Holosun Getting in the NV/Thermal Game?

I thought I saw something saying Trijicon was also making NV? Can’t find it now…maybe they already did and I was unaware or maybe I misread? Anyway, if they do, it likely won’t be on the affordable scale! 🤣
 
Interesting. But what’s the use case? No good for maneuver, right?
 
Maybe we'll get some binocular Nods at Chinesium prices!
 
@1075tech -- nice find, thanks for sharing!


@Tim - The red dot over NV seems like a a toe-dip into the NV space for those not otherwise in it, nothing more. Core to this is that NV slaved to a firearm in any capacity is highly limiting. The only reasonable use case I can come up with for it is one where someone needs NV solely for targetting ... and needs unenhanced vision in localspace to preserve situational awareness. Think sniping ... or perhaps hog/coyote hunting. (After all, pointing a firearm all over the place so you can use its optic to scan at night violates the 1st rul of gun safety: "Always Keep Firearm Pointed in a Safe direction. Never point your gun at anything you do not intend to destroy.")


That brings me to my next angle on this: where someone needs NV solely for targetting ... a la sniping or hog/coyote hunting ... I would think thermal would tend to be the better choice, since good camoflage works normally against night vision but NOT against thermal. (Unless the targets are under water ... or behind glass; that's where thermal is a no-go and NV is preferred.)

The Holosun NV offering will clearly be digital based on what we saw in the video -- something that'll have huge impact on usability, as digital NV processors chew through batteries and so do the screens used to render their images. I suspect it'll be their least spendy option and that, perhaps, is why they're doing it. (Thermal sensors aren't cheap, after all.)

As I'm in the market for a thermal optic this tax season, I'll be very curious to see what they bring forth in the thermal landscape.
 
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Apparently the MSRP pricepoints will be around:

$1000 - Night vision
$1600 - Thermal
$2300 - Thermal Pro

I can't say I'm impressed with the form factors, but it makes sense, as the juice to power the gear has to go somewhere. Recording capability seems gimicky but it also makes sense, as they have a DSP in each unit and memory plus ports just doesn't take up much space; heck they probably need the memory for the processor, anyway.

While I'm not wowed by descriptions so far, the form factor, or the price point of the Thermal Pro (which I was kind of hoping might find itself in the running for my dollars), I will readily admit that for someone who has zero NV or thermal, any NV or thermal is better than none. Put another way, I'm likely not their target audience and @Tim likely isn't, either, but I recognize there is an audience for this ... and the validity of that audience.

Still, at $2300, one might as well save another $1k and get something more substantial than the Pro. That's my gut reaction (to the Pro, only).

 
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I read somewhere (didn't copy the link) two tiers in each category, thermal and NV. Prices at $1600 - $3200.

At $3200, if I had that kind of $ to spend, I'd probably save a bit more and get a real thermal with zoom and video capabilities
 
Tim said:
$1,600 for a decent thermal for hog hunting will be a hot seller.
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Depends on if it's actually 'decent'. We need to see some specs for that. I can tell you I wasn't at all impressed with any of the images I've seen, so far, from Shot Show -- but because they were all green I suspect it's the NV optic only that we've seen.

1075tech said:
I read somewhere (didn't copy the link) two tiers in each category, thermal and NV. Prices at $1600 - $3200.

At $3200, if I had that kind of $ to spend, I'd probably save a bit more and get a real thermal with zoom and video capabilities
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I feel the same even at $2300. I'll also say I'm pretty turned off by the overall height of the optics, but I can forgive it in the NV optic specifically because my night gun has a really tall riser on it specifically to allow me to see/use it under NODs. There's just no need for that on the thermal optics (or even on the NV optic since one need not line up NODs with it), IMHO -- but I suspect it was done for cost reasons (i.e. to allow the units to share batteries, internals, screens, etc.).


Tim said:
Get a $600 Sionyx for that. They work GREAT for observation in a fixed location.
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Yes! Spot-on! @DrScaryGuy, this is the way.
 
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All of the hands-on reviews I saw from SHOT said it’s hot garbage. Not surprised, looks pretty useless from the videos.

They will still sell like hot cakes initially. Will be funny to watch that secondary market.
 
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I'm with @surrealone on this as I'm not really Holosun's target market either. At least not yet based on current offerings.

But I'm excited that more manufacturers are getting into the NV and Thermal game. A Rattler or a Hogster would be a better investment though for someone wanting to get into a thermal optic that's functional and affordable.

And yes, everything seems to be getting taller. Lord help us. It's getting out of control.

The BeowulfX was ahead of its time! 😂

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surrealone said:
@1075tech -- nice find, thanks for sharing!


@Tim - Think sniping ... or perhaps hog/coyote hunting. (After all, pointing a firearm all over the place so you can use its optic to scan at night violates the 1st rul of gun safety: "Always Keep Firearm Pointed in a Safe direction. Never point your gun at anything you do not intend to destroy.")
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Same as with WML's.


Handhelds for scanning, locating and identfying potential unknown targets. Weapon mounted for targeting. At some point one has to decide if they are disciplined enough to use a weapon mounted device for scanning and identifying targets.
 
georgel said:
Handhelds for scanning, locating and identfying potential unknown targets. Weapon mounted for targeting. At some point one has to decide if they are disciplined enough to use a weapon mounted device for scanning and identifying targets.
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I heard on a podcast from a MI firearms instructor I know that detroit police lost their ability to have weapon mounted lights because they kept their hands and everybody around when using them to check IDs instead of using a dedicated admin light. They all go through updated retraining to get their lights back.
 
willpgn said:
I thought I saw something saying Trijicon was also making NV? Can’t find it now…maybe they already did and I was unaware or maybe I misread? Anyway, if they do, it likely won’t be on the affordable scale! 🤣
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They bought out IR Defense who made the original REAP-IR plus a few others and rebranded'em.
And of course raised the price since it had a lil triangle on it now. :rolleyes:
Dunno if they've branched out since. Haven't kept up.
I love my REAP. Just don't use it much anymore since gettin old-n-lazy.. It does come in handy for noises-in-the-night on the property.
Ideal setup IMO is 320/380res thermal for spotting, quality I2 for targeting/ID. 😎
 
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