Anyone used the Drager TIC's?

[stillPSFB]

Any info as to how well the Drager TIC's perform, how user friendly they are, how reliable they are etc would be much appreciated

[cbogle]

I work full time for my department and we currently run Bullards and have three of the Bullard TICS bought over various years and continue to have battery issues. We have done an evaluation on all cameras and Drager placed 1st. We liked their thermal scan feature and the fact that they are the only ones using Lithium Ion batteries which we believe will solve our battery issue that we see with Bullard. Our neighboring department purchased 6 Drager cameras and has been very happy with the performance....no dead batteries and they have used the thermal scan alot. They used MSA before and went with Drager because of the picture clarity of the Drager over the MSA.

I would look at all cameras out there to make your own decision.

[Jonathan Bastian]

What type of battery problems are you having? How old are the batteries?

[cbogle]

We see batteries lasting from anywhere around 30min to 1 hour. age ranges from somewhere in the 1 - 3 year range depending on what battery. They seem to have a huge memory effect when charging wich we understand is normal with Nickel Metal type batteries.

[Jonathan Bastian]

We see batteries lasting from anywhere around 30min to 1 hour. age ranges from somewhere in the 1 - 3 year range depending on what battery. They seem to have a huge memory effect when charging wich we understand is normal with Nickel Metal type batteries.

Depending on the model you have, an hour is about right. The smaller TIs should be closer to 90 minutes.

A 3-year old battery is probably ready for replacement. Some tips on the other ones:
1. Check to make sure the charging lights are actually cycling red and green when a battery is inserted.
2. Make sure the contacts are not corroded.
3. Try doing some full cycles on the batteries. Fully charge them, then but them in the TI and run them until the TI shuts off. Do this 2 or 3 times for each and see if that helps.

[npfd801]

Any info as to how well the Drager TIC's perform, how user friendly they are, how reliable they are etc would be much appreciated

Disclaimer: I sell trucks for a company that also handles Draeger.

I've used a Draeger demo on an academy burn date as my employer was nice enough to let me utilize a demo for the instructors to use. While this cursory use isn't enough to give a true opinion, the folks that used it felt it was comparable to the Bullard and ISG cameras that were also there. At the very least, I would think that the Draeger unit is worth an evaluation against the others you may be considering.

We use a combination of ISG and Bullard on my department, and both brands have given us zero issues. We've had to buy Bullard batteries as we cycle through the years, but that is to be expected.

[SCLCBS20]

We bought a 3M FireFlir FF131 a couple of months ago and has worked perfect!
Easy to use, clear screen, useful color pallet, etc...
If you want/need more information please let me know.