FLIR Ocean Scout TK, a $599 handheld true thermal marine camera!

Ben Ellison

Ben Ellison

Panbo editor, publisher & chief bottlewasher from 4/2005 until 8/2018, and now pleased to have Ben Stein as a very able publisher, webmaster, and editing colleague. Please don't regard him as an "expert"; he's getting quite old and thinks that "fadiddling fumble-putz" is a more accurate description.

9 Responses

  1. Sheldon Haynie says:

    Ben,
    That’s quite interesting, is that a USB port hiding under the rubber gasket? Presumably that’s for charging and file load/unloading. As you note having a “poor man’s thermal imager” with real video output would be quite interesting. I’ve just popped $100 to put a color/BW video bullet cam mounted above my radar on the self leveling mount to see past the mast when heeled over and could easily see putting a bullet form factor thermal next to it.

  2. Drew says:

    Ben, did you get to actually use the TK? How does it compare to the 240? What is the reasonable range for a person in the water or a boat?

  3. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    Not as much as I would liked to, Drew, and it was mostly my fault. TK’s were available on the FLIR cruise, but I only tried one briefly as I was hoping to see TK and regular Ocean Scout during the Quantum demo. However, they didn’t make the boat and I only got a brief look at the dock. The build quality of the TK seemed right up there with the existing OS and you could easily see the results of latest hi res eyepiece display. I did think that TK seemed a bit dim in comparison, but that was in FL mid day sunshine.
    I hope to get another look at some point and I think we’ll hear from early purchasers. I took a funny photo of three show goers simultaneously trying TK’s alongside the Raymarine kiosk they were all tethered to. There was interest!

  4. Matthew Hahn says:

    Hi Ben,
    Any update on this device?
    Thanks,
    -Matt

  5. Laurent says:

    Yes, I am very interested to get some feedback about the Flir TK Scout as I am planning to buy one. But is it really usuable on our boats, entering a mooring by night or saving a MOB ?
    Thanks for any comment.
    Laurent

  6. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    Hi Laurent, I think that a key specification to look at and compare across the FLIR handheld thermal line is “Range Performance (Detect Man).” You’ll see that it’s directly proportional to resolution and varies from 100 yards for the TK up beyond 1,000 yards for the hi res handhelds. That’s a big difference, but so is the price.
    I still don’t much time with the TK but I believe it is usable for moorings and MOB but not at much distance.
    Also, if I were you I’d wait on a purchase until next week’s Miami Show, just in case. I really doubt that FLIR will announce a newer low end handheld, but they are always trying to drive prices down.

  7. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    PS (somewhat unrelated): I have had a lot of experience with the FLIR FX security/car/action camera, both the regular inside version and with the outdoor casing. It’s a wee geeky to get set up but very capable and the Rapid Recap can be a blast. Details here:
    https://www.flirsecure.com/?_ga=1.32155062.902967980.1486485961
    And very good deal here (probably because it’s being replaced by the more market focused FLIR Security model).
    https://www.lorextechnology.com/holiday-specials/flir-fx-wifi-home-monitoring-camera/FXV101R-1-p

  8. Dennis says:

    Hi I saw that there are 2 diferent FLIR scopes the FLIR Scout and FLIR Ocean Scout Now I got the idea that the FLIR Ocean Scout is for Marine, Buț is it Marine/ Water use only ? Is the Ocean Scout good for on Land too or not really ?

  9. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    Dennis, I’m pretty sure that the FLIR Scout TK and Ocean Scout TK are the same camera just with different names and case colors for different markets. I can’t see any difference in the specs — both are IP67 submersible, for instance.
    The various higher resolution (and higher cost) Scout handhelds also seem to have equivalent Outdoors and Marine models with different names and colors.

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