Anyone have much time behind the MK (not MKII) in cold weather @freezing?  Hunted with two friends both running MK 320 35mm units last night and it was 32 degrees and misting rain.  All night both units would typically take 10+ seconds to turn on, and then slowly come on from dim to full brightness.  On several occasions I ended up being the only shooter because their units did not come on fast enough to make a shot.  Changed batteries no different.  We were also riding in a heated truck until getting out to stalk a group.  I am really interested in the new monocular but these buggy units are turning me off.

That sounds very odd.  The only thermal device I've owned that did something like what you are describing was the old (mid 90's) AN/PAS-19 which took 20-30 seconds to present an optimal image.  That was pretty outdated technology though.  I've used the various other thermals I've owned in temps ranging from -10 F in Indiana to 100+ degree Florida heat and never had anything like that happen.  Since both units were doing it, one has to wonder if others have experienced this as well.

That sounds really odd. My 307 takes awhile on initial start up ( 90) seconds or so, but then in stand by mode it's maybe a couple of seconds.  I've also hunted with several other makes of thermal devices with no issues in cold weather 20-30 degree temps.

I'll have a mk 2 in my hands Monday to run it through its paces. It should be in the 30's down here, so I'll check it out in those temps to see if there are any issues.

Km

I sighted these units in several weeks ago and both had other software glitches also.  I posted that here and some said these glitches were fixed with the MKII but I spoke to someone earlier today about this and they stated they had rented the new 640 unit and it had software issues also.  I am excited about the Patroll unit but this raises an eyebrow.

 

What were the glitches?  Holding zero or adjustment issues?

Screens freezing up, having to turn units off and back on multiple times after sight in adjustment screens freezing up. Reticles not appearing on the reticle change menu.

 

What I was hoping to hear!

Curious if others that have been using this mk2 have also been experiencing these issues.

Thanks for the info

Not me.

I have...except for the screen freezing.

I received my scope in mid-Dec and it's been in use just about every day since then. I work for a corporate ranch and one of my jobs is pest control, which at the moment primarily means hogs.
This scope has taken more than 60 hogs since it was put into service and I have to say, despite the glitches, I'm very impressed with it.

Prior to receiving the MK II (640 35mm from UNV) we relied on D-740's (Gen III) for our pest control. Since receiving the Mk II the 740's have been primarily safe queens.

Of course there are things I find the 740's do better, such as target recognition at distance.

Our typical loadout is 6.8 SPC or 308 with the Mk II and a helmet mounted Gen III monocular.

Issues I have spotted with the scope are:

1. Occasionally the screen will lose characters. But only on a few occasions have I had to cycle power to get them back, simply turning the knob often brings them back.

2. Easy to over-run and confuse the screen by turning the knob fast. Going slow will reduce this problem, but does not set it to zero.

3. While turning the scope off, it will sometimes get confused and enter the start cycle. Most of the time it will get about 25% through the start-up and then shut down. But 3 times I've had it get stuck in the on cycle and once I had to remove the batteries to get it unstuck. When it's stuck in this mode, it goes through batteries like a kid through candy, which means something inside is burning a lot of power...not a good thing!

4. Mine can be hard to switch between 30 & 60 Hz frame rates. Sometimes it just wont let me checkmark the box. Cycling power may clear the problem, but not every time. Several times I've had to cycle power multiple times to clear the problem.

5. I've had the sighting in issues others have mentioned.

6. Sometimes the designated magnification doesn't match the actual magnification. In other words the scope may say it's in 2x when it's actually in 1x or 4x.

I've noted the scope seems to be more stable on the 60 Hz frame rate setting. Of course it goes through the batteries faster, but the additional stability is worth it to me.

Having noted the issues above, it should be stated that a majority of the time the scope functions fine. It's important to note  At no time has any of these issues cost me a shot.

Overall I don't find these issues to be a show stopper, I would recommend this scope to anyone for hunting. Sure, its not to the level of reliability I was expecting, and the manufacturer should correct these issues, but the quality of the image, ease of operation, and the small size and light weight definitely offset the issues in my opinion.

thanks for this.   Mine is on order and I haven't seen much of a description of what people think of it.    My primary concern is...... two years from now, will I feel the money was worth the purchase.   I know better things come out, but it's like a Canon L type lens.  They are expensive but one will last you the life of the camera and more.   Sure, they make better lenses and better quality comes a long but 2-5 years from now, I'll still be impressed with the excellent quality pictures you get from that lens.   Would you say the same about the MK II?   Do you think you will be happy with the functionality for the next few years?

