Thermal Imagery

[Pacho]

Was looking around and found this site: http://www.emx-inc.com/index.html

Was wondering if anyone ever tried to put thermal imagery in their alero or any other car and how much it cost?

[justinusaf]

for what purpose?

[Grouch]

Originally posted by justinusaf@Jul 21 2004, 11:56 PM
for what purpose?
form of night vision. It could be beneficial if you live out in the boonies with a lot of animals running around. There were some Cady's that had something like this. If you lived in a city it would be pretty worthless I would think.

[jonez]

/\
It would be pretty worthless eitherway.

[Pacho]

The reason is my dad has hit about 5 deers in the past 2 years because we go hunting a lot and he's thinking about putting this in his car so when we're driving at night, I can watch the thermal imagery and he can drive. The damage is creeping up into the tens of thousands right now on his trucks, so it would probably help us out a little.

[justinusaf]

Good point. I see how that would help out then. I know where im at in Jersey there are a lot of deer but Id never be able to watch somthing like that and still drive.

[Pacho]

Yeah, good point there, I don't think anybody could drive alone and watch it. But you know how some buick's have the digital spedometer located right below the windshield and it reflects up to the windshield right in the driver's view-maybe somehow me and my dad could do that.

[thefork8]

either that or make sure he has a good copilot when he drives at night to watch the screen

[alero168]

yeah ive seen a demo at one of the chicago auto shows one year, it was done by cadillac seemed pretty cool a small image of the entire windshield would pop up in the bottom middle of the windsheild and you can see what you normally might miss...


or you can get your dad to get one of those police search lights and just shine it down the road

[Steve03TropicTeal]

better and cheaper yet... get one of those 3million candle power hand held search lights that they sell at outdoor stores.. and just hold it out the window!!

that way u wont have to worry about mounting anything.

-your welcome!!

[Grouch]

some areas though you can get pulled over for that. Least in Texas you will. They think your spot-light hunting, which is against the law. A deer will freeze when bright lights get in their eyes, hence why so many get run over. I've scored three deer strikes since I started driving.

For Pacho's reasoning here, I think it would be benefical to have some type of thermal imaging. Don't know the cost though, I'm sure those things are not cheap. And when you see a deer in the road, slow waaaay down and turn your headlights off for a second or two. ;)

[Pacho]

Alright, thanks for all the info. Funny thing is, we've killed more deer driving than hunting in the last season.

[Steve03TropicTeal]

i was kidding about the spot light!

ha.

[johny_boy32]

looks like a big waste of money

[mikegett]

Take Grouch's word for it. A deer will be more apt to freeze for a second at head lights. A interesting survey was put out a few years ago comparing accidents with deer and vehicles. The conclusion was that larger trucks tend to have a larger probability of hitting a deer than smaller, or lower vehicles. The thoughts were that two factors contribute to it. The first being that few truck owners reposition the head lights corrrectly. Since a truck sitts higher than a car the dim lights need to be angled lower. This is done at the factory but many owners will raise the truck or have larger tires placed onto it. This throws off the beam so that it is directed nearly straight on to the oncoming traffic or into the path of a deer. The other factor was that trucks are higher and tend to have more visibility problems compared to cars. The suggestions were to be more aware of what is in your path (and surrounding it) and ensure that your headlights are correctly positioned. The thermal imaging is interesting, but it would do little for the occassions when a animal jumps into your path at the last second. In the end, it is still our degree of awarenes and perception that avoids the accidents.

[Grouch]

dang why didn't they ask me during that survey when I had my 2-deer kills 89 CRX Si? Yep, the third though was in a 20-foot Ryder moving truck. Obliterated the deer, didn't do anything to the truck. lol

[jrollings2002]

dont the corvettes have something like this too or does it just show speed and stuff like?