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Thanks to *******************, Night Combat Solutions, Armasight, and IR Defense I have many of the latest thermal monocular's and mini thermal monocular's to review and compare here. More may be added as we go along but these are the contenders for now below. From left to right the IR Defense IR Patrol, Armasight Prometheus, Insight MTM, and the Armasight Q14.
The IR Patrol, Prometheus, and Q14 are 640 verions. Since the MTM I have is a 320 version I will just use it in pictures as a size comparison for the most part
Initial impressions: As many of you know I have been using the MTM for a couple of years now it has served me well, it is what I have judged all other monocular's by. As you can see in the pictures above the MTM is no longer the smallest mini thermal in the bunch that title goes to the Q14 now.
Before turning any of them on and just handling them the MTM feels comfortable and is easy to hold for hours (its what I am used to). The Q14 is by far the lightest and easiest to hold out of the group. Its smaller than a pvs-14 you barely even notice it on your helmet or hanging from you neck a true MINI thermal. The IR Patrol and Prometheus are almost identical in size and weight. But the Patrol wins out here, with the Prometheus being about 1/4th inch longer and 1.5 ounces heavier. The strange thing is even though the Prometheus is a tiny bit longer and heavier it feels more balanced in my hand vs the IR Patrol feeling a little front heavy. I do not know how this is going to affect holding it up for long periods in the field yet it may not make any difference.
Image quality: The IR Patrol wins with image detail, the BAE 12 micron core looks beautiful. Inside with the AC on and dry cool air the 18mm Patrol edges out the Prometheus in detail, while the Q14's Quark VOX 640 core still looks good.
Outside with 77 degrees with 88% humidity and standing water from recent rains the 42mm lens of the Prometheus took the slight lead over the Patrol with the Q14 falling in third place again.
Even though the Q14 fell behind in detail it seems to make hot targets more visible over the patrol. For example my dog at 50-60 yards last night running through the woods looked very good with the IR Patrol you could almost see the individual hairs on her but she blended in with the trees and brush some. With the Q14 I could see a little less detail in the hairs but she stood out more as a definite hot target. Both the IR Patrol and the Q14 claim to be 1x magnification, while the Prometheus claims 2x. The Patrol seems to be more in the area of 1.5x-2x and almost dead on with the Prometheus. At ten yards I have to move 4-5 feet closer with the q14 to get the same image in screen as the other two. Of course the MTM is 320 with a 19mm lens and just falls short compared to the newer 640 units so its not fair to compare it.
Field of view FOV: In order from best to last the clear winner is the Q14 with 33 degrees. Next is the MTM with 23.4 Degrees. Next we will say the IR Patrol with 22 degrees. I can find no mention anywhere of the Prometheus FOV but it is very close to the IR Patrol. At 50 yards today I measured and had almost 10 foot more field of view with the Q14 over the Prometheus and IR Patrol.
Controls: Again the clear winner is the IR Patrol the joystick is easy to use in my opinion and moving through the options was a breeze. Next will be the MTM With its Power/menu button and up down buttons. And finally is the Q14 and Prometheus with virtually the same buttons and menus. But the Q14 does slightly edge out the Prometheus just because its size and weight make it easy to hold.
If you are looking for a monocular to wear around your neck and the most detailed image in prime thermal conditions the IR Hunter edges out the Prometheus ever so slightly. In bad thermal conditions (About half the year in Texas) the Prometheus with the color pallets and larger lens take the lead.
If you are looking for a true mini thermal that is amazingly. tiny super light weight, can be helmet mounted, has a outstanding field of view, and still has 640 resolution then the Q14 is for you.
Again these are initial impressions after using all the units for about 48 hours. I will have these for about three weeks thoroughly testing them in hunting situations. At the end of this period I will reevaluate, and include video and pictures from each unit's so you can judge with your own eyes.
I will say for my style of hunting constantly moving, carrying a lot of equipment, scanning large open fields and pastures the Q14 seems like it will fit my needs the best at this point, but time will tell.
