I dropped $400 on a thermal camera and it's been a huge waste for my shop

Everyone says these things are a game changer for finding shorts and hot spots, but I've used it maybe twice in six months. Most of the time, a simple visual check or a multimeter gets me there faster. The one time it helped was on a weird laptop power circuit, but that's it. For that kind of money, I could have bought a really good soldering station or a bunch of other stuff we actually use every day. Has anyone else bought a tool that just collects dust?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisa_hill232mo agoMost Upvoted

Really expensive cat toy" is why mine lives in the bottom drawer now.

mila_reed15d ago

250 bucks for a Fluke thermal camera, sits in the case like the last one. I've fixed way more stuff by just feeling the black goo with my finger or using freeze spray on a component. It's a party trick for finding a bad relay or a shorted cap, but most of my work is on older gear where the problem is obvious anyway.

laurar382mo ago

Mine's basically a really expensive cat toy now, the laser pointer gets more use. What other fancy tool did you end up not using much?