4 ms·

Relevant: Turn cheap FLIR into expensive FLIR imager: http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4-thermal-camera-hacked-to-perform-as-high-end

by hoopism 13y ago

Relevant: Turn cheap FLIR into expensive FLIR imager: http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4-thermal-camera-hacked-to-perform-as-high-end-model/ http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4... Kickstart Phone Thermal Imaging: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mu-thermal-camera-a-great-tool-to-save-on-energy-costs http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mu-thermal-camera-a-great-... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyrawson/ir-blue-thermal-imaging-smartphone-accessory?ref=card http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyrawson/ir-blue-therm...

bri3d 13y ago
The Mu Thermal Camera is almost certainly fake at this point. Check out the EEVBlog forum thread about it: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/m-thermal-imager-real-or-fake/ http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/m-thermal... They basically posted increasingly vague updates and no concrete information about the product.
- Timmmmbob 13y ago
  Nobody is going to read a 52 page shitBB thread... Can you give us the gist? It seems like an odd scam to run.
  - bri3d 13y ago
    I don't think it's an engineered scam, especially since they've been quite decent about refunding people to-date. I suppose in that respect "fake" was the wrong word to use - given time and money which they seem to have I'm sure they can eventually make the product. However, I do think the project owners got in over their heads and rather than giving up are building increasingly bizarre fabrications instead - something we see in the software startup world frequently, too! The gist is that they promised a release date and it's been slipping ever since. This is pretty typical for crowdfunded, small projects as everyone vastly underestimates the time to delivery especially when it's their first rodeo. The part that's a red flag for me is that even prior to their recent public silence their updates were cyclic and bizarre. They'd say they had a design and were choosing case prototypes, then two months later reappear to say that they had to move offices and somehow in the process did a complete layout do-over and were working on cases again, then reappear to say they were "finalizing" firmware for "optimal warm-up." Throughout this whole process they've never provided an actual image from their camera.
smackfu 13y ago
From that indiegogo, this kind of thing always gives me pause: "We'll send you a Mµ Optics Thermal Imager for $125. ... This represents $200 off the MSRP."
- hoopism 13y ago
  Not endorsing... I just had looked into some options awhile back.
  - smackfu 13y ago
    Oh, I was just talking about selling something at or below cost initially but then having a much higher MSRP, then saying that "clearly there's a market there." Just seems like a lot more people would buy this as a fun accessory at $125 than $300.
    - ynniv 13y ago
      100% markup is pretty standard on nice hardware.
- brk 13y ago
  Why? If their hardware BOM is $125, MSRP would be around $499. If they wanted to seed some units in the marketplace, they could sell them for essentially landed BOM and not lose anything on it (obviously they can't sell ALL their inventory that way). If the MSRP is $325, then hardware cost should be sub-$100. So $125 might a breakeven price in terms of cost+basic expenses.
marquis 13y ago
http://www.muoptics.com http://www.muoptics.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mu-Optics/274122436049948 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mu-Optics/274122436049948 I've spoken to these guys and they are just taking longer than expected. I don't think it's vaporware. They could probably do better on the communication department on that note.

by hoopism 13y ago

bri3d 13y ago

The Mu Thermal Camera is almost certainly fake at this point. Check out the EEVBlog forum thread about it: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/m-thermal-imager-real-or-fake/ http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/m-thermal... They basically posted increasingly vague updates and no concrete information about the product.

Timmmmbob 13y ago
Nobody is going to read a 52 page shitBB thread... Can you give us the gist? It seems like an odd scam to run.
- bri3d 13y ago
  I don't think it's an engineered scam, especially since they've been quite decent about refunding people to-date. I suppose in that respect "fake" was the wrong word to use - given time and money which they seem to have I'm sure they can eventually make the product. However, I do think the project owners got in over their heads and rather than giving up are building increasingly bizarre fabrications instead - something we see in the software startup world frequently, too! The gist is that they promised a release date and it's been slipping ever since. This is pretty typical for crowdfunded, small projects as everyone vastly underestimates the time to delivery especially when it's their first rodeo. The part that's a red flag for me is that even prior to their recent public silence their updates were cyclic and bizarre. They'd say they had a design and were choosing case prototypes, then two months later reappear to say that they had to move offices and somehow in the process did a complete layout do-over and were working on cases again, then reappear to say they were "finalizing" firmware for "optimal warm-up." Throughout this whole process they've never provided an actual image from their camera.

smackfu 13y ago

From that indiegogo, this kind of thing always gives me pause: "We'll send you a Mµ Optics Thermal Imager for $125. ... This represents $200 off the MSRP."

hoopism 13y ago
Not endorsing... I just had looked into some options awhile back.
- smackfu 13y ago
  Oh, I was just talking about selling something at or below cost initially but then having a much higher MSRP, then saying that "clearly there's a market there." Just seems like a lot more people would buy this as a fun accessory at $125 than $300.
  - ynniv 13y ago
    100% markup is pretty standard on nice hardware.
brk 13y ago
Why? If their hardware BOM is $125, MSRP would be around $499. If they wanted to seed some units in the marketplace, they could sell them for essentially landed BOM and not lose anything on it (obviously they can't sell ALL their inventory that way). If the MSRP is $325, then hardware cost should be sub-$100. So $125 might a breakeven price in terms of cost+basic expenses.

marquis 13y ago

http://www.muoptics.com http://www.muoptics.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mu-Optics/274122436049948 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mu-Optics/274122436049948 I've spoken to these guys and they are just taking longer than expected. I don't think it's vaporware. They could probably do better on the communication department on that note.