I follow computers CPUs pretty closely and I know that the manufacturing process of the CPUs have gotten smaller in time and this renders more effective and more powerful CPUs.  12 micron process....I just think that maybe that's probably the extent at which these processors can go and will probably affect overall longevity.....meaning they aren't going to get smaller than this.  Because it's very expensive to do so on something not mass produced.   Maybe I'm wrong.

I have had the MKII 35 mm for about 1 month now.     I have had very few issues, most as stated by TX-Rancher.   None of these have cost me a kill shot.    Saturday night I killed two coyotes and more than 10 jackrabbits in a wheat field.   There we over 50 deer around and I never had trouble distinguishing targets inside 150 yards.     Several rabbits were hit well past 150 yards.   I also have a M845 Gen III and we never took it out of the truck,   the MKII is just better for hunting.    I would not hesitate to buy this scope again.

Wow The only one I have seen is 2, and I stopped spinning it like a top and have not had a problem since.

I will clarify issues I have had.    If you turn the knobs fast it will seem get skip over a step.   This does not happen at a slow steady turn.   During sighting in I had to unlock reticle several times because I turned off scope when walking to check target,  not a big deal.   I had two shut offs while shooting but tightening battery cap seemed to fix this issue.   It was acting up slightly during the end of a hunt with low batteries, everything worked perfectly after switching batteries.   The unit is not perfect but very very good.   All so called "gliches" are minor and have not affected my ability to hit targets.   The image quality is exceptional,  better than my Pulsar HD38 and a Flir scout monocular my friend has that we used for a weekend.   Again the Gen III night vision scope stays in the gun rack when hunting now that I have the MKII.

Tyler, I was thinking of renting the MKII for a coyote hunting competition from the 23rd through the 25th but I look on your site and it seems like it skips right around those dates...is it possible to rent it for the dates I just mentioned? I was also thinking of renting an eotech thermal handheld unit for spotting, let me know, thanks.

I've had mine since early Dec.(MK2 640 X 35). Have used it alot on pigs, coons and yotes. No serious issues at all. As some have said, it will get behind if you spin the knobs too fast. The biggest issue I've had is the soft rubber eyepiece coming off, nearly lost it. A simple fix was a ring of electrical tape at the junction where it meets the scope and have had no further issues. Overall, it has far exceeded my expectations so far. It was to blame for the execution of an entire family of coons just last night! I have a Flir LS64 and have some time behind the RS 64 X 35. I strongly prefer the MK2 to the RS line. Had mine out last week in the very cold weather (Low 20s) and it did just fine. It was acclamated and not taken in and out of the cold however.

Good vid and great weekend of hunting! Any reason your favoring white hot over black hot?  I always think the black hot looks better on my 307 when I'm out hunting.  White hot jumps out at you when your scanning for detection, but image quality always seems better in black hot.

Obviously this is just one persons opinion, but I don't think you will regret buying this scope. If you hunt at night, and you are using Gen III equipment, this is a step up.

Will the scope be surpassed in two years, definitely! With the pace of digital technology today I believe it's a given much better will exist in the future and probably at a lower cost. But if you wait for technology to "top out" you wont buy a thermal scope for quite some time...probably decades. Having an "older" technology scope in two years is better than going those two years with nothing.

For the corporation I work for, this was a no brainer. A sounder of hogs can destroy a couple of acres of pasture in very short order. Each acre cost ~$250, not counting labor, to put back in production and while it's recovering it's not producing any profits. Hogs and coyotes can be very hard on the cattle operation during calving time. Last year we lost over 20 calf's to pests and that hurts since each bull calf is worth  as much as $1,000 at market weight and the heifers are worth probably 10 times that over their life time. Waiting 2 years to buy a better scope would be a bad business decision. For the corporation the better choice would be to depreciate this scope and buy a new one when the technology moves on...that's what it did with the Gen II & III night vision equipment.

I hear what you are saying.  They are jacking up the costal fields and robbing my deer feeders of corn.  I've got at least three sows with a dozen piglets each.  Buddy of mine caught one female still nursing being pursued by a boar...man they multiply.   I think it's revenge because I've already taken four or five of their buddies this year.

Nicely said

I picked my mk2 up last night, and I have to say i'm really impressed with this unit.  The first time I picked it up I had no issues at all scrolling threw all the menu's and using all the functions.  The knobs made the operation of the scope much easier IMO compared to button type menu's.  The scope is very pleasing to the eye and the image quality if VERY good!  Even though conditions In Houston suck right now for thermal being ( overcast, light rain, wind and temps not warming up much over 40 deg) the image is still dam good.  

