Was curious about thermal scopes available for civilian use.  So far the only thermal scope I could find was something called the IRWS1000, but apparently is only available to law enforcement.  Anyone have any idea what technology is available?

[url]http://www.x20.org/thermal/thermal_weapon_sight.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.arion-international.com/images/SpecterIR.pdf[/url]

i have NV now and was interested in Thermal..try 10,000bux to start and yes civilians can get it..jus cant export out of US

Same with Generation 3 NV, you need a DoD signature to export out of the US legally.

Hmm $10,000 for a thermal, or $500 for one of those new triple-lit night scopes.

A couple days ago, I had the opportunity to test some very expensive terminal imaging cameras. These were not rifle scopes. I work as a firefighter and the crew I was working with were evaluating this stuff for use in firefighting. I know one of them cost $28K. We started a fire in our drill tower and four of us went in with a different camera each. Inside the drill tower, it is very dark. This combined with heavy smoke conditions made visibility zero. I had to follow the hose line to find the other guys when we went in. With the terminal imaging device, I could see perfectly clearly. I could have played cards in there. This is what I always thought night vision equipment was like before I ever actually tried it. With the black and white device, the hot areas were white and the cool areas were black. The color camera was similar but the actual fire was red. You could stand in the stairwell and see convected heat riseing out the top of the door leading into the fire room and rising up the stairwell. They had built in thermometers that changed almost instantly. I pointed the device at the floor and it read 105 degrees, I pointed it at the ceiling and it read about 800 degrees, I pointed it at the fire and it read about 1750 degrees. You could walk into total darkness and see exactly what is in the room including people. You can see heat through objects to some extent. For example, if someone was hiding behind a chair, you could see the heat signature. Outside in broad daylight, I could see which cars had been recently driven. I could see the hot engine and hot brakes. I pointed it at cars going down the street and could see some heat signatures from about 50 yards away.
I forgot to ask the guy (factory rep) how far away it works. In other words, we were using it inside a building. If you were outside, how far away could you see a person or animal ? This could be useful for EMS incidents or lost persons.

Very, very impressive technology.

There's one on Ebay.
[url]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3614043232&category=40970[/url]

YES! for our extra low price you can own this thermal scope for $11,000. and if you act now i will pay for shiping! you ask yourself why am i doing this? because im CUUUURRRRRAAAAAAZZZZZYYYYYYY

wow thats alot of money for a scope. what are you going to use that thing for?

Ugh, combat??? law enforcement??? rescue??? They serve a purpose for all three, waaaaay better than ordinary night vision. Once you use them it is hard to go back to just night vision. Price is high but keep it in prespective, a mil spec Gen 3 PVS-14 is $4000 a night vision scope runs $6000 up. Thermals are getting better and the price is coming down, but like the high end night vision they are not for everyone.

Mack

444,
 Depends on the heat difference, on a 100 deg day a person will not show up too well. On a 60 deg dessert night they will stick out like a sore thumb at a mile or more if standing in the open.

Mack

No, you change the setting.
GG

That would be the "hot as hell" button.

We 'borrow' a Raytheon Palm IR a lot and my company designed and builds the SpecterIR. The Specter has about a 300 yrds range- short compared to a good handheld unit. With the Palm IR you can see studs through a wall, hot inconel on the back of jet engines at FL 20 and cattle at 1200 yards easy. Varmit hunting got boring. Sorry but if you have the cash to drop $6k on 3rd gen NV then you might as well save up because its(thermal) that much better. Now in saying that I might be just spoiled having $20k cameras laying around. ;)

How can you change the setting to detect a person against a similar temperature background?  As I see it there are two variables, intensity and wavelength.  The wavelength is a function of temperature, and the intensity a function of exposed area and emmisivity.  

Does the unit have same way to switch between wavelength and signal strength?  I thought the units were broad banded and worked off intensity only, thus explaining why DOD wants low e treatment for BDUs.

BTW, I think I might get a Specter IR if the price comes down anymore.

Your core temp is 98.6

You skin temp is in the high 70's.  That is why most people are most comfortable at that temp.