Incredible image quality and versatility in a small handheld package - ATN TICO-LTV 1-4x25mm 12 Micron Thermal Clip-On Rifle Scope w/QDM mount

Almost perfect - really needs to be 4.5 stars, not 5 stars because let's face it, it is the 21st century and we all want the ability to record our hunts. I was hoping for at least an SD card slot or USB port. Does ATN expect to never update the firmware or do they, perhaps, expect customers to send in the optic for any necessary updates?

The 640's menu system is really well-conceived. It is minimalistic and utilizes easy to remember button presses to access the most important/ assumed-to-be-frequently used functions (ie., contrast, NUC, zoom, color palettes, monocular and clip-on) without digging into the menu system. The buttons make very quiet when pressed and there is great tactile feedback when pressing the buttons so you know you did it without noise closure. The NUC function does, however, make an audible clicking noise (like a contact closing) when it toggles on/off. ATN must have thought about this in advance because their menu system offers the user the ability to manually engage the NUC function which was good thinking on their part. At least the user can run it when he sees that the thermal image needs a refresh (The NUC button is also a quick press of the middle button). The standard display shows only the battery indicator by default. The menu system settings even allow the user to position the menu system and icon overlay for visibility even on the higher power scope magnifications, which was a great idea.

I mounted it in front of my Element Optics Titan 3-18x FFP and increased the magnification to 5x, then and all the way to 18x and I was very pleased with the image quality, although the pixels on the 640 become quite obvious over 8-10x but the image at the higher magnifications is perfectly acceptable to me.

The optic has two modes - monocular and clip-on. Both modes are rectangular (4:3? 3:2?) but the Clip-on mode scales or optimizes the size of the image for use with scopes/magnifiers. Note that in clip-on mode with my rifle scope at 3x zoom, the bottom 1/10th of my field of view was cut off but that portion was negligible. As soon as you zoom above 3x, you are technically cutting out much more FoV, anyway. As expected when zooming in, the image becomes slightly less bright through the scope but the brightness settings help a little, there. Zooming does not appear to be continuous but rather stepped at 2x and 4x - these are quick presses of buttons 2 & 3 simultaneously to toggle between 1x, 2x and 4x in that order. Digital zoom looks 'digital' and I prefer optical (real) zoom so I'd be using my hunting scope's zoom function over the digital zoom in any event.

The QDM is a Midwest Industries mount - honestly, I was surprised to see this higher quality mount in the box so I was very pleased with this addition. There are no included height adjustments links or adapters, however. This QDM raises the center of the 640 optic to about 4mm or ~1-9/16" (measured with a caliper). Both of my Element Optic scopes have 56mm objective lenses with 34mm tubes and the 640 lined up with them very well. I also mounted the 640 to one of my PCCs to see what the sight picture would be with the height difference using my Holosun HE503 red dot with HM3x magnifier setup at 1.8" (45mm) and it DEFINITELY needs a taller mount in this configuration. The Holosun reticle worked great, just as well as my scopes' reticles (illuminated or not), but the height offset between the Holosun setup and the 640 was too great to be usable in stock configuration so height-raised mount for the 640 is a must. Red dots will be right at home with this thermal clip-on. The height of my hunting scopes is 1.6" so you should be good if you plan to use 1.5 or 1.6" mounts but anything higher (or possibly lower - I'm thinking of 20MOA mounts for you +1000 yard guys) will require some research and/or experimentation with different mounts for the right mount height for your 640 and chosen optic.

The color palettes seem to be really usable: white hot/black hot mode in red hot/ red cold, green hot/green cold and two "Predator Vision" modes. My two favorites, so far, are the White Hot and Inverse Rainbow (one of the Predator vision modes). The optic has quick switching between color palettes using one of the top buttons on a long press.

The 640 also has quick sensitivity adjustment (three levels), quick contrast and NUC (Non-Uniformity Correction) mode toggle so you can switch these most important settings without trouble at all.

The focus ring on the objective is pretty straight forward - it is slightly easier than I expected to adjust. Hopefully this will not translate to random focus travel over successive shots fired.

Lastly, it has a 5 year warranty. Overall, I think this is a fantastic thermal optic and I look forward to many years of fun with it. The lack of video recording may turn some off in our social media age. Battery is 18650/3.6V/3.45Ah. Also comes with an objective lens shroud. Initial impression is RECOMMENDED!