FLIR Goes Consumer - Dropcam Killer?

By: John Honovich, Published on Jan 07, 2014

Following one of the most surprising video deals in years (Flir acquiring Lorex), FLIR has announced its first consumer IP camera, a release that clearly takes aim at hot startup Dropcam. In this note, we break down the features, positioning and pricing of FLIR FX, contrasting it to Dropcam.

[UPDATE: See IPVM Test results of the FLIR FX.]

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Comments (13)

Avatar

Luis Carmona

IPVMU Certified | 01/07/14 07:23pm

I wonder is they are trying to position themselves to be bought by broadening their line portfolio.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Luis Carmona | 01/07/14 07:27pm

You mean FLIR is trying to get acquired by someone else?

Avatar

Luis Carmona

IPVMU Certified | In reply to John Honovich | 01/07/14 07:33pm

Yes, or either they may do some more buying so they are not thought of as just the "Forward Looking IR camera" company" anymore. Seems they are really trying to get out of that speciality and diversifying now.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Luis Carmona | 01/07/14 07:38pm

Well, FLIR does ~$1.5 Billion annual revenue so I don't think a consumer camera play is going to make a huge difference. From what they say, and it seems sensible to me, is simply they want to expand to other markets. They also are working on bringing thermal down to the consumer / commercial / intrusion detection applications.

Avatar

Jon Klieman

01/07/14 07:38pm

i am curious as to the camera power requirements if mounted in that external unit. i have a few dlink cameras around my house that do a good job. but this camera looks pretty cool.

have you seen bubl cam yet?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Jon Klieman | 01/07/14 07:43pm

I don't know about the external power requirements there but presumably one would have to hard wire it.

I have not seen bubl yet, thanks for sharing! Looks pretty interesting, I just started to read through the website...

Avatar

Jon Klieman

In reply to John Honovich | 01/07/14 07:51pm

welcome onthe bubl link

Avatar

Ethan Ace

IPVM | 01/07/14 07:38pm

I was assuming that this is something Lorex had in the works pre-acquisition and FLIR just decided now is the time to start branding everything FLIR. It's an interesting little camera, potentially.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Ethan Ace | 01/07/14 07:40pm

From my conversation with FLIR, they say that the contributed to the industrial design and other aspects.

It's certainly an outgrowth of what Lorex did, but this is more ambitious / slick than what I have seen from Lorex historically. It appears to me that FLIR is dedicating more money to grow this out.

Avatar

Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to John Honovich | 01/07/14 08:13pm

Actually, now that I look at it, the outdoor housing does look like a small version of the FC series camera housing:

Also, as far as them going consumer, I just noticed the FLIR One, a thermal imager for iPhones. That's interesting, though I wonder how much demand there will be, and what the price point is.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Ethan Ace | 01/07/14 09:42pm

More important for security/surveillance applications is the chip that the FLIR One is using, the Lepton. This is what FLIR is positioning to 'revolutionize' low cost thermal. I don't know the details yet but this is what is worth tracking for our space.

Avatar

Ari Erenthal

Chesapeake & Midlantic | 01/07/14 08:06pm

Well, the only complaints I get on Dropcam is the fact that it isn't weather resistant and that it doesn't support internal storage. If the software is as intuitive as Dropcam's is, I'd be worried.

Speaking of Dropcam, this is the best Dropcam demo in the history of ever.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Ari Erenthal | 01/08/14 03:48pm

Ari, your tortoise is the lead of a NY Times article today!

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