the few products available so far.
FLIR is specialized on Thermal imaging. FLUKE makes scopes and DMM's so they dont have so much time/money to design a proper thermal camera. i preffer FLIR.
Did you upgrade the firmware from the E4 to the E8? hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4-thermal-camera-hacked-to-perform-as-high-end-model/
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You sir are very good at what you do. I really enjoy watching your programs. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the feedback.
so good that even a +20% difference between these two microbolometer sensors, doesn't ring a bell or get any mention at all..
but yeah 20 to 25% difference between two brand-names that is sold on their specs & accuracy.. who cares.
The E4 is sold with a max +/-2 degree accuracy difference, and the Fluke VT02 is likewise also braging a 2% accuracy specs difference from reference.
so something doesn't add up, and could have been relevant to digg into that..
One correction. at 19:00 you talk about how the Flir cannot be captured or monitored, and also mention the alarm feature of the vt04. The alarm part is one thing, but what you don't mention is that the Flir E5, through it's usb charging port, can be hooked up to a PC and is instantly recognized as a regular web cam. And this is really cool because you can then just run many of the widely available software that can record webcams. So for example I set mine up at the beginning of a rain storm, pointing at a skylight and made a 3 hour recording. I then played this back in windows and could drag the slider back and forth and watch where the leak started. I feel pretty sure the E4 would also allow it to turn into a web cam. All I did was plug it into the usb port while on, and software in windows saw it as a camera. Also the E5 has a mode to allow full blending between thermal and pictures (or video if you use it as a web cam.. and you don't have to broadcast over the web if you don't want to of course. just record it)
Fantastic review. Very comprehensive and thorough and influenced my buying decision.
Very illustrative. I already took my purchasing decision based on this video. Thank you
UrbanAlien Andy My pleasure, glad it helped.
Excellent comparison Martin! I hope Fluke and FLIR enjoyed the feedback, you pointed out lots of useful features/issues.
Thanks for the valuable perspective on the two models. Much appreciated
I see a potential value in the use by chiropractors such as myself. I often use an IR digital thermometer to determine the relative heat of an inflamed knee or elbow, for example, but with either of these units giving me the ability to 'visually scan AND record' problematic areas of the body - awesome! I may never have seen this if I didn't subscribe to your excellent videos! Thanks, Martin!
Hi Robert, medical use of thermal imagers is a growing area. Vets in particular are using them in equine diagnosis, sprains etc. There is research that seems to show that thermology is being used for early diagnosis of breast cancer.
A very handy tool if used correctly. Thanks for your post.
Cheers, Martin.
Fluke repriced the VT02 (after Black Friday) to about $250 (see Amazon), so priced at the mid-high end IR thermometers and much lower than the FLIR. As part of the price drop it no longer comes with the hard case, and comes with a soft (I guess: cheaper) case instead. At that price, (IMHO) it becomes a more value option for hobbyists looking for something a bit better than an IR thermometer.
Thanks Martin, great video... Would love to see more of the E4, potential uses, etc.
Brilliant review! and much better than either manufacturers efforts! I bought the FLUKE VT02 As its perfect for my work as an Electrical tester as the feild of veiws pretty narrow. Im utterly delighted with it especially as it only cost £200 uk. Many thanks for the fab review! ..All the best DAVESOUNDS
Excellent review, thank you!
Thanks for this video, Very helpful for deciding which thermal imaging camera to buy. I have been thinking of getting one of these to diagnose water leaks and blockages in heating systems. With this comparison it has been easy to decide and the flir E4 has now been ordered. Thanks
yes been looking into thermal Imagers bit pricey
Your video was super informative and very helpfull so thanks man
FLIR is coming out with a Thermal Imager that will attach to an iPhone, announced at CES 2014. Cost is projected to be $349. Looks very cool...
Here is the link... www1.flircs.com/flirone/
The Flir E4 have a 320x240 IR resolution, same hardware as E8. This is only blocked by software-settings, but a way to change that exists.
