Thermal Digital Zoom

[Sporter]

For those folks who hunt with a thermal sight, how important is the digital zoom? Do you use it often or is it a bling item? FLIR has a healthy $1000 rebate going on until 30 Nov and I'm looking at the RS24 with no zoom. Trying to decide if the zoom is worth another $500. Thanks.

 

[Daezee]

Zoom is great when sighting in the thermal. Yes the view will be more pixilated, but it's easier to center the crosshairs on the resulting bigger target. I sometimes use the zoom (normally the lower ranged of zoom) when shooting at animals, but for the most part, I stalk closer and have the zoom on 1x. I recommend a unit with a zoom feature. Don't use it all the time, but it can be very useful in targeting, scanning, and shooting.

 

[SAWMAN]

IMO ---> You want to go ahead and pay for the option to be able to use zoom. My unit has 3X,6X and 12X.
Another IMO ---> the perfect thermal for me,for where and how we hunt,would be 1X and 4X. A quickly/easily selectable 1X,2X,3X,and 4X would be damn near perfect.

You also only need white hot and black hot. However you do need more than white hot. I use black hot fairly often depending on the temp and terrain. It allows far better resolution. I do understand that you can live without this and that depending on the price.

I got a chance to look thru the lower end FLIR hand held viewer a few nights ago. IMO ---> NOT worth the $1000+ asking price. --- SAWMAN

 

[FrankT]

Your first zoom setting or 2 are fine, past that it in generally unuseable to shoot. This of course depends on the manufacturer and price point paid. What distance are you trying to zoom too? The lens is the most costly part of a thermal so the largest you can afford will pay off. The ATN Thor(new ones especially) and the Armasight line are generally better than the FLIR for a consumer and especially the customer service after the sale.

 

[Daezee]

I live a little north of Milton and have made this offer before, but no one has taken me up on it. If you want to look through a couple of thermals of different makes and capabilities, you are welcome to come to my little farm. I'll let a dog loose in the pasture at night, and you can look at the dog and goats through the thermals. Maybe we'll even see some deer in the field next door.

Most every brand of thermal has its pluses and minuses. For example, my FLIR's software can be updated via computer when they bring out new reticles or features without having the ship it to the factory, but then my FLIR uses internal batteries so they can't be changed in the field (but I've never had them fail, but I do carry a small portable cell phone type battery pack the size of the lighter so I can recharge them if needed).