As mentioned in our IWA articles, we have visited in Nuernberg the producer of night vision products called Pulsar.
The range of products Pulsar offers is quite broad. There is a toy for every big boy (or girl).
What we were most interested of where the thermal imaging scopes.
Like everybody in our generation, we had a dream to put on a google or a scope and see into the night. So, we were curious what Pulsar has to offer.
The people at Pulsar were very nice and introduced to us their latest series of thermal imaging scopes: Quantum XD.
The technical specs sounded impressive: the range of detection reaches up to 1250 meters.
The scope has an integrated stadiametric range finding reticle: based on average heights of animals (deer 1.7 meters, boar, 0.7 meters) it allows a quite accurate estimation of the distance.
We acknowledge that this is not as accurate as a laser range finder, but let’s keep in mind that this is a thermal vision scope with myriads of technological features squeezed in a very tight frame to allow still manageable dimensions. Adding laser technology would have simply not been feasible or practical.
The package remains quite light and portable: the largest model, XD 50, weights 430 grams without battery and mount. This is lighter than a medium size binocular with a 40 mm front reticle. Quite impressive.
All Quantum devices have video output so one can record whatever one looks at.
But on IWA it was plain daylight, so there was no chance to test the scope.
So, back to Romania, we got in touch with Spy Shop in Timisoara, the Pulsar dealer for Romania.
Sergiu Dangulea is a very uncomplicated guy: one phone call was enough and we set a meeting at night to test the product.
XD 50 was not available yet on the Romanian market when we met Sergiu, so we tested its little brother HD 19 S.
The little brother was also impressive.
While only having a magnification of two, it easily enables detection of a human figure out there to 500 – 700 meters.
As we are practical persons, we have tested this feature. Note: the date on the images is wrong: we have tested the scope in Spring 2016. We promise to pay more attention next time.
Above you can see a human figure situated at around 500 meters away. It is clear that it could easily be detected even further afield.
The device is accurate enough not only to detect a human silhouette but it allows observation of the movements of the subject.
We have checked this by asking the subject in the picture above to move its hands. Movement is easily visible.
The technology is based on detection of objects that have a higher temperature than their surroundings.
The less layers there are between the source of the temperature (e.g. human body, engine of tires of a car, etc) the better visible the contrast.
They say one picture says more than 1000 words. One film contains many pictures. So, we have decided to share a few footages from the films we made with you.
Concluding: thermal vision technology has made huge progress in the last years. One could almost say it made quantum jumps. This is why we find the name Pulsar has chosen for its product line is fitting fine: Quantum can also stand for the progress this particular technology has made.
Good Job, Pulsar!
We can barely wait to test the XD 50. Just imagine how the pictures and film above would look with a 16 times magnification!
Sebastian Gutiu