opinions of the FLIR Scout or LS Series

[nvgr]

Hi

If someone uses or has used these can I hear how you liked them?

Did anyone splash for the 640 res? I understand that the digital zoom is pretty good..without too much image degradation.

...no problems using them in the heavy rain?

Thx

NVGR

[Azathoth]

I owned the L5

Pile of shit.

Friend has the Scout.

Pile of shit.

To quote a friend of mine.

Originally Posted by thundercactus

FLIR stuff is pretty trashy until you get into the vehicle mountable units, then again, you are talking $250,000 plus

[ThunderCactus]

Was looking into the TS/LS about 2yrs ago. Major obstacles were poor resolution, no focus, no real mounting option, and the atrocious 8Hz refresh rate.

[Azathoth]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

Was looking into the TS/LS about 2yrs ago. Major obstacles were poor resolution, no focus, no real mounting option, and the atrocious 8Hz refresh rate.

Forgot...I owned a AN/PAS 23 as well And i though the exact same things except for the refresh rate was 60Hz on that. Terrible battery life.

[BenG]

if you looking to augment an existing system like say gen 2 night vision and you just want to know if that stump like thing is in fact a stump or a person then it would be an alright optic, because you would be able to tell if there is heat or not, but beyond that these low quality thermals like the scout and the torry pines have such poor resolution any heat that is beyond 20ft is going to be one blob.

optic in the following video is the torry pines T10-S and if you skip to 4:06 in the video you can see as he steps away from the camera just how short your recognition range is. at 20ft you can barley tell he is a person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpRWz4O_7m4

the scout is a bit better then torry pines but not by much so what you see in the torry pines video is similar to what you should expect, also keep in mind the torry pines does offer mounting options unlike the scout, so sacrafice a bit of imaging power for deployability.

Finally keep in mind your going to have to protect your thermal somehow and unlike night vision regular lexan shields will completely disrupt the ability of your optic to function so youll need to have a germanium lens custom made specificly for your optic so be prepared for another 50+$ insurance cost. On a side note I remember being told that the torry pines sensor was only 7mm in diameter and that if i put a peice of lexan with a>5mm but <6mm hole drilled in it it wouldnt disrupt the function to badly, not sure what the sensor size is on the scout.

[Ricochet]

I heavily looked into the Torrey Pines awhile back and completely talked myself out of those. Flir has some interesting products that may be of some use, but expect to spend a few thousand. My interest was an effective daytime spotting camera.

[ThunderCactus]

Price has come down though, i think its only $12k for a good weapon mount thermal now

[EOD Steve]

You can get into the game for about half that these days via Pulsar/ATN thermal weapon-mounted scopes.

For value, it's hard to beat IRD's offerings currently.

[pestobanana]

You're going to need 30 FPS minimum. 9 FPS is just painful. TP units are useless. Absolutely useless. Don't expect a thermal optic to actually be useful unless you spend 4k+.

I'm no expert with thermals, but I was considering getting a high end civilian thermal weapon sight. Armasight, Pulsar, that sort of thing. They seem to be more than enough for airsoft purposes. They are about 5k.

I obtained an AN/PAS-23 and I machined a spare Aimpoint CompM4 mount to use it as a weapon sight. Not ideal due to the eye relief, but it should be more than acceptable for airsoft purposes.

Lens protection options are limited. Germanium sac lenses cost several hundred dollars and are one shot wonders. There are some types of mesh and killflashes that will work, but they cause image distortion with their own thermal radiation.

[Ricochet]

This is the problem with thermal in airsoft currently. Anyone can get decent NVs that are slightly expensive, but not impossibly so, but thermal, that's another story. Basically you need something that'll work well during the day, even when it's hot out, and easily a target well out past airsoft range. It needs to work in forest, indoors, etc. Or what's the point?

[nvgr]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I bought some IF pass filters a year or so ago but they don't work with a Thermal I've found....semi OK on an II.

I've love to buy what is avail in the states....we are pretty limited up here and what is avail is pretty $$$.

[Azathoth]

Nothing works with thermals except the germanium and a handful of other super expensive materials.

Lexan, polycarb etc don't work. Metal killflashes create a heat shadow right over the sensor.

If you want something moderately quality Armasight has something in the 8k range. I can't remember the model name of the top of my head.

[nvgr]

Thx Azathoth and the rest.

I understand FLIR recently bought Armasight....I spoke to both companies recently and the "phone in help line guys" were not sure what the final result would mean for the Armasight...maybe cheaper gear?