Paul Austin, group editor of Sporting Gun & Rifle Shooter has been out in the field testing the long-awaited successor to the original FH35R thermal spotter. Should you be adding it to your portfolio? Let’s find out.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Finder series, the original FH25R was a real milestone in terms of thermal LRF. Admittedly the LRF element on the original Finder was a bit hit and miss in terms of ranging, claiming a max ranging distance of 600m, which in reality was only dependable up to 350m, and even then, it could take a few pings to secure an accurate reading.
That was succeeded by the superb FH35R, a device that’s been my go-to thermal spotter for a couple of years and the benchmark to which all other ‘sensible money’ spotters I’ve tested ever since.
The original FH25R certainly wasn’t perfect but the form factor was fantastic, a tiny unit offering great field of view and an impressive 640 sensor alongside a good quality thermal image, especially given its relatively small 25mm lens. It wasn’t really a direct challenger to the all-powerful Pulsar LRFs but it was certainly a viable and much cheaper pocket-sized alternative.
The big brother of the original Finder soon returned in the form of the original FH35R. A bigger lens and all-round improved performance, especially in terms of the LRF. This time it’s been beefed very slightly in the new V2 format but side-by-side the two look virtually identical. The base mag remains the same at 3.4x. Ideally, I like spotters in the 2/2.5x range in terms of base mag, but ironically that isn’t a deal-breaker for me, as a package it’s one of the best thermal LRF systems on the market, especially when spotting at extended range over large areas.
The wow factor
Like its predecessor, the LRF offers the same powerful pinger that can quickly and reliably reach out to the advertised 800m max range. Equally importantly, the 35R family of Finders feature swappable Li-ion batteries, two of which ship with the Finder. This ability to reload in the field with a simple battery swap is a major selling point.
Form factor
The FH35R’s definitely loosened their belts a little, growing by perhaps a third in relation to the FH25R, largely to accommodate the bigger 35mm lens and to provide sufficient space for the battery port. Even so, it’s still a compact design that can easily slip into a pocket. The new lens continues to be protected by a permanently attached solid lens cover rather than the rubberised version of its smaller sibling.
There’s a micro-HDMI video out plus a charging port alongside a USB and file transfer, whether that be stills or video, either with or without audio. So, it’s a very good choice for truck mounted observation. Most file transfers (and obviously all streaming) will be handled via wifi by connecting to your smartphone and the associated Inifray Outdoor app, which has seen multiple iterations and is now nicely implemented.
Handling and functionality
The new sensor is the only major change from the original to the V2 but it’s a big one! Sub 35mK NETD has now been upgraded to sub 20mK. The F 1.0 35mm lens has been upgraded slightly to an F 0.9 and it’s impressive, as is the 50hz refresh rate, battery life, PIP functionality and built-in storage. In terms of ergonomics and navigation, it’s pretty much identical to its predecessor, with the same button layout and basic menu system as before.
Admittedly, navigation isn’t quite as intuitive as some devices, with a few extra clicks required to access certain features, but to be fair, after a couple of trips you soon get used to delving a little deeper to access the mag and colour palettes, alongside the four levels for brightness and sharpness.
All the buttons are dual function with short and long presses activating or flipping between functions, all of which become straightforward after a couple of outings. If I could change anything I would have made the buttons themselves a little more prominent, as they can sometimes be a bit of fumbling around to find a button.
Image quality
The new 640×512 ≤ 20mK sensor provides a serious improvement over what was the impressive performance of its predecessor. The 35mm lens also plays its part in poor thermal conditions holding up better in damp conditions.
The noticeable difference is in the detail, whether that be environmental on the prey. To use a photography term the image isn’t as soft, there’s more texture across the board and that translates into a device that delivers better identification rather than just detection. The original FH35R was great but in terms of image quality, this is a good deal better.
In its class, it’s as good as it gets, the traditional high contrast IRay image (which you may nevertheless refer) still falls slightly short of the high-end Mergers in my opinion, however, we do need to put this into perspective. The Pulsar line does have a higher NETD. The larger lens is a bonus admittedly, as is the 1,000m ranging, but to get all of that your customers will have to invest a lot more cash on top of the asking price of the very impressive FH35R v2.
UK distributor
Highland Outdoors
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sales@highlandoutdoors.co.uk
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