Great review! Thanks!
definitely would like to see a review of the step up models.
Also possibly the FLIR One? I'd be in the price point of the Fluke VT02 aside from needing an iPhone to pair with it
with the price reduction of the VT04, it would be a better comparison than the VT02 which is now half the price of the E4...as would their upcoming VT06 may be even a better comparison. Thanks for the information.
First of all, thank you so much Mr. Lorton for your videos. In my country I see an opportunity to provide solutions for buildings in some problems such as moisture on ceilings and walls. I want to venture into such services and do not know which equipment to buy and see that both brands are expensive, but is cheaper than FLIR FLUKE. I do not know which one I need to buy. What is your recommendation for a person who wants to provide economical solutions for the correction of moisture and energy loss?
Great video.
Great comparison Martin :-), I like the FLIR. Reminds me of an image at work near my computer of a dog taken with a FLIR camera. We developed some thermal images (high end model FLIR) for a customer some years ago on photo paper and I keept this one :-). The FLIRs have really nice resolution and image quality, can say this for sure - would like to have one some day. The Fluke is a little bit disapointing, price is hot, but the temperature resolution looks really not so good. But nice sd card feature and glad to see that the prices come down for such gear.
Thanks for the post!
Great product review's, but two different tools, at two different price points. TheFluke is a virtual thermometer, while the Flir is a thermal imager. This was kind of like comparing a Monte Carlo SS to a Corvette, both great cars but no comparison. Even if you stepped up to a Fluke VT04, it would still be like comparing a Camaro to a Corvette. Still very good info, thanks.
Thank you....... I'm going to buy an E4
I like you videos and Ive been wanting to see a side-by-side comparison between Flukes IR thermometers and Flirs E4.
I have noticed watching your videos that you say the word "actual" quite a bit. I wanted to point that out simply as a bit of friendly criticism.
***** Dear Sir. Thank you for your feedback on my grammar. As you can probably tell, I don't write for a living. However, Martin does speak in front of a camera for a living. It is hard to notice personal habits and sometimes another view is helpful. My comment was merely an observation; I posted it neither as a suggestion nor a complaint. Contrary to the popular conception, criticism can be constructive and can exist separately from personal attack.
Excellent. Thank You.
Martin,
Great video and very timely for me as the new lower prices on the Fluke VT models recently caught my eye. However...
The price you stated for the Fluke VT04 is not current. They can be bought on Amazon (and many other places) for $629. That would make it hundreds less than the Flir E4, not more as you stated. Therefore a fairer comparison would be the VT04 against the E4.
Honestly, looking at your review of the Flir multimeter, I was not impressed with their quality control. I know you've had some issues with Fluke but I still think they're the proven brand. Is it possible to get a VT04 for comparison?
Thanks for the videos. Keep up the good work.
Aaah, ok...thanks for the info and post.
Why are the indicated temps so different.
is there a calibration test for the two cameras
HI. What cameras would you recommend for scanning or imaging of utility distribution system from 33kV overhead lines to 33/11kV substations?
Thanks ! Great video, except that it could be much shorter.
10:00 to 15:00 tells the whole story.
I wonder what you think of the Dewalt and Milwaukee thermal imagers? The dewalt is under a grand in the U.K but is it a quality device?
Do you think FLIR E4 can see movement of warm air, like thermals ?
Thank you !!
How long have you been using thermal cameras?
Thanks for this, just wondering if any capture video or are they just stills?
What kind of watt meter is it in the background?
flir one review?
