Thermal imaging FLIR

[sab567]

Hi everyone,

there it is, I was looking on internet and saw a thermal unit at a soo low price that look's rediculus to me. To not say where:
http://www.scoutbasecamp.ca/product/...al-starter-kit

I want to know, is it a good buy?
I don't know anything about thermal unit, but for a 2k $ that is lower than a good night vision unit, I'm interested in it.

Some people know more than me about this product?

[j_march]

I'm interested to know too

[ShelledPants]

At 9Hz, they will not be good for real time night vision, though you will be able to spot humans out to 100m. Useful, but the extra 1k towards a PVS14 might be a better investment.

[FreelancerInc]

should also be noted that apparently with a standard FLIR there are no sights that work with them, so unless u spend 10k$ they are just spotting scopes

[ThunderCactus]

Good for spotting people but you have no way to aim with it and it'll blur hard when chasing someone
I looked into it myself pretty thoroughly

[Derpystronk]

The Flir Scout PS Line are actually pretty cool little units. I managed to fiddle with one for a few days before deciding not to purchase one.

The 9hz on these models is actually not as bad as you think. It's very, very easy to see through even when moving at a fairly fast speed. I was in the passenger seat of a car doing 60km/hr and I was easily able to track and follow things. It doesn't "blur" at 9hz in how you would imagine film or video recording at that speed to... It is just 9 snap shots a second.

The reason I didn't purchase it, despite being a good spotting scope, was the eye relief. It is worse than the cheapest Chinese repro optic you can think of. Having it right up on my eye, a minor pump could cause me to have to readjust the position of the unit. Putting it up against eye pro causes you to start losing visibility on parts of the screen because it is that much further away from your eye.

I would have paid 300 dollars more over the asking price for a nice piece of glass as the eye piece. Now I'm investigating a four thousand dollar option because, well, that seems to be the cheapest I can go for a decent unit. I am considering buying the PS24 and hooking it up to a DVR at some point to record some thermal Airsoft, but, thats a pipe dream.

For anyone thinking of using a thermal as a primary night optic (instead of night vision), don't. You can't use them to navigate at all. I don't really have time to explain in detail, but ultimately you can't see enough in terms of up close objects to navigate. It is almost like running with no night vision or light at all in some cases.

[ThunderCactus]

Thats a ps24 problem, not a thermal problem. Ive heard of them having issues with zoom, but youre constantly adjusting zoom on a gen1 nvd too

[sab567]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

Thats a ps24 problem, not a thermal problem. Ive heard of them having issues with zoom, but youre constantly adjusting zoom on a gen1 nvd too

Yeah but at 2000$ it's not the price range of a gen1.

[Derpystronk]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

Thats a ps24 problem, not a thermal problem. Ive heard of them having issues with zoom, but youre constantly adjusting zoom on a gen1 nvd too

Actually it is a Thermal problem.

The PS24 doesn't have a zoom problem per say. It is not a 1.0 focus, and the field of view is half of that of a typical NVG (can you say serious tunnel vision?) It worked great, as a spotting optic it worked great and would rival that of some much higher priced units. If you got 2000 dollars to blow I would recommend a PS24 or a PS32 easily, as long as you can tolerate that eye relief.

The reason why I say you can't use a thermal as a replacement optic for night vision is because you can't. I was looking into purchasing an MTM under the reasoning of "Hey, if I'm willing to spend three to four thousand on a device I can only use 8 hours a day... It makes sense to spend eight thousand on one I can use 24 hours a day!" I've been behind a number of different thermal devices, admittedly most of them using FLIR cores, and they functioned exactly how you would expect them to... Or like in all those videos on Youtube.

I took a few minutes to get an MTM and mount it how I would a NVG and tried to navigate a climate controlled indoor environment. It was impossible because the view finder was blank. There was hardly any temperature differential and because of that I received no image. Sure I could see body heat really, really clearly - Unmistakably a person was right over there! - but in that one situation it gave me pause on the purchase and made me reassess whether I wanted to buy it.

Thermal, like Night Vision, has limitations. They aren't HUGE limitations. The limitations are very minor and even then they are few and far between. It does not make them worthless by any means... But when we are talking about spending almost five figures on a device: I want it to be absolutely magical. I want it to do my laundry, make me dinner, and do my taxes. I want to giggle every time I use it because it's just that amazing. I don't want to think "Well... Shit. There is heavy rain at this game so my thermal isn't going to work anywhere near as well as it does normally"

I want to get a thermal clip on attachment for my NODs, as I feel as though it will give me the detection I want with the functionality of an NVG (Since, you know, I'm still using a PVS-14).

[EagleDriver]

The PS series is actually a thermal camera going to a monitor, and a small one at that. So keep in mind it will shine light onto your eye and face at night. The PS24 and PS 32 are easy to set up as weapon sights - you just need a 1/4 inch camera mount. That said, it is best used for spotting and direct fire on a target. You can even see BB's flying through the scope (best with auto fire), but there are no cross hairs.

Thermal isn't about navigating as was stated before. It is also pretty poor in urban environments, since it can't see through glass. But in a woods game, especially in a time of high contrasting temperatures (cooler spring day, night time) it is great to use especially with the insta-alert, which colors moving thermal objects red. In fact, I would say it seems unfair then.

I have previously used one mounted one to a CA M15A4 with a carry handle rail (old M16 style rail that attaches to the top of the carry handle). I drilled it for a 1/4 screw and used one I had in the shop. I mounted it so that the FLIR was at my eye when I sighted normally - it was mounted towards the rear of the carry handle. I only used it with Bolle Cobra goggles, which are low profile like sunglasses, and the eye relief was ok. But the unit does this re-acquisition, almost like it resets, frequently. Sort of like an SLR auto focus lens "hunting" for focus.

Although you can mount it to a J-arm for helmet use, it is long and I didn't even try that in the field - the weapon mount was the way to go. I could shoulder the rifle to scan with it and obviously use it when firing. The 9hz refresh rate doesn't show all of the BB's in flight depending on the distance you are shooting, but you can see them and adjust fire on your target.

It does not have a supported video out, but some users have been able to use the hot-shoe camera mount to get video out. It would be nice if you could send that to a helmet mounted camera. At Pine Plains 2 there was a guy who did that with a camcorder and an IR light and had a gun mounted NVG displaying on his helmet.

Having used it and NVG, I would definitely recommend buying an NVG unit if you play a lot of night games. Buy the FLIR if you have a lot of extra money.