Ouch ! Someone just got badly burnt buying a faulty PM575 camera today :(

[Fraser]

I have been watching an auction for a FLIR PM series camera with interest.

I did bid £300 on it as a useful parts source, but stopped when the bidding went a little crazy. There is a lesson to be learnt here folks, do your research and look very carefully at the auction pictures and wording. Also, do not get caught up in a bidding frenzy ! This camera sold for more than any of my lovely PM Series cameras cost me, and that includes the top of the range PM695's that I own.

Here is the auction :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292060013613?_trksid=p2060353.m1431.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&autorefresh=true

Some relevant pictures are also attached. Look carefully at them 

I contacted the seller to investigate whether the camera was truly working perfectly. I queried why, if that was the case, it was displaying two microbolometer column faults. The seller said he had just noticed them and would come back to me after some tests.... he never did.
I received nil response to a follow up message 

Some poor sod has just paid £1000 for a nice condition 'working' PM575. The bad news is that, in my opinion, the camera may be 'working', but it is far from fully functional. It appears to have failures in two of the microbolometer columns, or the ROIC. Both are permanent, uneconomic to repair, and will ruin both the cameras images and its ability to auto range correctly  Re-calibration by FLIR could fix it by column or pixel exclusion, but at an enormous cost. Column faults are usually totally unacceptable on a quality microbolometer.

If the buyer is reading this, I advised the seller of the fault and said he should highlight it in the auction. He chose to ignore me. You should make a claim against the seller for non-disclosure of a known fault and get a refund. I specialise in repairing FLIR PM series cameras and I very much doubt that I could repair this fault. A damaged lens or microbolometer means most PM series cameras are rendered scrap.

It makes me sad when a seller intentionally hides defects in expensive equipment and it says not a lot for their moral compass. I suspect he will claim that the faults were clearly visible in the images provided. It all comes down to defining what 'fully working' truly means. Some sellers idea of fully working is that it switches on !

I feel very sorry for the buyer. He over paid and presumably is unaware of the image fault and its implications. Do not get caught out in the same way when buying these expensive cameras. Make sure you get the seller to confirm that no faults exist and get decent images sent to you to prove such.

These are great cameras....when in PERFECT working order. Repairing them can be expensive or even uneconomic. Serious faults are rare, but sadly often fatal.

Be careful out there and buy with great caution. It is a lot of money to waste.

As to the seller isweeny-uk ...... he is, in my opinion, displaying dishonesty in his deliberate exclusion of fault detail in his auction. Not a TSCM officer I would care to work with.

Fraser

[PA0PBZ]

I suspect he will claim that the faults were clearly visible in the images provided.

Yes, I think that will be the case, it's not that he was hiding the defects.

Anyway, we know who the seller is 

[Bill W]

It is also a pretty poor show for someone 'in the business' to offer worldwide shipment on a restricted item.

Bill

[ixfd64]

It is also a pretty poor show for someone 'in the business' to offer worldwide shipment on a restricted item.

Bill

I believe ITAR only requires an export license and does not actually ban the sale unless the camera exceeds certain specs. That said, many sellers do restrict shipping to the U.S. simply because they don't want to deal with the paperwork.

[Bill W]

This is not an ITAR problem, which as you say is only relevant to US-only high spec cameras, it is a Wassenaar dual use items problem.

It is in the UK and is not a <9Hz frame rate camera.
It is UK controlled, so can only go within the EU without a UK export license.  Even then it needs some specific wording on the paperwork.

regards
Bill

[Fraser]

I checked the feedback comment from the buyer....... he seems very pleased with his buy so I suspect it is adequate for his needs, whatever they may be.

Fraser