Thanks for the comparison. Just wanted to know the range of the fluke vt02. For example, if I want to view wildlife or animals in the bush, how far can the fluke detect the hotspots?
forget about observing wildlife with theese cammeras the ir resolution is way to low.. with e4 model on 80x60 u can get range at about 30 yards that is it.... with 320x240 ir resolution and 8x digital zoom i can get about 200m on simmilar cammera you also have to look for the field of wiev... in your case the narower is better all in all u have to look into flir scou ps24 its about 2000$ anything less is usless
I couldn't help but notice the temperature reading, especially on your wall with the picture, seemed to be pretty different between the two units. Do you feel one was more accurate than the other in showing a surface's actual temperature? (Great videos by the way. I love your channel)
Thanks for the feedback. The way I was holding them might be part of the issue so it's best not to judge by this video. I hope to do a full review in the future and then I'll use a better target (known temp) and compare. Cheers, Martin.
+Scott Brandt
The Flir has a wider field of view. The temperature indicated is the average of the full picture.
Which would you buy? Vt04 or flit?
Hi sir. Do these imagers detect water pipes?
Does anybody know if the E4 is good enough for home termite inspection?, would be a significant reason for buying one. Great video btw.
I have found carpenter ants in my walls with a Flir i5. The heat generated by the ants was enough to be picked by the camera.
Very good and helpful review. However, your way to calculate temperature measurement error at 50,120 and 250 degrees Celsius is completely wrong. You selected wrong reference point - in our universe the only ref point for temperature is zero, but Kelvin, not Celsius. So, all these cameras do not differ so much as you've highlighted in this area. Nevertheless, thank you very much for the most serious and comprehensive test!
only 2 pictures..?? after all just having an cam on the freaking screen, certainly doesn't help a lot to sense a IR-level.
even a 32x32 IR sensor can look decent if you just fit it on a very little res-screen.
More inseerted pictures. would help a lot.
Does this stuff able to detect PVC pipe leak hidden in brick walls by running through some heated water across?
Not really, since the brick wall will act as an insulator from the heat of the PVC pipe...
Johnny What would u suggest to detect something behind a brick wall?
ss yap I don't know... beside an x-ray machine!!
Maybe a bore-scope, these little cameras?
I cant understan good english but I think e4 is best thank you
The VT04 is not radiometric, it uses a seperate ir sensor for the temp spot in the middle. The display is only for pretty colors, no radiometry.The FLIR images are fully radiometric and can be analyzed for diiferent temps in the images. So a complete apples to oranges comparison here....
As Mike demonstrated the E4 can be firmware modified to be an E8 with 320x240 resolution. Then it's suddenly a pretty good deal at 1000$
I'm not sure if Mike has shared how to do it though.
I think the MSX is gimmicky bs. I'd prefer the pure thermal and have a momentary button to show the visual image.
The gun style layout of the products is also bs. That's legacy irrationality at best. The huge carrying cases is also bs. When thermal was a 30k$ device then sure it could have a large case for showmanship reasons but sub 1000$ devices don't warrant any such theatrics nonsense.
Ultimately I think it speaks great volumes about the douchiness of FLIR and how massively overpriced the products are that there is a 320x240 sensors in all of them and they just differentiate them with firmware.
If most of the models they sell are E4s and knowing the profit margins in companies like these then the sensor can't cost more than 100$ a piece.
So what they could do is make it a great mass market product at 499$ with 320x240 resolution so millions will buy them but instead they choose short sighted unwise greed and hold the entire world back decades. It's so stupid.
You see the same pattern over and over again in new technologies. They want to hold on to super high prices for as long as they can never stopping to realize that because of it they only sell very very few of them when they could make the same money or much more by aiming for mass production with mass production prices.
Oled is a good example. It's seemingly cheaper and simpler to make than LCD yet they have been stalling that for many years and they want absolutely ridiculous prices for the few products available so far.
FLIR is specialized on Thermal imaging. FLUKE makes scopes and DMM's so they dont have so much time/money to design a proper thermal camera. i preffer FLIR.
Did you upgrade the firmware from the E4 to the E8? hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4-thermal-camera-hacked-to-perform-as-high-end-model/
"special msx" = photoshop emboss filter
Totally unfair comparison.