OK THFers, I have some much anticipated updates for you on the IR Hunter Thermal Scope!

The 2 units tested are:

IR Hunter 320 3x
IR Hunter 640 1.5X


Sighting In/POI
We took the IR Hunters out for a test using them in a clip-on role with Elcan SpecterDR 1-4xs.

Zeroing was not an issue. As long as I had a nice solid rest to keep the rifle steady when I put the IRH on it, I was typically able to collimate the IRH CO screen with one set of adjustments, and confirm or fine tune with a second shot.

I then removed the Elcan day sights, moved the IRH back, and zeroed the reticles in case I needed to use them as a standalone sight (plan B). Everything there went well also.

There should be no POI concerns as the firmware has been updated, with the previous flaw now fixed. The previous flaw was that the digital zoom was calculating on a 640x480 scale instead of a 800x600 scale. Both units held zero perfectly as clip-ons and as weapon sights with multiple times taken on and off the weapon.

We then drove to Louisiana to do some hunting, and checked everything at the range there in darkness. We did find however that the sights mounted to the upper and in a soft rifle case had both turned on during transport, and the batteries were dead. Future will require batteries to be removed before putting into a case, as apparently they can be turned on too easily. Hits on steel out to 200 yds. confirmed all was still good.

I found that the 1.5X 640 35mm in front of the Elcan was not as nice as having the extra magnification of the 320 35mm. Using the Elcan's 4x mode was not much help as the image was just too blurry (even when focused perfectly using the IRH diopter).
As a result we were limited to the magnification of the IRH, and I think the 3x worked best for us. A variable 1-4x optic instead of the 1x OR 4x Elcan would work better for zooming in on the display with the day optic. Being able to use zoom on the CO mode would definitely be better, but I think I personally would prefer the 640 50mm as an all around unit.


Battery Cap
The concern raised about the battery cap being hard to take on and off has been addressed and there is a solution. I was able to remove the battery cap and replace the battery cap easily in both weapon sight and clip-on configuration. The battery cap comes on and off much easier in the clip-on setup that we were running where there is more room near the battery compartment as opposed to when it's mounted on the receiver.
There's a battery cap extender that will resolve the concern others have had, and it will be sent out free to any IRH owner that wants one.

Menu Icons and User Interface
The menu and interface are sweet. The turrets allow you to move through the menu structure much faster than any button configuration.
The menu icons and reticle do not export on the video output. IRD says they are looking in to changing that but no firm details right now.
The reticles in particular are better than any other reticle out there. They are fine, crisp, and the BDC is dynamic to the digital zoom. The subtention reticle is useful for telling a rabbit at 25 yards from a pig at 100 since there is poor depth perception with thermal scopes.
Each unit has a different MOA ajdustment listed on the bottom right of the screen. Below is an image taken through the eye piece from an IRH 320 2x , but you get the idea.


Sometimes the selected icon is outlined, and sometimes it is filled in; not consistent. For instance, in the polarity adjustment, the white hot square icons get filled in red, while the black ones are outlined in red.
Under the reticle color, filling in the green icon gives you two red icons side by side which looks odd, and of course when you
get to the B/W it goes to black and red. I think simple outline works well enough to show a selected item when you’re dealing with colored icons.

ETR
I did get this feature to work during the day, and it worked well. At night it was not needed. I would advise to only consider using the ETR when nothing else works. If the image already looks good, the ETR can't do anything for you. In fact, using the ETR when it's unnecessary will make the image look worse. The ETR is designed to be used on 1X digital zoom. Otherwise you are essentially calculating on a zoomed image and the area being used on the sensor to calculate the image becomes so small it makes not sense to use it. ETR is for only a small amount of circumstances. The ETR outline box is not centered on the reticle, but rather on the center of the screen (it seems).
If my reticle is adjusted for zero, so it is off center, it winds up near the outside of the ETR boundary outline as I go from ETR1 to ETR3. I ran the windage all the way to the left, and the reticle would never go outside the ETR box. The reticle stopped just before the POA crossed the ETR box. I would imagine you’d want to set the center of this bounding box to the reticle position vs, the screen center (in standalone mode) as that will be your center of interest when viewing a scene.

Calibration/NUC
The calibration on the IRH is so good that I sometimes forget to NUC the units. I'm not exactly sure how the calibration is being calculated but it does not need a NUC very often. Much less frequent than other units. In the video you will notice that the 640 1.5X unit looks a little grainy. That was because it looked good through the eye piece and it wasn't obvious that it needed a NUC. Only when I blew up the image up from the video output did noticed the graininess.
As many of you know, some thermal scopes(ex ThOR) have a manual NUC, and some thermal scopes(ex FLIR RS)have an auto cal. The complaint with the manual cal is having to cover the lens, and the complaint with the auto cal is the image can freeze at any moment causing a missed shot. The IR Hunter calibration is the best of both worlds. the IRH calibrates on start-up, but will never NUC again unless you go to level 5 and NUC it manually. Technically it's a manual NUC, but it has a shutter so you don't have to cover the objective lens. I like that.


