🔍 See the unseen with HIKMICRO Pocket2!
The HIKMICRO Pocket2 is a cutting-edge thermal imaging camera featuring a 256 x 192 IR resolution, an 8MP visual camera, and a robust design that withstands tough conditions. With a 3.5" touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a temperature range of -4°F to 752°F, it’s perfect for professionals needing reliable thermal analysis and documentation.
C**T
Best-in-class camera for home/damage inspections!
Overall, this is impressive camera, I am quite happy with the quality and the features. I am a home inspector and water/fire damage mitigation inspector so I use this almost everyday, and here's what I can honestly say about my Pocket2....-The Unit: The physical unit is well built, it feels solid in your hands with a nice non-slip coating. It lacks the heavy rubber overmolding some similar form factor cameras have, but actually like that. The touchscreen is accurate and very responsive, and buttons feel great and are 'clicky' and not difficult to depress. Comes with a nice semi- hardside zippered case with a velcro strap so it won't slide out when you unzip it.-The Pictures: Comparatively, you won't find another camera with this level of definition in this price range. Over the years I have been a FLIR guy and though I always would be, since using this camera, I wouldn't look back. I have used the FLIR One, E8, C3-X & C5 and I feel this camera has better definition than any of those, at a slightly cheaper price. Obviously you came get more powerful camera from flir, but not without spending thousands on dollars. For 600$, you won't find another camera that can give you this level of thermal resolution. The standard color range camera is alright, I wouldn't use it to take my regular inspection photos, but it work great in hybrid mode to give you an accurate overlay of what you are looking at over the thermal image. Used in combo with a laser thermometer, I have found it's temp range it be very accurate, within +/- 2 degress F° usually, once you have dialed in your emissivity settings.-The software: If you have used a C5, it's quite similar. Your 3 touch buttons on the right of the screen, and a touch pull-down menu. I have found it to be faster and more responsive than the C5 though, less waiting for the camera to process your interaction. Menu setting are straight forward and pretty easy to make quick changes to emissivity or color palettes. As with all thermal cameras, it can take a few seconds to calibrate, especially if you point and something in a totally different temp range. It takes 1-2 seconds to lock in a picture once you press the shutter button, objectively faster than my C5. It's easy to quickly get to the galley a switch between true color and infrared versions of an image.-The App: The HIKMicro viewer app is pretty decent. I have only used the android version so I can't speak to the apple application. I use it on my samsung fold 5 and Galaxy 10+ tab, both work without issue. Connecting to the camera work well most of the time, via Bluetooth or wifi. It takes a minute to set up, and have device and the camera par, and you have go through the motions every time you turn the Pocket2 on, but once it's paired, it pretty seamless. It easy to download your pics from the camera to your device, although you have to do it one by one. I do wish the camera could accept a SD card, or allow for batch to transfer of photos, but it's still usable in its current setup, just takes an extra minute or two to get all your pics downloaded. The thermal image analyzer is not as powerful as FLIRs version, but it's fine for basic reports. One thing I love is once the camera is pared to your device, it live streams. I will connect my tablet to the camera, and hand the tablet to a customer to watch so I can point things out to them without having them breathing down my neck to see the little screen on the camera.-Features: It has the standard array of color palettes, i usually use iron, but it easy to switch and you can change the palette after you take the picture, which is nice. The camera does have a flashlight, it's not enough to really light your way in an attic or crawlspace, but it can give just enough light to allow for the normal camera to pick up a small amount of definition to overlay onto the thermal image.-The verdict: Not quite powerful enough for heavy industrial or scientific work, but is absolutely perfect for basic home inspections, water damage, automotive work, PC and server maintenance, and other standard thermal applications. You won't regret your purchase. I have used this exclusively since I got it and my FLIR units are just collecting dust. I am very happy with the camera, its build and image quality, and am yet to run into significant, or even minor issues. I would definitely recommend this camera as a technician's primary thermal imager.
M**R
Excellent bang for the buck!
