how many and what brand TIC do you have

[RESQBOSS244]

My chief and I are considering the purchase of a second thermal imaging camera. How many TIC do you have and what brand / model is it. What do you like and dislike about it. Thanks.

[jrdunkle]

Bullard

At my department we have 5 bullards, I think we have 3 T1's and 2 T3's. Love the bullards. I have used a couple of other brands and I like the T3 the best. At the dept I vol with the bullard rep was there and selling a T3 max, which is color, and we asked about the derability, the rep threw the camera down our front pad and we went up there and it was still on and worked. What I like about the T3 is no warm up time, and the color one at my vol dept is a great bennifit. They have a new one out the T4 which is the same as the T3 except wide screen. I have used both the T3 with a auto-throttle and one with a manual, I like them both but I think I would go with the auto-throttle.

The T3 also tells relative temperature of the item you point the cross hairs at. You can get ones that transmit the image to an outside receiver but I don't think that is really necessary.

As far as having 5 of them, we have one on every engine company. They make S&R and fire attack so much easier. If you run a truck company you can also use it to locate the hottest area to vent. We do not currently have a truck company so are engines are do it all engines.

If you have a limited budget, one on the Bat Chiefs car and one your truck company.

I know I sound like I am a rep, but it is just what I am familiar with. What I would recommend is contact your rep and get the demos on loan. Try them out, not just in fires, but leave the battey on and see how long it last, but them to the test do some training in full PPE with SCBA and smoke it out if you can. Also when you do get one make it a practice for the person that is going to carry it brings in the extra batteries and make sure they can change the battery in full darkness with gloves on

[Catch22]

My career department has the old Scott EagleImagers. I'm sure they were good for their day, but they're a bit outdated. I'm not sure if the term "too sensitive" is what I'm trying to say, but any little bit of heat shows up as bright white, or black as night, depending on which mode it's in. There's no differentiating between a little residual heat and actual smoldering.

My vollie department has the MSA 5000. That camera I trully love. I forget the exact numbers, but after a certain temperature, heat shows up as red. It's also got a thermometer built in so we can tell the temperature of the area showing heat. When we specced, the new Scott was a close second, but we didn't look a whole lot, either.

I'd actually be curious to see one of the Bullards. At the time, we couldn't find anyone we wanted to deal with to get one to look at.

[backsteprescue123]

We've got an MSA 4000 I believe. We keep it on the engine that goes first out for fires.

Just to give you an idea of our size, we ran 786 calls last year, fire and ems.

A dept close by however, ran 1411 calls fire and ems, they have one handheld TIC on their first out engine and a helmet mounted tic on their rescue.

[Bones42]

We are probably what most would consider "overloaded" with TICs.

We run around 250 calls from 2 stations, no EMS. Station 1 has MSA 3000, MSA 4000, MSA 4100. Station 2 has 2 MSA 5000's. We are in the process of buying 2 more MSA 5000's to go in our 2 Chief's vehicles.

[LtDanCobbFD]

We have 42 of the ISG K1000 Elite Cameras. We replaced all of the old style Bullards and ISI cameras with this purchase. So far the cameras are doing very well and everyone is pleased with them.
We evaluated a bunch of cameras and the ISG was the winner with the Bullard T3 a close second. Either one would have been fine but ISG was the lower bidder.
Battery life on the ISG is outstanding compared to the other cameras but of course the extra capacity adds a little weight as well. But they are still light compared to the old style cameras.

[gunnyv]

We have 5, one per house. 1 Argus 1, 1 Argus 2, and 3 Argus 3s. The Argus 1 is the only remaining of the first 4 we bought about 10 years ago. The Argus 3 is the size of a shoebox, right angle viewer-think survivor light design. The 3has a digital camera in it. They do the job but are large and not ergonomic-difficult to carry and hold in the position to view while working.

Having seen the Bullards at the shows and neighboring Depts, I'd go for them over the Argus every time.

[WCENG23]

We have 4 or 5 of the MSA 5000 and 1 Scott Eagle. We have budgeted to replace the Scott with MSA. One on each first out engine and ladder and heavy rescue. Usually gets us at least three cameras on each strucural response one each for fire attack, search, and RIT.

[Rescue101]

Catch,You got throttles on those?We have two Eagles and three T3s.The Eagles have hand throttles,the T3's don't.For dowm and dirty work I like the T3s.Damn near foolproof and decent picture quality.The Eagles work fine but it's like dragging a VW engine with you. T.C.

[NorcalMike]

We use MSA's. We have 41 engines and 6 trucks, all with TICs. We have two different models. I think they are the 2000 and 4000.

Biggest issue is the connection to the in vehicle charger breaking because you must remove it first before taking the TIC out of the mount. If you forget, can break.

We run 65000+ calls a year. About 6500 are fire responses.

[Paul343]

My primary department has an MSA 4000, which I really like.

My other department has a Bullard (not sure of the model) which is good but I prefer the MSA.

The MSA has a larger dispay screen and just all around seems to be more durable than the Bullard. But that's just me.

[backsteprescue123]

We are probably what most would consider "overloaded" with TICs.

We run around 250 calls from 2 stations, no EMS. Station 1 has MSA 3000, MSA 4000, MSA 4100. Station 2 has 2 MSA 5000's. We are in the process of buying 2 more MSA 5000's to go in our 2 Chief's vehicles.

Ummm yeah.....I think that qualifies you as overloaded!

[Heretic]

We run two, both MSA.

A 5000 on the lead engine, and a 5200 on our Rescue truck.

[FlyingKiwi]

Last time we had a scrub fire I picked up three cattle tics.

Missus had to burn them off with a lighted cigarette.

Mongrel bloody things.

[engine13A]

We have one on every rig, 30 Engines, 9 Trucks, 1 Heavy rescue. I am not sure if our new High Rise rig has one or not. They are the MSA 5000 they have been good units, light and reliable. the only problems I have heard of are the truck chargers not charging and that has only been a couple of rigs.