Guide E2+ Thermal Camera Compared to Fluke Ti400

Hey guys, welcome to this thermal camera product review video. Here I have the Guide E2+, which is one of the latest budget handheld models of the manufacturer. Guide is a Chinese manufacturer, but I might say they're producing some quite professional thermographic cameras. You can check their website for reference. First of all, I have to say I really like how Guide is packing their products. The materials are really nice, the packaging looks expensive. It's more like you purchased a cell phone rather than a thermal camera. So what's in the package? The thermal camera with a lanyard, a charger, USB-A to USB-C charging cable, quick start guide, a leaflet with a QR code for downloading additional documents, and a calibration certificate. The camera is well protected with a thick layer of foam. However, the thing I'm missing here is a carry pouch, something to store the camera when it's outside the box. The manufacturing quality is at high level. Of course, I do see a few rough edges here and there, but that's not something to bother you. The product can withstand a drop from two meters high. And speaking about that, I really like how the camera face is protected by those really hard rubberized bumpers. On top of the camera, you can find a rubberized cap hiding the USB-C charging port. There's no slot for an SD card as the camera has a built-in storage of 16 gigabytes. Guide claims an operating time of 11 hours and charging up to 90% in only 2.5. If we take a look at the bottom, there's a thread for attaching the camera to tripod. Finally, the screen and the buttons, which are rubberized, really nice on touch, really well responsive. And the screen, which is 2.4 inches LCD. I would say a pretty standard screen for a handheld thermal camera. I'm sure you already saw the infrared resolution written on its side, 256 by 192 pixels. However, the camera adopts the new infrared perf-clear technology, which enhances the details and reduces the noise, while doing a real-time super-resolution reconstruction, resulting in higher image resolution of 512 by 384 pixels. I think it's finally time to power it on. The camera has four image modes and by default it starts in infrared. Let's see the remaining three modes. Infrared, the current mode. Picture-in-picture. Visual light image mode. And thermal information over visual light image. The camera is well responsive and switching between image modes is super fast. Alongside the four image modes, there are six color palettes. To access them, you have to enter menu, scroll down and select one of the six. And while being here, I might as well show you the rest of the menu. We can access the gallery and review photos and videos. You can see the remaining storage, 13.24 gigabytes. We can activate, deactivate the super-resolution mode. Change the temperature range. Change the emissivity. Activate the center point. Change the temperature units. Activate, deactivate and modify the regions of interest. Temperature alarm. Let's enter the sub-menu. Here we can set custom thresholds for a low temperature and a high temperature alarms. Distance, distance units. How to shut off, blah, blah, blah. Brightness. And here we have a laser. Yes, the camera has a laser. We can activate it. We can also activate the flashlight. We can change the transparency when working in picture-in-picture mode. The resolution of the visual camera. Wi-Fi access point mode. Well, that's all. As you saw, the menu is really comprehensive. But what's even more interesting is that if we access the camera info and press the down button three times, we'll access the so-called developer mode, where we can modify even more settings of the camera and see even more information on what the camera is actually capturing. For example, let's enter the Fusion MIF. Here we can change the offset between the image we are getting from the infrared camera and the image we are getting from the visual light camera. And this can be quite handy, as with time the two images might get misaligned. And on most cameras, you have to return them to the manufacturer for recalibration and realignment of the images. While here you can do it yourself. Of course, you need some level of technical knowledge when messing around with some of these settings. In contrast with the E2 model, which is focus-free, this one here, the E2 Plus, is equipped with automatic focus. In order to force the system to refocus, you need to use the black trigger. I already told you that the device has laser. Unfortunately, you cannot use it for measuring distance. Its purpose is to improve the accuracy of the autofocus, resulting in a sharper thermal image. Probably in the next generation, Guide will improve that, making the laser function capable of measuring distance. Another thing that needs improvement is the flashlight or the fluid light, like Guide calls it. It activates only in the moment when you're taking photo or when you're recording a video. But in some situations, you might need to light the object you're monitoring a few moments earlier. Let me