Recently Armasight, a leader in commercial and military/LEO nightvision and thermal optics was acquired by a well known name in the thermal industry, FLIR. Being an Armasight customer myself, I was curious what this meant for the company and the products that many of us already owned.
I had a chance to chat with Alex Pazar, the Marketing Manager for FLIR, and ask him some of the questions I had about what this merger means for both consumers such as myself and for the future of their product offerings.
Q. Why did FLIR buy Armasight?
A: FLIR is committed to being the world leader in thermal imaging. A key market for us is outdoor recreation and hunting, where both FLIR and Armasight have established great reputations based on performance and reliability. We saw a great opportunity to integrate the best of both portfolios into a unified, broader offering, as well as enhancing the overall performance of the products through vertical integration.
Q: What’s going to happen to the Armasight product line-up?
A: While some of the names and packaging my change, the Armasight products people have come to love are still available, and will be moving forward.
Q: For those of us with existing Armasight products, will FLIR honor the warranties?
A: Absolutely. FLIR will honor all existing warranties and will continue to service Armasight products currently in the field.
Q. Where will the products be built in the future?
A: The products will still be designed and produced here in the USA, just as they are today.
Q: How does the acquisition fit with the FLIR’s strategy?
A: The acquisition of Armasight by FLIR is a strong, growing brand. The acquisition allows FLIR to combine their existing lines of Personal Vision Systems and Thermal Weapon Sights with Armasight’s products, thus providing FLIR the ability to better serve hunters, wildlife enthusiasts, police, and military customers with advanced day and night capabilities. The acquisition signifies FLIR’s commitment to the outdoor and hunting customers by creating the largest supplier of consumer tactical vision systems in the world.
Q: How does this acquisition benefit the consumer?
A: Our end goal is to get the best piece of gear into the user’s hands that helps them do what they went outside to do. Whether that’s exploring, hunting, wildlife observation, or eliminating predators and pests, our ability to combine the best imaging technology with advanced features is what sets these products aside. And our rigorous testing and evaluation process makes sure it won’t let them down in the field. Now that we can use the best of each portfolio, each product will get stronger.
Q: What’s the priority for the newly formed Outdoor & Tactical Systems (OTS) group?
A: FLIR is the undisputed champ in this space when it comes to image quality and reliability. But it’s not just about pretty pictures, that’s table stakes these days. Our focus is on the whole user experience from product research through opening the box through customer support. We want the operation of the product to be intuitive and comfortable, and the customer support to be second to none.
Q: What customers will this new group be focused on?
A: OTS will continue to focus on Outdoor Recreation, Hunting, and Tactical users, but now with a broader portfolio, we can offer our customers even more choices. We will continue to sell both domestically and internationally, and leverage FLIR’s worldwide presence and infrastructure to provide great customer service.
By the time I finished my conversation with Alex, I was quite excited about the acquisition of Armasight by FLIR. Initially I wondered what it might mean for customers like myself who had already invested in Armasight optics. I trust that FLIR, given their financial resources and strong brand name, will continue to dominate in the nightvision and thermal space, both at the military/LEO level and at the commercial level.
I look forward to seeing what they bring to market in the future.
FLIR is a publicly traded company and you can find their corporate website at: http://www.flir.com/home/