SPI Corporation announcing liquidation of thermal imaging equipment

[ixfd64]

http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/article/Thermal-Imager-and-Infrared-Camera-Online-Liquidation-Site-Goes-Live-As-Part-of-Direct-To-Consumer-Mandate-by-SPI-Corp-3338869
http://spi-wholesale.com/shop/x-250-xp-thermal-imager

Interesting... I wonder if this will be useful to members here.

[Fraser]

Thanks 

Some interesting pricing on the SPi site. Some items offer good value.

I was considering one of the L3 cores but I promised myself no more thermal camera purchases unless something really amazing comes along 

Aurora

[ixfd64]

The liquidation website is now returning a 404 error. I wonder if everything is sold out?

[Fraser]

https://spi-wholesale.com/

Works for me fine here in the UK

Note, SPi are VERY fussy about sending thermal cameras overseas. The commonly cancel bids from overseas bidders in their ebay auctions.

[ixfd64]

It's working again now for me too. Perhaps their web server just had a hiccup.

[zapta]

The liquidation website is now returning a 404 error. I wonder if everything is sold out?

They must sold the servers ;-)

[ixfd64]

SPI will be selling off 250 Palm IR 250-D's soon: http://www.tempsensornews.com/thermal_imaging/spi-to-release-massive-stock-of-palm-ir-250-thermal-imagers

They also also selling off RAZ-IR Nanos at a deep discount: http://www.x20.org/raz-ir-nano-thermal-camera

There is an even better deal on RAZ-IR Pros: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/291088833252

[Fraser]

I advise that readers not get too excited about Palm 250D cameras. They are pretty ancient and no matter what SPi claim, they are inferior in performance to a modern microbolometer. I know, I own several cameras with the same Raytheon/L3 BST imager core. I paid only around GBP50 for my Raytheon/L3  BST based cameras. The SPi Palm 250D cameras are 'reconditioned ' so may well be military surplus, especially in view of the numbers for sale. My advice....do not overpay on a Palm 250D.

Some tech info.... the BST sensor requires a spinning chopper wheel and this limits how small the camera can be. This is the reason for the bulky Palm 250 case. The image is definitely less well defined than my microbolometer cameras. The same technology is to be found in the old Cadillac De-Ville car night vision cameras seen on e*ay.com.

As for the RAZ products...I have always thought them cheap and tacky looking, but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I have not seen any 'bargains' on the SPi sale to date.

Aurora

[ixfd64]

Yeah, I wouldn't get too excited about the prices either. The average cost of 160 x 120 thermal cameras seems to be between $1,800 and $4,000 these days, so it seems SPI is putting the camera closer to the market price rather than letting them go for cheap.

[Fraser]

I just picked up an 'as new' condition Testo 880 160x120 (interpolated to 320x240) camera for $780 so good cameras are around at reasonable prices if you search around