Flir Breach Mini Thermal in the field footage

[Terry]

Any clue on actual battery life using one 123A ? I had a OTS-X that used a single 123A battery it ran about 45 minutes tops. I know the 12 micron core should be more power friendly usage wise but it’s still only 1 battery. It also looks like it used a pvs-14 style eye cup ?

Heck , guess I’ll pull the trigger and order the stinking sucker. I don’t expect it to replace one of my go to hunting thermal mono’s just looking for something easy to pack/carry with me while out and about hiking. When you walk miles ounce’s count as they say.

Update: New Breach arrived pretty simple setup if you have owned thermal or a Armasight thermal in the past. About 5 minutes in I’ve pretty much mastered the menu and buttons.

First impressions it’s tiny even more so than the past Q14 I owned since the Flir has a smaller lens system up front. Recording/pictures are easy to take one or two touches of the center button without having to enter menu. Image wise it does seem clearer than my old Armasight Q14 336 so that’s a improvement for FLIR on this new updated model. I’ll give it a run tonight see how it does overall.

 

[Terry]

Ok, I have around a dozen plus hours now behind the Breach in rural field conditions plus another hour plus in a urban setting.

I’m impressed with the overall construction sure it’s crazy small, however it’s also built extremely well, feels durable and easy to use. Battery life isn’t bad for a single 123A battery I seem to get around a hour or so per battery. My older ATN OTS-X using one battery I was lucky to get 30-40 minutes.

Performance wise I’m spoiled to 640 class systems now, infact this is the only 320 unit I’ve bought for some time now. For a 320 class system it’s a good performer as long as you factor in the 1X fixed focus lens into the equation. Sure you can detect critters 300-500 yards away, but really the Breach is best 125 yards and under the 1X lens limits it’s useful range with 320 core. The image recording is spot on really nice to have the only negative is lack of mic/volume.

The fixed focus lens used on the new Breach made the unit even smaller/shorter than my older Q14 336. That said I would still perfer to have the adjustable focus lens back like the old model. It just seems to me while the Breach is “in focus” it could be improved even more at certain ranges. For example my older 336 core ATN OTS-X 19mm 1X lens is able to be adjusted too better “sharpness” looking at a car tire 50 yards away than I can get with my new Breach a little disappointing there. That said the breach has much better contrast to the image I’m sure the new boson core giving it the edge. Anyway I would just say there is room for improvement maybe something firmware or hardware in the future.

Overall, I really like Breach for the task I bought it for. It’s a daily EDC thermal I carry with me in my daypack just in case and also carry when hiking because extra ounce’s make pounds as they say. It makes a fine hunting thermal for closer range type stuff maybe in the woods also. That said would the breach be my first choice for a hunting thermal I don’t think so. I would perfer a unit with a bigger lens and more battery life for that type task.

I think the 640 Breach will make up for a few of the short comings I’ve experienced with the 320. The image should be much sharper with all those extra pixels to work with even with a fix focus lens up front. The small 1X lens is more useful on the 640 unit because you can zoom to 2X and still have a good clear image for viewing longer ranges. That said I’m not sure I’ll upgrade from my 320 to a 640 Breach when the come to market. My current
320 class Breach does the task I bought it for just fine at a good price.

 

[wigwamitus]

Good write up Terry !

I'm still on the fence on the breach ... my helmet mountable NODs right now are:

Patrol 19mm, 1x, 640(60/30) (with modified 3x front magnifier that allows it to be shot )
ODIN 17mm, 1x, 320(30)
PAS-29/COTI 10mm, 1x, 320(30)

The ODIN, perhaps the most similar to the breach, is also fixed focus, BUT, it is fixed focus at infinity, versus the 50yds of the breach. I have been able to ID a moving yote at 500yds while rolling on 4-wheeler (both yote and 4-wheeler moving). Now I can't do that every night, but it did happen once. The yote was out in the open moving up the side of a hill.
Not real sure what the ODIN detection range is, but I can for sure detect cattle at 800yds. Haven't tried farther.
The ODIN can take the same USB battery pack that is sold for and works with the IRD/TEO scopes and I use that 100% of the time, when I am helmet mounting the ODIN and that takes the useful life out to way more than 1 night, even in coldest temps (sub -10F) I get around here. Very useful.
ODIN on helmet:

The ODIN also works as a weapon site on the .22LR using a M-69 mount (made for PVS-14). I tried a PVS-14 ring mount (with a "spear" ) but the wobble in that mount moved the POI 2 inches at 25 yards! The M-69 mount is rock solid.

I just use it as a weapon site on the .22lr for ratting.

