Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

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Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 01 Apr 2021, 9:54 am

After years of contemplation and internet trawling I'm trying to finally decide on a thermal. I'm pretty sure I want 640res wich obviously bumps the price. Brinny's suggestions of gsic gear look awesome but I've also recently noticed some iray stuff hitting the aus market a fair bit cheaper. I was particularly interested in the rico rh50. To my untrained eye specs look good albeit with a smaller fov than most. Pulsars issues I read about have scared me off spending my money there. I'm a bad enough shot without poi changes. Does anyone have an opinion????. I'm no pro shooter by any stretch but I want my now limited hunting opportunities to be aided by good gear that gets results. At the same time we all like to save a bit of cash where we can. As usual most internet info is taken with a grain of salt but the little info I can find on the rh50 seems positive.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by Die Judicii » 01 Apr 2021, 7:20 pm

As with everything, you get what you pay for in general.

I've heard the stories about poi and the Thermions etc and I have no experience or info specific to them.

I went down the Pulsar FXQ 50 (clip on) path.

Not once, but now twice,, and am extremely happy. No such thing as poi issues unless your own day scope has problems itself.

The only drawback is no vid/pic capability with the clip on,,,, but solved that by getting the binocs.

Now I truly believe I've got the best of both worlds.

Buy once, cry once. :thumbsup:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 01 Apr 2021, 9:29 pm

Pulsars new xg50/fxg50 did pique my interest. By the time you buy the unit, monocular attachment i'd want, then the adaptors for my different rifle/scope combos it adds up. I am almost going to go that way but something in my head tells me that "it's a clunky adaptation trying to make something do a task it was never meant to". A bit like Jack of all trades master of none... the other thing, I would need to change rings on most of my scopes to give clearance for the clip on unit/adaptors. Feels like I'll have a mish mash
cobbled together. Plus I've read some scopes don't suit very well. I haven't completely discounted the idea yet and may go that way.
The iray scope I was interested in isn't really "cheaping" out. It retails nearer $8000 and is marketed as a top tier product competing against xp50 trail/thermion, atn mars4 640resolution and above anything by nightech.
I realise there's going to be limited real life accounts so I guess I'm after opinions from people like yourself who use thermal with real life experience. What works. Maybe even a smart person can decipher if on paper it stacks up.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 01 Apr 2021, 9:33 pm

https://www.infirayoutdoor.com/thermal- ... s_p30.html
This is a link to the manufacturers spiel for anyone interested.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by Die Judicii » 01 Apr 2021, 9:46 pm

The BIG bonus is that with just "one" of the FXQ's,,,,,,, it can be fitted to all/any of your rifles.
When I bought my first one,, I got the monocular lens, and all the adaptor sleeves with it.
Now,, you have to buy the sleeves separately which I think is a rort.

But,,,,, I set out to run all the same scopes on most of my rifles so it really is a universal set up now.
I found that Zeiss Conquests and Duralyts are a match made in heaven that perform flawlessly with the FXQ50 clip on.

Now that I've got my second one, I run two rifles when I go out.
One set up specifically for Dogs, Foxes, Cats etc
and the other one,,,,
Set up for pigs.

It is simply a matter of picking up whichever one is most suited for the moment.

And to prove a point on reliability of the FXQ50's,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, try finding a second hand one for sale.

Whereas the Thermion's are a dime a dozen.
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I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by Die Judicii » 01 Apr 2021, 9:55 pm

And,,,,,, as an aside,,,,,
I run battery packs (from Office Works) via cable,,, and have regularly got 16 + hrs continual useage before recharging.
Which is way,, way,, better than using the CR123A batteries which go flat in 4 hrs or less,, and cost $$$$
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 02 Apr 2021, 4:07 pm

Theres a bloke on FB that runs hunter educational courses with a lot of different makes and models of thermal....including Iray....
Calls himself "Hunt the Night"...His name is Ben Van Der Veen.....seems to know what he is on about and runs his outdoor hands on courses at Pakenham Upper from memory....
TBH....you cant go past the GSCIs....I took this fox last night at the back of my place at 395m with my 204 fitted with a GSCI S675 thermal...Knew it was a long way so marked the spot and went back and checked the distance with the range finder this morning....he fell right under the tree... .This scope has never let me down and holds POI ....I run a GSCI S350 as well and its the same....
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by niteowl » 02 Apr 2021, 5:00 pm

