It's pretty cool. But note that from an end-user perspective you're getting a Flir Lepton 3.5 thermal camera for $522.99. A Flir TG165-X does mostly the same stuff for a much lower price (and half the horizontal and vertical resolution due to the lower end lepton). But the TG doesn't allow you to hack it, and this project does.
A Flir ONE (2nd Gen) does almost the same, for about half the price. But again, not as hackable.
So while a bunch of people here might suggest that the price is very high, or the capabilities can easily be matched, it's a bit of a mixed bag. If you just want to see some thermal images, and you already have a smartphone, a Flir ONE might be for you. If you need a dedicated ruggedised hand-held cameras, get one of the ones from Flir. Anything beyond that is probably either too expensive or not as easy to integrate with what you need, and that's where this DIY comes in; easy to do whatever you want to, and good enough to outperform whatever else is on the market, but it will still cost money.
Edit: There is a PURETHERMAL-M which apparently is a USB interface board for the lepton module, so if someone wanted to hack around with a slightly less useful kit, but for a lower price, that's an option too. It does require a host system to control it, so it's not like you can use it as a 'handheld' like this DIY project.
Agree. I think it depends on the use-case (and a personal interest in open-source and DIY stuff) which solution is the best.
For example with the open serial protocol of the DIY-Thermocam, you can build your own software applications in Python, Typescript, etc. to cover use-cases that are not part of any standalone solution (https://www.diy-thermocam.net/docs/serial/).
I think that it is where this project shines; the accessibility. After building and setting it up it can work stand-alone, but also integrated with any project you are already familiar with (within reason).
A Flir ONE (2nd Gen) does almost the same, for about half the price. But again, not as hackable.
So while a bunch of people here might suggest that the price is very high, or the capabilities can easily be matched, it's a bit of a mixed bag. If you just want to see some thermal images, and you already have a smartphone, a Flir ONE might be for you. If you need a dedicated ruggedised hand-held cameras, get one of the ones from Flir. Anything beyond that is probably either too expensive or not as easy to integrate with what you need, and that's where this DIY comes in; easy to do whatever you want to, and good enough to outperform whatever else is on the market, but it will still cost money.
Edit: There is a PURETHERMAL-M which apparently is a USB interface board for the lepton module, so if someone wanted to hack around with a slightly less useful kit, but for a lower price, that's an option too. It does require a host system to control it, so it's not like you can use it as a 'handheld' like this DIY project.