show you what I mean. Only in the moment when you're taking a photo or during the duration of the video you're recording. I think it will be interesting for you to see the camera with regions of interest activated. This is the smallest region you can set. You can see how the camera is measuring the min and the max temperature in that region. Of course, you can set a bigger region. And this is the biggest, covering the whole screen of the camera. Finally, I might say a few words about the image adjustment. The camera supports automatic level and span, which is the default mode when you start it. You can recognize it by the small A letter in a circle. Semi-automatic level and span. And of course, manual level and span. But enough with the small talks. I'm sure lots of you are here to see the battle of David versus Goliath. To see whether a budget thermal camera like the E2 Plus can be some sort of a competition to a premium model like the Fluke Ti400. Where should I start this comparison, this battle? Probably from the infrared resolution. The Ti400 has an infrared resolution of 320 by 240 pixels versus 256 by 192 pixels for guide. But don't forget the super-resolution reconstruction, which on theory can upgrade your infrared image up to 512 by 384 pixels. Another important parameter is the spectral band. Both manufacturers are claiming 7.5 up to 14 micrometers. Thermal sensitivity below 50 millikelvins for Fluke versus below 45 millikelvins for guide. Slight advantage here for guide. Temperature range. Well, here Fluke has a really big advantage. It's capable of measuring up to 1200 degrees Celsius. While guide only up to 550. The measuring accuracy is the same on both. Plus minus two degrees Celsius or plus minus two percents. Whichever is greater. Both devices are autofocus. Both are equipped with lasers. Fluke is capable of measuring distance using it. As it goes to the visual light camera, the one on Fluke is 5 megapixels versus only two on guide. And of course, the screen difference is simply huge. It's not worth even mentioning it. The minimum focus distance using the standard lenses is 15 centimeters for Fluke and 10 for guide. Again, when using the standard lenses, the filter view of Fluke is 24 by 17 degrees versus 25 by 19 for guide. Guide has a wider filter view, which can be really nice when measuring in tight spaces. One last parameter before doing some actual tests with those two. The frame rate. On Fluke, the frame rate is 60 or 9 hertz depending on the model. The one I have is only 9 hertz. On guide, the frame rate is 25 or 9 hertz. I was unable to find specific information, but based on my tests, 9 hertz is when the super resolution reconstruction mode is activated. Otherwise, it's 25. I'm sure you saw earlier in this video the lightning fast booting time of guide, but let's compare it with the booting time of Fluke. Guide is ready for work. Fluke is still booting. Doing some calibration now. And now it's ready for work. Let's compare the images and readings we'll get with the two thermal cameras when looking at this hot cup of water. Of course, I'm not claiming that the thermometer here is perfectly accurate. And for sure, this is not the best method for comparing such devices. But in my situation, it will do the job. And that's the image. And the temperature guide is sensing on the top of the water where the temperature probe is. I would say that the readings are more or less the same. And that's the image and the readings we're getting from Fluke. Again, I would say they're pretty equal with what we're getting from the thermometer. Let's take a look at the same cup of water from slightly bigger distance. You can see there's a huge difference in the image we're getting, which is perfectly normal. Fluke has bigger infrared resolution. Aldo guide has a super resolution reconstruction mode. But Fluke also has a bigger resolution on its visible light camera. And of course, it has a bigger display comparing the two images head to head. Let's take a look at this electrical switchboard using the two thermal cameras. Something that should be one of their main applications. Let's take a look at the radiator of this cooling box when it's working. According to guide, the temperature on its surface is about 11 degrees. According to Fluke, it's slightly higher, 13. Let's look at another distribution board. So let's take a look at this soldering iron using the two cameras. According to guide, the temperature on its tip is about 220 degrees Celsius. According to Fluke, the temperature is about the same, 220 degrees Celsius. Well, I think I've managed to cover everything important about the camera. And I'm stressing on important. You saw the menu. This thing has lots of features. If I try to cover them all, this video will end up being boringly long. The product is really nice. Of course, it's not Fluke, but for its price, it's a real bargain. Sure, the camera has a few drawbacks, but I guess that in the future generations, they will be rectified. Well, that's all for me. If you like the video, you know what to do. Bye guys and see you soon.