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Posted: 5/26/2010 7:13:59 AM EDT
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I am considering buying the FLIR first mate unit for SAR use and for use on my sailboat. From the looks of the pics it seems to be clearer than a NVD and might be more effective on the water too (not to mention any search and rescue work). The price seems reasonable for thermal too at the $2500-3000.00 range.
Anyone using these? I hear once you go thermal... |
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I am considering buying the FLIR first mate unit for SAR use and for use on my sailboat. From the looks of the pics it seems to be clearer than a NVD and might be more effective on the water too (not to mention any search and rescue work). The price seems reasonable for thermal too at the $2500-3000.00 range. Anyone using these? I hear once you go thermal... $2500?...... |
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OK, found a couple in the mid 2600's. thats close enough. Not to hijack but did the FLIR Scout ever make its way onto consumer shelves? IIRC, the company said it would debut in the 2nd quarter 2010. MSRP was <= $3k. The Scout is just the First Mate with a different color plastic case and sold though different types of retailers. This was direct from FLIR. |
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We will have the First Mates along with the HS systems up on our web site shortly. Btw, ALL the new First Mate systems have the yellow body housings. Hope this helps. Vic Will you carry the Scout with the green body housing? If so, I'm very interested. OD green Krylon Fusion? |
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We will have the First Mates along with the HS systems up on our web site shortly. Btw, ALL the new First Mate systems have the yellow body housings. Hope this helps. Vic Will you carry the Scout with the green body housing? If so, I'm very interested. OD green Krylon Fusion? Yeah, depending on the price difference, thats what I'm thinking. Looks/wears better than tape. |
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gosh...here we go...i dont know how long i can resist getting into the FLIR game...might have to drop the 3k on a first mate....trying to resist...
i would like to know though, if any of u guys end up with one of those first mates, is it decent....like i always thought i would have to spend more like 6-10k to get into flir... basicaly, like, u know when guys say they want to get into night vision and they say they are gonna buy a gen one, and we all tell them to just save up and wait and start with gen 2 cause gen one is a joke and may turn them off to the whole night vision thing...well i want to make sure the first mate is not the "gen one" on FLIR, if u know what i mean... |
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I just picked up a FLIR First Mate HM-224. I'll post a more thorough review shortly, but wanted to give my first impressions....
First thought was WOW. Not having much experience with thermal viewers, its truly amazing how much different what you see is compared to the unaided eye. The unit itself is the yellow firstmate body, its seems pretty sturdy and solid with the exception of the flip lens cover. Its not particularly heavy but does get a little tiring holding it up with one hand for more than a few minutes. The viewer is pretty clear, albeit a bit smaller than I'd like. It shows a constant battery indicator in the lower left corner and the FLIR logo in the upper right. The screen itself is color, however the viewable image is in B&W only. Its switchable from white hot to black hot. There is info in the box about being able to upgrade its firmware using an included SD card. Hopefully there will be additional options as well. It comes with rechargeable AA batteries and comes with both 110 and 12v adapters. It plugs in via a removable hotshoe design that includes both a power slot as well as an RCA video out. Hopefully I'll have video uploaded for you all to check out shortly. Using it around the house last night, I had no trouble at all telling which one of my girlfriend's knees she'd just had surgery on a month ago. It was so much warmer than the other!! I could also see her footprints on the carpet as she walked/hobbled around. Not to mention the cat behind the couch didn't have a chance...... I'll try to do a more thorough review in the next few days. 
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Brochure from FLIR
According to the mfg it's capable of spotting people to 320 meters and small vessels to 900 meters. |
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This is just a quick sample video to get an idea of what it looks like through the viewfinder. This was taken by holding a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera up to the viewfinder and not recording from the video out port as I didn't have a recorder with an RCA input handy. Ambient air temperature was in the low 90's during these shots. I took these in the last hour, so we're talking middle of the day in Houston. Enjoy http://www.vimeo.com/12373253 |
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Quoted: This is just a quick sample video to get an idea of what it looks like through the viewfinder. This was taken by holding a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera up to the viewfinder and not recording from the video out port as I didn't have a recorder with an RCA input handy. Ambient air temperature was in the low 90's during these shots. I took these in the last hour, so we're talking middle of the day in Houston. Enjoy http://www.vimeo.com/12373253 Very nice, thanks for posting. Doesn't it have a way for it to record directly onto a video card? |
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Quoted: Unfortunately not this model.Quoted: This is just a quick sample video to get an idea of what it looks like through the viewfinder. This was taken by holding a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera up to the viewfinder and not recording from the video out port as I didn't have a recorder with an RCA input handy. Ambient air temperature was in the low 90's during these shots. I took these in the last hour, so we're talking middle of the day in Houston. Enjoy http://www.vimeo.com/12373253 Very nice, thanks for posting. Doesn't it have a way for it to record directly onto a video card? |
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The other First Mate model does have a video out/SD Card function. Hope this helps. Vic Here's a nice chart showing First Mate different specs: http://www.flir.com/cvs/Americas/en/maritime/products/firstmate/specs/ ( sorry but I cant get it to show up as a picture.) |
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Quoted: The other First Mate model does have a video out/SD Card function. Hope this helps. Vic This one has an RCA video out, but not an ability to record to the SD Card. Physically my unit and the PRO unit, the next level up is a software block. To gain the ability to record still images to the SD Card and use the 2x digital zoom would have cost another $1000 out the door. According to some of the literature there is an upgrade path from FLIR for the operating system, but I've yet to contact FLIR about how much they want for a purely software upgrade. |
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Unfortunately not this model.
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This is just a quick sample video to get an idea of what it looks like through the viewfinder. This was taken by holding a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera up to the viewfinder and not recording from the video out port as I didn't have a recorder with an RCA input handy. Ambient air temperature was in the low 90's during these shots. I took these in the last hour, so we're talking middle of the day in Houston. Enjoy http://www.vimeo.com/12373253 Very nice, thanks for posting. Doesn't it have a way for it to record directly onto a video card? ok, so no vid card...but does it have a video output where u can plug a video recorder into it and record on that? |
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This is just a quick sample video to get an idea of what it looks like through the viewfinder. This was taken by holding a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera up to the viewfinder and not recording from the video out port as I didn't have a recorder with an RCA input handy. Ambient air temperature was in the low 90's during these shots. I took these in the last hour, so we're talking middle of the day in Houston. Enjoy http://www.vimeo.com/12373253 I rocognize the guardshack in that vid. 
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Quoted: Yes you do....Quoted: This is just a quick sample video to get an idea of what it looks like through the viewfinder. This was taken by holding a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera up to the viewfinder and not recording from the video out port as I didn't have a recorder with an RCA input handy. Ambient air temperature was in the low 90's during these shots. I took these in the last hour, so we're talking middle of the day in Houston. Enjoy http://www.vimeo.com/12373253 I rocognize the guardshack in that vid. |
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