GSCI !! Couldn't have said it better if I tried. 8-) Been trying to tell people this for years. Best warranty anywhere, world wide. :thumbsup:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 02 Apr 2021, 5:07 pm

niteowl wrote:GSCI !! Couldn't have said it better if I tried. 8-) Been trying to tell people this for years. Best warranty anywhere, world wide. :thumbsup:


Yes mate....7 year warranty has got a lot to be said for it...they would have to be confident in their gear to offer that.....Im glad i took your advice and went that way and got away from that other brand....At least i have confidence in my gear now.....
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by niteowl » 02 Apr 2021, 8:21 pm

and, oh yeh, not a bad shot :roll:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 02 Apr 2021, 8:55 pm

I have no doubt about the gsci units. To my untrained eye they are the pinnacle of what I've seen available to us plebs in Australia. My only worry is does the extra 3-4 grand buy me as a backyarder anything I can discern as better or more necessary that a 7-8000 unit won't do?
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 02 Apr 2021, 9:09 pm

Just checked out "hunt the night" and I had found their website before. I don't do Facebook. Their pricing on gsci seems to have a bit more fat on it than Australian shooting services. Is this you night owl ??????. Regardless, if you recommend these guys as in the know surely it says something that they sell/use iray gear..........
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by Die Judicii » 02 Apr 2021, 9:32 pm

scoot wrote:Just checked out "hunt the night" and I had found their website before. I don't do Facebook.


Join the club. :thumbsup:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 02 Apr 2021, 10:05 pm

scoot wrote:I have no doubt about the gsci units. To my untrained eye they are the pinnacle of what I've seen available to us plebs in Australia. My only worry is does the extra 3-4 grand buy me as a backyarder anything I can discern as better or more necessary that a 7-8000 unit won't do?


They hold zero mate, and you can have confidence in the product.....so to me thats worth spending the extra dollars on....not to mention the 7 year warranty....so you get what you pay for....
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 02 Apr 2021, 10:09 pm

scoot wrote:Just checked out "hunt the night" and I had found their website before. I don't do Facebook. Their pricing on gsci seems to have a bit more fat on it than Australian shooting services. Is this you night owl ??????. Regardless, if you recommend these guys as in the know surely it says something that they sell/use iray gear..........

I didnt say i recommended them....i just said about what they do, as i have seen them on FB and they have spoken in length about the range of thermals they trial, which includes Iray and just suggested you take a look....
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by niteowl » 02 Apr 2021, 10:55 pm

scoot wrote:Just checked out "hunt the night" and I had found their website before. I don't do Facebook. Their pricing on gsci seems to have a bit more fat on it than Australian shooting services. Is this you night owl ??????. Regardless, if you recommend these guys as in the know surely it says something that they sell/use iray gear..........


Guilty as charged. GSCI is not that expensive at present due to our dollar being OK, but it has gone down a bit over the last couple of days. Still comparative in general to P......... prices, except the quality and actual performance is WAY better "spec to spec". A bit more fat? I just looked :o . I do know why but can't say here.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 02 Apr 2021, 11:28 pm

Brinny, sorry if you misunderstood my "recomendations" statement. It was not meant to mean you specifically promote them as oppose to you think they bring something relevant to my queries. I'll get my friends that are visiting to use their Facebook for a look tomorrow.
Night owl, cost is not my limiting factor. I can afford and may yet go with an s650. My anxiety lays with do I need a Bugatti for doing the school run.
Everything my uneducated brain sees about these new iray units says its a pretty good thing. Maybe not the Bugatti but I'd still be dropping off the kids in an amg mercedes.
I have zero experience with thermal and very limited experience with digital nv. Atn (junk). And pulsar (ok but didn't blow wind up my skirt).
Perhaps I'm subcontiously seeking reassurance from real people in the real world with real experience that the iray is worth a shot????
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 03 Apr 2021, 12:06 am

[quote="scoot"]Brinny, sorry if you misunderstood my "recomendations" statement. It was not meant to mean you specifically promote them as oppose to you think they bring something relevant to my queries. I'll get my friends that are visiting to use their Facebook for a look tomorrow.

All good scoot....I dont know this bloke at all, this Ben Van Der Veen, but he is a member of my hunting group on FB.....
I just went back through the posts and found a post that he recently put up about his try before you buy courses he runs....and it does say he has Iray thermals to demo.....
I have no idea about them as i have never seen one so am in as unfamiliar territory as you are with them....
Jokingly, i put a comment on about not seeing some quality scopes there like the GSCIs....and he must have taken it literally and got some.....


