Key takeaways

• HSFTools' HF96V thermal camera is available now for$219, with a$50 off coupon on Amazon.
• It has a broad temperature range and a high level of accuracy with an eight-hour battery life.
• It has an IP54 rating for dust and water-resistance, but it's not waterproof.

$219.99 at Amazon

Regular readers will know that I am a little obsessed with thermal imaging cameras. I regularly use them built into smartphones, those that can be attached to smartphones, and standalone cameras. I use them for everything from spotting failing components on circuit boards, finding leaking pipes, finding spots in houses where heat is leaking, and problems with car brakes or cooling systems.

I'm always finding new uses for my thermal cameras. Personally, I prefer standalone ones because they are perfect for throwing into a toolbag, and are always there when you need them. 

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Problem is, a lot of the standalone cameras are expensive, especially if you want one with decent accuracy and thermal range. But sometimes you come across one with said accuracy but without the hefty price tag -- one such example is theHF96V from HSFTools .

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HSFTools HF96V

The HF96V is a dual-camera thermal imager with a broad temperature range and high level of accuracy. 

details

View at Amazon

The HF96V features a 96 x 96 IR camera along with a 640 x 480 visible camera to offer three imaging modes: thermal only, visual only, and fusion. If that 96 x 96 thermal camera sounds rather meager, don't worry, because the image is upscaled to 240 x 240 in real-time, and it updates at a speed of 25Hz (that's 25 times a second).  

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The thermal image camera has a 50-degree field of view, wide enough to provide broad coverage during scanning but narrow enough to isolate specific components. It also has a wide temperature range from -4