Thermal Myth No.5 ~ 'Thermal imaging cameras require expensive and complicated cooling systems'

This is not true: thermal imaging cameras operate in two frequency bands and cooled systems are only need for higher quality images in one of them. In practice, un-cooled units, which work in the longwave infra-red band (LWIR) do the job perfectly for most commercial applications, including high security ones. This is because LWIR is the wavelength where most terrestrial temperature targets emit most of their infra-red energy.

Un-cooled cameras have fewer moving parts and typically a longer working life with less down time. Cooled cameras operate in midwave infra-red (MWIR) and  cost two-to-three times as much as un-cooled cameras. Of course they may be the required choice for specialist applications (notably where the range is greater than 5km) but for most commercial security situations the extra expense is not warranted as un-cooled cameras give great images under most operating conditions.