Taking Heat: Selecting the Right TOPDON Thermal Imager
When it comes to repairing vehicles and equipment, there’s no such thing as having too much information at your disposal. “The best tool is information. The more information you have, the better off you are when it comes to fixing a car,” advises Chad Schnitz, vice president of TOPDON USA.
One indispensable tool for gathering information quickly is a thermal imaging tool, like TOPDON’s TC and TS series of thermal imagers. A thermal imaging camera senses heat and displays it as an image. Anything that emits heat can be seen with the thermal imaging camera. A thermal imaging camera can be a huge time saver for diagnosing problems, such as chasing down power draws, circuit board inspection, detecting leaks, and identifying bad bearings or dragging brakes. With a thermal imaging camera, it is possible to pinpoint what is going on without ever getting out a power meter.
This has obvious advantages for automotive technicians, HVAC techs, electricians, home and building inspectors, DIYers, and farmers and ranchers in remote areas far from equipment service centers. But thermal imaging is one of those products where people are still finding new ways to use it. At TOPDON, we constantly hear from people who have found innovative new uses for our thermal imaging tools.
For a compact, portable, and easy-to-use mobile thermal imager, it’s hard to beat TOPDON’s TC001 and TC002. Designed to work with an app for Android/Windows devices and iOS devices, respectively, these imagers can measure a temperature range from -4° to 1022 degrees F (-20 to 550° C). The TC001 and TC002 feature a high-resolution IR camera and multiple color palettes, allowing for a customized display. The TC001 Plus comes with a dual lens thermal imager for highly detailed viewing and impressive resolution. It also features an additional 100W visible light lens.
TOPDON’s newest thermal camera is the TS001, which has an adjustable 9mm lens that covers distances from 0.32 to 1640 feet, ensuring clarity whether objects are close or at a distance. It supports both picture and video capturing, encompassing infrared and dual-light imaging modes.
The TC003 is a cutting-edge tablet-style thermal imager. It has a 5-inch touch screen to show temperature data with clarity and detail, and a 2-megapixel visible light camera. The TC003’s OTG functionality allows it to be used with a variety of external devices, such as endoscopes, oscilloscopes, and USB drives.
TOPDON’s TC004 and TC005 are rugged and durable handheld imagers. Featuring a 2.8-inch high resolution LCD screen, they offer full-day runtime, with powerful integrated batteries delivering 12-15 hours of runtime. The TC005 has four imaging modes, including thermal, dual fusion, visible, and image-in-image.
“The TOPDON TC004 Thermal Imaging Camera is absolutely the best thermal imaging camera I’ve ever used. With its long battery life, I feel comfortable traveling and using it off the grid,” customer Dylan reported in his 5-star review. “The high resolution captures even the slightest temperature differences with impressive clarity.”
If you’re a technician who wants to keep up with the latest innovations and future-proof yourself for the next wave of repair technology, you’ll be glad you added a TOPDON thermal imaging camera to your toolbox. These tools allow you to see more than the human eye can detect and offer a glimpse into the near future where a thermal camera is a standard part of any professional toolkit.