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Thermal: General Info

Why Thermal? Nothing can Hide... Day or Night, Foliage, Smoke, Fog or in Urban Settings

Observe / Detect / Find
  • anything living
  • anything giving off heat
  • locating the absence of heat


    • Just a few applications are:
  • Civilian (Hunting, Camping, and Personal Protection)
  • Military / Law Enforcement (a large group of ideas here...)
  • Industrial (even preventative maintenance options)



    • Thermal Devices are becoming more available for the Civilian market. The devices available for Military and Law Enforcement are even more impressive, but with all the choices it can be come a bit confusing.

    Thermal devices are available in a variety of formats, and prices
  • Hand held only
  • Hands Free
  • Weapon Mountable
  • Clip-on / Overlay
  • Vehicle (Land or Air) Mountable
  • Security Systems


    • We have access to an extraordinory variety of products from many of the major suppliers / manufacturers. To help keep some of the confusion down, we only have some of the items on the website ...

    All of us have, at one time or another, been in a dark situation - or thought there was something of interest in the bushes outside - and wanted something to "see" !! The first type of product available was Night Vision, or "Light Amplification", it was bulky - but it was the start of a wonderful line of products to choose from.

    As time progressed, the quality of Night Vision Devices has evolved from 1st Gen, 2nd Gen, 3rd Gen, (and what some call 4th Gen - which we call Gen 3 Advanced).

    As Night Vision was evolving, so was Thermal. At first they were Bulky, and required "re-calibration" more often that we liked... Now Thermal has advanced to a stage where Non-Millitary people are interested in the offerings.

    When looking at Thermal there are terms that keep popping up to help compare different manufacturers.
  • refresh rate: the larger the number the smoother the image. You may see numbers such as: 7.5, 9, 30, or 60.
  • sensor resolution: again the larger the number the more detailed the image. Currently the largest number for the commercial market is 640x480.
  • Screen resolution: again, the larger the number the more crisp image. NOTE: do not get confused, there is a difference between sensor or detector and screen resolution... some people give screen resolution, and omit telling you a sector or detector figure... (be careful)
  • detect, recognize, identify: how far can you see? often asked question. That question can be answered: you can see 1100 yards (but is that detect something here, or identify it..) there is a big difference.




    • Last but not Least: Government Regulation on this type of technology...
    without giving you a lot of words the short of it is... Thermal is governed by similar rules as Night Vision.

    For more information on this please contact one of our specialist either by phone or email:
  • (404)444-3202
  • Help@USAOptics.net