Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
I am putting this here because 99% of the people buying weapon mounted thermals are using them for hunting.
I got a chance to take out a prototype thermal offered by Bering Optics. This is a really nifty thermal weapon sight that is supposed to be coming out this Fall.
If you follow the first link at the end, and then a link at the end of the next one, the next two vids in the series on on YouTube, just not public, but you can watch them. I have had the scope out 6 times, once as a handheld to learn its operation and 5 hunts. The 2nd video in the series has my partner running the gun. He showcases a lot of the reticles on that hunt, FYI.
With the caveat that this is prototype and features subject to change (but I doubt much will change of the significant aspects), I like the scope.
3x magnification is really in the sweet spot for most hunters as a native power level for night hunting. Personally, I would prefer more, but most of the folks I hunt with would rather 2x or 3x so that they have more field of view, which is valid. Whatever algorithm they use for smooth the image when digitally zoomed seems to work well. White hot, as with other thermals, shows more detail than black hot. There are two other color palettes that I think are rarely useful (rainbow and an alert mode that shows the hottest spots in red) in my opinion, but the options are there.
The scope is lightweight compared to metal bodied scopes like my Trijicon, so that is nice. It has a polymer body like several other brands.
Bering Optics has done VERY WELL with the firmware operating system on this scope. I can't stress that enough. It only has 3 buttons. Once the scope is up and running, one button will zoom the image. The rear and middle button pressed at the same time will NUC the scope (this is semi-auto NUCing that the user does when the user thinks the scope needs to be NUC'd, which is how it should be run for hunting, but you can run it on Automatic and risk having the scope NUC in the middle of a shooting sequence), and the front and middle button pressed at the same time will turn off the display so that you can make stealthy stalks. Another press will turn the display back on. I feel like those are the things you are most likely to be pressing and activating during the critical portions of a hunt.
The middle button (pressed once, alone) brings up the quick menu system that allows for changes in color palette, reticle choices, reticle colors, and image quality. The options are limited and you can click through your choices fairly quickly to make whatever changes you need.
Holding down the middle button for a couple of seconds will bring up the long menu that has your basic settings like whether you want to run semi-auto or auto NUC, Picture in Picture, adjust zero, do pixel repair, etc. etc. etc. (bunch of things).
In short, overall operation of the scope is not difficult at all. It isn't quite as easy as the Trijicon to learn, but easier than what I have seen with the other brands. The buttons and menu stuff is pretty well done in a logic manner (which isn't true for some of the Trijicon, FLIR, Pulsar features) and IS easier to run than my Trijicon or Armasight (FLIR) optics.
The reticles are functional. There are 3 I really like and a couple I don't like at all, and a couple more that are okay. There are 8 in total.
I found zeroing to be really easy. I didn't have any instructions, but have used other thermal scopes, so I could figure out things because I had some idea of how they would work. A person who has never used a thermal would need to read the directions, but someone familiar with electro optics could learn to run just about everything on this scope by simply clicking through the choices and seeing what they do and be functional, gun zero'g, good to go in a couple of hours.
The scope runs on 2 CR123 batteries. When I ran it as a handheld, I got about 3 hours of operation out of the batteries and the scope was still running when I finished with it. That was in summer time (winter run times will be shorter). I don't know if it would have made it 4 or 5 hours, but 3 was no issue. I tend not to leave my scopes on for the entire evening. ALSO, you can power from an external power supply. I ordered a USB C short cable (right angled) and plugged it into a USB phone powerbank that I carry in the saddlebag on the rifle, though there are picatinny mountable versions you can get as well. So I have been hunting with it with an external power supply.
Oh, the mount is supposed to be a quick detach RTZ type of mount. I don't think they have figured out which one they are running with yet on that.
Warranty is 4 years, which is good.
My major dislike of the optic is that the onboard recording does not do audio.
I got a chance to take out a prototype thermal offered by Bering Optics. This is a really nifty thermal weapon sight that is supposed to be coming out this Fall.
If you follow the first link at the end, and then a link at the end of the next one, the next two vids in the series on on YouTube, just not public, but you can watch them. I have had the scope out 6 times, once as a handheld to learn its operation and 5 hunts. The 2nd video in the series has my partner running the gun. He showcases a lot of the reticles on that hunt, FYI.
With the caveat that this is prototype and features subject to change (but I doubt much will change of the significant aspects), I like the scope.
3x magnification is really in the sweet spot for most hunters as a native power level for night hunting. Personally, I would prefer more, but most of the folks I hunt with would rather 2x or 3x so that they have more field of view, which is valid. Whatever algorithm they use for smooth the image when digitally zoomed seems to work well. White hot, as with other thermals, shows more detail than black hot. There are two other color palettes that I think are rarely useful (rainbow and an alert mode that shows the hottest spots in red) in my opinion, but the options are there.
The scope is lightweight compared to metal bodied scopes like my Trijicon, so that is nice. It has a polymer body like several other brands.
Bering Optics has done VERY WELL with the firmware operating system on this scope. I can't stress that enough. It only has 3 buttons. Once the scope is up and running, one button will zoom the image. The rear and middle button pressed at the same time will NUC the scope (this is semi-auto NUCing that the user does when the user thinks the scope needs to be NUC'd, which is how it should be run for hunting, but you can run it on Automatic and risk having the scope NUC in the middle of a shooting sequence), and the front and middle button pressed at the same time will turn off the display so that you can make stealthy stalks. Another press will turn the display back on. I feel like those are the things you are most likely to be pressing and activating during the critical portions of a hunt.
The middle button (pressed once, alone) brings up the quick menu system that allows for changes in color palette, reticle choices, reticle colors, and image quality. The options are limited and you can click through your choices fairly quickly to make whatever changes you need.
Holding down the middle button for a couple of seconds will bring up the long menu that has your basic settings like whether you want to run semi-auto or auto NUC, Picture in Picture, adjust zero, do pixel repair, etc. etc. etc. (bunch of things).
In short, overall operation of the scope is not difficult at all. It isn't quite as easy as the Trijicon to learn, but easier than what I have seen with the other brands. The buttons and menu stuff is pretty well done in a logic manner (which isn't true for some of the Trijicon, FLIR, Pulsar features) and IS easier to run than my Trijicon or Armasight (FLIR) optics.
The reticles are functional. There are 3 I really like and a couple I don't like at all, and a couple more that are okay. There are 8 in total.
I found zeroing to be really easy. I didn't have any instructions, but have used other thermal scopes, so I could figure out things because I had some idea of how they would work. A person who has never used a thermal would need to read the directions, but someone familiar with electro optics could learn to run just about everything on this scope by simply clicking through the choices and seeing what they do and be functional, gun zero'g, good to go in a couple of hours.
The scope runs on 2 CR123 batteries. When I ran it as a handheld, I got about 3 hours of operation out of the batteries and the scope was still running when I finished with it. That was in summer time (winter run times will be shorter). I don't know if it would have made it 4 or 5 hours, but 3 was no issue. I tend not to leave my scopes on for the entire evening. ALSO, you can power from an external power supply. I ordered a USB C short cable (right angled) and plugged it into a USB phone powerbank that I carry in the saddlebag on the rifle, though there are picatinny mountable versions you can get as well. So I have been hunting with it with an external power supply.
Oh, the mount is supposed to be a quick detach RTZ type of mount. I don't think they have figured out which one they are running with yet on that.
Warranty is 4 years, which is good.
My major dislike of the optic is that the onboard recording does not do audio.
