As a homeowner, there is no greater fear than unexpected electrical or plumbing issues. A lot of times, walls are in the way of these issues, so you won’t even know that there is something wrong until its too late. Many professionals use thermal cameras to spot these hidden problems, but for the most part, these are expensive pieces of equipment and not something everyone would have access to. Enter the new Magic and Magic Pro from Rision, thermal cameras that you plug into your smartphone (or tablet), allowing you to see all sorts of things.
Starting at just $139, you plug the Magic camera into your phone’s USB port, then open the Rision app. The app has all sorts of capabilities. You can change the color palette to what suits your needs (12 to choose from), get real-time temperature and waveform tracking, and different viewing modes like Infrared and PiP. The sensor itself has a range of -20°C to 600°C. For most jobs, like home inspection, HVAC, or pipe inspection, that should be more than suitable.
The units are incredibly compact and light, measuring about 60 × 42 × 10mm and made from an aerospace-grade alloy. Since all of the unit’s power comes from your connected device, it has no battery of its own, helping to keep it extremely light.
Of course, after giving my own home the once over with the camera, my mind immediately went to wanting to recreate scenes from the Predator. I can’t help it. Watch a short video of Rision in action that I captured here of my sink.
Magic is priced at $139 MSRP ($119 currently), available for purchase now. Magic Pro has quite a few more features and higher resolution camera. It is priced at $299 (cheaper during current pre-order period) with full details available via the links below.
