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Posted: 1/9/2014 12:24:22 PM EDT
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After recently upgrading my NODS to a filmless Sentinel I'm pretty happy in that department but now I want thermal. I would love a T50 but I'm not sure I want to drop another $10k. I'm wondering if a FLIR Scout PS32 is a good entry level device? Should I spend a little more and get a COTI? Would I be better off spending the extra money and just buying the T50? Any input would be appreciated.
Use case would be anything from hunting to just screwing around and having fun. Thanks in advance! |
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Quoted:
After recently upgrading my NODS to a filmless Sentinel I'm pretty happy in that department but now I want thermal. I would love a T50 but I'm not sure I want to drop another $10k. I'm wondering if a FLIR Scout PS32 is a good entry level device? Should I spend a little more and get a COTI? Would I be better off spending the extra money and just buying the T50? Any input would be appreciated. Use case would be anything from hunting to just screwing around and having fun. Thanks in advance! What the others have said plus the following. I rented a PS32 online and was so disappointed that I'd pretty much written thermal off. Then I ran into a guy that had both a PS32 and Thor 2x 60hz and was able to compare back and forth. No comparison. That night caused me to get back into the thermal saving/ shopping mode and just picked up the same Thor 2 weeks ago. Then, along comes SkyPup with the whole "hold on to your wallet, FLIR's going to be dropping some awesome and not so expensive cool stuff" thing, so, I probably mis-timed my leap a bit. Not the first time I've been early. Probably not the last. I have since learned that even though they share the same 320x240 sensor, the larger lens size of the Thor (30mm vs 19mm) and the Thor's OLED display (vs the PS-32's VGA LED screen) are what really sets the two apart. |
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This right here is pretty tempting:
Optics Planet I'll wait out the FLIR announcement though. |
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That is not a very good unit for that money with only a 14mm lens and a 320 core with 25 micron pixels, you'd be much better off with a FLIR LS-32 with a new 336 core with 17 micron pixels and a 19mm lens for much longer range and much higher performance:
http://www.flir.com/uploadedFiles/CVS_Americas/Law_Enforcement/Products/LS-Series/FLIR-LS-Series-Datasheet%281%29.pdf |
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That is not a very good unit for that money with only a 14mm lens and a 320 core with 25 micron pixels, you'd be much better off with a FLIR LS-32 with a new 336 core with 17 micron pixels and a 19mm lens for much longer range and much higher performance: http://www.flir.com/uploadedFiles/CVS_Americas/Law_Enforcement/Products/LS-Series/FLIR-LS-Series-Datasheet%281%29.pdf I think optics planet does not have all the correct specs, i have an atn ots-x f314, mine has a 336 x 256 core and a 19mm lens. I have also tried the FLIR model (it was the ps32, not the ls32, but they have the same screen and same sensor, just less Hz rate on the PS), i could not tell a difference in image clarity or quality between the flir and the ots-x. the thing i did not like about the FLIR was the screen size was just so small. the screen size on the ots-x seems so much bigger and easier on the eye. There are also some other differences i like better in the ots-x like manual nuc, several color modes, not an internal battery. When i made my final choice I think the LS32 was more expensive, i thought it was 4999. Skypup did they recently drop the price? if 3999 was the price when i made my choice i may have stuck with flir and got the ls32, from optics planet you can easily get another 5 or 10 percent off the price as well. i would wait also and see what flir puts out at shot, i can not wait to see what they are coming out with 
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The LS-32 is the high end much improved model of the PS-32 with the most recent 17um microbolometer instead of the older technology 25 um core, the pixel count is also increased somewhat and the frame rate is increased from 7fps to 30fps, there really is no comparison here between the two as there is about a good 25-35% increase in just about everything.
If you do have the newer 336 pixel core it is indeed a 17um pixel unit, which allows more resolution from a smaller diameter lens, however if yours is using only a 14mm lens compared to the FLIR LS-32 19mm lens, you have about 25% less resolution and range than the large lens system puts out. I personally would go for the larger lens system, 14mm is just too small. Ideal would be 35mm, but that adds to price considerably. You mentioned yours is 19mm whilst the other listing is only 14mm, that makes a huge difference. I do personally prefer the manual NUC over the automatic NUC, but have not had any reservations using the rechargeable battery in the FLIRs. |
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Quoted:
The LS-32 is the high end much improved model of the LS-32 with the most recent 17um microbolometer instead of the older technology 25 um core, the pixel count is also increased somewhat and the frame rate is increased from 7fps to 30fps, there really is no comparison here between the two as there is about a good 25-35% increase in just about everything. If you do have the newer 336 pixel core it is indeed a 17um pixel unit, which allows more resolution from a smaller diameter lens, however if yours is using only a 14mm lens compared to the FLIR LS-32 19mm lens, you have about 25% less resolution and range than the large lens system puts out. I personally would go for the larger lens system, 14mm is just too small. Ideal would be 35mm, but that adds to price considerably. You mentioned yours is 19mm whilst the other listing is only 14mm, that makes a huge difference. I do personally prefer the manual NUC over the automatic NUC, but have not had any reservations using the rechargeable battery in the FLIRs. Good info, I did not realize the LS had a better core then the PS, I mistakenly thought they were the same. I double checked and my ots-x does have the FLIR 336 core and a 19mm lens, the clarity is pretty darned impressive. Not to take away from the FLIR though, they are built like tanks, and quality is second to none. and again, i am pretty sure when i was looking for a unit the flir ls32 was at 4999 and at the time was out of my range. if it was 3999 at that time i may have ended up with the ls32. i am happy though, the color modes are cool and the unit has been working great for me. i finally fot a dvr and need to get some of my videos up. 
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Nice, is the objective lens manually focusable too? On the handheld FLIRs there is no lens adjustment for distances, just a diopter adjustment on the ocular lens, pretty much everything is always in focus all the time except for extremely close up. yes manual focus on front and diopter on ocular. I like the manual focus, you can set it so everything from about 20 yards to infinity is in focus, or you can focus all way in all the way to about 6 inches or anything in between. front lens is also removable and you can change it out to one of the other larger lenses as well. i spend a lot of time in wooded areas though so the wider field of view and 1x works fine for me. |
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