Drager Thermal Imager

[blaster668]

Does anyone here have any experience with the Drager Thermal Imaging Cameras? We are specifically looking at the UCF 3200 with Thermal Scan. The price seems very good on these units, and they seem to have a lot of features. The feature set seems to put it between the Bullard T320 and T4 Max, but for several thousand dollars less.

[fireinfo10]

Way overpriced from what I'm reading. List almost $14k? You have to be kidding (or have $ burning a hole in pocket). Got that in common with Bullard anyhow.

Look at at the Eagle 320. Built for the way we FF in US. Can get complete set for well under $9000. Great TIC.

[CaptOldTimer]

We are down here, http://www.firehouse.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=332

[blaster668]

Way overpriced from what I'm reading. List almost $14k? You have to be kidding (or have $ burning a hole in pocket). Got that in common with Bullard anyhow.

Look at at the Eagle 320. Built for the way we FF in US. Can get complete set for well under $9000. Great TIC.

It doesn't sell anywhere near that price. I have a quote for $6995 with 2 batteries, truck charger, and lanyard.

[GTRider245]

In my expirience, any time people save money by going with anything Drager, they end up wishing they had spent more money and gone with something better.

They can keep that on the other side of the Ocean. We will buy American.

[tajm611]

we've used drager packs, drager multi-gas, tic's, etc.

The only thing we've kept are the packs and its not by choice (fairly difficult, when compared to other brands, to quickly swap bottles). We have not enjoyed using any of the products. Maybe their products are great but just didnt fit with our activities or uses. After using the msa brand tic, I have to say, it's a fairly decent unit for its price.

[tajm611]

Edit: our TIC is Bullard.

[JTFIRE80]

In my expirience, any time people save money by going with anything Drager, they end up wishing they had spent more money and gone with something better.

They can keep that on the other side of the Ocean. We will buy American.

Yup, I agree 100%!!

[LVFD301]

In my expirience, any time people save money by going with anything Drager, they end up wishing they had spent more money and gone with something better.

They can keep that on the other side of the Ocean. We will buy American.

Ok, what packs are you using then to "buy American"?

And after a long process, we bought Draeger packs in 2003, and have been very happy.

[npfd801]

There is nothing wrong with the Draeger camera. Is it the best on the market? Probably not, but for the price - and bang for the buck - you could do much worse. The 3200 has a very nice picture.

Inside scoop is that the low price is to clear out inventory to make way for the new NFPA compliant models that are in the pipeline.

Look at what that tiny Bullard goes for once you add some options. I know where I'd be putting my money.

[blaster668]

we've used drager packs, drager multi-gas, tic's, etc.

The only thing we've kept are the packs and its not by choice (fairly difficult, when compared to other brands, to quickly swap bottles). We have not enjoyed using any of the products. Maybe their products are great but just didnt fit with our activities or uses. After using the msa brand tic, I have to say, it's a fairly decent unit for its price.

Could you expand on what was not liked about this camera?

[tajm611]

Yeah sure. We had our first one white wash (I really don't know the technical term, we brought it in a decent house fire for search and rescue and it failed and never recovered), the receiver never gave our IC a very good picture, we had a few that were really slow on response from the temperature selection buttons, and our main problem was no matter how many ways we tried to put the cameras in their charging dock you had a 7/10 chance it wouldn't make a good connection.

Not really a big deal when you write it on paper but when guys are going around and moving tools, or the truck was running a lot, it would lose contact and the batteries were dismal.

we went through a ton of batteries also, 6 months would give you a battery that didn't last long enough to use it.


Like I said, we never really enjoyed drager's products, maybe our activities and style just didn't suit them.

[bruce355]

Ok, what packs are you using then to "buy American"?

MSA packs are manufactured in PA aren't they?

[LVFD301]

Yep, and MSA is probably the only company that can even come close to claiming to be "american". (with the usual caveats about content)

[blaster668]

Yeah sure. We had our first one white wash (I really don't know the technical term, we brought it in a decent house fire for search and rescue and it failed and never recovered), the receiver never gave our IC a very good picture, we had a few that were really slow on response from the temperature selection buttons, and our main problem was no matter how many ways we tried to put the cameras in their charging dock you had a 7/10 chance it wouldn't make a good connection.

Not really a big deal when you write it on paper but when guys are going around and moving tools, or the truck was running a lot, it would lose contact and the batteries were dismal.

we went through a ton of batteries also, 6 months would give you a battery that didn't last long enough to use it.


Like I said, we never really enjoyed drager's products, maybe our activities and style just didn't suit them.

And were these experiences with the current model of camera or an older one? How long ago did this happen? Was the manufacturer ever notified of the issues? Did they do anything to try to fix them or take care of the problem? I'm not trying to bash what you are saying, I'm just trying to get valuable info.