First miss with new scope

[Wildfowler]

I got my new FLIR PTS233 scope in last Friday and sighted it over the weekend.

The boresighting instructions state for this scope each “click” is some 2.1 MOA which seems like a lot to me? I assume I am understanding that correctly?

Anyway, here is a pic of my target from 100 yards. I left things about 1.5”- 2” high at 100 yards. And a bit right of center and called it good. I was shooting at a small iron pipe cap hanging by a wire that I heated with a cigarette lighter. I may have jerked my last shot and hit the target which was suspened just above the torn hole in the paper.

This is 12 shots in three shot increments. I removed the scope, powered off camera and replaced between scope to the same slot to test its return to zero ability from removal.

So, repeatability is pretty good in spite of the 4 MOA center dot. Before my next outing I will drop impact by one click.

Haha I’ll bet I shot right over this sucker!!

 

[pruhdlr]

May I please ask . . . why did your target animal look so out of focus/blurred ?? ---- pruhdlr

 

[Wildfowler]

May I please ask . . . why did your target animal look so out of focus/blurred ?? ---- pruhdlr

That video was on 4x. Remember, this is only a 320 core scope.

Here’s another video of two deer a few minutes before that shot. Demonstrating the various zoom settings.

Coyote was approximately 100 yards away, these two deer were between 150 and 200. Probably closer to 150.

 

[FrankT]

I am not a fan of shooting at blobs and the infinity focus looks clear at what distances?

 

[Wildfowler]

I took this scope to my local dealers house over the weekend and we compared his IR defense 20 mm 640 with this.

It’s certainly no IRD scope quality by any stretch of the imagination. If your needs are the highest sharpest image available, you definitely need to stick with a 640 base system or greater.

I would feel missing out if this were my first scope, after having looked through and used other 640 systems.

But I didn’t buy it for that purpose I bought it to be used as a handheld spotter to locate a target that I would ultimately pursue with my IR Defense 35 mm. And it will serve good duty as a back up gun for friends who do not have a scope. Having the extra thermal rifle increases my invitations to other properties exponentially.

I failed to record the video properly and will redo this test at some point. But I did a milk jug test over the weekend and was able to detect the milk jug filled with 105° water as far away is 450 yards.

It was just a tiny speck and if I didn’t know exactly where to look for it it could’ve easily been missed but it was detectable nonetheless. I could easily see it up to about 400 yards. And I lost sight completely at 475 yards. I’m fairly confident this unit will detect deer size targets beyond 600 yards I just haven’t been in that scenario yet to confirm.

Anyway, thanks to ********‘s help. This seems to work just fine for my purposes. Might not be for everyone.

Remember that’s the biggest selling feature. Having an extra thermal rifle increases my opportunity to hunt other properties exponentially!!

 

[Wildfowler]

I the infinity focus looks clear at what distances?

Was this question for me?

I read early on where **** claimed the unit that Lonestar boars demoed was out of spec somehow which resulted in the blurred image. Kind of thought that was a little much and did not buy it at the time. I don’t believe that company would send out a defective unit knowing there will be videos placed online.

Based on my usage I’m seeing similar performance. I don’t understand how IR Defense has a scope with no focus front lens that produces such a sharp image at all distances? But yes, this would be nice if the PTS233 were a little more sharply focused.

 

[FrankT]

yes it was, cut me off somehow...lol So the PTS is clear at? 50-100 or what did you experience. I believe the difference is the lens and its Fstop or range as explained to this un camera knowledgeable person and the IR defense scope win that hands down.

 

[Wildfowler]

I shortened the quote to include the question and not your statement. The lens on this FLIR is F 1.0.

What little I know about 35mm cameras, the lower the F value the more wide-open the lens is, so in the case of thermal lands it should allow for maximum thermal transmission. This comes at the cost of having an increasingly narrow “depth” of view. Which means the subject area in focus is increasingly narrow as the f-stop value goes closer to one. There is definitely some limitation that seems to show up in this unit.

I don’t understand how the IR Defense overcomes this with their fixed lens.

I don’t know how large of a jump it is between an F1.4, 1.2, 1.0 really is? I don’t remember off the top my head what the IR Defense lend is but it’s greater than F1.0. I think it may be 1.4?



Those deer are at least 150 yards away. So you can decide for yourself what the clarity looks like. Background obviously being farther.

