Who has one and what do you think about it. I've looked through the Zeus 2x16x42 640 30hz and it was pretty nice. Does the 75mm  3x lens make a big difference in visual quality.

No one

Not totally sure as I'm new to the whole thermal myself. I'm still in the research phase, but from my understanding the larger lenses equate to a more narrow field of view and longer detection ranges. I think picture quality is a function of the resolution number say 640 vs 320. The hz either 30 or 60 for movement tracking and the Um whether 17 or 12 is the pixalation resolution of the 640 screen or something like that.  I've fielded a lot of questions to Dan at Down Range Thermal where I bought my PVS14 from. He'll be able to clarify.

Not totally sure as I'm new to the whole thermal myself. I'm still in the research phase, but from my understanding the larger lenses equate to a more narrow field of view and longer detection ranges. I think picture quality is a function of the resolution number say 640 vs 320. The hz either 30 or 60 for movement tracking and the Um whether 17 or 12 is the pixalation resolution of the 640 screen or something like that.  I've fielded a lot of questions to Dan at Down Range Thermal where I bought my PVS14 from. He'll be able to clarify.

I'm interested in this as well. Hope someone will be able to answer.

I have one with the 640 core and 75mm lens,  it is totally worthless here in Florida where long range is 225 yards and 95% of all kills are within 125 yards, the FOV sucks.

If you have a 2,000 acre soybean field overrun with hogs it would be a good choice for single long range sniper shots, but in the thick woods we hunt in it sux. The 42mm lens model is 25 times better for what we do.

So do you still have it or fid you buy something else. What's you native magnification on your 75mm scope.
Is it the 3x or 4x or 6x ect....

Which model do you have with 75mm lens

Here are the ones I have:


Predator 336 2-8x24mm
Zeus Pro 640 4-32x100mm
Zeus HD 640 3-24x75mm
Apollo Pro-MR 640x100mm

The Predator 336 is used the most as all the other are for long range with very narrow FOV.

I've owned about all the Zeus line and I've been really impressed with them.  I hunt with a pro 50 mostly and the field of view and clarity are nice.  My buddy has the 75.  It's a pretty good balance of magnification and field of view.  If you can swing the coin I highly doubt you'd be disappointed.

It seems to me that the Zeus HD 640 3-24x75mm would be a good compromise for close and medium range scope.
I mean if you take a 640  2x 42mm  give it a little more power and larger lens like the 3x 75mm len it would balance out field of view wise when shooting up close. With the 1x of more native zoom.

Just courious how close do you get to hogs when you shoot them.

After finding the hogs with a thermal hand scanner it is next to impossible to find them again in the dark with the large lenses tiny FOV, then if you find them with the large lens TWS the view is great and you can snipe out one of them while the others all race out of your tiny FOV and get away.

If your engagements are out >250 yards all the time and you are using a .308, 6.5 Creedmor, etc. you get a nice single sniper shot! Otherwise if you have a smaller cartridge like a 556 or 300 BLK the hogs are already outside your lethal range.

If all your engagements are out over >250 yards and you are using a large caliber rifle off a rest go for the huge leneses to make those lethal long range shots, if all you engagements are less than 250 yards with a smaller caliber offhand use the smaller lenses.

Well you've made it perfectly clear that just like nvg scopes no one scope fits all applications. I, we get that.  Now getting back to my topic about the 3x24x75mm 640 Armasight

I'd like info ftom people that own them about the pros and cons of the scope. My shooting distance will be from 30 yrds out to 200 yds

I own a 75mm 640 Zeus and I can't say anything negative about it.  I do hunt more open areas but usuallly stalk hogs to within 50-75 yards.   I actually greatly prefer the 75 to my 42mm 640;  I really like the 3x mag.   Like skypup says if you are hunting in thick woods it probably isn't ideal, but I don't have any experience with that.   I thought my Reap-ir would replace my 75 but it's still my go to shooter and I scan with the Reap.   I prefer the extra mag of the Zeus for what I'm doing.  I don't take shots much over 200 yards.

ETA: maybe I'm weird but when hunting with my 640 42mm I almost always shoot on 2x zoom.  Never found the fov hindered me swinging on sounders.

My 3x 75 mm Zeus 640 replaced a Thor 320 2x.  I agree with everything Tacosis said.  And, if you end up getting one, do yourself a favor and replace the front lens cover with a Vortex flip cap.  

Vortex Cap on Amazon

Whoa, yeah looks like it. The 42mm has a FOV of 14 degrees or 72 feet @ 100 yards. The 75mm has a FOV of 4 degrees or 20 feet @ 100 yards! (If my maths is right)

20 feet at 100 is pretty narrow.....

