Armasight Zeus review-D grade to date

[TEXASLAWMAN]

I've currently got a non-pro 640 2x 30hz Zeus. How do you perform the factory reset?

In the menus under settings think it close to the last option. You will lose zero.

 

[chthump]

TLM, could be, the last hunt, it was so foggy, you'd feel wet/damp riding thorough it, but it wasn't raining. It worked great, the next time I tried it, it would not shut down, it worked perfectly but you couldn't turn it off. I'll get it repaired and no more heavy fog hunts, any thermal struggles in heavey fog anyway.

 

[bimini]

I have not Dave. I have been dealing with a very sick family member over the past several weeks and haven't had much time to dedicate to the issue, maybe you guys can weigh in with some advise.
I have sent a second email to Armasight detailing the issues and I have not heard back on either. Here is what I am seeing on my end:

• The viewer went dark on me again and I had to perform another factory reset resulting in another loss of boresight.
• The image will intermittently wash out (go to mostly white in white hot) when slowly scanning, especially vertical scanning.
• Smaller reticles are difficult to see

So something is wrong with the scope but it isn't unusable. I am not sure if problem 2 is related to problem 1 or if problem 2 is even an issue. It doesn't wash out bad, just seems odd. I wish I knew someone in my local area (Atlanta) that had some experience with thermal.

My view is that the scope cost a crap load of money and if I think something is wrong, Armasight should probably be addressing the issue. Since I have been preoccupied with personal issues, I haven't had the time to go on a one man crusade to slam Armasight on every review sight that matters, hoping it won't come to that. If they don't return emails soon (I will call today too), then I may have to return scope. That is too bad because I need a thermal to keep hogs under control in OK.

Just received the new Zeus Pro 100mm,640 60 hz- a total disappointment. I've done all NUC and factory resets and the image quality is so bad, that you really can't distinguish any large object with certainty. Sending it back.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Just received the new Zeus Pro 100mm,640 60 hz- a total disappointment. I've done all NUC and factory resets and the image quality is so bad, that you really can't distinguish any large object with certainty. Sending it back.

Are you sure it's the unit and not the weather? Did you watch my last video? If there is no sun to heat up the landscape after rain or several days of wet weather then the landscape will not show up. Look at a running car a human or a animal something that produces heat. I have used many thermals now and had many with me last week they all looked bad due to the climate.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Bimini any updates to this? Did you look at a hot object what was the weather like? It is 50% humidity here right now I have four 100mm zeuse and even the 336 30hz looks great. Is this your first thermal I'm very curious?

 

[Afalex1]

I'm curious too Bimini. Any update on the image quality since the nasty weather has passed?

 

[chthump]

I'm very pleased with my 336 Zeus, like TLM said, when its been raining (I've noticed in the snow also), you get almost a blank screen, because everythings the same temp. Low humidity and these cool spring nights should yeild some nice viewing with the thermal. I think my issue was because I went out too many times when it was almost misting and probably got it to wet. Just got to excited with the new toy.

 

[Navygator]

With regards to my original post, I have finally cleared the calendar and will be back in OK next week to see how the zeus is working out after I had a chance to speak with Armasight. I am hopeful.

 

[FrankT]

Good Luck Navy...

 

[DaveABQ]

Who is Bimini? Joins the forum, makes one post and never comes back lol.

 

[Navygator]

I got out to OK late yesterday evening. Didn't have time to verify zero on the zeus but I did throw it on the 6.8 and look around throughout the night (I am working from the ranch this week so I will do some project work, scan the property, repeat.) Hogs are everywhere!! When I pulled into the property, the drive was tore up from the front gate to the main house, about 660 yards. Spotted a huge sounder last night (about 25 large hogs and 30+ footballs). Did a stalk on them out of boredom, but I somehow spooked them at about 150 yards.
Woke up this morning and there was a group of 15 adults transitting across the neighbors property. I will verify zero today and hopefully get a good stalk on tonight. The scope seemed to be working fine during the stalks.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Sounds like the humidity in the air disrupted your image originally. Thermal can go from looking excellent to low resolution quickly. The thing with thermal is while the conditions will make other systems totally useless thermal still works it just does not look crisp.

 

[Navygator]

I had tried it on low humidity/cool nights before and it wasn't a great image, I just don't know. It still kind of washes out (overwhelming white when on white hot) when it scans tops of trees at night. Maybe that is normal, I need to find someone in my area that has a lot of thermal experience.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Try the brightness adjustments may be to bright also. It's just to hard to tell without seeing the image.

 

[Navygator]

Yeah, I have been playing with that a bunch. I will keep on toying with it, hopefully get some hogs tonight. Need to grab a recorder one day but that is sitting behind the reloader on my "to buy" list.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

I haven't figured it out all out, but have noticed that while humidity does play a part, it is only part of the reason for image quality issues. I think there is another factor or factors that usually co-occur with humidity levels. When we speak of humidity, it is relative humidity which is the amount of water vapor in the air relative to temperature. If I understand it correctly, there is physically more water vapor in the air at 80% relative humidity and 80 degrees F than there is for 80% relative humidity and 40 degrees F. The more actual water vapor in the air (absolute humidity) is probably the factor we need to consider more so than the relative humidity, but nobody measures absolute humidity. As it turns out, for every 20 degrees F, absolute humidity about doubles. So in the above example, the relative humidity of 80% at 80 degrees is 4 times the absolute humidity of 80% relative at 40 degrees...so there is physically more water in the air of occlude the performance of the scope. As such, 80% relative humidity at 80 degree sis more of a problem for us with thermal than 80% at 40 degrees. Make sense?

Another factor with humidity is water particle size. Generally, humidity is just water in the gaseous form, generally invisible to the naked eye, but does hold temperature. When water condenses out of vapor into droplets (fog), the droplets further hinder our view, even if the humidity is the same amount. Fog generally forms with temps fall.

Other factors to consider are the amount of dust, pollen, smog, and other particulates that are suspended in the air. While pollen levels are often reported, these other factors are not and they are generally not described to the public relative to vision occlusion. All of the particulates in the air have temperature and hence can influence the ability to use thermal scopes.

So when considering the differences in thermal performance, assuming you have all the settings correct, it isn't just relative humidity that is the key factor, but the absolute humidity...how much water there is actually in the air regardless of temperature or pressure, plus all the other junk that is floating around that will occlude your thermal vision.

 

[DaveABQ]

Good point. I notice that just looking at the weather report when I'm out and watching the humidity, seems that just because it says one humidity, doesn't always affect the performance the same each time, because I haven't correlated it to other factors like temperature, but may have to start watching more closely. .

What I do know, I wouldn't want to live anywhere near a coast.

 

[chthump]

Well, I guess I'm never to old to learn something.

 

[Navygator]

Good stuff Brian.

 

[Hard_ware]

What I have noticed is the dew point vs the relative temp is the main factor. If temp is 55° and dew point is 50° the 5° difference means no background and only objects that retain heat or generate heat are visible. Now keep in mind this only applies when humid conditions are present. High humidity and a big difference in dew point temp and actual temp image will look good.