I will try and upload the original file to Google Drive which should be no compression loss going to YouTube, but I don’t think it’s going to be a dramatic improvement. That coyote was also standing in sunflower and weed stubble, it was not a disked up clean field, so there may have been a little interference that did not show up.

I don’t have anyway to iPhone film through the camera lens like some people do, I haven’t used this enough nor have I made enough videos and compared them from memory to what it looks like through the lens, but I don’t know that it’s significantly better than through the lens like the IR Defense is compared to its videos.

This scope definitely requires more experience of what animal movement patterns look like to aid in identification. For me last night that coyote barked back at me so I knew what it was without a doubt although I knew what it was before I heard it bark based on the way it approached me.

My local dealer said he was getting another 384 pulsar and we will compare these two. I have a 1200 yard shooting range to do another hot water milk jug test with several different devices.


This video was from my first evening with the scope. Right at dusk I saw some deer way out in the field and ranged the far Treeline behind them to be 668 yards away. I don’t know exactly how far out into the field the deer are. I believe it was greater than 500 yards.

 

[Wildfowler]

I guess that’s the long way answering your original question.

It’s most clear and sharp at less that 100 yards as were most of those original **** video clips when this thing was first introduced.

 

[Wildfowler]

Here’s a new video I just made in the Home Depot parking lot.

Home Depot sign is 125 yards away. Kroger sign is 127 yards away.

The four door sedan I was looking at in the HD parking lot is 39 yards away. The one by itself when looking south.

The pickup in the Kroger parking lot is 41 yards away.

home depot.mp4

I think this link will work here?

I immediately loaded this file onto my laptop and compared live footage with my cheap computer screen. I can say there is slight improvement in image clarity over the raw file.

But not enough to get all worked over. Basically what I saw in this file is what you get in the display.

 

[FrankT]

Thanks, I think the people are more animal size and watching them gave me an idea of what it looks like

 

[Wildfowler]

Here’s google drive of deer.

REC001 (2).mp4

 

[Wildfowler]

Here’s google drive of coyote

REC002 (2).mp4

 

[FrankT]

I am sorry but the fuzzy screen gives me a headache and is really a poor image. I guess as a spotter so you don't have to wave your gun around it would be ok but other than that I could not buy that for my shooting use. Thank you for all your reports! My old Predator had a much better picture.

 

[Wildfowler]

I am sorry but the fuzzy screen gives me a headache and is really a poor image. I guess as a spotter so you don't have to wave your gun around it would be ok but other than that I could not buy that for my shooting use. Thank you for all your reports! My old Predator had a much better picture.

Nothing for you to be sorry about.

Yes, I honestly believe these raw video files are very representative of the image in the screen. Comparing live and video file side-by-side in the parking lot. Maybe there is a slight improvement but not much.

Proceed with caution if that is of paramount importance to you.

I don’t get headaches like that by the way.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

Vehicles tend to look really good on thermal. I think the crisp lines of the metal and such make them stand out very nicely.

 

[iFlyLow]

Here’s google drive of coyote

REC002 (2).mp4

That shot was taken @ 4x, so - 6x magnification, correct? That's about what I would expect when you cut the screen resolution to 25%. That probably isn't the ideal video for people to be basing their clarity determinations on.

 

[Wildfowler]

I went with some buddies last night and I compared a pulsar 640 scope with my IR Defense scope with this new PTS 233 scope and there’s a huge difference for sure.

You definitely don’t get the detail with the PTS 233 that you do with any of the other 640 systems that I’ve looked through.

If you are like most of us and want to aspire to roam thousands of acres looking way across creation for hogs this is definitely not the scope to do that with. The resolution is just not there.

But no doubt about it, it’s quite capable of identifying hogs out to a couple hundred yards so.

If I’m going to hunt hogs in cornfields where you can see for thousands of yards, I’m not using this as my primary means of identification and would never suggest it for that purpose.

But I would dang sure stick it on a second gun of mine for low $2K and let the landowner go shooting with me also. Haha

Here’s a 100 yard or so (max distance) video from last night. This is the size of a typical deer food plot in my area. Food plots around here are generally just a few acres each. And I don’t think the scope will miss seeing a darn thing on something like this.

 

[Rookie]

Has anyone compared the 233 to the apex QD50? Are the two close enough to save $900 or is there such a difference that $900 more would be money well spent?

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

May I please ask . . . why did your target animal look so out of focus/blurred ?? ---- pruhdlr

Because there is no focus on the unit. That is how they kept it at the lower price point.