Derivative Financial Instruments (Details 3) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative, Notional Amount	$ 175,628	$ 91,913
Interest Rate Swap [Member] \| March 15, 2013 Interest rate swap [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Contract date	Mar. 15, 2013
Derivative, Notional Amount	$ 48,800
Fixed rate	1.02%
Effective date	Apr. 05, 2013
Maturity date	Mar. 31, 2019
Interest Rate Swap [Member] \| March 29, 2013 Interest rate swap [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Contract date	Mar. 29, 2013
Derivative, Notional Amount	$ 48,800
Fixed rate	0.97%
Effective date	Apr. 05, 2013
Maturity date	Mar. 31, 2019

Effective date of the derivative contract, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

No definition available.

Name:	flir_DerivativeEffectiveDate
Namespace Prefix:	flir_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Aggregate notional amount specified by the derivative(s). Expressed as an absolute value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Article 12
-Section 13
-Sentence Column B

+ Details

Name:	invest_DerivativeNotionalAmount
Namespace Prefix:	invest_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Fixed interest rate related to the interest rate derivative.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeFixedInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Date the entity entered into the derivative contract, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeInceptionDates
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date the derivative contract matures, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeMaturityDates
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeInstrumentRiskAxis=us-gaap_InterestRateSwapMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeByNatureAxis=flir_March152013InterestRateSwapMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeByNatureAxis=flir_March292013InterestrateswapMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: