FLIR stopping production of Pathfinder II automotive Thermal Cameras soon /

[Dark Volter]

I know a lot here dont use the or toy with the autoliv OEM ones
, but i figured I'd share this

https://www.flir.com/products/pathfindir-ii/?vertical=automotive&segment=oem

( End Of Life notice in documents link on their page )


This is a sad day,  since there is so few of these types of camaras, and I highly suspect it ain't that easy to slap any old core in a car grill and weatherproof it,





I talked about my experience here


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/thermal-camera-for-car/


And since then. ... not much of anything has changed ,
Well, there are less companies,  the Pathfindir's original competition,  guide infrared looks dead on the auto front


Speedier and NightRider Io are now going to be more prominent

Seek Thermal STILL, hasn't come out with their solution years later despite the heavy marketing, oddly

I Do see InfiRay / Iray has some a few entries into this market
Hudway ?appears??? to still be in it with theirs and their heads up display


...and I'm STILL waiting for ADASKY to come out with an entry,  since they seem really far ahead in tech in these



As for my own PathfindIR, it serves me well Still
... only issue, the same one I mentioned before,  software adjusts the span the wrong way when droplets area on the lens and the image gets dark, while I can counter this perfectly with my other Thermals ( handhelds )which let me adjust span, etc.

But the other 95% of the time? This thing is indispensable . I see SO many deer, bicyclists, people in all black on the road walking at night, past elevated trucks with high beams aiming at my winshield head on,  thru. smoke from controlled burns and forest fires, wild hogs, cops in the far distance on the road parked with hot engines, . ..
The pedestrian and animal detection / recognition works better than i expected, though only maybe 500 - 1500 feet, compared to just seeing heat of critters/people a half a mile away in general well before it triggers,  but it is 320x240, after all

And I'm in Florida, with the frequent rains and all.... and it's still something ( automotive Thermal in General )100% of cars should have,  hornbeams can't compete at all

Nor can the night vision setups of friends and family who have near-infrared auto  night vision setups, I've seen their screens and thermal murders them in capability badly.  I will always now acquire thermal vision for any car I own


So, it's a sad day, we have one less option now.

They've made the videos private, but ADASKY had showed their thermals defeating rain  with ease,  so I hope they eventually release something with that capability,  but here is hoping automotive thermals stay a thing in general. And NOT just another sensor for driverless cars to use without the human ever seeing any of the superhuman vision the cameras give- that 's a waste

[NightRide_Shawn]

Shawn here from NightRide Thermal.

Yeah, it's really crazy that FLIR discontinued the PathFindIR II!

I completely agree, but it's part of the new direction they're taking 

But I completely agree with you about the benefits of driving at night with a Thermal Camera! You never know how many pedestrians there are (even somewhere as bright as Brooklyn!) until you can see people coming from between parked cars, deers out in the country, through smoke (which is UNCANNY how much better you can see through smoke!).

A lot of people have come to NightRide looking for an adequate replacement and been more than happy!

Our thermal cameras do everything the PathFindIR does, but in an easy to install package

We even have a 640 x 512 Ranger you might find interesting!
https://getnightride.com/pages/nightride-ranger-thermal-camera-640-13

[Bill W]

But I completely agree with you about the benefits of driving at night with a Thermal Camera! You never know how many pedestrians there are (even somewhere as bright as Brooklyn!) until you can see people coming from between parked cars, deers out in the country, through smoke (which is UNCANNY how much better you can see through smoke!).

That is where all the fire service (initially navy) interest in thermal came from.   Seeing through smoke for people and building layout as much as about seeing really hot things.

[Dark Volter]

That makes sense-

Frankly, i'd have to think even FLIR's got enough data that they know that continuing to try to give everyone thermal vision is only a major increase in safety/etc/etc for the average driver.

