Binox 640 review. - ATN Binox 6 Dual Multispectral 3-24x35mm 640x512px Thermal Imaging Binocular

About 3 weeks ago I purchased the 640 model of the Binox multi spectral binoculars. I found that the factory settings do not present well when just looking through them For the first time, right out of the box, however, if you take the time and actually go through the menu, which is much better than the instruction manual, you can adjust the thermal and optical channels for optimal viewing. So I would say that this product is actually quite good, especially at the current price. I compared the thermal sensor to the Bering super Yoder and pulsar accolade 640 binoculars and found the thermal image to be superior to both with the bearing optics being the closer of the two. There are a few firmware bugs that need to be fixed, not the least of which is the fact that the device claims to have a GPS internally, however, there is no menu selection to activate this GPS, Nor does the GPS stay on automatically. The GPS is represented on the website as being in the device as well as the instruction manual that comes with the device. Other firmware bugs that should be fixed by ATN almost immediately include the separate menus for daytime, nighttime, twilight, and thermal viewing that are used as individual, programmable settings. So that when you toggle through the different settings from day to night, you don't have to reprogram brightness contrast, they just appear as you have pre-programmed them. This system currently does not work properly as some of the settings, like the brightness setting, for example show up on all 4 profiles, as opposed to only the profile that you have programmed. This is another firmware issue that needs to be resolved. The daytime optical channel is excellent and pixelation is at an absolute minimum, even given the small size -35 mm objective lens. It is easily as clear and sharp as the best digital optics I have seen. The night time optical channel is fairly strong, but does pixelate heavily after twilight and in quarter moon or less. It can be fixed with slightly higher output IR lights that that will illuminate up to roughly 400 to 500 yd, however, the image, although well illuminated does remain slightly pixelated at that point. The internal IR light that is provided is reliable, focusable, and gives good results up to roughly 225 yd with a quarter moon. Twilight viewing does not require IR and the image stays very sharp and clear. The compass feature works well when calibrated, however, the system seems to uncalibrate itself at will and I have not been able to find out what is causing this specific issue, however, the carrying bag that comes with the device uses magnets , and it is probably not a good idea to have magnetic closure on a device that has an internal compass. Overall I would say that this product is actually quite good, especially at the current price. The issues that I have stated here are easily fixable with firmware for the most part and, I find this device to be superior not only in form and function but in overall use to its nearest competitor which is the AGM "ObservIR". I would not hesitate to purchase this product again if needed, because of its overall quality and sharpness and resolution of the images with both optical and thermal, the buttons and menu selections are extremely simple and intuitive and operation of this device can be mastered within 1 to 2 days without problem. Lastly, I would say that ATN customer service has been less than responsive, this is probably because the device is so new that no one over there seems to know exactly what's going on. However, 4 separate attempts in the last 2 weeks to talk to somebody about filing a bug report on firmware issues have resulted in absolutely no response This is not like ATN to act in this way, however, I believe this is because the project is extremely new to the US. I am not necessarily a big ATN fan, and have returned and sold other ATN products for poor performance and overall software and firmware issues that for the most part, should not have been let out of the factory until they were resolved. However, this device, even with some firmware bugs, does appear to be the exception and the reliability appears to be very, very good.