Condor thoughts?

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foxerklw

Well-Known Member
Anyone using the new Hikmicro condor? I've recently sold my pulsar helion XQ50f because for a while now I've wanted a spotter with a lrf.

Like most I was waiting for the Telos but wasn't impressed with initial feedback, so I held off. The launch of the condor looked promising, and upon viewing at a demo evening the condor was more pleasing to my eye side by side. The weather was poor and the humidity was high, and still at almost 1k less, the hik provided a better image, and felt better in the hand, so I opted for the CQ50

The only problem I have discovered is battery life. I'm averaging 1.5 hours per battery which certainly isn't the 4 hours advertised. No Bluetooth, no audio, no recording, no zoom pro, no image pro. The two occasions I've needed the lrf, it's refused to function due to battery life!

I've since switched off auto FFC and still to test the unit with this change but it doesn't look good. I've basically switched to a lrf model that doesn't have lrf when needed lol. Auto standby as been enabled at all times. Is anyone else having the same problem or is there something else I should be looking at in the menu to extend battery life?
 
I had the same problem re the battery. I have liased with hik considerably on this. It is still with them at this minute. It looks like that the recent firmware is the issue the unit itself is fine. They are currently working on a new firmware update which should be released shortly. In regards to performance its a great image and the features perform well. However once the battery gets to one bar you lose the lrf and the zoom. Average battery life was around 45 minutes for me. However when you remove the dead battery and place it in you're charger it is still well over 60 percent charged.
 
Thanks for the info, I knew something wasn't right! I'm pleased you've taken it up with them and possibly found the problem, and hopefully a solution. I'll hang fire on any further action until a firmware update

Kind regards
 
foxerklw said:
Anyone using the new Hikmicro condor? I've recently sold my pulsar helion XQ50f because for a while now I've wanted a spotter with a lrf.

Like most I was waiting for the Telos but wasn't impressed with initial feedback, so I held off. The launch of the condor looked promising, and upon viewing at a demo evening the condor was more pleasing to my eye side by side. The weather was poor and the humidity was high, and still at almost 1k less, the hik provided a better image, and felt better in the hand, so I opted for the CQ50

The only problem I have discovered is battery life. I'm averaging 1.5 hours per battery which certainly isn't the 4 hours advertised. No Bluetooth, no audio, no recording, no zoom pro, no image pro. The two occasions I've needed the lrf, it's refused to function due to battery life!

I've since switched off auto FFC and still to test the unit with this change but it doesn't look good. I've basically switched to a lrf model that doesn't have lrf when needed lol. Auto standby as been enabled at all times. Is anyone else having the same problem or is there something else I should be looking at in the menu to extend battery life?
Click to expand...
I had battery life concerns with my Falcon FQ35. It was supplied with two 3200mah batteries by HIK. After liaising with Elite Optical, they said it should have been supplied with 3350mah batteries (it states as such in the manual) and they sent me replacements FOC. I appreciate the difference is small on paper and it shouldn’t make much difference in use, but they have! The difference is very noticeable and significant. I was using at least two batteries in a typical 3-4 hour outing before, now I don’t even bother to take a spare with me. It’ll lose one bar of battery now in the time it used to drain the others. Unless both of the others are faulty, which I guess is possible, using the correct batteries seems important and it might be worth checking that the unit was supplied with the correct ones and following up if not.
 
foxerklw said:
Thanks for the info, I knew something wasn't right! I'm pleased you've taken it up with them and possibly found the problem, and hopefully a solution. I'll hang fire on any further action until a firmware update

Kind regards
Click to expand...
A firmware fix won't solve the issue. It needs a repair so will need to go back
 
Jeff8861 said:
A firmware update will not work it needs to go back
Click to expand...
This is true. Nobody thought It would be a good idea to tell me though! Numerous calls to the retailer, and social media comms with hik all advised me to wait for the update. It was only Friday when I made a snotty call tk the retailer again they said the unit needs returning. Someone was meant to call later that day to make arrangements, guess what, nobody did lol
 
foxerklw said:
This is true. Nobody thought It would be a good idea to tell me though! Numerous calls to the retailer, and social media comms with hik all advised me to wait for the update. It was only Friday when I made a snotty call tk the retailer again they said the unit needs returning. Someone was meant to call later that day to make arrangements, guess what, nobody did lol
Click to expand...
Similar issues with me bought the 50 mm model the next day I was told to return it. This was after days of testing with the cq35 model. Numerous testing and reporting to be told a firmware would sort it. However then told it had to be returned. Not good at all it's been gone 12 days now. Fortunately the seller has loaned me a unit prity **** show all round by hik
 
I went out with mine last night, using Nightcore batteries not the Hik supplied ones, and it lasted over three hours with just the one. Hik batteries were lasting 1.5/2 hrs ish.
 
I have a falcon FQ35 it’s 10 months old now and the only thing I can say is it’s been brilliant I’ve used a lot of thermals and not used anything better as good yes but more money
Battery life 2/3 hours not brilliant but I can cope with that cost of batteries is a fraction of the pulsar ones
 
I've just bought the 35mm LRF unit (CQ35L) and whilst the image quality is great and performance in drizzle/light rain is stunning, I'm getting the first bar of battery power vanishing after about two minutes. I was out for 4.5 hours last night and got through three batteries. On both ocassions I've used it so far, I've wanted to use the rangefinder on Charlie, just as I'd dropped to one bar of power and the feature auto-disabled!
This is using the 3200mAh batteries that came with it, so they are the high capacity batteries. I thought perhaps it was related to it being a cold night, but I've just dropped a freshly charged battery into it and performance is going to be equally poor in my warm kitchen.
Great unit, but something cleary wrong with it, so I'll be on the phone to the retailer on Monday morning. I could cope with say 3hrs a battery, but an hour and a half is poor, especially bearing in mind you don't have the use of the rangefinder for half an hour of that.
Hopefully I'll get it sorted without issue. I'll post an update when I have more info.
 
Got mine yesterday and love the feel of the unit. Image quality is the best I have seen in any unit however batteries are definitely a problem. First battery in dropped 1 bar almost immediately on start up and lasted about 45 minutes. Second battery done the same dropping 1 bar but did last slightly longer. Will try a different brand of batteries to see if it makes any difference
 
cra1gscott said:
Got mine yesterday and love the feel of the unit. Image quality is the best I have seen in any unit however batteries are definitely a problem. First battery in dropped 1 bar almost immediately on start up and lasted about 45 minutes. Second battery done the same dropping 1 bar but did last slightly longer. Will try a different brand of batteries to see if it makes any difference
Click to expand...
They are aware of this, the battery status indication is incorrect, so shows an incorrect battery level. So they are working on a fix.
 
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