Bradley Hermes from United States, OK Public Profile

I've handled a lot of thermals, "budget" and "high end". I think this is a good entry level option for a weapon sight or scanner. I compared this head to head to my Flir PTS233 320 res, 60hz, 1x base magnification unit. The refresh rate is noticeably better on the Flir, but the resolution on the PARD is better. The base magnification of this unit is definitely not a 1x magnification, it is closer to 2x. If I didn't already know the refresh rate of this unit (SA32-25) was 50hz, I would have guessed it was lower, it seems a little glitchy. I could positively ID and track squirrels in trees at 75 yards easily. The laser range finder appears relatively accurate so far. The buttons are pretty intuitive after a little practice. The flashlight is a nice accessory. I have only played with this around the house and outdoors and I have mounted it on a few rifles to check the course zero of the mount and it seems okay, but have not fired a rifle with it mounted or sighted it in. I think the scope mount could be a weak point of the optic, it is not as rugged in appearance as the American Defense mount on my Flir. For the sub-$1k sale price of this thermal I think this is a no brainer to have as a spare, scanner, or your first thermal on a budget. I purchased this to use as a spare and a scanner and believe it will fill that niche well for nighttime hog hunting.

My buddies have other brand products that I've used, both 384 and 640 units and I'm quite familiar with their qualities and quirks as a comparison. I purchased this immediately after Christmas and I've had this in the field 3-4 times now and it's awesome! Rock solid mount, never freezes (knock on wood) and the battery life with rechargeable 16340 batteries has been STELLAR. It takes a while to get used to the auto-nuc feature, but I like it. Recently I've been able to positively ID hogs at 1/2 mile, which beats my friend's 384 unit all over the place. All functions are intuitive and easy to use. Black hot gives me the best resolution and I keep it on the lowest brightness setting and it doesn't light up my face too badly at night. Daytime, highest brightness setting and no sunglasses is necessary to see the screen. Zeroing is easy, tracking is accurate, and seeing the adjustment units on the screen is awesome so I can switch between supersonic and subsonic 300blk, in my case, and just move the cross hair to the previous location and you're good to go. I've never used the zoom function in the field, the native magnification is definitely not 1x though, more like 1.6x I'd guess. This is plenty because my engagements are always inside of 100 yards, usually 50 yards. I'd buy again without any hesitation, so far my favorite thermal I've used. This is a no-nonsense thermal that works and works well.

I purchased this as a stop gap as I was needing something immediately and economically for a night time hog hunt. The unit looked well constructed and seemed nice right out of the box. I put brand new batteries in it to test it out. Using it in my dark house, the resolution was crystal clear using the illuminator. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the screen went white, then black, and never turned on again. It ran no more than 10 minutes before self destructing. I've returned it for store credit and plan on buying a different monocular. The hogs will just have to wait.