Those cheap thermal cameras on Amazon cost me $210 and a board

I bought one of those $80 IR cameras from a random seller to find a short on a laptop motherboard. It showed a hot spot near the CPU, so I replaced the chip, but the real issue was three rows over on a capacitor I couldn't see clearly. Spent another $130 on a proper Fluke thermal unit after that, which found it in five minutes. Anyone else burned cash on those low-res knockoffs before biting the bullet?

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margaret2341mo agoMost Upvoted

Ended up in the same boat with one of those cheap ones. It picked up a warm area but the image was so blurry I couldn't tell if it was the MOSFET or the driver chip next to it. Replaced both and still had the short, then borrowed a buddy's higher end model and saw the trace burning clear as day. I skip the Amazon specials now and just rent or borrow a decent unit when I need it.