The low resolution FLIR camera is counterbalanced by a special MSX mode unique to DJI and the M2ED. It’s still cheaper than any other FLIR option and it doesn’t need 2 dedicated screens. Only flew it once so can’t judge the quality yet, but my first impressions are very positive !!
MSX is a Flir technology rather than DJI. DJI have based this on the existing Flir One Pro camera (the one that plugs into a phone) so hence why it has the same features as the Flir One.
The only downside to MSX is that it needs the visible light camera to be able to see the target, so it doesn't work through fog or at night.
Would you be able to ID a predator from 100 ft up?
100ft probably. The Lepton sensor is great for the size but struggles to detect human heat at a distance, max distance for human detection is about 150ft apparently. To actually identify a target you need to be much closer of course, but that's the same with any thermal camera.
This page has a handy calculator:
https://www.suas.com/vuir-lepton-for-beginners (scroll to the bottom)
For the Lepton 3.5 sensor in the Dual, you would enter 160 pixels and 57 deg field of view. To detect a heat signature you need to fill about 10 pixels on the screen (as per Flir's guidelines) so for a 6ft object that gives a detection distance of 96ft.
For comparison, a 320 pixel Boson with a 34 deg field of view will detect the same object at 320ft away.
Having played with a Lepton and a Boson the difference is actually more than that in reality, with a Boson able to detect a human heat signature 900ft away. But then the Lepton is much smaller than a Boson and is also many times cheaper, so it doesn't make much sense to compare them.