FLIR Breach

ianfroese

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So, anyone else notice that the FLIR Breach is all of the sudden available for sale in Canada? FLIR Boson core, 12 micrometer pixel pitch, 60 hz, selling for under $3k.... Awesome! They put a lot of 640 units to shame, apparently; it will absolutely kick the crap out of the Scout II 320 I used to have, anyways.

I'm really looking forward to running this with my PVS14. I think they will complement each other well. I'll hopefully be putting up a Gen 1/2/3 NOD review soon, and will have to add this in as well!

Anyone else looking at getting a Breach?
 
Yup - but how do you helmet mount these?

Guidance appreciated.

I'm not sure if the units from Wolverine come with any mounting gear, but from what I gather, they can come with either a horn mount (think standard PVS14 mount) or dovetail mount. Those are the two most common methods of head mounting night vision gear. If you want to run this at the same time as a PVS14, things get a bit difficult; however running it as a standalone head mount is fairly straight forward. If anyone knows differently, please chime in!


Any ideas how the Breach would compare to the Scout III 640?

In terms of picture quality, pretty similar. I should also correct myself, as the Breach using a 12 micron sensor doesn't make the resolution better on its own, however it allows for a smaller lens/sensor combo for the same field of view.

With that being said, the Scout III uses a 17 micron, 640x512 Tau2 core, with I believe a 19 mm lens. It has a 18x14 degree field of view (FOV), and a 2x magnification, with 4x digital zoom, and a 30 hz frame rate. It is pretty much exclusively a handheld. Though I believe there are SOME head mounting solutions, this is not what it is meant for. It can detect (note the word detect) a human at 1,246 yards. This means that a human will appear as a pixel at 1,246 yards. To properly ID (PID) you would need to be much, much closer.

The Breach PTQ136 has the new 12 micron, 320x256 Boson core, with a 9.1 mm lens. It has a 24x19 degree FOV, with no optical magnification, and 1-4x digital zoom. With the Boson core, it has a beautiful 60 hz frame rate! This gives it a nice crisp image when moving. There are multiple head mounting solutions, and the after market is starting to pick up with regards to mounting it beside a PVS14. As for detection ranges, I haven't been able to find anything posted, but I would hazard a guess of about 600 yards to detect a human. The Breach also has onboard video and picture recording, which is pretty great! It is also 1 inch shorter, and 5 ounces lighter, than the Scout III. It really is compact!

I guess that's a basic overview. The Scout III 640 will be a great unit, and if you are wanting to have a better chance at ID'ing or detecting at long range, it will be the better option. If you are looking to navigate, or simply use to detect and then use I2 NOD's to ID, then the Breach is the better option, particularly for the price and features. I am really looking forward to having this unit when I got on night walks with my PVS14. I can easily scan the field and determine whether anything is out there. Once I know something is there, I can stalk in with my PVS14 and ID.

It will also be pretty great for rat exterminating on the farm. Spot with Breach, then exterminate with PVS and .22 :)
 
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Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain that! I was leaning toward the Scout III but you have convinced me that the Breach will be more than sufficient.

In terms of picture quality, pretty similar. I should also correct myself, as the Breach using a 12 micron sensor doesn't make the resolution better on its own, however it allows for a smaller lens/sensor combo for the same field of view.

With that being said, the Scout III uses a 17 micron, 640x512 Tau2 core, with I believe a 19 mm lens. It has a 18x14 degree field of view (FOV), and a 2x magnification, with 4x digital zoom, and a 30 hz frame rate. It is pretty much exclusively a handheld. Though I believe there are SOME head mounting solutions, this is not what it is meant for. It can detect (note the word detect) a human at 1,246 yards. This means that a human will appear as a pixel at 1,246 yards. To properly ID (PID) you would need to be much, much closer.

The Breach PTQ136 has the new 12 micron, 320x256 Boson core, with a 9.1 mm lens. It has a 24x19 degree FOV, with no optical magnification, and 1-4x digital zoom. With the Boson core, it has a beautiful 60 hz frame rate! This gives it a nice crisp image when moving. There are multiple head mounting solutions, and the after market is starting to pick up with regards to mounting it beside a PVS14. As for detection ranges, I haven't been able to find anything posted, but I would hazard a guess of about 600 yards to detect a human. The Breach also has onboard video and picture recording, which is pretty great! It is also 1 inch shorter, and 5 ounces lighter, than the Scout III. It really is compact!

I guess that's a basic overview. The Scout III 640 will be a great unit, and if you are wanting to have a better chance at ID'ing or detecting at long range, it will be the better option. If you are looking to navigate, or simply use to detect and then use I2 NOD's to ID, then the Breach is the better option, particularly for the price and features. I am really looking forward to having this unit when I got on night walks with my PVS14. I can easily scan the field and determine whether anything is out there. Once I know something is there, I can stalk in with my PVS14 and ID.

It will also be pretty great for rat exterminating on the farm. Spot with Breach, then exterminate with PVS and .22 :)
 
Very much looking forward to reading your review! I was tempted to pick up sightmark ghost hunter just goof around with but I've always thought thermal would be cool as hell. Especially when trying to track down newborn calves in the frozen Bush.
 
I got the breach and I have to say does not disappoint! Yes it’s excellent for scouting animals. Few things I noticed and want to share:

- image through the viewfinder is way better than compressed YouTube videos.
- definitely invest in a headset
- battery life is about an hour if you’re lucky.
- you can use any backup battery pack you got around the house to power it for a whole day :) USB cable that comes with the flir is excellent and long enough to work with an external battery pack.
- spotted and identified rabbits over 200 yards away.
- zoom isn’t very useful.. 1x magnification is best
- no idea how to update firmware. Flir website is totally useless.
- you have to push the buttons very hard to work.


 
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