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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by Die Judicii » 03 Apr 2021, 2:25 am

100_5748.JPG
100_5748.JPG (253.41 KiB) Viewed 10947 times
Pulsar Clip On,, 293 meters,, .223 cal
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I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by niteowl » 03 Apr 2021, 1:45 pm

There are massive amounts of complaints in the UK about them, Chinese . You would need to think carefully.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by miczoom » 05 May 2021, 10:13 pm

There is a comparision video on you tube with iray, hikmicro, pulsar & guidetrack from "optics warehouse"
I would love a gsci thermal scope, budget restrictions kick in big time.
So I got a Hik micro lynx lh19 thermal monocular, most of my shooting is bunnies & foxes, 22mag old rifle basic scope. I like to track & stalk mostly during the winter. I am in the NW vic broadacre cropping zone. I use to spot light with hand heldspot and a 900 lumen O light under the rifle barrel. Finding the furry varmints was my biggest problem. With the monocular i can find them in the fields. Trialing the unit when i got it, cloudless night waning moon, i could detect human size figure at 1.2km, recognition at 700m, identification at 350m. Bunnies detected at 300m, recognition at 250m, identification 170m. Shooting range 75m. No foxes sighted with it yet, the O light found 1 scurrying through the trees the other night approx 40m from my front gate, dogs had alerted me about 10:30pm.
My wife has gone out with me to check out the new toy and was impressed with it saw bunnies and mice, the neighbours goats our turkeys and dog. Looking down the street approx 500m a good clearview.
Hope this helps
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 06 May 2021, 3:43 pm

There seems to be an influx of stuff coming into Oz now. Slowly seeing some reviews filter through. I take a lot of what's available with a grain of salt. Looking hard enough you can find good and bad about almost anything and footage can be easily set up to look a certain way.
I've got a gsci coming now. Reliability was a huge factor in my choice as well as some other things. I don't have the luxury of trying any units so in the end I had to weigh up what it is exactly I wanted. Gsci seemed to fit the bill, all be it with a large "bill". Should get it soonish, I don't think I'll be disappointed.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 08 May 2021, 9:28 pm

I've got a gsci coming now. Reliability was a huge factor in my choice as well as some other things. I don't have the luxury of trying any units so in the end I had to weigh up what it is exactly I wanted. Gsci seemed to fit the bill, all be it with a large "bill". Should get it soonish, I don't think I'll be disappointed.[/quote]

You wont be disappointed mate.....what model did you end up buying....the Elite 3100 for $25,000.... :D :D :D
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 09 May 2021, 12:07 am

Not quite.... the new fusion hybrid nv/thermal looks like an interesting bit of kit too. I'm too scared to look at the prices on those. :shock:
Getting the ti gear s675. Probably overkill for me but I thought f@#% it. I work for my money. I'd rather have something "too good" for more money than something "not quite" for less. Maybe I'd think different if I could have tried a bunch of stuff beforehand.
I've almost forgotten how much it cost and I don't even have it yet. Just another week or two hopefully :violin:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by brinny » 09 May 2021, 9:35 am

Getting the ti gear s675. Probably overkill for me but I thought f@#% it.


Exactly what im running mate....great scope...you wont be disappointed in it.....I am going to sell my GSCI S350 and get another S675 in its place....once you get used to the 640 core, its hard to go back to the 384....It will go on my 22-250 for the dogs.....

Just a few from my last few trips out using my Sako 85 204 fitted with the GSCI S675 thermal scope.....
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by niteowl » 09 May 2021, 11:28 am

scoot wrote:Not quite.... the new fusion hybrid nv/thermal looks like an interesting bit of kit too. I'm too scared to look at the prices on those. :shock:
Getting the ti gear s675. Probably overkill for me but I thought f@#% it. I work for my money. I'd rather have something "too good" for more money than something "not quite" for less. Maybe I'd think different if I could have tried a bunch of stuff beforehand.
I've almost forgotten how much it cost and I don't even have it yet. Just another week or two hopefully :violin:


Hey Scoot, are you the one who lives in an area where the targets glow in the night ? :allegedly:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 09 May 2021, 4:34 pm

Yep. :mrgreen: The land of broken dreams.........where the dull glow of the rock apes can be seen in the distance. If you listen close on a still Friday night, you can actually hear the evolution of man receding into the stone ages. :allegedly:
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by niteowl » 09 May 2021, 6:24 pm

