thermal rifle scope

We are launching a new thermal imaging riflescope at the CLA, the new Optix Identifier. We have one and have been using it on rabbits and despite it being an expensive piece of kit, it has to be seen to be believed.

Scott Country are the exclusive online retailers of this product.

Full spec and imagery will be on our website at end of this week ready for launch at CLA and the subsequent magazine reviews and articles coming next month. Sporting Rifle and Gunmart are both doing full test reviews as I type this.

The smaller item is the Recognizer which is a hand held, quick attach weapon sight, which at the moment we won't be doing, as the magnification may be changed.

I was personally slightly apprehensive using a thermal scope for shooting, as on something like the .17HMR any obstructing foliage could result in missed shots etc, however I was pleasantly surprised, the detail and definition of the 852x600 resolution is simply incredible. Come have a play with one at the CLA, and also see some other new kit we are launching at the same time.

You can see a full review on The Night Vision Show on 1st June, however here is a brief teaser video on the product (click the little You Tube cog and turn to 720P HD however MPR captured video is considerably noticeably less sharp etc than the perceived device image of course)



Looks good, would love to have a go with one.

I have heard that the scope is the best part of 10k though, so not really affordable!!!!
 
With you on this bud, they seem ok for shooting man size targets but could you tell a fox from a dog at range NO, and thats looking thru some very nice top end kit.

+1 on this also. I went out with a chum who owns a very expensive TI and he had to ask me to look through my Archer to make a positive ID of what he was looking at. Personally in its present format I would not wish to have one as a scope no matter how cheap they are or get.
 
it works for this guy

I note he has to get within 50m of a large animal to make a shot.

In such circumstances I see no advantage over using a TI spotter and a conventional NV sight. In fact, I'd much rather shoot with the latter than with the target image shown in the video.
 


When I was enquiring about Guide Thermals in April last year, Ian Johnstone of Armstrong sent me details of two Thermal 'scopes (50mm/75mm objectives) from another manufacturer that they were offering. I've just had a look but can't find the email but I think they were in the region of £8-£9.5k. I seem to remember they were well-specced though.

Might be worth asking him what the current situation is.

Cheers

Fizz
:cool:
 
You can get a PAS 13 from USA Ebay for around 11/12k that is a dedicated day and night thermal imager scope it make a few foxes very expensive i thought my D760 was dear enough
 
Have you looked through a PAS 13?

Also with ITAR restrictions i seriously doubt one could be exported from the USA, same reason we won't see Flir Thermal Scopes here for a long time.

With respect, the USA devices you refer to, costing what it does if you have any warranty issues with imported NV, anything goes wrong, you need an export licence to send it back for repair and it becomes a nightmare to send for repair and reimport after repair.

The Optix thermal's are expensive, granted but they are made in the EU, the performance is remarkable and warranty is second to none, with full UK warranty back up coverage and as we are the exclusive UK online retailer, you can try one on our demo service, or come to our offices and try at the deer range (hand held of course)

Anyway don't take my word for it, come to the launch at the CLA and you can speak with the manufacturers on our stand and play with one of them for as long as you wish at the event.

optix1.jpg
 
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Again, the Thor (pictured above) will not commercially be available in the UK for a considerable time, and sadly the image quality is less than brilliant on the lower spec/cheaper models.

I met with ATN rep last week who confirmed that they would not be coming for some time.
 
Scott Country are no longer retailing the Optix Identifier (Pulsar one coming out soon) and kindly put me on to Rovicom who are retailing them in the UK. The price is £4900+VAT so well under the initial expected 10k mark. I have one coming over for a demo today so will let you know my thoughts when I get the unit in hand and on test.

Shooting show and sporting rifle review seem very positive though. Sam
 
Hello, yes unfortunately with the arrival of the new Pulsar Apex XD38S and XD50S thermal riflescopes, we have decided to no longer sell the Optix identifier thermal riflescope.

It is a very good piece of equipment with stunning performance, build quality and optical clarity, but at the launch price UK RRP of £7800 plus VAT which was set to us by Optix, it was not compatible in our range along side the comparable performance Apex XD50 thermal riflescope at £3999.99 inc VAT which we have plenty of stock arriving in October. The lower spec XD38 retails for £3299.99 inc VAT

More info here

Buy Pulsar Apex XD38 Thermal Riflescope - shop at suppliers Scott Country

Rovicom are the UK distributors of Optix and have therefore taken on retail of the Identifier directly, as it is the only way forward for it at this reduced price we felt.
 
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With a x2 optical zoom, there not ideal, and digital zoom doesn't improve the image, it degrades it. For a positive ID there is no substitute to quality night vision.

Ideal for close range pig shooting if your a lucky European or Yank, but for rabbit and fox shooting over here there an accident waiting to happen.

Thermal monocular alongside a night vision rifle scope, is the best your going to get for now in the UK.
 
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With a x2 optical zoom, there not ideal, and digital zoom doesn't improve the image, it degrades it. For a positive ID there no substitute to quality night vision. [...] Thermal monocular alongside a night vision rifle scope, is the best your going to get for now in the UK.

Maybe. This is the set-up I use, but it can still be tricky to pick up the target in the NV when you switch from the thermal spotter; which wouldn't be the case with a thermal riflescope. The key issue is range. But with the fully-covert properties of thermal -no illumination required- it should be easier to shorten this.

Re. identification, after a few months' use of a thermal spotter it becomes much easier to tell what you're looking at -if you haven't tried it, thermal signatures are often very different from IR or normal spectrum images for a given animal, not to mention that the increased visibility of animals means that you see and learn whole new patterns of behaviour- but I can imagine that for someone moving straight to a thermal scope the chances of shooting at a badger, or possibly a muntjac, thinking it was a fox might be greater. Though actually I think one would be more likely not to shoot at a fox, thinking it was a badger or a muntjac instead (a brush is a lot less visible in TI)!