==

I got the ODIN to replace the Q-14 Mod 0. The Q-14 mod 0 was a 19mm 1x 640(30). Even though the Q-14 was a 640, it rarely had a better image than the ODIN and that was disappointing. I ran them side by side for several months. The Q-14 did improve, when I started the "nuc the sh^t out of it" routine, but I'd already started doing that before I got the ODIN. I could see cattle at a mile and a half one night, they were just blobs, but I knew what was there and had the Zeus standard 640 with me that night and it could see them better. Once I saw a pack rat at 300yds with the Q-14, though the pack rat was just a dot and ID was based on location, movement and size (not shape).
The surprising thing about the Q-14 was I found it most useful as a thermal scope on the .22lr as a ratter. It was easy to get a tight group on the center of a hand warmer at 25yds and the mount had a decent return to zero.
The big disappointments with the Q-14 were the image (once on a coyote hunt, the guys with me called out 2 yotes at 300yds and I couldn't see sh^t with the Q-14) and inability to helmet mount beside PVS-14 (I could mount it solo on helmets with the provided mounts, but not on a dual bridge). The Q-14 was MUM form factor, the ODIN is PVS-14 form factor. That's why I got the ODIN and sold the Q-14. But I would say the Q-14 was a better 1x .22lr weapons site, believe it or not .
Oh, also, the Armasight extended battery worked with the Q-14 as a spotter, but the Q-14 would power down when shot with the extended battery in there, even off a .22LR. That was another disappointment. I never got the 2x magnifier or the Armasight extended battery PACK, just the longer battery and cap.

So even with the focus ring on the Q-14, if I had to take just one of the Q-14 or the ODIN out at night as a spotter, I would take the ODIN, I'm sad to say. I trust that I can see what is in front of me for at least 500-800yds with the ODIN, but not with the Q-14.

==

So where does that leave the breach?

Well, when the Q-14B (now known as breach) was first announced I had one in my budget (announced for "around" $2k IIRC). I think I had 2 in there at one point before I sold the Q-14 mod 0 ( I want 2 helmet mountable thermal spotters minimum ). But after all the delays, I finally got a Patrol and I love it. I was a dumbass for not getting one sooner. I listened to bad advice ...

So, the ODIN is now the 2nd helmet mountable thermal and it is fixed focus at infinity and so works well out to 500-800yds and it mounts easily beside a PVS-14 on a dual bridge and it can take the IRD USB battery pack on the helmet and it works as a weapons site on the .22LR (in theory it also works on 5.56). So what does the breach have that the ODIN is missing ??

Well the ODIN doesn't do video unless I buy a separate cable for it ... and that isn't likely. I used to do video with all the armasights and I do miss that, but now that I've sold all the armasights, I haven't done video. I just do stills with the various OASYS core units. But that is one gap for sure.

There is price, you can get about some where between 1.5 and 2.0 breaches for the street price of one ODIN (currently around $4k).

I would expect the display in the breach to be the source of a MUCH better image, but not 100% convinced that is the case. Perhaps the breach lens is too small to take advantage of it. Whereas the larger 736 scope can take advantage of the "hi res" display?

So anyway, still on the fence on the breach ... but watching the reports roll in ... and thanks to ALL who posted videos and reports !!! I agree with Todd, the only new FLIR units I'm even interested in so far are the 736 and the breach, but as to the breach, not sure it is much better than the ODIN other than size, price and video.

 

[Terry]

I really liked the ODIN also one of my favorite thermals ATN ever produced too bad they stopped making them. That said with the new Breach being smaller/lighter and way less money I guess the Odin wouldn’t be a big seller now anyway unless they came way down in price.

I used the Breach again last night for several hours staking out a baited active hog wallow and did a good job with that 40-75 yard zone.The Breach image has lots of contrast(shades of black and gray in black hot) to the image unlike FLIR Systems I used in the past where so was just bright white or solid black. I like the new boson core imaging better overall.

Honestly I find myself wishing the Breach image was just a touch sharper though like maybe 10%-20% sharper image wise and this sucker would be perfect. Maybe I’m asking to much being spoiled to a 640 image, however I think there is room for alittle image improvement on this system maybe firmware upgrade down the road. After all my old ATN OTS-X can focus sharper than my Breach and it’s old technology.

I wonder how the PTS223 compares image sharpness wise to the breach anyone?

I would like to see a 2X lens 320 core Breach model hit the market also. That would make a much better hunting type viewer for ID on critters vs the current 1X model. Heck even with a few short comings it’s hard not to like the Breach it’s just a unquie little thermal I do really like it overall.

 

[wigwamitus]

So Terry, bottom line, how can you compare the breach image to the ODIN you've looked thru in the past ... if you can remember back that far

And my ODIN is 17mm 1x 320(30) flavor of ODIN.

 

[Terry]

It was the Odin 336 35mm lens 2X model I used a very nice viewer. Comparison wise they were just different in a lot of ways. The Odin critters just popped bright white or black and seemed alittle more in focus than the Breach at ranges past 50 yards. I still think I perfer ATN’s OLED vs the FLIR LCD even though FLIR’s newer LCD’s are much nicer than than old ones.

The Breach has much better contrast meaning I can see layers of color and detail to the critter much like IRD or Pulsar units. Up close the Breach image is clear and focused , but at longer range it seems to become more muted focus wise. It’s not bad just seems normal for most FLIR fixed focus lens systems I’ve seen in person.

I can tell you the 320 Breach doesn’t blow the 320 Odin out of the water by any means it holds its own in a lot of ways performance wise. You do gain better contrast to the image, better battery life, smaller/lighter construction . I think the Odin holds a slight edge focus wise at longer ranges

If I was you I would just wait and buy the 640 Breach so you can jusifty upgrading your Odin. The 320 Breach is just to close to the same thing. Below is a breach video of me sneaking up on a 75lb hog, I was able to close to about 15 to 20 yards of him.