Ah so you are "that" one. Very soon now.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by anotherben » 24 May 2021, 7:23 am

scoot wrote:After years of contemplation and internet trawling I'm trying to finally decide on a thermal. I'm pretty sure I want 640res wich obviously bumps the price. Brinny's suggestions of gsic gear look awesome but I've also recently noticed some iray stuff hitting the aus market a fair bit cheaper. I was particularly interested in the rico rh50. To my untrained eye specs look good albeit with a smaller fov than most. Pulsars issues I read about have scared me off spending my money there. I'm a bad enough shot without poi changes. Does anyone have an opinion????. I'm no pro shooter by any stretch but I want my now limited hunting opportunities to be aided by good gear that gets results. At the same time we all like to save a bit of cash where we can. As usual most internet info is taken with a grain of salt but the little info I can find on the rh50 seems positive.


Hi Scoot,

Just found this thread, I'm Ben from HTN and thought I'd give you some feedback on the Infiray devices. Firstly I'll declare my interest as a dealer so you can take what I say with a grain of salt, but I also sell a wide variety of scopes, I am not a distributor of these devices, just a reseller.

In terms of image quality, the Infiray is leaps ahead of anything currently on the market. Their sensor is simply stunning, the ability to hold image retention while zooming isn't something I've seen in consumer grade scopes before (I used to work for Lockheed Martin, I've seen some pretty cool things in my time). Its construction is solid, but it has a few quirks. There is an o-ring around the battery that can cause some jamming issues if you are not careful when putting the battery in.

The software interface is pretty good but again, its not as refined as an ATN or Pulsar menu system. There are less controls over brightness and contrast as the software optimises this for the conditions, and it does a pretty decent job actually. There are things I'd like to see improved in the software, but they are minor things.

The mounts that come with them are typical consumer grade factory mounts, they work, but being quick detach people automatically think "return to zero", I wouldn't call them RTZ if you are switching between rifle platforms and having to adjust base tension. I don't have a way to set the torque on the base as it requires a bit that I don't have for my torque wrench. I use BoBro mounts on mine and they work a treat.

Reliability, they've been great so far. My primary scope is a RL42 (I do contract shooting in Melbourne), and personally I think its the best of the bunch. The only time its a bit to tight for me is when I am on deer jobs and I'm shooting at around 50 meters as it has a base magnification of 4x. For my rabbit jobs I use a Night Tech MS42 with a 2x base magnification anyway.

How they stack up long term, thats to be seen. Infiray have a long history of developing thermal sensors and also being a manufacturing partner for many other brands on the market. Yes they are Chinese, but so is my iPhone and MacBook which are world leading products, when I was young everything was Jap Crap, now Japanese is the seen as the highest quality.

But like Pulsar, ATN and many others, these are consumer grade products, they are designed to stand up to about a 300WM, how they go long term especially on AR platforms needs to be seen. If you want something that isn't ever going to fail and you don't need the best image quality in the world, then GSCI in Australia is the best answer. Personally I think to many people get caught up on having the best picture quality over reliability, like how good does it have to look if you can identify and shoot it?

Having said all that, I think the RL42 at $4400 is by far the best valued scope on the market, its insane for what it is. The image quality and image retention while zooming is off its head. I personally don't see the extra 2k in value in going to the RH50. Yes you'll get a better picture, but you won't suffer with the RL42, I've neck shot sambar deer from 195 meters in the drizzle with it on base magnification. It's a stunning little scope.

I've got my GSCI scopes on order, thanks largely to Ian pushing me in that direction and I personally can't wait to get one in the field to test as well.
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Re: Anyone have experience with iray thermal?

Post by scoot » 25 May 2021, 12:48 pm

Thanks for taking the time out to post.
I got my gsci s675 almost 2 weeks ago now and have just been playing around a bit since to familiarise myself.
I spoke with you briefly by phone (Ian alerted me to you) months ago when I first decided to take the plunge. I see your now pushing out a heap of reviews etc on youtube :thumbsup:
I'd be interested in your opinion on the gsci when you test it. Obviously doesn't change anything for me though. I'm sure like you say there is possibly better images available nowadays but reliability and robustness was high on my requirements. Again how sweet an image do you need to id and shoot. So far the gsci looks like it will work very well for me.
Next on the agenda will probably be a scanner. Can see swinging a rifle around when moving about being a pita. Even if the mount is a good rtz I cant see myself pulling it on and off. Then I'll probably want a baby scope for the 22. :roll: . Oh oh it's happening again...........
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