I kindly received a Thermalmaster NV300 Max camera and I tried it out over the weekend.
It is a dual camera system, with an automotive-grade thermal camera and a conventional camera sensor, that mounts to the roof of your car using supplied adhesive and a strong magnet. Wiring goes sideways in your roof/windshield crevice and through the door gap, to a very good quality 6.4" OLED display that looks much like a smartphone, on a magnetic mount with full range of movement for adjustment.
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I've made a video below with numerous samples of it operating. It really does pick up potential dangers quickly and from a long distance. I was driving on a country road and it picked up a pedestrian that I certainly would not have seen. The area where there is a danger changes from black and white to vivid thermal false colours, an audio alert sounds, and a large pedestrian icon shows on one half of the display.
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I think this is a great product for people that drive in the country and would benefit from alerts of pedestrians, cars and animals that they may not see in darkness. The alerts are all selectable, and can be linked to minimum speed. There are a few other alerts like getting too close to the car ahead, or the car ahead pulling away without you moving, for instance if you are not paying attention in heavy traffic. It comes with a Bluetooth ODB-II device that automatically pairs, which displays speed and RPM statistics onscreen.
It has numerous voice commands for hands-free operation which worked very well (Hi Max! Defrost on), a defrost function for if it is covered in ice, and records to a supplied SD card and to the internal storage of the device on the roof.
Power usage is 3 watts (6 in defrost mode) through a standard 12V car socket.
Recorded video is not very high quality, and the dashcams that are popular on this forum will blow it away on quality, but could still be useful in a crash or incident.
I found that using my windshield wipers sprayed water onto the device's lenses, which didn't quickly clear, but I used some RainX rain repellent and the drops were blown away by wind from driving.
I don't see this device as a replacement for a standard dashcam, but I do see it as a great option for rural drivers or even city drivers that would benefit from extra safety, and it excels for this purpose. Thank you for the sample to review Thermalmaster.
Video samples:
Kickstarter link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...with-thermal-image-for-all-weather?ref=ejkmlf
