FLIR One Brings Thermal Imaging To Your iPhone 5

The ability to see and capture thermal images may seem like it’s not all that interesting at first blush, as selfies and food pics don’t necessarily look all that great when snapped with an infrared camera, but if you sit and think about it for a minute, you can start imagining more than a few use cases.

Checking for this or that when doing home improvements? Looking for a lost pet or child at night? Need a quick and handy tool in a number of professional environments? And so on.

FLIR One

FLIR is a company that has developed a “personal thermal imager”, a camera that slots onto an iPhone 5 called the FLIR One. The FLIR One has its own battery, and it’s biggest hook is that it combines a photo with a thermal image to give you a clearer picture of what you’re looking at.

The device goes up for presale today on FLIR’s website with a price tag of $$349.99, which should limit it to professionals and hardcore DIYers at first, but it’s still quite an intriguing product. If nothing else, check out FLIR’s simulator. (Cool, huh?)