Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
I recently was asked to be pro staff for a Texas-based thermal and night vision vendor, Third Coast Thermal, with the job of testing and reviewing some of the products that they carry. The first scope I was sent for evaluation was the Armasight Predator weapon sight. For the past couple of years, I have been hunting hogs and predators using a FLIR PS32 (1x, 320x240 sensor pixel resolution) handheld thermal spotting scope and since last year have been hunting with an Armasight Zeus 3 weapon sight ( 3x, 640x512). At that time, 640 resolution was (and currently still is) the best level of resolution in the consumer market and was/is awfully pricey. I purchased right after there was a major price drop because FLIR, a major vendor of the thermal 'cores' that go in several brands of thermal scopes, introduced a less expensive line of thermal scopes (RS series) and dropped the price of their cores. Now, between that, increases demand and sales, new product lines, and competition in the market, there have been several price drops across the market. Thermal hunting technology is coming down in price for the consumer.
Earlier this year, Pulsar became the first company to break the less than $3k barrier for a weapon sight with its Apex series (2x, 384x288 resolution) of weapon sights. I got to use one for a few weekends and found it a quite adequate for typical hunting needs. What a great idea! Budget-priced functional sight! Now Armasight has come out with theirs. Vendors have been listing them at just under $3K.
Don't let "entry-level" fool you. The capabilities of this scope are what used to be considered higher-end thermal for the consumer market just 3-4 years ago and would have cost folks 2-3 times as much money. Folks have killed a lot of hogs, predators, and other varmints with this level of technology and for the typical hunting distances of night hunters (usually <100 yards and virtually never >200 yards), this works!
I had hoped to have a video showing the removal of some bothersome hogs or predators, but that did not happen. What I have put together is a video of b-roll footage that demonstrates some of the scope's viewing capabilities on a few animals at different distances. Had this scope, or the Apex, been around at this price when I purchased my Zeus, I would not have purchased a Zeus. The higher end scopes produced much better and prettier images which are quite nice (and I really do like my Zeus 3 very much!), but I could have gotten by with less scope for a LOT less money for the task of simply eradicating hogs.
https://youtu.be/zKO4DBAPQcw
Thermal scopes are often listed as being variable power such as 2x-8x scopes. This variable power differs from typical daylight scopes in that the variable aspect is digital instead of optical. As such, when you zoom a digital image digitally, you get a bigger image, but not actually better resolution. Many brands like Armasight do this in doubled steps. While the Predator is listed as a 2x scope, it is actually a 1.6x scope, so the steps would be 1.6x, then doubled to 3.2x, and then doubled to 6.4x. With each doubling of magnification, there is a quartering of the resolution. So 1.6x, 336x256 becomes 3.2x, 168x128 and then becomes 6.4x, 84x64 resolution. The result is pixelation (blocky image) when zoomed fully.
Is this useful? Sure. While I find that target identification usually is best accomplished under the least zoom in most cases, more precise shot placement at more distant animals is best accomplished with zoom. A distant critter with no zoom my have the entire shoulder covered by the aiming reticle in the scope, but zoomed in and you can more precisely place the shot within the shoulder, aiming at a specific spot instead of the entire area.
Hopefully, I will get something this weekend and be able to show the scope in application, but right now, the above video does a decent job of showing what the scope can do. Please bear in mind that there is some image quality lost between what you can see in the scope to what gets recorded, to then what get converted by Youtube. It isn't a huge amount, but it happens. In short, what I see through the scope is somewhat better than the Youtube video, but the video provides a pretty good relative idea of what can be seen.
If I can answer any questions about thermal, please let me know. I am NOT a technical guru for this technology however. I know some of the technical aspects and understand them, but my focus is, and really always has been one of "Will it hunt?" The Armasight Predator WILL hunt.
Earlier this year, Pulsar became the first company to break the less than $3k barrier for a weapon sight with its Apex series (2x, 384x288 resolution) of weapon sights. I got to use one for a few weekends and found it a quite adequate for typical hunting needs. What a great idea! Budget-priced functional sight! Now Armasight has come out with theirs. Vendors have been listing them at just under $3K.
Don't let "entry-level" fool you. The capabilities of this scope are what used to be considered higher-end thermal for the consumer market just 3-4 years ago and would have cost folks 2-3 times as much money. Folks have killed a lot of hogs, predators, and other varmints with this level of technology and for the typical hunting distances of night hunters (usually <100 yards and virtually never >200 yards), this works!
I had hoped to have a video showing the removal of some bothersome hogs or predators, but that did not happen. What I have put together is a video of b-roll footage that demonstrates some of the scope's viewing capabilities on a few animals at different distances. Had this scope, or the Apex, been around at this price when I purchased my Zeus, I would not have purchased a Zeus. The higher end scopes produced much better and prettier images which are quite nice (and I really do like my Zeus 3 very much!), but I could have gotten by with less scope for a LOT less money for the task of simply eradicating hogs.
https://youtu.be/zKO4DBAPQcw
Thermal scopes are often listed as being variable power such as 2x-8x scopes. This variable power differs from typical daylight scopes in that the variable aspect is digital instead of optical. As such, when you zoom a digital image digitally, you get a bigger image, but not actually better resolution. Many brands like Armasight do this in doubled steps. While the Predator is listed as a 2x scope, it is actually a 1.6x scope, so the steps would be 1.6x, then doubled to 3.2x, and then doubled to 6.4x. With each doubling of magnification, there is a quartering of the resolution. So 1.6x, 336x256 becomes 3.2x, 168x128 and then becomes 6.4x, 84x64 resolution. The result is pixelation (blocky image) when zoomed fully.
Is this useful? Sure. While I find that target identification usually is best accomplished under the least zoom in most cases, more precise shot placement at more distant animals is best accomplished with zoom. A distant critter with no zoom my have the entire shoulder covered by the aiming reticle in the scope, but zoomed in and you can more precisely place the shot within the shoulder, aiming at a specific spot instead of the entire area.
Hopefully, I will get something this weekend and be able to show the scope in application, but right now, the above video does a decent job of showing what the scope can do. Please bear in mind that there is some image quality lost between what you can see in the scope to what gets recorded, to then what get converted by Youtube. It isn't a huge amount, but it happens. In short, what I see through the scope is somewhat better than the Youtube video, but the video provides a pretty good relative idea of what can be seen.
If I can answer any questions about thermal, please let me know. I am NOT a technical guru for this technology however. I know some of the technical aspects and understand them, but my focus is, and really always has been one of "Will it hunt?" The Armasight Predator WILL hunt.
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