Ferret Plus is the ultimate tool (not only) for craftsmen – SMARTmania.cz

• The Ferret Plus smart inspection camera can transmit images via a Wi-Fi hotspot
• It is sold in three variants: the cheapest for hobbyists, the most expensive for professionals
• The product is developed and manufactured in New Zealand

As part of our Gadget of the Week series, today we bring you a tip for all DIYers and home craftsmen who are repairing or building their homes and want the best technology for these purposes. In addition, today’s gadget is easily available on the Czech market, perhaps at your favorite electronics retailer.

Ferret Plus: the smart ferret

Surely it has happened to you at some point that you needed to look inside something on your house or car and you had no way. Inspection cameras are used for exactly this purpose. They are produced by a number of globally successful manufacturers. However, we chose the product of a New Zealand company, the Ferret Plus inspection camera (ferret in translation).

Its fundamental advantage is that it is the first in the world to use a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz) for image transmission. More on these smart functions in a moment. The top-of-the-line model, called the Ferret Plus, looks a bit like a mini flashlight, but it’s an inspection camera the size of a Swiss cheese. Thanks to the dimensions of 3.2 x 8 centimeters, it fits everywhere and thanks to the weight of 33 grams, it is comfortable to handle. In terms of feel, the novelty is really compact and light.

The design of the camera refers to various uses. You can use it as it is, i.e. by hand, or thanks to the modular design, attach it to a short or longer cable, or directly to a pole and take a closer look at hard-to-reach places. It goes without saying that it is IP67 resistant to water and dust.

As part of the sales package, you will receive a complete set of tools right away. This includes, for example, a hook with a magnet, spare rubber seals, an inspection rod and a short “goose neck”, which is actually an extension rod with a flexible structure.

What is the Ferret camera for?

As the manufacturer states on its website, “A ferret can reach and see where you can’t”. In addition, the New Zealanders tried to make the device pleasing both home hobbyists and professional craftsmen. Uses can be different:

• Visual inspection – in short, you need to look somewhere you can’t see with your eyes: soffit, pipes, insides of the car, attic, shaft and the like.
• Cable installation – thanks to the extended view, you can easily pull or grab cables through small gaps.
• Maintenance and service – the inspection camera can also be used for routine maintenance of air conditioning, air conditioning or perhaps radiators and heating.

We already mentioned it in the introduction – Ferret is the first inspection camera on the market to transmit images via Wi-Fi. This means that you simply download the Ferret app (both Android and iOS) to your phone and through it you can watch what the camera is capturing in real time. You don’t need any other device, no external display, or even a computer. All you need is a mobile phone that you have in your pocket anyway. As we had the opportunity to test, the image transmission in HD resolution (720p) is absolutely smooth and we did not encounter a single lag during the entire time.

A non-contact voltage detector is also a very practical function. The camera has special sensors for these purposes, and as soon as you approach a source of electrical voltage with it, you will receive an emphatic sound and visual warning on the phone’s display.

The manufacturer boasts that transmission is possible up to 40 meters in good visibility. Using the aforementioned application, you can further adjust the shooting itself: increase or decrease the level of illumination, zoom, or save the recorded material directly to the camera’s memory, which is 8 GB. The camera is equipped with autofocus, which works reliably, but from time to time there may be a situation where you need to focus manually in the captured “scene”. The manufacturer also thought of this and added the option to manually sharpen directly between the control icons on the smartphone display.

The video itself is then transmitted in HD resolution (1280 × 720 pixels) and without sound. The maximum recording length can be 40 minutes, but the manufacturer claims that the ferret can run for 60-90 minutes, depending on the intensity of the lighting. Charging then takes place using the USB-C port on the body of the camera.

Price and availability

You can buy Ferret inspection cameras in the e-shop of the company EST Elektro-System-Technik s.r.o., which provides official Czech distribution, or from selected sellers, such as Alza.cz. However, I say cameras on purpose, because in addition to the top-of-the-line Ferret Plus we recommend, there are two cheaper ones available: Ferret Pro and Ferret Lite. What are the prices of each variant?

It is important to say that both cheaper variants of the camera have live image transmission via Wi-Fi hotspot. The differences are rather partial: the basic Lite model offers slower charging and a lower video resolution, the Pro model is surprisingly similar to the Plus, but does not offer an integrated voltage detector and does not have its own storage (only 15 MB), so you will be dependent on an SD card.

Author of the article

Jakub Fischer

Journalist, fan of modern technology, summer months and Asian food. I like Lynch movies, Pollock paintings, french house and Arsenal football club. In my spare time, I play PlayStation and go jogging.