FLIR One Edge Pro: infrared camera for your smartphone

At the moment there are only a handful of smartphones that support infrared photography. Are you attached to your smartphone, but still want an infrared camera? Then the FLIR One Edge Pro is a good option.

Why do you want an infrared camera?

An infrared camera detects the infrared radiation. Infrared radiation is heat radiation. As humans, we cannot see infrared radiation, but we can feel it in the form of heat.

For example, with an infrared camera you can see exactly whether a cup of coffee is hot or cold. Whether the pan with frying oil is already up to temperature. Whether a parked car has been there for a long time, or only recently. You can also see exactly where the heat leaks are in a house just after sunrise if there has been a cold night.

With an infrared camera you can also see the footprints of someone who passed by a few seconds ago. And if your cat or dog has the annoying habit of running away at night, you can easily discover it in the dark thanks to an infrared drawing. Technicians discover heat leaks thanks to an infrared camera.

In short: there is a good chance that you will find a FLIR One Edge Pro or other infrared camera handy.

FLIR One Edge Pro, interchangeable infrared camera

At the moment there is only one telephone for sale in the Netherlands with a built-in infrared camera: the Cat S62 Pro. Although this phone, in addition to an infrared camera, is also indestructible, the design (with the somewhat lagging hardware performance) may not appeal to everyone. Then the best solution is to buy a separate infrared camera. This has the additional advantage that you can use it on any phone. Even if you switch to a new telephone, you can still use your purchased infrared camera.

In this review we discuss the FLIR One Edge Pro infrared camera that you can charge in the USB port of your phone. This infrared camera is from FLIR, the same brand as the supplier of the Cat 62 Pro infrared camera. In that respect, the technical performances are therefore broadly comparable.

Connection via Wi-Fi

Unlike most infrared cameras, you can only have the FLIR One Edge Pro send images to the phone via WiFi. That is strange, because it is obvious that the same USB cable with which you can charge the camera can also send data back and forth. Most other manufacturers have made this obvious designer choice.

The camera is a slim and thin module, just under 15 cm long and about 4 cm wide. The module is shaped like a C, with an upper arm with which it can be clamped to your phone. The system works with both Android and iPhone devices, and therefore presumably with all smartphones that support WiFi and the FLIR app.

Camera works for an hour and a half on internal battery

The camera can be mounted anywhere, even at some distance from the phone. This makes it possible to observe a warm object at a distance.

Because the compact camera can be detached, you can use it in places where a smartphone cannot be used. Useful for inspections. The camera works for an hour and a half on the internal battery, longer if it is equipped with an external power bank. The camera can be charged in one hour.

Compared to an optical camera, a low resolution

An infrared camera is less sharp than we, spoiled as we are, are used to with optical cameras. For example, this FLIR One Edge Pro model is equipped with a maximum resolution of 160 × 120 pixels. Do you want to record an infrared video with it? Then it is limited to 9 frames per second. Which is due to US government restrictions on exports.

There are two temperature bands in which the temperature can be measured: from -20 to 120 and from 0 to 650 degrees Celsius. You can switch between them manually. For example, if you see that the temperature remains at 120 degrees while you are sure that the gas flame is hotter, you can easily switch to the high temperature setting and of course vice versa.

So not very impressive. Do you really want a professional thermal camera? Then you pay more, but these are then available with resolutions up to 1024 x 768 and a temperature range of -40 to 2000 degrees. This flagship model, the FLIR T1020, costs as much as a mid-range car.

FLIR One Edge Pro, a wise purchase?

In principle, this camera can do the same as the FLIR Lepton 3.5 sensor that is built into the Cat 62a Pro. Do you just want a smartphone with an infrared camera? Then it is smarter to buy this smartphone. You also get a very robust model, for about the same price of € 650.

This camera is especially useful for inspections or other applications that you cannot reach with a smartphone. You can attach this IR camera to something and it will show infrared images. The price is quite high compared to the limited functionality you get in return. Do you want a good infrared camera and do you not care much about the price? Then you can consider the purchase. This FLIR One Edge Pro can be handy in tech.