I have been on 3 different depts. And in my short career each dept had TIC's but each Dept had a Different brand. The Department i'm on now uses Bullard which we have on both of are first out Engines and another on are reserve engine. This makes it nice because equipment such as straps, batt's and charges are alike and add on feature's like Transmitters, helmet mounts etc. can be used on both. Not to mention Training is easier the tactic's and General use of the TIC's are interchangeable also. The Department i was on before had 2 also but they used Scott. but they had two different styles. Eagle I and Eagle II were the styles. Both were handheld one was black and white, didn't take a temp reading and was able to strap to your gear for hands free carry. Which the other was Color, took Temp readings, but u always had to carry it in your hand. This made training twice as hard for different tatic's and general use was different for each unit. not to forget the batt's, charger, where not interchangable, and the Adds are not always either. and the battery life was different.
So What Kind of TIC's does your Department have and what do you like or dislike about them. Does your department train regularly with them and how are they Utilized.
So if u had your pick which TIC would u pick and why is it because is small, cheap, color, and anyother reason i'd like to know... if u know of any problems to i'd also like to know...
MSA is the one we have, theyre really nice, and the batteries are just regular camcorder type, so itll save ya a little bit in the long run, the temp readout is digital and i think the sensitivity settings are awesome. its alot better than out neighbors Scott TIC, which isnt bad for the money, but theyve had numerous problems with batteries and chargers. of course they may have just gotten the lemon of the bunch.
I've always heard that the batt's on the scotts don't last long.. i know we had problems with them all the time.. one of the problems was you could just put a newly charged batt. in the camera and in 5 mins of use it would show low batt. and when we first got it that meant u had about 10 mins left. but when i left it would stay running on low batt. for an hour after it started flashing. (scott said the batt's or the charger was bad) [was the Eagle II]
We use the scott model. I like the repositioning handle plus the pistol grip. The only problem we had with it is when we first got it, we took it into it's first cooker to locate the seat of the fire, and the camera crapped out on us, apparently it can't handle heat at all. It fried the motherboard inside. (which Scott attempted to make us pay for unsucsessfully) Since then we seem to have had really great luck with the camera, it operates very well for us.
THE 2 STATIONS I RUN WITH BOTH HAVE TIC'S ONE USES A SCOTT EAGLE 160 AND THE OTHER USES 2 BULLARD'S 1 IS A T-3 AND THE OTHER IS THE OLD BIG ONE. WHEN MY VOLUNTEER STATION BOUGHT OUR WE HAD SCOTT,ISI,MSA,ARGUS,BULLARD, BOTH THE LARGE AND SMALL OF EACH. ALL WERE USED IN LIVE FIRE CONDITIONS AT THE SAME TIMEWHERE WE COULD LOOK THROUGH EACH, ALL WERE PRETTY GOOD BUT THE ISI TALLSMAN HAD BY FAR THE BEST IMAGE OF ANY CAMERA WE HAD LARGE OR SMALL. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE TO SPEND ON A CAMERA, 2 OF THE SMALL ISS'S WERE WELL BELOW THE 10,000 MARK, SCOTT AND THE SMALL MSA CAME IN CLOSE TO 10,500-14,000 AND THE LARGE CAMERA CAME IN AT OVER 18,000. WE ENDED UP GOING WITH THE SCOTT BECAUSE OF THE EASE OF CHANGING THE BATTERY EVEN WITH GLOVES ON AND THE ABILITY TO CRAWL AND STILL SEE WHAT IN FRONT OF YOU, AND SHOULD SOMETHING HAPPEN THE SCOTT PLANT IS ONLY ABOUT 1.5 HOURS AWAY FROM US. CAMERA HAS HELD UP GREAT AND HAVEN'T HAD ANY TROUBLE YET.
My department uses the MSA 5200 Thermal Imager. We started with Bullard and switched to MSA. The 5000, 5200 have better picture, color and degree. They have come out with new 5600 which is to compare to Bullard affordably priced. I would recommend MSA
We have two MSA TIC. One 5000 and one 5200. They do a great job for us and have interchagable batteries with two of our sister departments who also have MSA TIC.
We use Bullard....esay to use, dependable...Kind of like the K.I.S.S. methos...(keep it simple stupid)....Stay safe....put the wet stuff on the red stuff......Paul
Love Bullard, use them for anything we can find for them to do and the training Bullard provided can not be left out they clearly know about their product and will back it up. Have trained with most brands, really hated the helmet mounts!