I've hunted with gen 3 and thermal for 8 years or so never wanting a thermal weapon sight until now.  I have to agree with the above poster in saying it is a step up from a NV weapon sight, and I've owned several 740's/760's and pvs 24's.

Dang.....won't have mine til February.    I'll go play with something else to take my mind off of the wait

 Your dead on my Mk1 320x240 does the samething around 40 degrees and under. It's not batteries I also installed brand new ones several times and tried different brand 123A's also. It's cost me a couple shots also taking 10+ seconds to power up very annoying. At first I didn't know what was wrong now I know it's just really really slow to power up in cooler weather.

Anybody had any issues with a white line running across the display?  My buddy picked his up yesterday and he said it had a line running across the screen under the crosshairs. He also said the image jumps sometime. Thought it could be a issue with battery cap ?

I took a close look at these at SHOT.....wow....

boy you guys sure cost me a lot of money  

I asked these two questions on another thread but am not getting any answers, so maybe UNV can answer them for me.

1.) I understand the IR Hunter does NOT have some kind of number read out in the screen to show the zero as the scope is being zeroed? If not, can an elevation/windage readout be added as an update to the software? I am not speaking about a "pre-canned" setting where the zero has already been memorized by the cpu on board, but just a set of number showing what the windage/elevation are, so I can write down those numbers and manually adjust the scope to them as I move the IR Hunter from platform to platform.

2.) IR Defender only shows these scopes to take CR123 batteries, would a pair of RECHARGEABLE LiFePO4 RCR123As like these work?

http://www.batteryjunction.com/rc375reliba.html

Specifications:

Rechargeable LiFePO4 RCR123A 3.0V 750mAhBattery
Life cycle: 2000 times (Traditional Li-ion: 500 times)
Working Voltage: 3.2V
Peak Voltage: 3.6V
Charging cut-off voltage: 3.6V
Discharge cut-off voltage: 2.2V
Please never overdischarge battery below 2.2V/Cell
Charge the this battery with LiFePO4 RCR123A smart charger
Capacity: 750 mAh
Maximum discharging rate: < 550 mA
Maximum charge current: < 550 mA
Cell's dimension: 17mm Dia. x 34.5mm H.
Weight: 0.6 oz (18 grams).
Manufacturer's Part Number: 30200

We do not recommend this setup for any SureFire flashlights, or other brands of incandescent (halogen, kyrton, xenon, etc) flashlights which have a bulb rated 7.2V and under.


I am looking at these rechargeables because primary CR123As get expensive really fast, especially at 3.5 hours a pair for the IRH. Also, if I switch the display to 30 hertz a second, would that double the battery life to ~7 hours instead of 3.5?

Thanks for your time, I hope I did not exceed your technical knowledge on this product with these questions. Thanks very much.

To be honest, I don't know if I would run something different than what the manufacturer recommends.  Will it work, more than likely, however if there happens to be a issue that comes about due to running them is it worth messing up a 6,500 scope?  Then voiding the warranty if for some how they do fuck the scope up.

123 batteries are cheap online at $1.00 a battery at websites like battery junction.

We used rechargeable batteries in our thermal hand held units at work and the batteries popped ruining a set. If i get lucky enough to own a IR hunter i am only using energizer or the gold top. If youre spending $5500 or more battery cost shouldnt matter.

Ok. After having my 35mm mk2 for about a month I finally got to go hunt!  I've spent plenty of time behind it playing with the unit, so I was excited about getting some rounds down range on some live targets.

Scope was mounted on a .308 with dpms lower, 16" criterion ultralight barrel with yhm titanium can. Scope was very easy to sight in using a old feed bag with duck tape. To my surprising you could see the duck tape just fine without using any type of heat source for POA.  Menu function and working the adjustments were very easy remembering that you need to move towards impact similar to sighting in a bow.  I had another 35mm mk2 mounted on a 9" 300 blk out for a game warden to hunt with. He was overly impressed with the image quality, and overall ease of use of the scope.

For hand held devices we had a 640x480 m18 and a flir 307 along with our dual I2 units. We were both shocked when comparing the mk2 to the m18. I've used the 18 quite a bit on hunts, and have always been impressed with overall image quality. However, the mk2 made the 18 image look bad. I re-calibrated several times making sure it was not on linear mode. The mk2 is in a different league all together in image quality. Contrast, sharpness, and overall image is night and day better than the 18.  

