Thermal scope longevity expectation?

204 AR

204 AR

Well-known member
Just as a topic of conversation, how many years should one expect to get out of a thermal device? That's always why I hate spending money on any electronics, they become outdated and fail too soon.
 
This is the reason to buy from a company that does service their equipment. A person never knows as who thought Flir would stop producing thermal rifle scopes, but look for a company that can service about any part of a thermal. You are correct it is a piece of electronics that is subjected to brutal conditions. I asked this question to the owner of Bering to get his perspective some time back. Here were his thoughts:

* Thermal sensor around 44,000 hours expected life based on his experience with VOX style sensors
* Display 5-10 year life expectancy (current stats show 90% make it to 10 years)
* Processor 10 year life expectancy
* Body Materials 25 year life expectancy
* Germanium lens 20 year life expectancy

There are lots of smaller components, but these are the major ones. The display having the least amount of life expectancy. If your thermal only has a 2 or 3 year warranty and the company will not service all parts of the unit (or carry parts any longer), I wouldn't expect much more. If a person takes care of their equipment, and has good fortune, you should be able to get a long life from your thermal. If your fortune is not as good, hopefully you bought from a company who can service the unit.

Now as you said, the tech may become outdated long before it will no longer operate.

 
Well that's good info, thanks for that.

So my follow up question, it seems it would be wiser to update every couple of years and take the small hit and gain the latest and greatest. I would not be confident in any company keeping any decent quantity of parts available for, say, 15-20 years.

This game is definitely against my normal mode of operation, I buy nice/decent stuff, and keep it and use it with little intention of selling because I feel like it will last.
 
The standard rule I tell people is anticipate around a 20% loss in value on thermals per year. It can be more or less based on market, popularity of thermal, warranty, etc. Lots of people decide to update but it isn't required.
 


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