I have two more patients on their way to me
These patients are Scott Eagle Attack firefighting cameras that have undisclosed faults.
The seller appears to have a large stock of working Eagle Attack cameras to sell and all appear to have come from a single Firefighting Department. This is typical of a Fire Department equipment refresh with the old cameras going to auction in bulk. The camera model in question dates back to 2012 so is 8 years old and now discontinued. Scott 3M have changed direction in their firefighting camera range and support for the older cameras has likely ended or become limited. Fire Departments then have little choice but to raise a tender process for replacement cameras from the current manufacturers of such. This can be a great opportunity for hobbyists as large numbers of used fire fighting cameras can appear on the secondary market at relatively affordable prices. MSA fire fighting cameras regularly appear on eBay at various prices ranging from under $100 to many hundreds of Dollars, depending on condition and the sellers profit margins.
I have highlighted fire fighting cameras as a good source of decent thermal imaging cores previously. Such professional use cameras remain an excellent source of high quality thermal imaging technology that may be redeployed in a different embodiment or used as an affordable thermal imager ‘as supplied’ in the original fire fighting camera format. The quality of components used in fire fighting thermal cameras is normally very high as these units take a real beating during their operational lives and they need to be reliable. Whilst not described as ‘life saving’ or ‘personal protection of life’ devices (for legal reasons) that is, in fact, their real world role and they do aid fire fighters in their duties to assess a fire and search for casualties. They most certainly have saved many lives around the world over the years. Reliability is therefore a key requirement when designing such a camera. Some cameras do fail in service and some are better designed than others. That is not a surprise as cameras are made for a range of budgets and uses. Better a cheaper model that is less rugged than no camera at all ? Such just require greater care in their use.
So back to the Eagle Attack camera..... what is it and why did I buy two faulty units ?
The Eagle Attack is a lightweight, relatively compact personal firefighting thermal camera that provides the user with an easily gripped handle and a decent size of display for viewing the thermal scene. This is part of the new generation of personal fire fighting cameras that are intended to be issued to many individual fire fighters rather than shared amongst a team. The camera was designed to be affordable, effective and compact to enable it to hang off of the users protective clothing without impeding mobility. The Bullard Eclipse and Argus MiTic are similar in this respect. The ‘personal thermal camera’ specification can be slightly lower than the higher priced larger cameras but this is by no means always the case as the core may be identical across a range of cameras with just larger displays or more features offered on the larger cameras. The Argus MiTic 320 is a camera that I love and it performs very well indeed
The Eagle Attack uses a 160 x 120 pixel A-Si microbolometer to capture the thermal scene and it upscales the image to 640 x 480 pixels. Whilst 160 x 120 pixels may not sound very impressive, remember that a good 160 x 120 pixel core can often look better and outperform a lower quality, more noisy 320 x 240 pixel core. Firefighting cameras typically employ good quality optics married to a good quality core...... a recipe for nice imaging
So what thermal imaging core lives inside the Eagle Attack ?
From what I can see of the Eagle Attack’s lens (behind a Germanium window) the core is a L3 Thermal Eye 3500AS or 3600AS, with me leaning towards the 3600AS due to its more compact PCB’s designed to fit into compact camera heads like that of the attack. The L3 TE 3x00AS cores are very capable A-Si based thermalimaging devices. This is no surprise when you realise that they were designed to be very versatile in order to attract military customers. These cores can be found in weapon sights, thermal reconnaissance monoculars and UAV’s
So why did I buy two faulty Eagle Attack cameras when I already own a few thermal cameras ?
Four reasons really .....
1. They were inexpensive (really cheap!) at the original asking price and were being offered at a further discount that I just could not resist.
2. The Scott Eagle Attack uses a decent imaging core and once I realised what model of core was used I knew I had a good chance of repairing and reconfiguring that particular core. The cores Germanium lenses alone were worth the asking price !
3. I get enjoyment from working on faulty thermal cameras and a kick out of returning them to operating condition.
4. I do not already own a Scott Eagle Attack in my collection
I will update this thread once the two cameras arrive.
The seller is also offering tested, working Eagle Attack cameras with two batteries but no charger for over $1200 but I consider that a Bullish asking price. These cameras cost around $7K new in 2012 so are not the most expensive by any means. They are now effectively obsolete and likely with very little support available from Scott.
Fraser
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