On the hunt we shot 6 hogs and one dog. We were both very impressed with the scopes throughout the hunt. Conditions ranged to a steady 10-15 mph wind with clear skies to heavy fog and no wind.  Later in the night you could see maybe 70-80 yards with I2 with a full moon out.  Image quality was still superb with the mk2. On one instance we came out of a bottom to a big pasture. We were scanning with the 307 and 18 and had faint thermal images on the far side of the pasture 5-700 yards. Images were blobs on both the 18 and 307. We laughed when we looked through the scopes. Both of us instantly said. Shit look at all the deer spread out. That was at 1x through the heavy fog.

Even though the scope performance is incredible at that price point there are some glitches with the unit:

- when turning scope on sometimes you have to instantly re-calibrate due to lines running across screen(both units had butler caps)
- the on and off switch is way to easy to accidentally turn on. It happened on both units throughout the night
- under recoil from .308 it will get white pixels throughout display. Re-calibrate unit and they go away
- rubber eye piece comes off way to easy. Better off taking it off.

Other than that I was very pleased with the scope.

A few pics

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  Thanks for the user feedback I'm considering ordering a MKII myself very soon.I have a MK I 336 scope I bought this last summer and have used it a ton I really like that with one flip of the switch it's really to shoot.

*  On your rubber eyecup I assume you have the shuttered PVS-14 style just wrap a few times around the eye cup base with black  electrical tape attaching it to the plastic eye piece. Works great, looks fine and no lost eye cup. I always perfer to have the shuttered eyecup in place myself so I don't get any stray light bouncing around plus it keeps my breath from fogging the lens on colder nights when raising the scope to my shoulder.

* I don't have a cure for knocking the the power lever on, it also happens to me sometimes I just try to watch it .

Any change of getting a few pictures of the MkII as a clip on?

Got my unit today and took it to the range.  Mounted it to a DPMS 308 Recon.   .....and it was shot today suppressed with an SDN 6.  

Had planned to go to the range when the package arrived and it came this morning, so at noon off I went.    The unit is nice.  Very nice image quality.   I have only seen one other thermal and that was the pulsar HD38a, which I sent back to get the Mark II.  No comparison in image quality.   The unit is crisp at at 1x and I would rank that as great.  2X is good quality, 4 and 8 x were just OK.   The last two are in the digital zoom range, I believe.     I had a problem initially finding my POI and wasted lots of shots trying to figure out where my impact was.  Once I found it......actually missed the whole target and saw dust fly at 1 O'clock.    I then shot low and left and was able to locate the POI.  I moved the reticle towards the POI and was quickly on target.   To the person who asked how to determine how much you move or see how the crosshairs move, there's a scale at 12 oclock and to the side to see how it moves and the turrets click.  

I made a target out of cardboard with a 4 inch square of tin foil.  I also cut a one inch square out of the middle.   I never did see the middle cut out both at 50 and 100 yards but I could make out the 4 inch tin foil target and got it centered.   I wasn't really happy with my clustering because I don't really have a good reference with the tin foil.  I figured out that when I got ready to leave that there was some play in the Larue mount.   So that stands to reason why I have about a 1.5 inch area of cluster when i know my rifle shoots sub MOA with Fusion 150 grain....which is what I chose to site this in.  

Pros
1. very good image quality
2. very sleek in appearance and looks good on the rifle
3. Turrets make it very easy to access menus and make changes
4.  boots up pretty quickly and once you flip open the butler creek cap, you are ready to go.  It takes a #45 flip cap

Cons (  just me being picky)
1.  The unit won't work using the rubber boot if you have a flip up site.   This bothered me because I like to keep the flip up sites on my rifle and if I want to use the rubber boot, I'll have to remove them.    Eye relief was terrible and I feel that it's too far away if you leave on your flip up sites.  So off they will go, because I do often hunt when it mists out and I'll want that protection on the optics.  I'm also guessing it helps keep dust off and helps with fogging.   The larue mount should be adjustable on the bottom so that you can keep your rubber eye piece and have your iron sites mounted.   Here's a picture of what I mean.   I used mine today as is and took off the rubber piece.   I had no  problem using it this way but I think the larue mount should be forward adjustable on the unit.






