First off just to clarify, I still consider myself green to thermal imaging period, even after the last couple weeks of obsessive nightly reading and googling. So I apologize for any obvious community knowledge I lack and also sorry for the long post here, I'll do my best to keep it succinct. If you want to just skip the meat of the background story and get right down to where I approach the technical questions I will place some asterisks where they begin.
So it all began when I stumbled upon the newer version of leupold's handheld thermal "monocular", the "LTO Tracker HD" while browsing on Amazon during a vacation roughly 3-4 weeks back. Sure enough... being the TOTAL opposite of a well informed consumer, I made the good old nearly $1000 impulse buy. Of course with the prime one-day shipping. (that type of purchase you almost always regret the next day right as it arrives) All the while crossing my fingers that the thing would even arrive to our secluded cottage location. But hey, I was out in the middle of nowhere surrounded entirely by beach and forest for several weeks so figured it would keep me and the family entertained at the very least. Plus I've always really, really wanted a thermal for hunting and home defense, but could never justify coughing up the average 3-4k scope price (or was just never drunk enough to have one cross my path while on amazon prime)
Needless to say, once it arrived it single handedly opened me up to the entire world and underbelly of thermal imaging, and you could even say it dragged my soul deep into that worlds.... thermal core, pun intended. I'm at an almost manic level of fascination with IR thermal imaging tech now, and have been non stop researching everything thermal you could imagine. From the day it arrived to the day I got back home (yesterday) the device almost never left my person, I even (nervously) carried it through TSA and onto the plane, so lets just say the wife and kids got a bit embarrassed/sick of the constant pointing it around near the end of our trip.
But what consumed most my time while laying sleepless in bed at night simply started out as a basic fascination of how these thermals ticked and wanting scratch the itch to learn the basic components of what I was holding. Then that quickly turned into wondering what made one thermal perform better than another, what made one device cost $900, one $9000, and another $90,000. I then started getting into the area of comparing many different brands finished thermal products, interested to know more about my own particular device in general, who makes comparable products, wondering if I actually got what I paid for, or was there a generic brand with the same core for half the price, etc. I'm sure similar paths lots of you guys all started down. For me, the one thing that really stood out and had me entirely confused was this newer HD leupold device I bought had and still has almost no reviews on amazon, no youtube reviews or videos except the shotshow release video, no forum posts, no nothing, just your standard blog release posts and it has been out for close to a year. A lot of my questions revolve around this strange situation itself.
But of course I didn't stop there and my reading quickly progressed into the more technical aspects, learning the basics of what a core is, pixel µm micron sizes, learning the different type of lens materials, lens configurations, learning about HFOV, the various displays and their resolutions, 30hz refresh rates, locked 9hz refresh rates, I could go on and on and still not feel like I know a fraction of what you guys know. I started discovering who OEM's whose products, then that brought me to searching who makes what cores, TRYING to learn the differences between each manufacturers respective cores, their difference in sensor resolutions vs pixel pitch, refresh rates etc. Even after all the googling and reading and knowledge I gained, and even though I most definitely feel like a much more informed thermal imaging device consumer, I still could see myself getting entirely ripped off thousands of dollars over something as simple as a brand name company using a specific brand name core when another lesser known core could cost half the price and perform just as well. Sometimes you just can't know it all I guess, but that's why I am reaching out to you guys.
*************************************So with all that said, and after I got a decent feel comparing popular thermal scopes, binoculars, monoculars, handhelds, etc, core resolution/display resolution/refresh specs to their respective prices, it began to seem like the product I impulse purchased was actually an incredibly lucky buy and I somehow landed a solid performing thermal for the cost:quality ratio. I mean I lack the huge knowledge pool you guys posses here, but from my basic, freshly learned perspective, this small hand held device with a 320x240 sensor@25-30hz, 390x390 display, decent fov, fairly impressive image quality/sensitivity, plus effective at ~200-300yd, and with a price range of $869-$989 seems unmatched. The only thing coming close I could find was the seek compactpro, also a 320x240 sensor resolution which I know you are all familiar with. And this is exactly the type of stuff that has me concerned, maybe the LTO HD is too good to be true? For all I know this image quality, sensitivity, range, could all be shit, despite what the sensor resolution and other specs are, numbers only say so much when there are so many other software and lense variables. And how is it even possible they pulled off such a low price point with a 320x240 sensor? I am unable to find any other 320x240 scope or monocular that is under $1000, FLIR makes a $1600 handheld and I think it uses dual camera tech. Could leupold be using the same core as the lower quality seek cell phone peripheral and just have it unlocked to run around 25-30hz? And to clear the air this isn't some hail corporate post, my intentions aren't to review or praise this particular device, to be honest I am fairly happy with it- yet to be entirely unbias I've had a couple quirks with it as a whole... which is for another post. (I will gladly do a full review though if there is enough interest)
So I wonder, do I just lack the hands on experience with other thermals to differentiate if this is actually a piece of junk in disguise? I realize just because something has a resolution size of 320x240 doesn't automatically make it better than something with a smaller resolution size, and their are MANY other factors let it be hardware or software that can make very big quality differences. I've only handled one other thermal before and it was an older FLIR, so my only other comparisons have been online footage or just straight up core specification numbers, which like I said don't do much of anything. Could it be possible they pull this off by importing chinese cores or something, I just don't really understand why there are no other bare bones products running 320x240 cores that can be within this price range. If I do find anything, its a scope and its loaded down with fat and bloatware like GPS, wifi, bluetooth, microSD card, gives you a blowjob, etc. Just ridiculous stuff.
Anyways appreciate the patience for whoever read this. I don't mind taking apart my unit if anyone actually has no idea what core they use in this thing, I am just as interested as you are. If I come across like an idiot I apologize, I have lots to learn still. I'm sure the reality is I just have a properly priced, middle line product, but I just can't get over how there is absolutely no one else offering similar sized sensor products in other forms, because since I can't rifle mount the leupold I would love a mountable scope in this affordable price range without all the absurd add ons.
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