In fact, and in common with all low-magnification riflescopes, the principal limitation would seem likely to be precise shot placement.
 
Fox, cat, dog? There's something there, you may be sure, although? Night vision is so much more accurate for an ID, thermal is definitely not 100%.

i've seen sheep laid on banks, legs covered totally insulated by fleece only visible heat source is a head, which looks very rabbit sized, the budget thermals especially x2 optical are very limited on range, and to be perfectly honest like I said, there an accident waiting to happen.

Although at close range they would be useful for rats and rabbits.
 
The OPTIX Identifier although overpriced is a very good piece of kit. You can identify your target without any difficulty but so you should at that price. Most spotters like the HD38s are not so clear but identification gets easier the more you use it. Used in conjunction with something like a Longbow or Archer it takes a bit of beating.
The Apex looks a really good unit and at a far more sensible price.
 
The OPTIX Identifier although overpriced is a very good piece of kit. You can identify your target without any difficulty but so you should at that price. Most spotters like the HD38s are not so clear but identification gets easier the more you use it. Used in conjunction with something like a Longbow or Archer it takes a bit of beating.
The Apex looks a really good unit and at a far more sensible price.

The Apex is just a hd38s or hd50s setup although 1.5x mag on apex38 and 2x mag on apex50 in a weapon scope. So your opinion of not so clear but It gets easier the more you use it, just verifies my opinion of 100% positive ID is definitely not guaranteed.

So anyone with a hd38s or hd50s imagine it with cross hairs and less optical mag, shooting at a tiny white blob at 100 yards plus, compared to NV, it's well dodgy, I wouldn't feel confident.

Under 60yds yes rabbits and rats say under 30yds, I'd feel fairly confident, spot out to a lot further but not positively ID, which is a major concern.

As I say great for pigs, hogs and deer under 100yds, at 1.5x or 2x mag at the current resolution they offer. There designed for a different market.

And £3000-£4000 is a lot to shoot some close up rats and rabbits.
 
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I've seen sheep laid on banks, legs covered totally insulated by fleece only visible heat source is a head, which looks very rabbit sized.

Would you shoot at anything that was just "rabbit sized", or would you wait until you could confirm what it was? (I'm sure you'd wait, by the way.)

Aside from the detail offered by the thermal -which is, I think, not as poor as you make out- the real key to identification is movement. A couple of hops from the rabbit as it feeds is usually enough to make it perfectly clear that it's not, say, a woodcock, or even a sheep's head. And if it's still not clear, you wait another moment or two until it is.

As for cats and dogs, I was out the week before last, on the edge of a piece of ground I shoot, and saw both. My thoughts as I scanned the thermal round can be summarised as: "what's that!...wait...oh, it's a dog!" [repeat for the cat, inserting "cat" as appropriate]. My point is, it only took a second or two to tell from the animal's style of movement what it was.

To be honest, I've come closer to misidentifying a cat or dog as a fox in daylight on the basis that all have been the same sort of ginger colour!

Your point about whether it's worth paying £thousands for a short-range sight is undoubtedly valid, however. As ever, that's down to perceived need/ enthusiasm/ one-up-manship!
 
Identification is clearly more difficult by night but as Mr gain rightly says it isn't always easy by day either. Unless you have a target standing on a flat grassy field it usually takes a few moments to check exactly what it is before you squeeze off a shot. Last week I took at least five minutes in the early dawn light to confirm a fallow pricket. As far as using a thermal imager the same applies you have to learn to recognise the quarry by movement, size and behaviour.
Last night I was out with the thermal HD38s saw dozens of rabbits easily identifiable up to 150 yards and clearly identified a fox at around the same distance. As with any target, identification is of paramount importance, I would like to think that anyone using thermal, night vision either digital or image intensifier would have the sense to identify the target positively before pulling the trigger. Thermal, as far as shooting as we know it is still in its infancy, doubtless as in the case of night vision things will improve vastly over the next few years.
 
150 yds if I look for example into a field that I know always contains rabbits, Oh I know there rabbits, by all them little spots of heat showing brightly.
BUT are they actually rabbits as that heat signature contains no detail at all at that distance? Coupled with x1.5 or x2 lens, I would definitely not be shooting at things I think are a rabbit or a fox.

£4000 spare, put a couple of hundred quid more together and get a pulsar hd38s and drone pro, more versatile.

OR just use a thermal spotter find,,track and a nightmaster to take the shot.

Both much more magnification and detail AND you know for sure what your shooting at.
 
I look, for example, into a field that I know always contains rabbits: "Oh, I know they're rabbits by all them little spots of heat showing brightly. Buy are they actually rabbits, as that heat signature contains no detail at all at that distance? Coupled with x1.5 or x2 lens, I would definitely not be shooting at things I think are a rabbit or a fox.

Ah, yes... but there's a vital difference between assuming, thinking and knowing. Each has its place, but the point along that continuum at which we feel we "know" something always needs to be properly judged. This usually means taking a bit more time, letting patterns of movement supplement shapes, and predicted locations, before formulating a conclusion. I don't think this process is different, thought the potential range and time required may vary, whatever you are using to spot, observe or target your quarry.

The onus, as you say, lies with the user, not just to confirm his/her target, but to familiarise her/himself with his/her equipment before taking it after live quarry. If so, it seems to me that the kit shouldn't be blamed in advance for any user error.
 
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