Gadget Review: KAIWEETS KTI-W01 Thermal Imaging Camera

The good folks at Kaiweets have sent me their KTI-W01 Thermal Camera to review. You can use coupon code TEB15 for an exclusive 15% discount.

Let's get this unboxed and working!

Demo

Photos

The photos are stored as JPGs which can be read by any normal graphics program. They also contain the thermal metadata which you can extract with specialist tools.

Here's the full photo taken with the camera. It shows the interior of an office with some computer equipment on a shelf.

You aren't going to get high-resolution photos out of this - 256x192 is what the thermal sensor provides. That's overlayed on a graphic.

It includes different filters so you can see just the thermals, the real image, or a mix of the two.

Because the optical camera is quite some distance from the thermal camera, it doesn't cope well with close ups - as you can see. Luckily, this can be adjusted in the UI by pressing the up and down keys.

Videos

As well as static shots, it will take video - 240x320 resolution and 25fps - well, ish. It looks a bit jerkier than that to me. But it is good enough to see what's going on.

In this video, I've recorded a bath filling up. Towards the end, I've changed the settings so it shows more of the real-colour video with the heat overlayed.

Filesize is about 1.5MB per minute - I've recompressed it for upload. I couldn't see any specific thermal metadata in the video.

Linux

Amusingly, it shows up as 1f3a:1000 Allwinner Technology Prestigio PER3464B ebook reader (Mass storage mode). Nevertheless, the 30GB volume was mountable and had an IMGS/ directory full of JPGs.

There is a Windows app, which I was able to run in PlayOnLinux. It offers a few features, such as being able to change the colour scheme of the photo, and pick out specific temperature points.

What's Great

The integrated lens-cap is is a thoughtful touch. As is the hand-strap and included padded case.

The trigger action feels great and is instantly responsive. There are a bunch of menu options if you like to fiddle with things.

Oh, and it is USB-C! So it will take the same charging and data transfer cable as all your other gadgets.

Overall, a nice package.

Downsides

The button layout is a little odd. The buttons feel nice and are responsive. But I would have expected the "Enter" button to be in the centre of the directional buttons.

It is a little slow booting up - but then, this isn't designed for quick action shots.

After taking a photo or a video, it asks if you want to save it every time. That's a little annoying. There's 30GB of storage and photos are only about 300KB - so it should be good for about 100,000 photos.

The videos are recorded without sound. A cheap microphone would make it easy to narrate what's going on in a shot.

Weirdly, the bundled app doesn't work on videos.

There's no expandable storage - the 30GB is plenty, but sometimes it is easier to shove an SD card into a computer.

Finally, there's no mounting point. Other cameras I've tried have a connector so they can be attached to a tripod. This is strictly hand-held only.

Verdict

This costs £200 - £250 depending on whether the algorithm likes you. Astonishingly, that's cheap for a thermal camera of this quality!

If you're into DIY, or you want to check the thermal efficiency of your home, or you just want to see how hot things are - this is a useful bit of kit. It's sturdy and well built. Dragging images and videos off it is a breeze - even if you don't use the official app.

The interface isn't the greatest thing in the world. But all you need to do is point and click. It's the sort of thing that's unexpectedly handy around the house with all sorts of tasks - from checking if the radiators are balanced, to seeing if a hidden plug is spewing heat.

£200ish isn't cheap cheap. But it is cheap enough that most geeks should have something like this. Also worth buying for community groups who want to check for heat leaks in their properties.

If you are happy with the slight user-interface oddities, and don't need a tripod mount, this is an excellent gadget.

Readers of this blog can use coupon code TEB15 for an exclusive 15% discount.

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