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Debate: Is it worth paying $400 for a thermal imaging camera or just a waste?
I dropped $400 on a Flir thermal camera last month to track down a weird overheating issue on a gaming rig. It found a bad VRM in like 2 minutes flat, saved me hours of guessing. But honestly, for the other 99% of my jobs, a multimeter does the same thing. Did that purchase pay off or did I burn cash? Anyone else buy one of these and regret it or love it?
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taylorc402d agoMost Upvoted
You said "a multimeter does the same thing" and honestly that's mostly true for standard electrical work. But that Flir saved you a ton of time on that specific job, which kinda proves its value for niche troubleshooting. For most techs it's a luxury tool, but if you do enough builds or repairs with tricky heat issues it pays for itself eventually.
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sarah8181d ago
I get what you're saying but that part about "most techs it's a luxury tool" isn't totally right. Actually a thermal camera is becoming pretty standard for anyone doing electrical panels or industrial stuff, not just niche heat issues. You can spot a loose connection or an overloaded circuit in seconds just by looking at the panel cover, which a multimeter can't do without poking around live wires. So it's not really a luxury anymore for people who do this kind of work regularly. It's more like a time saver that also keeps you safer.
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