Thermal

john hind

Member
Hi all , I have a Thermion XM 50 which have used for a couple of years. My shooting partner has upgraded his spotter to a Hik Micro and the picture is a lot better than my Thermion. Admittedly his base mag is a lot less than mine. My question is , is there a scope that will give me a similar or better base mag than I have with the Thermion . 5.5 and a picture as good as my partners spotter. I have looked at the Hik SQ 50 sight but have been put off by the fact that it has internal batteries which will eventually give up. Hope someone can point me in the right direction.
Cheers John
 
Hi all , I have a Thermion XM 50 which have used for a couple of years. My shooting partner has upgraded his spotter to a Hik Micro and the picture is a lot better than my Thermion. Admittedly his base mag is a lot less than mine. My question is , is there a scope that will give me a similar or better base mag than I have with the Thermion . 5.5 and a picture as good as my partners spotter. I have looked at the Hik SQ 50 sight but have been put off by the fact that it has internal batteries which will eventually give up. Hope someone can point me in the right direction.
Cheers John
Drop me a message John, I have plenty of options with higher mag and detection ranges.
 
Yes, the TQ50 will give a more detailed image than a Falcon FQ35
Going back to your original post regarding base mag and your XM50
Yes, the XM50 has a x5.5 base mag, but it's a 320x240 sensor which isn't a great staring point and using any digital zoom pixellates the image badly.
That x5.5 base mag also results in a rather narrow field of view - something that will be obvious when you look through your pals FQ35
If you start with a 640x480 or 640x512 sensor and a 50mm lens, you'll have lower base mag, and a much wider field of view, but when you go to x2 digital zoom, the image will effectively be the same as your XM50 at it's base mag
The HIK TQ50 has a claimed base mag of x2.6, but I've measured it and when the dioptre is set for my eyes, the base mag is nearer x3.3
If I then use x2 digital zoom i get an overall magnification of x6.6 and it will still have a better image than the XM50

Cheers

Bruce
 
Thanks very much Bruce that explains it nicely . Should i be worried about the lack of changeability of the batteries. Ian from blackwood mentiond the senopex s 7
Ive never seen one in the flesh. It looks huge. I belive you use the s 10. Mine will used for foxing up to 250.
Cheers john
 
The HIK Thunder uses 2 x CR123 batteries that can be removed for charging or it can also use non rechargeable CR123 batteries, or a powerbank via the USB port.
The only downside of the Thunder is the relatively short run time from a set of batteries - just under 2 hours.
I suggest buying a few rechargeable CR123 batteries and going out with a fully charged set in the scope and a couple of fully charged spare sets carried in their plastic boxes
I did have an S10, but sold it because it was too much magnification compared to my previous thermal scope and I was taking shots at foxes that were much further away than i thought.
I use the Thunder TQ50 on my 22-250 foxing rifle and it's point and shoot out to 250

Cheers

Bruce
 
The HIK Thunder uses 2 x CR123 batteries that can be removed for charging or it can also use non rechargeable CR123 batteries, or a powerbank via the USB port.
The only downside of the Thunder is the relatively short run time from a set of batteries - just under 2 hours.
I suggest buying a few rechargeable CR123 batteries and going out with a fully charged set in the scope and a couple of fully charged spare sets carried in their plastic boxes
I did have an S10, but sold it because it was too much magnification compared to my previous thermal scope and I was taking shots at foxes that were much further away than i thought.
I use the Thunder TQ50 on my 22-250 foxing rifle and it's point and shoot out to 250

Cheers

Bruce
Bruce,
A stupid question, but I take it that it is sensible to remove the non rechargeable CR123 batteries before using the power bank?
Also, do you need to change the settings because in the menu you have to choose between rechargeable cr123 and nor rechargeable cr123?
 
OK, I just checked and with the scope running from a power bank and the batteries removed there is no voltage on the terminals of the battery holder
i.e the battery holder is disconnected from the scope when a powerbank is plugged in
That means:
a. You can safely leave non rechargeable CR123s in the scope when using a powerbank
b. You don't need to change the battery voltage setting in the menu
c. If you do use rechargeable CR123s they will NOT be charged when the scope is running from a powerbank

Cheers

Bruce
 
Bruce,
A stupid question, but I take it that it is sensible to remove the non rechargeable CR123 batteries before using the power bank?
Also, do you need to change the settings because in the menu you have to choose between rechargeable cr123 and nor rechargeable cr123?
I leave the batteries in my Thunder TQ50 and run it from a small power bank attached to the side of the scope with a rubber band without any issues I also never had to change any settings, Great scope
 
Thank you both. I had An evening on the rats and had to stop as I knew my first port of call was to hit some squirrels in the morning. I managed to spot and shoot just before the power ran out.
made the mistake of ordering the wrong spare batteries. Duh. So the power bank for when out ratting from the car would save me a lot of hassle. Or I may look for that rubber band.
 
Back
Top