I just bought the zeus from optics planet I got it and the battery pack at a pretty good deal. Called them up and haggled over the phone. I was tied between the Zeus and MK2 Hunter 35mm but the problems with dial and lack of a fix and updates for it swayed my choice.  There's a difference between updates and upgrades that IRD offers. The up grades are not an update/fix for the issues with existing units.  I really liked everything else about that scope to.

But Armasight/Flir seems to have great cust. Svc and a good warranty.  Ding ding ding winner

Yeah I'm not big in stalking in heavy brush after something that can rip my legs off. After I've seen what they can do to hunting dogs I like open hay fields swamps, semi wood areas and baiting them. Plus I have MOD3s and ir lasers, ir lights on the weapons plus ir lights on helmets

With money I saved I'll wait till the new thermals come out in a few months and see what kind of monos are out there at a good price. Who knows might pick up a good used one cheap from someone wanting a newer one

Plus I want to see if the house next door is haunted using the thermal. There is some freaky stuff happening over there. It's my brother in laws house. His wife died, then he accidently ran over his little dog and then he died this past dec 29th. House is empty. My wife and her sister own it now.

I helped him build it 18 years ago. Even the neighbors have said they've seen some strange things happen over there. Both my wife and I too have each had something happen. But hey not saying there is anything to it. But it sure will be fun scaring the crap out of everyone.

I'm going to tie fishing line to a chair on the deck and move a chair when the neighbors out he scares easy

One thing about optics planet when you get a thermal in you have x number of days to return it for a full refund or exchange it. So when it gets in and if I find I can use it I'll send it back and exchange it. Simple. As long as I don't mount it on a weapon. No problem put batteries in it and look through it and see if it suits my needs. If not I'll break down and get the M2 HUNTER or REAP IR

I've got calves and heifers around most times; I take out the 75mm more than the 42mm.   The image is so much better.   Fov is what it is.    In the field I've never felt handicapped by the 75, nor has anyone else I've ever communicated with.  I wish I'd gotten another 75 over my 42.

The 640 42mm has a FOV of 14.8 degrees and the 640 75mm has a FOV of 8.3 degrees.  The 336 42mm has a FOV of 7.8 nad the 336 75mm has a FOV of 4.3 degrees.  

Got to click on "Show More" at Flir Zeus page.

Most of the places we hunt in Florida we are lucky to have an unobstructed terrain view of 75-150 feet, which is why I do not prefer a large lens with a small FOV.

I can understand that. I plan on getting another also with a larger fov here soon.

I kniw this has to have been asked in the past.

Can a go pro be hooked up to video ports and used as a dvr to record or are do you have to buy a dvr to record. Also is there a split cable to run battery pack and dvr at same time.

I googled this and can't seem to find a straight yes or no answer

The extra lens size helps gather more information for the sensor.  With such a narrow area to view, there isn't a lot of information coming back.  So to increase what hits the sensor they increase the lens size.  At wide FOV the area you're looking at is rather massive with lots of info coming back so a small lens works just fine.  Overall, you probably won't see a quality improvement with the higher magnification, larger lens combo.  What you'll see is a more magnified image.  Ideally you would see the same image quality, just at a further distance from yourself.  The manufacturers have a price point they want to hit for a given minimum quality.  They aren't going to add extra lens to go beyond their standard so I wouldn't expect the bigger lens to show anything extra that you would see at 2/3rds the distance on the smaller lens.

As to which is best.  When you enter into the 640 sensor on a weapon sight, I'd go 1-2x base magnification.  Reason being even at 320 resolution it's plenty to hunt with.  So you can easily digitally zoom to double the optical zoom and still have a good picture to spot/scan with.  When it comes time to shoot, another 2x-4x digital magnification will let you aim precisely. At this point you are between 4x total magnification and 16x.  If you started at 4x magnification, a digital bump would get you to 8x total and then another 2 or 4x digital jump is getting really magnified for shooting at moving game.  For shooting steel plates/paper that doesn't move, more magnification is great.  But when there is a chance you have to try a follow up shot, I'm looking for no more than 4x and would like the 1-2x option.

In short, you can add more digital zoom
But you can only take so much away.  For a hunting tool or one to be used on anything moving, 1-2 would be ideal and 3x would probably still be acceptable.

My Armasight Zeus 2.8x24x75 640 30hz will be here Mon

I'm thinking of getting the thor  hd 1.5 rifle scope for 1900.00 30hz to use as a mono or scope for brush hunting I can put it on my lwrc six8
The Armasight will go on a SCAR 17

Or

Anybody ever use the pulsar 19a mono