Crazy year for thermal industry

[Terry]

Man what a crazy year 2016 has been in the thermal market. First, ATN leaves behind their tried and proven THOR thermal line which after years of production had matured into a solid product by 2014/2015. They gambled in favor of the cheaper production/price HD line, at this time I'm not sure that has paid off for them.

Next, FLIR buys out Armasight and we all wait to see how that is going to turn out in the long run. I hope good fingers crossed.

Now, Trijicon buys out IRD and here we go again.

New products out of these mergers would be interesting I just hope pricing doesn't rise also. Trijicon is a great company, but they never have been "cheap price wise" so I'm really concerned IRD could see price changes in the future. That said IRD said nothing will change price wise at this time.

Not being a trusting fellow, I went ahead and ordered a IR Patrol this week. I like the IR Patrol "as is" for a viewer and choose not to gamble on rising prices,changing specs or new models arriving needing time to mature/prove themselves before I care to be a early tester.

Plus the BAE 640 12 micron cores in the IRD systems are still and should still be top end cores at least for the next year or so. FLIR seems to be moving towards the newer 12 micron Boson cores which makes me a little unsure about buying a 17 micron flir system right now fearing it will be outdated with a few months.

Just a crazy market right now a guy doesn't know if its best to buy now or wait to see new products hitting the market next 6 months.

 

[gshock]

Thanks for the update! Interesting all around news.

 

[Oso Grande]

I agree with what you're saying. I just ordered a Flir Vue Pro. As much as I'd prefer to stick with the 12 micron core from BAE, there isn't anything like the stand alone Vue Pro that has the core and a recorder built in made by anyone else. I've got lots of ideas as to how to take advantage of the modularity.

 

[Taco]

IR defense is already priced high enough.

 

[Hunt TXHogs]

I want an ATN Thor HD right now so bad - all them bells and whistles that other companies are going to take years to catch up with, oh and that HD recorded video!!!

 

[mdmorrow]

I imagine that ATN getting into a different thermal core has more to do with FLIR buying armasight than anything else. After all Armasight and ATN are close competitors and it wouldn't be good business for Flir to continue to sell that ATN in the interests of Armasight's business. Those sort of deals don't happen overnight and I imagine ATN has been working out a break from flir for sometime. Looks like our core choices will be BAE, Flir or the ULIS cores in the new ATN and the pulsar for now.

 

[FrankT]

I think IRD is high priced now so hope they stay or reduce. Also hoping FLIR does not mess up Armasight and monkey too much with pricing except to lower. Yep lots of changes and I wonder who will step up now and buy ATN now that they messed up the Thor line? Or what about Pulsar? Could be a fun year ahead.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

I want an ATN Thor HD right now so bad - all them bells and whistles that other companies are going to take years to catch up with, oh and that HD recorded video!!!

HD internal video is awesome the rest seemed like gimmicks to me and cluttered up the screen.

I imagine that ATN getting into a different thermal core has more to do with FLIR buying armasight than anything else. After all Armasight and ATN are close competitors and it wouldn't be good business for Flir to continue to sell that ATN in the interests of Armasight's business. Those sort of deals don't happen overnight and I imagine ATN has been working out a break from flir for sometime. Looks like our core choices will be BAE, Flir or the ULIS cores in the new ATN and the pulsar for now.

Highly doubt they knew anything even flir and armasight did not know for sure until the papers were signed. Think dropping flir was just a way for them to drop production cost and raise profit margins.

 

[Hunt TXHogs]

I was just kidding about wanting the ATN - I suppose my sarcasm was too deeply veiled :/

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

I was just kidding about wanting the ATN - I suppose my sarcasm was too deeply veiled :/

Meh I'm tired missed it.

 

[BigRedDog]

Some stuff will be better and more affordable.

Some stuff will just be better

 

[znztivguy]

The Consolidation I believe will cause prices to rise on the short term as companies try to make their money back from the acquisitions.
Less choices....
Wouldn't worry too much about various cores....like people have mentioned here before its the entire package.... and price

 

[Schneeky]

HD internal video is awesome the rest seemed like gimmicks to me and cluttered up the screen.

I'm somewhat cornfused as to why the different mfg's don't seem to wanna invest in better quality output video. It's some of the best advertising that can be had and they're getting it for free. Seems they'd want that "evidence" to shine. Nothing "whips the natives into a frenzy" like visual confirmation.
Kinda like the whole purpose of the "Sportsman" channel. Thirty minute advertisements with 30 second advertisements mixed in!

But hey, whaddoIknow? Right? d:^) Jake..

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

I'm somewhat cornfused as to why the different mfg's don't seem to wanna invest in better quality output video. It's some of the best advertising that can be had and they're getting it for free. Seems they'd want that "evidence" to shine. Nothing "whips the natives into a frenzy" like visual confirmation.
Kinda like the whole purpose of the "Sportsman" channel. Thirty minute advertisements with 30 second advertisements mixed in!

But hey, whaddoIknow? Right? d:^) Jake..

Hindsight is 20/20 most are rushing g to get it done. Some don't have the ability yet.

 

[Wildfowler]

I don't understand why it's so hard? What's involved? Couldn't IRD for example just split the signal before it goes into the display to give digital to DVR too?

 

[Taco]

Seems that IRD is scrambling just to fill/ship existing orders. Every time I have called them they say "we're a real small company." I like them and maybe with Trijicon buying them they'll get a bit bigger. That aquisition seems a lot different than Flir and armasight as far as scale. Flir has been buying up a lot of thermal producers all over the world. I would think they could really take it to IRD if they wanted to.

 

[Terry]

I tend to agree better video/pictures would be the best free advertisement/marketing a company could do.

I have a basic patrol 100 and it can't do pics like my ReapIR does.You have to pay 500 more for pics/video and I refused to pay that. Really it sucks more for IRD than It does for me as I can't post any awesome field pics through the unit. In return IRD gets no free marketing from IR patrol 100 owners that doesn't seem like smart business i'm just saying......

 

[Schneeky]

I don't understand why it's so hard? What's involved? Couldn't IRD for example just split the signal before it goes into the display to give digital to DVR too?

I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable fellas that frequent the place can shine a light on what it really takes for better video to be produced. I hafta give ATN kudos for their internal video recording that, IIRC, actually looks better than the video in the scope (my only exp has been with the original X-Sight). If they could just ditch the "greasy kid stuff" and produce a quality unit that functioned properly the first time around at a decent price I'm of the opinion that it'd pay off. This opinion and $1 will get you a "senior" cup of coffee at McDoogle's.

Then there's those short duration power issues I've yet to get an answer from anywhere about. d:^) Jake..