Looking for an IR camera for home inspections and not looking to upgrade once I purchase something. These three are on my radar - which would you pick? Does another brand offer better price/performance?
Great reading Jeff
Just bought the FLIR E8 camera. Great resolution, super easy to set up and function. My first. Bought it from Black and Associates. www.tomblack.com 410-472-2416
With the current FLIR deals in place I paid well under the advertised $3995 price.
The camera specs are more than adequate for home inspection and are in fact strong enough for other types of inspection. Am looking forward to using it in my business.
Where did you get your training? Online or in person?
I took the Nachi certification course, webinar. 2 days on a weekend 8 to 6. $400
Im going to follow up with the Level I Thermography course.
Nachi offers a good intro course. It does teach all the basics of how and why. But would like to get the more identifiable Level I course.
I took the Nachi certification course, webinar. 2 days on a weekend 8 to 6. $400
Im going to follow up with the Level I Thermography course.
Nachi offers a good intro course. It does teach all the basics of how and why. But would like to get the more identifiable Level I course.
Found this place to get the Level I and Level II courses online plus they offer a military discount. Bonus. http://www.infraspection.com/
Two different animals… E8 has point/shoot and that’s a plus and minus. The extra resolution and wider angle is a plus over the E40/BX, but that’s where it ends IMO.
Manual level and span, wifi/bluetooth, VIDEO, manual temp calibration/NUC right before some pics (for temperature)… IMO, the EXX/BX are more professional IMO. Last I checked, sensitivity on the EXX/BX models is .045…
I’m sure you’d be happy with either, how much more is an E50? You’d have better resolution, almost as good sensitivity .05 as the BX models and a larger temp span. However, you’ll notice that the BX versions all have different “alarms” for dewpoint/insulation etc. Not sure, but you can also use Iso’s in the E (I think) from manual parameters taken with RH/Temp etc.
Confusing, eh?
Back to work I go, good luck.
For home inspections is the key in my book. The E8 is a good price point, E8’s incredible 320×240 detector with 76,800 pixels, Temperature range from -4°F to 482°F (-20°C to 250°C), Variable emissivity and reflected temperature parameters for detection accuracy all make for a good home inspectors entry camera. Now down the road are you going to want to do something more outside the home inspection box? if so a more sophisticated camera might be the right choice. However, with tech changing so fast anymore what you will pay big bucks for now will undoubtedly be cheaper and lacking in tech in the future.
Just my 2 cents
If you need to do close up imaging, don’t get a fixed lens like the Ex series. They cant focus much closer than a meter away. The Exx series has a manual focus and is more versatile.
I honestly would stay away from Flir my camera is a piece of absolute crap. It freezes all the time; froze up 6 times yesterday on the job and took me over an hour just to deal with it. Flir it terrible with their customers, they always say that can’t reproduce the freeze and just send it back without fixing anything.
Any one every do a comparative thermal imaging with the E8 and the Fluke ti32 or the Ti400 on the same object?
I have tried several cameras.
I personally did not like the Flir E8 and the Flir Ti420.
To each their own remember.
My fluke Ti100 was getting some great thermograms but I required a better image.
Ti100 thermogram
Ti300 thermograms
The thermal camera is 240 X 180
.050 or 50mk
As for education. Infraspecton institute offers home inspectors building inspection course at $200.
It was $1,600 and now $1,200 hundred dollars and $200 for InterNACHI members.
That $200 I suspect pays for the materials you receive, a binder with training to follow, an one gallon tin with 3 types of tape, networked distance learning at Brainshark,and registering you.
I suspect they are changing 4 quarters for a dollar and maybe even losing money.
Level 1, 2 and 3 are all offered with building envelope course, roofing and more…
They offer IR templates and PCA agreements.
I very professional course and Educational institute…
I will not be changing educators.
Jim S. is quite a man.