ok so this is something ive been going back and forth on for a while. i do a mix of inspection work and some search and rescue volunteer stuff and a thermal camera would genuinely be useful for both. the issue is my hex is already pulling decent amps at hover and i havent done the math yet on what adding something like a FLIR Boson or even a cheaper Lepton setup would do to my flight times.

the Boson with a proper gimbal mount is like 90-120g depending on the lens, which doesnt sound crazy, but i know from experience that every 100g on this platform costs me like 2-3 minutes of flight and its already hovering around 18 minutes on my 6S 5200 packs. also not sure how thermal image quality holds up in daytime heat shimmer, ive seen some footage that looks really washed out. anyone actually running thermal on a medium class hex? curious what your real world experience is vs the spec sheet stuff

been running a Boson 320 on a converted S900 for about a year for powerline inspection and yeah the weight thing is real but manageable. we're talking maybe 2.5 mins off hover time in my case which is annoying but workable with a second battery. the bigger issue nobody talks about is heat management ? the Boson itself generates noticeable heat and if you enclose it too tightly in a housing youll get thermal noise in your image which is super counterproductive obviously

daytime thermal is honestly hit or miss. early morning and evening you get beautiful contrast, midday in summer is rough especially over asphalt or anything that radiates. for SAR though even mediocre thermal is better than nothing, a person in dense brush shows up pretty clearly even in tough conditions. id say go for it if the budget allows, just size your gimbal right and leave breathing room in the enclosure

the Lepton modules are interesting if cost is a factor but the resolution is genuinely bad, like 160x120 on the older ones. fine for proof of concept or hobby use but if youre doing actual inspection work where you need to see temperature gradients on a component or whatever, you'll be frustrated pretty fast. the Boson 320 or 640 is where it starts to get actually useful imo. also worth looking at the Workswell WIRIS if you havent, its a bit heavier but its a proper integrated thermal solution with decent software support