Former post and experience with Steiner thermal:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Steiner-cinder-thermal/18-528408/



New 2022 model of a totally redesigned Steiner Thermal - the S35 Night Hunter…

Received it today , 30 mins of going over the online user manual (no paper copy in the box) and Steiner app and … well something escapes me (play on words of their slogan) - I emailed them the below - think I will get a response ?

Email Body Below
Hi folks,

Long time tech hunter not a first time user - Help!

1) the zoom control - can you add user defined increments to the long press zoom control.  While performing a string of fire on dynamic targets a user will need to toggle quickly through zoom ranges and it isn’t possible going .1x per adjustment.  Can you add this via a firmware update ?  User should be able to select .1x / .5x / 1x increments

2) in the zeroing feature , what is the function of setting “zoom” coordinates?  The manual is silent on this option.  I’ve never encountered a menu layout such as this - are you offering some level of progressive zeroing whereby the user is supposed to manually adjust zoom to 2x , 3x , or 4x and then enter the zoom menu and select that specific zoom level to then zero more precisely at that specific zoom value - what effect does that have on the rest of the zoom values in terms of remapping the reticle when shooting at a mix of zoom levels ?  Can you update the manual to address the feature and its use.

3) can we align sharpness adjustment (on scope menu) to image enhancement (in Steiner connect app). Why call it two different things ?

4) reticle color in recorded output file.  I select green reticles in the fire color palette because it makes shooting pigs more funner, low and behold I get back to the pig palace to edit my video and post it on youtoob and what do ya know. The reticle is now white no matter the color setting chosen by the user.  I know the answer to this but I gotta ask - can you fix this “bug” via firmware.

5) in the Steiner app - color palatte selection menu , where is Amber?  Is this an omission because she lost her civil case to Johnny the retired Disney pirate ?  Seriously I wanted the most just and only the most just color palatte to be selectable through the app but where is Amber ?

6) can sound be added via firmware ? If not ( no onboard mic ) can you sale an add-on accessory mic that plugs into the hdmi port on the side of the housing ?  I’d pay $ 40 to have audio recording added to my video file (you do the onboard processing / splicing of the file for me).  If not, can you have the Steiner app request to use my phone mic and then I say “yes permission granted” and then while I stream and record I get a audio / video recording ….

You have a 10/10 product on the visual performance scale wrapped in a 6/10 body (I like magnesium alloy but not when it limits recoil handling the 308 win) my Nemo 300 win mag wants to come out and play too sometimes. But the above issues are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of 4/10 user friendly menu layout and features working and/or explained in the manual etc…

I can find more questions but wanted to start with the low hanging fruit.

Best regards

Pig Popper

End of email body

Are there any users out there that can comment on this list of questions - maybe I’m missing something but usually nothing escapes me (twice a play on slogan)

Seriously - this scope has some serious image horsepower under the hood but like the first Steiner thermal I’m being held back by relatively major functional shackles…

Maybe an authorized dealer can comment on what their assessment is of the S35.

Please no H35 or C35 stories of how well the clip on or handheld spotter work for you - that helps me not with my rifle scope S35.

For #2 my yoterC has a secondary zero feature for magnification. You do a base zero and then the magnified zero which covers 2x and 4x. Changing the magnified zero does not effect the base zero. I don't know why a scope would have this function though.

I have 4 C35's but they don't have reticles and I've not really messed with them other than to get zero'd so most of your questions get the mwaidunno sort of response and the others, I also don't know. I also probably won't be finding out the answers anytime soon because I just picked up a BAE Oasys UTM which I need to spend a while fondling and learning to use. Since it's summer and the days are so long it's hard to stay up long enough to go and do any NV/Thermal stuff (if I'm going to fiddle with one, I fiddle with the other too) and I usually go to sleep at 8:30 so lately the sun's still out. Also BLM shuts down all the shooting spots I like during the summer because Kommiefornia does one thing better than anywhere else, we burn the state the fuck down every summer. So think of this as the least helpful reply but a genuine showing of interest and moral support for OP.

ETA: I have some answers now... gimme a minute

As far as the reticle color in the eyepiece vs the video: Keep in mind that the video is not a recording of the screen output that you're looking at. The image that the thing brings in doesn't have a reticle so it takes that and a white copy of the reticle you're using and synthesizes them together into the video. The reticle is being added in and it's entirely likely that they just said fuck it with the matching of the crosshair color palette between the eyepiece image and the recorded image.

On the sharpness adjustment / image enhancement, it's entirely likely that that's a little internal terminological fuck up. Some developer maybe just didn't read the project notes very well or some project coordinator didn't make sure that the terminology between device and app were in sync. I'll fiddle with mine a bit later and see if there's any actual difference between the two. If not, then like I said, whoopsie.

As far as recoil tolerance, the limit has to be expressed as a number of G's. Your Nemo may or may not produce a recoil impulse stronger than what's rated. Because of the nut behind the wheel loading the bipod and the issue of brake/suppressor mitigating recoil it's pretty difficult to measure for the layman. If you have a high speed camera you can actually measure the acceleration and then use the gathered data to calculate the recoil forces in terms of G's. If you have a kickass brake and the gun is as heavy as I recall it being and you're loading the bipod a bit, I'd bet that it'd be just fine. When they say .308 they're not likely talking about a 22lbs long range rifle. They're more likely talking about a 7-8lbs hunting rifle. Mine gets used on short action .473" case head stuff so I don't worry. For the boomers like 338LM and .50BMG I have PVS-30's and PVS-27's which are rated for them.

I do appreciate the comments

The reticle is a shortcoming on the recorded footage , essentially if I want to produce any content for my lowly and inadequate Yootube channel I need to be sure to use other color palettes than white hot.  Every other manufacturer seems to be able to produce a video output file with the color selected in the menu so I gave Steiner the benefit of the doubt and called it a bug so they could just fix it and in a firmware update say “general bug fixes” without owning up to taking shortcuts on the software programming.

I verified the terminology screw up by looking at the S35 menu (sharpness) and seeing it say OFF and then activating Image Enhancement in the app and went back to the S35 menu and viola - sharpness was now ON.

The zoom is sort of a big screw up , it takes 17 secs to go from 6x down to 1x and you have to hold the button the entire time.  I wonder what engineer decided this was practical for hunting - hell it may as well not have zoom at all cause it isn’t useful for more than 1 shot.

The NEMO is a fun gun and while it has a soft for caliber FELT recoil impulse the reciprocating mass is quite a lot which has a sharper recoil impulse that the electronic scopes typically pickup rather than the shooter…

Nemo playing at being a FAL huh. I wonder what the limit is on my Oasys... hmmm

Uploaded a video to the original post showing some of the issues .....

Footage from the field , beginning at the 5 min mark in this video

Following this.  I just ordered one to add to my collection.  Will add Comments once I review too.

My problem is there is no information on the reticles themselves.  I've been in contact with Steiner and even they say they don't know the reticles.  Are they mrad, moa, bdc? Where do they subtend? Who knows?  Steiner doesn't!

I guess it's not bad if you use it as a point and shoot thermal but then why have all the fancy reticles? It really seems like they bought a Chinese thermal with Chinese software, screwed on the battery caps in Germany and called it "made in Germany".

UPDATE :

Unfortunately I returned the scope to Steiner for a refund

The batteries wouldn’t power on the unit after a week of light use and the zeroing of the optic did not go well. The reticle appears to travel when using zoom - in other words the point of aim shifts when using zoom which isn’t going to work for me.

There are other minor issues but in the end the stellar image wasn’t enough to outweigh the negative attributes observed after a couple of weeks of use