This is a fantastic alternative to the underwhelming and outdated FLIR C5 Pocket Cam.If you are in the market for one of these thermal cameras, you need to be aware of some things about them *In General*.A. These cameras are only as good as the parameters you plug in. So if you are seeing disparate temps, then you need to check both your emissivity and humidity settings. Of course other settings can be adjusted for corrections to thermal inaccuracies but that is outside the scope of this review.B. HIKmicro recommends sending this camera in every year for calibration. Keep this in mind before buying it. This is a tool, not a toy. While it can certainly be used as a toy, to get accurate data from it, it needs to be maintained as the delicate instrument it is.C. HIKmicro confuses people by having different firmware versions on their website and in their HIKviewer application. For example, I can go download one firmware version from the HIK website and manually install it, then connect to the HIKviewer and I am notified of a slightly newer firmware where you can simply install the newer version of firmware through the app.Note 1: BE VERY CAREFUL installing firmware through the app. If any data corruption occurs when transferring the firmware to the Pocket 2, then it could brick your device. You are better off installing the slightly older firmware with the Pocket 2 connected to a USB C cable as a mass storage device than risking bricking your expensive camera with a poor data transfer to the camera over your network.The camera is VERY SIMPLE TO USE and doesn't even require reading the manual. It's very common sense to figure it out, but if you don't understand thermal cameras, the manual is still a good idea.REMEMBER: One of the reasons your temps may be off are because your emissivity isn't set correctly. Physics apply here, convection plays a part in everything too. The camera may show spurious temperature readings if you don't set the humidity and emissivity correctly.The camera has a VERY COOL blending feature that allows you to take regular photos with varying degrees of thermal overlay transparency, 50%, 75%, and 100%. 50% allows you to see a photo of the object(s) you're photographing while still showing thermal camera data. It's a very cool feature and is HIK's answer to what Seek is doing on their cameras.From what I can tell, the camera DOES NOT allow you to record sound when shooting video. Of course there are a number of workarounds for this, but keep this in mind. If I am mistaken about this, I will correct this in the future.The camera is extremely sensitive and does an excellent job of seeking and locking on to the hottest, coldest, and peak mid range temps. It's quite accurate.Note 2: Do yourself a favor and TURN OFF WLAN, Bluetooth, and Hotspot modes to improve battery life. The battery life is excellent but you have to be reasonable. The camera must constantly calibrate itself to give you the best looking image possible. THIS IS ALL THERMAL CAMERAS AND MONOCULARS (I have a $3500 thermal monocular and it does the same thing as this little guy). Point is, calibration and communications will eat any battery.TIP: Though only 8 megapixel in camera, you can upscale these images in Topaz Gigapixel or Topaz Photo AI.I actually bought this camera to tune scientifically to perform a paranormal investigation into San Diego's Whaley House.Good luck!
A**R
Update: Battery died after 8 months, will not charge.
Overall I have been satisfied with the camera during my use of it, up until it stopped working after 8 months. I have sent multiple emails to Hikmicro customer support. At first they responded to my emails and asked me to send info about the unit and date of purchase. After I sent that info they haven’t said anything. It’s been almost 2 weeks now without any response. I use my thermal camera daily for work, and if they won’t even respond to my emails, I don’t think I’ll be buying any more products from this company. Especially considering it should be under warranty. Very disappointed. It’s not the charger, the battery seems to have failed.Update: Hikmicro eventually got back to me and did offer me a replacement with an Open Box unit. After just over a month from my initial email, they made things right. Not happy it took so long but I am happy they did send a replacement unit.
W**T
Incredible value!
This unit works so well. It has multiple color palettes and thermal color choices. You are able to link to its own hotspot wirelessly and download. The only unique thing is that while it does have a usb-c input/output, you cannot connect it via usb-c to usb-c. You have to use a regular usb to usb- c cord and it will work fine.
T**
Review of thermal camera
This is an absolutely amazing tool that has been very valuable, could be used inside or outside on hikes and does an excellent job in harsh conditions and has been very durable
Trustpilot
2 days ago
2 months ago