Thermal Master P3 Review: A powerful and pocketable thermal camera

The Thermal Master P3 is a powerful, well-built, and solid-performing thermal camera. Able to deliver clear visuals, the P3 and its selection of color filters made it easy to identify temperature variations in many different applications. Additionally, the P3's accompanying app made adjusting the camera's settings straightforward and presented minimal issues during testing. While the x3 upscaling is welcome, the delay it caused in the camera feed resulted in it being disabled most of the time, and the camera's raw image detail proved to be more than adequate for most situations. Overall, the P3 offers an excellent thermal camera experience and has the performance and features to compete with more expensive thermal camera offerings.

The Thermal Master P3 is available on Amazon and Thermal Master's site. Our review unit retails for $350 but is currently available for $299 on both sites. Users can also use code TMAMZPD5 on Amazon for an additional 5% off the P3 thermal camera.

The Thermal Master P3 is the latest release from Thermal Master aimed at smartphone users looking for a portable and compact thermal camera solution. Highlighted features of the camera include a resolution of 512x384 with x³ image upscaling, -20~600℃/ ±2℃ Accuracy, and several applications to bring the camera's capabilities to a variety of devices.

Much like other Thermal Master products, the P3 arrived in minimal packaging which includes the camera, extension cable, iPhone lighting adapter, and a small hardshell carrying case. The carrying case is of decent quality and appears to protect the camera well with a dense foam cutout for the P3. However, considering that users might store other items in the case, a lens cap for the P3 would have made a nice addition. Also included is a manual and warranty card to extend the camera's warranty to 3 years.

Setting the camera up is as simple as plugging it into the desired device. In this case, a Pixel 3 was used as the primary testing device. However, the only way to download the Android app for the P3 is to get it from Thermal Master's website and sideload it to the device. Luckily, iPhone users can find the app available in the App Store. Users looking to use the camera on a PC are also in luck, as Thermal Master has released a Windows build of compatible software. The process for setting up the PC version was more complex, as it requires Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable to function correctly. Additionally, it lacks some of the features found in the Android app, notably the x3 upscaling. However, the ability to use the P3 on a PC is a nice quality-of-life feature.

In testing, the P3 proved to be feature-rich and provided clear visuals. The camera was quick to start, and the picture-in-picture mode made it easy to contextualize the visuals coming from the thermal camera feed. The many color filters also came in handy when trying to discern between objects in a photo. However, the "Red Hot" and "Rainbow" filters quickly became favorites.

When shooting wide spaces, the P3 delivered a solid amount of detail and was able to detect temperature differences at many distances. It detected heat escaping from an attic vent, a breaker that was under heavy load, and other miscellaneous sources of heat. Up close, the P3 delivered near-microscope levels of thermal detail and provided the video feed with minimal lag, given x3 upscaling was disabled. However, it should be noted that users can minimize upscaling lag by using a device with a faster processor.

The app also has many features to change how the P3 measures temperature across a subject. Users can use the rectangle tool to box in a specific area for reading, a line tool to measure across two points, and other selective shapes are available that serve a similar function. While using the rectangle selection in testing, the app also triggered the anti-burn feature on the P3 due to excessive IR radiation emitted from the tested PCB. Though useful, users can turn off this feature in the settings.

As previously mentioned, the P3 has a dedicated Windows app, and it functioned perfectly well during testing. However, unlike the Android version, this application appears to be less developed and lacks some of the features found in the other apps. Notably, the x3 upscaling as well as the anti-burn feature are both missing. Despite this, core functionality such as recording and taking snapshots is present, and users still have access to many useful color filters.

Overall. The Thermal Master P3 is a solidly built and easily portable thermal camera that provides great image quality. The price-to-performance ratio creates a compelling case for those in need of a multifunctional thermal camera solution. While there is room for improvement on the PC app side of things, the Android app provides an equally solid companion app performance that rounds out an exceptional and approachable thermal camera experience.