Versatility
We were running the IR Hunter as a clip-on WITHOUT any collimating lens. This is a huge advantage over other systems because the IRH image still looks great as a monocular or a weapon sight unlike other clip-ons which look awful as monoculars or weapon sights. For those who don't know, a typical clip-on is set up where the image/display is so small it's hard to use without magnification from a scope. It has to be this way otherwise you would only see a small portion of the image through your day optic. The IR Hunter works seamlessly with an Elcan SpecterDR 1-4x and it looks basically the same through the IR Hunter as a weapon sight as is does through the Elcan with the IR Hunter in front as a clip-on. The only big difference is the ballistic reticle on the Elcan that you see when using the IR Hunter as a clip-on. The only draw back on the Elcan is the 2k price tag.

I am looking into a couple other quality 1-4x and 1-6x day scope options to pair with the IR Hunter that are around the $400-1,200 range. If they don't work and you want to use a day scope you already have, then the collimating lens that IRD will be supplying will make the scope work similar to other clip-on systems. While this is a good option, it will diminish the quality of the image for use as a monocular or weapon sight. If at all possible I would recommend running a compatible 1x variable day optic with the IR Hunter without the collimation lens. It is such an easy to use seamless setup, and there is no other thermal weapon sight out there as versatile as the IRH with an Elcan Specter DR 1-4x .

Focus
The digital focus threw me off at first. The image from the IRH's fixed focus lens with a digital focus adjustment does not have the same crisp lines like a manual focus unit. But, the IRH's display is digitally driven unlike any other commercial thermal weapon sight that I know of. This means that the controls are adjusting each individual pixel on the IRH's display versus other units that modify the standard video signal coming of the FLIR core. IMO the focus on the IRH looks a little more fuzzy than comparable manual focus units, but better than comparable fixed focus units with no digital focus. I noticed that the digital focus on the IRH brings out edges that you wouldn't see with a manual focus unit. Things like the numbers on license plates are showing up with the IRH but I cant see them with other comparable units. I assume this is due to the digitally driven display and the ability to tweak each pixel in addition to the tweaks already being performed on the FLIR core. The lack of a super-sharp focus really bothered me when I first got the unit. Now I am seeing that while the lines/edges might not be as sharp on the IRH, the sensitivity and detection ability is on par with the best. If you didn't have a manual focus unit to compare the IRH to, you would never know the difference.

Magnification
When comparing the 3x ATN to the IR Hunter 3x, the ATN unit appears to be significantly less than 3x (or the IR Hunter is more).
I noticed this also when comparing the ATN 640 100mm (5x) to the IRH 320 35mm (3x); the magnification was closer than I would have expected.


MISC Observations
The unit is very well built, and easy to use in the dark. We had no problems with any controls, and were able to change batteries while mounted without problem (this may be due to the fact that we had it mounted further forward on a rail vs the receiver itself).

We had no issues with battery life. The ability to turn the unit off easily, and back on meant that I could do that rather than leaving it on all the time.

The ability to use it as a clip on (with or without a lens adaptor) is key because I can now go on a hunting trip without having to take two rifles; one for day and one for night. Curious to see how the clip on lens would compare to using it the way we did. Having the ability to have it sighted in and move it to a standalone weapon sight role is great for redundancy and adds value.

Overall I'm very happy with the product.

The First review just come over from a PD who picked up a 320 2x in IOWA. Thought y'all would like to see what they had to say:

Tactical Advantage in the Dark of Night, July 17, 2014
Reviewer: Muscatine Police Department from Muscatine, IA
We (Muscatine Police Department) needed a device that we could use to operate a weapons systems in the dark of night. The tactical turret knobs make it easy to switch settings and the accuracy was as precise as my Acog. The IR Hunter will allow us to effectively engage threats in the dark of night and give us a tactical advantage against our adversaries.

Killin Pigs
Below is the video of 6 out of 6 pigs being exterminated with the IRH. One important thing to note is that not a single one of these pigs broke 50 pounds. They were all very small for some reason and it's not a great comparison video to other videos where we have shot bigger pigs. The 1st and 6th pig were DRT, but pigs 2-4 were recovered about 10 feet deep in the nearest brush line. Below is an example of one of the pig/rats that were taken. This pig is the 1st pig in the video.

Dang son, you've been busy with your new BFF's...

Sounds like they have worked out some of the bugs. Very nice!

Yessir, the unit is also functional with a Burris 1-4X XTR.



XTR zero


IRH clip-on Zero

The IR hunter survived the recoil of a .338 LaPua.

very nice! sounds like it'll hold up to a 12ga shotgun then possibly

Yessir.


For those of you interested in the compatible day optics...
I have tested the units with a few day optics and found that the IR Hunter Standards are most compatible with an ELCAN SpecterDR 1-4X. The standard version also works with most 1-4X tactical scopes with a 30mm tube, although you can't see some of the icons, or only see half. It's not really an issue once you get to know the system because you can control the system without seeing the icons just off what the image is doing. They MK II display should be the right size to see the entire screen including icons on most 1-4X or 1-6X day optics with 30mm tubes, but I can confirm that here pretty soon.
Neither version will work well with a red dot/holo sight. First off, it's tough to see the display, and second they won't hold a good POI.
The system works with an ACOG 4X, but it's not desirable... You can see the pixel structure and it looks grainy, and it's also tough to sight in in this configuration.
I also noticed that if you sight in on 1X optical, that is where you need to stay on your day optics unless you specifically check the POI on higher magnification. If the new version has a POI adjustment in clip-on mode in addition to the scene adjustment it will fix the need to stay in 1X optics. I am looking forward to that...