2.   The larue mount lever is on the the right side of the unit or on the case ejection side.  This is ok for an AR but if you want to use this on a bolt action rifle with picatinny rail like on my TIkka CTR, the larue mount lever arm often time stops shell ejection.  That's why all my Larue Mounts are on the left hand side of the scope.

3.  Some pixilation and graininess with lines after some shots.  You will have to quickly recalibrate.


That's a bout it.   I ran out of ammo today trying to find initial POI and with the larue mount being wobbly at first,  I wasted lots of shots.   I'll tighten that up and try again.  I bet my clustering will improve.    The idea of using tin foil to sight this in works but it's not really precision.     I never saw the center cut out in the tin foil today.  I might try a hand warmer next time I go out or a smaller piece of tin foil.....maybe 2 inches instead of four or maybe one inch.   I'll try different sizes.    If you make yourself some targets and you want to sight this in, I would suggest more than one target.   I lost some of my bearings as to where shots were made after I made a bunch of holes in the target.   Next time, I'll make 4 tin foil squares per target.  Shooting at 100 yards, I needed to use 8X zoom to get a good picture in the scope.   Not necessary for life shooting, just seeing the target.    It will be a few weeks until I can get out to the lease and hunt with it.   Probably first of March.    

I took the unit out back when I got home and took it off my rifle.  Didn't want people seeing me standing in my back yard with a rifle.   I sat in the middle of my yard for about 10 minutes looking at things and playing with the controls and spotted 3 rats on my wood pile.    Now I know where I need to put my traps.   With Black hot, they were very crisp and easy to make out.   I could see rats deep in the middle of the pile.    Wish I had this thing mounted to a pellet gun and sited in.  

Requests:

1.  Larue mount on the opposite side
2.  Adjustable Larue mount to slide the unit back over the flip up sites
3. Battery extender (it has a menu function)
4. Black and white picture....mine has a green tint to the picture (don't know if this is doable)
5. ability to save the crosshairs for different rifles.   Pre-sets would be nice.
6.  Should come in a hard Pelican case.  If you are spending over 6 grand, It should come that way.    

I asked in another post about using it as a clip one.   No way.  it would be just too heavy.   My optic has a larue mount on it so if I need to swap it out, I can.   Just too much weight to have both on a 308

I was told that the IR hunter MK II would come with a cable, but mine did not.    What's the ETA on those Vic?    I'll go back out and look in my box.

I had to mount mine all the way back almost touching my charging handle.  I don't use flip up sights so its not a issue on my rig.  Very comfortable to shoot sitting in that position.  I have a tactical latch so its really not that big of a deal to stick a finger in between to throw a round in.  

Good looking stick!

Thanks.   I bet if I remove the flip up and move it back, the Larue lever will never be an issue for ejection on a bolt action.   Problem I was having was rapid case ejection on my bolt action rifle with the larue lever on that side.  Not an issue with my AR though.   I'll move it back.  I'll want the protection of the rubber eye piece

50 yard cluster



Clip on mode......just too heavy

these things look real nice. Part of me wants to jump on a mkII and a part wants to hold out for a patrol so I can run it on a helmet mount,

This is the reason I won't be buying a Mk II Hunter, right now, maybe ever.  

I believe all that is required is a software update to show the x/y coordinates of the cross hair as it is being adjusted.  THE ON BOARD CPU MUST BE DOING THAT ALREADY INTERNALLY, IT JUST NEEDS TO SHOW IT ON SCREEN.  

I will wait until IR Defender take the time to update the software to show the x/y coordinates.  I would like to mount on different platforms without going to the range every time.

I think showing X,Y would allow you to write those down and make changes for every rifle.    I agree.

I went back to the range yesterday.  Got the LaRue tightened down and had a consistent 3/4 inch grouping.     I switched to aluminum tape and made a couple of cross hairs on card board.  Cutting the strips at one inch.   That worked really well to align cross hairs at 50 yards.  However, at 100 it couldn't be seen well enough to make a shot.   I did get some hand warmers and taped them to the back of a paper target and this worked the best.   Was able to get bullseye at 100 yards.  I'm ready to go kill some piggies.   I did find that several times when I first booted it up with lens cap on, I got no screen once I opened the cap.   a calibration fixed this but no screen on startup...Just a blank screen - no image.   Glitch?   Might be important if you need to make a quick shot.   Calibration takes less than 5 seconds, so no biggie for me.   All in all, it's a very nice unit.    I'm still at 100% battery after two range trips.  I probably used it a total of 40 minutes on time though at 60 Hz.  I turn it off between cease fires.