Estimated studying time: 7 minutes
When you go thermal, you possibly can’t return. Thermal optics utterly change the searching expertise and alter the everyday aiming course of. A thermal sight permits you to see hidden targets like a coyote crouched behind a clump of grass. With a conventional optic, you’ll see the clump of grass however not the coyote. With a thermal optic, that coyote could be seen as plain as day. Add a large discipline of view of a reflex sight, and you’ve got the premise of the X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2, which mixes a thermal sight with the pace of a reflex sight.
X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2 Characteristic Set
A thermal optic just isn’t a typical optic. Contemplate a thermal optic extra like a pc. As a substitute of trying by way of the lens at a goal, the thermal creates an image of warmth in pixels, which seems on a display. The X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2 has one of many largest screens on any thermal optic. It includes a 2.56-inch AMOLED display, related to what’s used on a smartphone.
Show
A 25mm goal lens within the entrance of the unit gathers the visible information and shows it on the display. The lens is concentrated utilizing the ring on the target lens. The show is personalized by utilizing the joystick management. Fewer buttons make the optic less complicated to make use of. The Flex 2 makes it simple to customise the show. I wanted to run by way of the menu a number of occasions earlier than it grew to become rote, however it’s user-friendly. If you need to use a smartphone, you need to use the X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2.
The display, when powered up, shows standing information on the high edge for shade palette, distinction spotlight, magnification, zeroing distance, laser, battery life and extra. You possibly can modify display brightness, magnification, picture colours, reticle sort and reticle colours. You too can arrange the sight with totally different calibers, so in concept, you possibly can take away the sight and connect it to totally different rifles. The Fex 2 could be connected to a grip, after which you need to use the optic to scan and examine with out the sight mounted to a rifle.
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Fast-Launch Rail
The short-release Picatinny rail makes transferring the Flex 2 from a rifle to the grip simple. I didn’t see a serious shift in level of influence once I swapped the optic between the grip and rifle. The mount permits mounting the Flex 2 to any firearm with a rail, so meaning shotguns and handguns are potential recipients.
The image-in-picture characteristic mode permits you to view the goal at twice what the principle display is exhibiting. There are six reticles in 4 colours, and 5 shade palettes. You too can take photographs or document movies. I might have favored to see a slot for an SD card, because the Flex 2 is barely suitable with PC gadgets, not Apple gadgets. That is additionally a purpose to have an app for the sight to retailer sighting-in information, photographs, and movies. The Flex 2 has all of the options you count on in a thermal optic. It additionally includes a built-in vary finder with a 1,700-yard detection vary.
I first connected the Flex 2 to the grip and used it to view deer and squirrels. Photographs are clear, making it simple to determine child bucks and child does.
Professionals and Cons
The listing of Professionals for the Flexv2 is apparent: compact, but giant display; user-friendly controls; and quick and straightforward mounting. In my view, the Cons of the X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2 are that it wants higher connectivity for a wide range of gadgets. I additionally discovered it arduous to view in vivid daylight circumstances, identical to a smartphone.
Zeroing In The X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2
I mounted the Flex 2 on a Bear Creek Arsenal higher chambered in 6.5 Grendel. I’ve had glorious outcomes with BCA uppers, and I just like the low value, which permits me to make use of a wide range of calibers on my AR-15 decrease. This specific BCA higher value me about $220 and options an 18-inch heavy chrome steel barrel and a mid-length fuel system.
It is usually arrange with a right-side charging deal with and comes with a BCG, a 15-inch MLOK rail, and an M4 flat-top billet higher receiver, so there have been loads of choices to mount the Flex 2. I mounted the Flex 2 about the identical distance my eye could be away from the ocular lens on a conventional rifle scope.
Customizing with the Controls
There may be one button and a joystick. That’s it for the controls. Press the grey energy button, and the unit boots up. Use the joystick to navigate the menu. I chosen the white sizzling palette shade and a high-quality crosshair reticle in purple. Beginning at 25 yards, I taped a hand hotter to a chunk of cardboard. The hand hotter popped on the Flex 2 display. You may additionally use a chunk of black tape on gentle coloured cardboard. I used a relaxation and fired a spherical, then within the menu, I used the joystick to maneuver the reticle to the purpose of influence. To zero, you chase the holes out of your authentic aiming level. That was simple. I tweaked the zero so it was lifeless on at 100 yards.
I used the Flex 2 in excessive midday daylight and low-light, darkish circumstances. In vivid gentle, the Flex2 jogged my memory of a cellular phone display. It was arduous to see, however I used the brim of my hat to shade the display to view it higher with out glare. In low gentle and darkish circumstances, it was simple to view the display.
READ MORE HERE: SIG Sauer ECHO SV50 LRF : A Sport-Changer in Thermal Optics
Operating The X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2
You don’t get that tunnel imaginative and prescient impact with a conventional rifle scope. The show display is giant. Maintaining each eyes open is extra pure because it appears like you’re looking right into a small online game display. The sector of view is about 55 toes at 100 yards. As soon as zeroed, the Flex 2 was a easy sight to make use of successfully. Cranking up the magnification, the show shortly turns into pixelated, so I saved the magnification on low. Two batteries and a recharger are included with the unit, and that could be a good factor as a result of the Flex2 goes by way of batteries shortly. Run time is about 5 hours.
Conclusion
Like most thermal optics, the worth is steep at $3,499.99. The X-Imaginative and prescient Flex 2 is, nevertheless, a unique sort of thermal optic that makes use of a reflex-style system.
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Robert A. Sadowski is an American author and journalist.
He has written about firearms and 2A points for many years, and has educated with among the nation’s most interesting firearm instructors in handguns, rifles/carbines, shotguns and long-range taking pictures. He has additionally had the chance to interview quite a few people deeply concerned in defending our 2nd Modification.
He a is a frequent contributor to quite a few gun-enthusiast publications, a number of of which embrace:
TheArmorylife.com TheTruthAboutGuns.com GunsAmerica.com GunBroker.com Gun-Checks.com Taking pictures Illustrated SHOT Enterprise Gun Digest
Sadowski can also be the creator of quite a few gun books, together with: “9MM — Information to America’s Most Well-liked Caliber” and “Ebook Of Glock,” each of which had been #1 new releases on Amazon. He additionally wrote the favored DIY gun e book collection: Shooter’s Bible Information to Firearms Meeting, Disassembly, and Cleansing Quantity 1 and Quantity 2. Different gun books authored by Sadowski embrace “50 Weapons That Modified the World,” and edited “The M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Upkeep”initially revealed by the U.S. Division of the Military. He additionally edits the annual “Gun Dealer’s Information” to firearm values.
Sadowski can also be the Treasurer/Secretary of the GLOCK Collectors Affiliation, a non-profit group with the mission to teach and protect: Educate the general public on the fashions, variations, and commemoratives constructed by GLOCK, in addition to present members with info on GLOCK serial numbers, importation, and different info distinctive to GLOCK pistols.