I like some of Nightride's mounting options , look far easier than the hassle you have with the usual full install- that is a draw. Though it'd drive me crazy if i couldn't align it straight

My million dollar question is this:- The Pathfindir II's software is the reason in heavy rain(as i mentioned) it adjusts the span oddly sometimes and makes the image dark-but that's the only funny - how do Nightride Cameras handle heavier and heavier rains?( I assume light rain is nothing for it, which is also the case with the PFII)


[Sidenote for the forum: Years back i contacted SpeedIR on this- the answer I got from them  sounded like the SpeedIR  would behave similarly to the PF2 at the time unfortunately.  No word on how others(not counting ADASKY) fare in rain

[McDogg]

I bit the bullet and bought a PathFindIR II last year.

At first, I had major buyer's remorse. It was cool and all, but I felt like I was never going to use it enough to warrant the dent in my wallet.

After that wore off, I came to love it. I always use it while driving at night. It provides comfort/aid in a lot of different scenarios.

So yeah, thats sucks, but I can completely see why.
Nobody wants to spend a few grand on the "gee-wiz" gadgets. Not until you've run one for a while anyways!

[siestacat]

I've long looked at mounting an old cadillac camera on my vehicle but seems to be hard to find a quality unit.... the pathfindir always looked cool but super expensive and hard to justify.

I inquired and Hudway Drive's latest batch (7th) doesn't offer video input, so the night vision camera is no longer a possibility.

I got to looking at infiray's offerings and although they list a bunch of modules on their site, it appears only the NV2 is actually out and purchaseable. Comes with little screen and unit that does some sort of object recognition and gives you alerts. This just came out in the past few weeks.

Has anyone tried one of these?? At $549 for the sensor and display/processing unit, I'm really tempted to give it a try. I wonder if the NV2 name is coincidence or somehow related to the autoliv nv2 units?

[Dark Volter]

I see siestacat already mentioned what i was about to- Infiray just came out with a $600 dollar version, to fill in the gap, so after FLIR exited, and while SEEK still hasn't put thier version on the market- SPEEDIR and Nightride aren't the only ones now

shame to hear HUDWAY no longer offers it- that's ....a extreme oddity, that was the main usage for it they were touting, the video capability. With that, having thermal imaging in the HUD is now completely dead- it's funny, CADILLAC's thermal cameras in 2000 offered that-  we're going backwards, 24 years later, OOOF


anyway, that Infiray one is cheap- which is about where thermals should be given the price of decent ones right now-

but there''s a catch- it's resolution is low, as it's using their recent cores they've been touting

It's 256X192

...My FLIR Pathfindir, which- by the way, this forum should know in late November last year, me and a co-worker in a separate car driving closely together, were saved from a horrific accident involving wild hogs- because i barely saw them in my FLIR pathfindir II and braked in time before they crossed the road -


 we would not have been driving away from that incident- but my FLIR pathfindir finally justified itself, after 5 years- $2500, yes , overpriced. Saved us from paying tens and tens of thousands in new cars- -however. And of course, the answer isn't just, avoid wildlife areas- as your workplace might demand it- or your area might suddenly get overrun with wildlife...


Anyway- my camera lets me see at least over half a mile - and on cold nights, i've seen stuff over a mile away. It's RIDICLOUS- and that's resolution power.

ADASKY, where's our 640X480 thermal cameras?

That Infiray one- need a better resolution, even if it'd be $800 or so- it'd still be worth it easy at 320X240, or 384X288

But at 256X192, you won't get that range- i'm thinking you'd during so-so conditions get a quarter to a half of a mile. That's the bare minimum i'd want from a thermal.

I will admit that they have a reputation for having good software to process the imaging- which makes them probably ahead of SEEK's handheld offerings a bit

...And the extra functions and filters their item has- look really good

Now, if it lets you control the span, -then it actually solves a problem the pathfindir has- where it's not adjustable, so it doesn't overcorrect and go dark in rain(other thermal cameras dont do this!)

But yes, Infiray has a winner it would appear- but be careful of the resolution. If they come out wiht a upgraded version- they'll fully replace FLIR- Right now though ,SPEEDIR is a little undercut in price- but gives you that same resolution FLIR did. Notably they have always been 500 to 1000 below the pathfinders, hovering above $1700 ish

- We need thermal cameras to hit that thousand dollar mark from peeps not named Infiray!