Armasight Predator - 1st Field Tests

[Brian Shaffer]

I joined the folks at ******************* and BRD asked me to take a look at one of the new Armasight Predator thermal scopes. It is an entry level thermal scope, but it comes in at an entry level price. Of course, what is entry level today was higher end 3-4 years ago and folks killed a lot of hogs with thermal scopes back then as well.

No first kill yet, but I do have some decent footage showing a few different animals at various distances in various environmental conditions.

My initials thoughts are that I like the scope. It works just like a regular Zeus as far as the controls go, but has a fixed focus lens. I mounted it on my 'vintage' Rem 788 .308 rifle and have it sighted in at 100 yards. I just need a viable target!

Check out the video. If you have any questions about the scope's use, let me know.

 

[Curly Shuffle]

Dang seems like a nice enough scope!!! Thanks for posting. Nothing wrong with that!!! BANG BANG!!

 

[RattlesnakeDan]

Not as clear as your other vids and I never saw Turkeys walking around at night, must have had some day video too.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

Not as clear as your other vids and I never saw Turkeys walking around at night, must have had some day video too.

Yeah, that was evening, a bit before sundown.

 

[Ratdog68]

So, THAT's what ducks' farts in the water look like !

 

[FrankT]

you can tell when the humidity/dew point got to it and when the conditions were better, also did you change the settings to 1080p when watching?

Brian what was your sharpness and smart scene settings? Hope you don't mind me sharing your youtube

 

[rob072770]

Up close was amazing not sure price point. But zoom pixilated. But clear and very usable. The duck heat trail was amazing.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

Frank, I ran the contrast at -4 and on most of the video, SS is 100 and on parts I cranked it down to 60 for others. The increments are single digits, but generally I just press and hold the button to change in increments of 10.

Yes, the image does pixelate when zoomed. As a 336x256 resolution scope, you basically are a zoom step down from the 640x512 scopes. Every zoom step quarters the resolution. All the scopes pixelate when you take them to the same level of resolution.

The zoom usually will not help with identification purposes too much, in my experience, but zoom will help with targeting more precisely if you have made an identification and decide to shoot the target.

 

[rgilbert]

Great job Brian!

 

[FrankT]

Thanks Brian, and the Sharpness?

 

[Brian Shaffer]

I have left sharpness on 16.

I find that the controls work as a group and that there are a couple of "sweet spots" in the settings that make the image slightly better for different conditions, but it is a bit of a balancing act to find what looks best to you for your environmental conditions.

I tend to leave a scope's settings alone unless environmentally things have really changed or unless I have gotten really bored in the stand.

 

[FrankT]

I have the sharpness at 60 and the SS at 100...maybe it is due to me not using my glasses hunting or not, I am not sure...Thanks

 

[Bob Abbott]

Nice review and vid Brain. Your right about controls working as a group. I have found the same thing tweaking my N850 and HD38a. Usually you don't have to make huge adjustments just minor ones.