Flir One Edge Pro

Aug 16, 2023

The Flir One ($229.99) and the Flir One Pro ($449.99) put thermal imaging within reach of consumers by offering relatively inexpensive cameras that plug directly into your phone's Lightning or USB-C ports. The $599.99 One Edge Pro takes the concept a step further with a clip-on design that doesn't require a physical connection and instead feeds the camera's live video to your phone wirelessly. It's a clever idea, since it lets you put the camera in awkward spaces and view the image on your phone from a more comfortable position. However, the wireless performance is exceptionally laggy, and that makes it a poor alternative to the much more consistent Flir One Pro.

The One Edge Pro is an L-shaped rubber bar with a spring-loaded metal tab at the top. It measures 1.5 by 1.4 by 5.9 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.4 ounces. Your phone tucks into the bottom of the L and is gripped in place by the metal tab, which can adjust to hold phones between about 5 inches to 7.5 inches tall. The spring tension of the metal tab and the rubber grip ensures that the camera won't go flying as you wave your phone around.

A rectangular bump near the top of the One Edge Pro contains the two cameras, which include a circular cutout for the thermal core and a more conventional smartphone-style camera for visuals. A power button positioned below the bump turns the camera on and off, and three LEDs indicate the camera's status. A USB-C port on the right side is for charging. Flir estimates battery life runs up to one and a half hours. That doesn't sound like much, but it's longer than the Flir One Pro's single hour of battery life.

The thermal core on the One Edge Pro is identical to the one used by the Flir One Pro. It has a resolution of 160 by 120 pixels and two selectable temperature ranges of -4 to 248 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 to 120 degrees Celsius) and 32 to 752 degrees Fahrenheit (0 to 400 degrees Celsius). It's accurate to within 3 degrees Celsius, or 5%.

Like other Flir One cameras, the One Edge Pro uses a second, visual camera to offer a hybrid MSX view that combines the low-resolution thermal imaging with object contours detected with the higher-resolution conventional camera. Strangely, the One Edge Pro's non-thermal camera is inferior to both the Flir One and Flir One Pro's cameras. It has a resolution of only 640 by 480, compared with the plug-in cameras’ 1,440 by 1,080 pixels. Its fixed focus also begins at about a foot, twice as far as the others’ six-inch minimum focus. Considering that the One Edge Pro is both larger and more expensive than the other devices, it's disappointing that its visual camera is such a step back.

The camera is more rugged than the Flir One and Flir One Pro, but only slightly. Its solid, rubber-coated form is rated to survive a 6.6-foot drop compared with a 5.0-foot drop for the other cameras. It also meets an IP54 rating so it can handle drips and splashes, though it isn't designed to be rinsed off under a faucet or submerged.

The One Edge Pro uses the same Flir One app (available for Android and iOS) as the Flir One and the Flir One Pro. Connecting the camera to your phone wirelessly via the app is simple: Turn on the camera, then open the app, which should automatically detect the camera and prompt you to join its ad hoc Wi-Fi network. An iPhone 12 easily detected the camera, and after I updated the firmware, connections between the two were relatively quick.

The Flir One app offers a live display of the One Edge Pro's camera in MSX view by default, combining the thermal and visual feeds into one picture. You can customize this view in a variety of ways, including showing just the thermal or just the visual pictures, using any of several color palettes for the thermal information, and setting the temperature range to one of the two aforementioned settings.

The app also connects to Flir Ignite, Flir's cloud storage service, which offers 1GB for free (and can be upgraded to 100GB for $120 per year). The cloud storage works with Flir's Ignite Sync for Windows to download images from the camera. Flir also offers Flir Thermal Suite software for Windows, which has a free version you can use to view and edit your thermal data. Subscriptions to enable additional features like custom image overlays, report templates, and panoramic shots are available at $208.99 and $418.99 per year. None of these programs are available for macOS, so you’ll have to rely on your phone's gallery to upload and share anything you shoot with the camera.

I used the One Edge Pro to scan my apartment for leaks around the windows and air conditioners to see if cold air was getting in. I also checked my kitchen plumbing for any drips by running hot water through the sink. In both cases, the camera showed helpful thermal information, like how the air conditioner itself and the material between it and the window frame were cold, but that there weren't cold spots that indicated leaks. I also scanned my stove with the burner running to check the high temperature range mode. Scanning the windows and stove was easy enough with the camera clipped to my phone. Being able to remove the camera and wave it under the sink while holding my phone normally saved me some neck pain.

The pictures the One Edge Pro provides are about as good as those from the Flir One Pro, which is unsurprising because they use the same thermal imager. The lower-resolution visual camera isn't as sharp if you view in visual-only mode, but in MSX mode the two devices seem to identify and outline contours well.

The ability to use the camera as a separate device wirelessly connected to your phone is the biggest appeal of the One Edge Pro—and its biggest weakness. If you’re trying to get a good picture in a crack between appliances or at a spot high above you, it's useful to just move the camera while you keep the phone in a comfortable position.

The ergonomic advantage in this instance isn't enough to make up for the shortcomings of the wireless connection that make it possible. I found the live video feed to be laggy and jerky, forcing me to wait seconds at a time when trying to position the camera at a good angle. The thermal imager only scans 8.7 times per second and must occasionally "hiccup" to calibrate the temperature range. The lag I saw with the Edge Pro, however, went far beyond these technically necessary quirks, particularly in comparison with the Flir One and Flir One Pro.

While the idea of a wireless thermal camera that can operate without a tether sounds promising, the execution here is lacking. The lower visual resolution of the Flir One Edge isn't a problem, but the lag the wireless connection introduces makes it an inferior tool compared with the cheaper Flir One Pro. If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive thermal camera for home repair or even small business use, either of Flir's plug-in phone cameras are better alternatives for their responsiveness, with the Flir One Pro offering the best picture of the three.