New Thermal Scopes, IR Illuminators, and Laser Sights from Night Optics USA

Night Optics USA, part of the Vista Outdoor family of companies, showed some of their new products designed for tactical and hunting use in the dark of night at TriggrCon 2018.

Their new line of SVTS thermal riflescopes features continuous calibration, so you'll never be at risk of a frozen screen image during recalibration at the wrong moment, need to remember to initiate it yourself, or do it manually. The scopes have an accelerometer, so they can detect when you break a shot and offer some unique features. If you're zoomed in on a target and take a shot, it can automatically zoom back out to give you a wider field of view to more easily reacquire targets. Additionally, you can set the scope to continuously record video in a loop and automatically save the 10 seconds before and after each shot to a memory card. A heat tracker feature helps alert you to potential targets outside of the visible screen.

Models range from $1,199 to $3,499 MSRP. The SVTS-640, the top offering, is shown here. Its sensor and display resolution are 640×480, with digital zoom of 1x, 4x, and 6x. Note that digital zoom means that the scope is just enlarging the 640×480 image, making those pixels appear larger. These units don't offer optical zoom like in a traditional riflescope, where lenses are used to magnify an image, due to the prohibitive cost of germanium lenses.

The Night Chase IR illuminator and laser sight has been available for a few months. It includes an IR laser designator, an IR illuminator, and even a backup iron sight in a compact package that you can mount at the 12 o'clock position on your handguard. The laser will reach out to approximately 500 yards and beyond, emitting a beam that's less than 1 mrad at 100 yards. The IR illuminator is intended for target acquisition in conjunction with your NVGs at closer distances, good to about 100 yards. And the backup iron sight flips up when you need it and stows away when you don't. The whole Night Chase unit is just 4 ounces.

The non-restricted class 1 IR laser is rated at under 0.7mW with a wavelength of 850 nm. The illuminator outputs at the same wavelength. Battery life is stated to be up to two hours. MSRP is $540.

Finally, the FIR-i Focusable IR Illuminator packs a powerful, infrared illuminator in a handy package, just under 5 inches long. With a focusable beam, you can emit a flood for short distances or a tight beam to stretch out to 1,000 yards or more. The included Picatinny mount is removable, so you can either mount it on your weapon or use it handheld. Runtime is approximately 1 hour from a CR123 battery. The FIR-i puts out 600mW at a wavelength of 850nm. MSRP is $300.

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