Night Vision New Armasight Units (Sidekick and Jockey 640s)

#503
Sidekick dovetail adapter coming in hot for testing soon.
Proto1_1_lowres.jpg
 
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#504
javemtr said:
Sidekick dovetail adapter coming in hot for testing soon.
View attachment 8364557
Click to expand...
I'm assuming that means you'd be able to quick detach the sidekick from a bridge right? Would be nice to have, but means i'd have to buy another bridge, presumably the mod armory one. How much is this going to be? Do you have a business where you make stuff like this and put it on a website?
 
#505
hmjgriffon said:
I'm assuming that means you'd be able to quick detach the sidekick from a bridge right? Would be nice to have, but means i'd have to buy another bridge, presumably the mod armory one. How much is this going to be? Do you have a business where you make stuff like this and put it on a website?
Click to expand...
You're right, it's just a way to give some people more flexibility in mounting options.
If you already have the Rayvn bridge or another bridge that allows you to mount the Sidekick via the mini-rail and that is your dedicated setup and you are not interested in a quick change capability, then the dovetail adapter won't give you any benefits.
If you have a bunch of different bridges that accept dovetails and you want to change back and forth between them, this might come in handy. Also for the very brave who want to test the (nonexistent?) Sidekick recoil rating, this will allow you to mount the Sidekick as a clip-on in a Wilcox flip mount.
Right now I'm doing this stuff as a hobby, but I have a website for these projects at jv-innovations.com
 
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#506
javemtr said:
Also for the very brave who want to test the (nonexistent?) Sidekick recoil rating, this will allow you to mount the Sidekick as a clip-on in a Wilcox flip mount.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I believe the Sidekick will make a very nice and light clip on for 556. The Flir Breach worked out good in this role and I think the Sidekick will be even better given it is a 640 unit instead of a 320 Unit like the Breach.

Being able to put the Sidekick in the Wilcox FTS mount will make it a great versitalile short range clip-on.
 
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#507
javemtr said:
You're right, it's just a way to give some people more flexibility in mounting options.
If you already have the Rayvn bridge or another bridge that allows you to mount the Sidekick via the mini-rail and that is your dedicated setup and you are not interested in a quick change capability, then the dovetail adapter won't give you any benefits.
If you have a bunch of different bridges that accept dovetails and you want to change back and forth between them, this might come in handy. Also for the very brave who want to test the (nonexistent?) Sidekick recoil rating, this will allow you to mount the Sidekick as a clip-on in a Wilcox flip mount.
Right now I'm doing this stuff as a hobby, but I have a website for these projects at jv-innovations.com
Click to expand...
Honestly the only thing I don't like about the rayvyn bridge is that I can't quickly remove the sidekick so I can use it as a monocular, it just sucks that I'd have to buy another bridge lol.
 
#510
Dual_BandGuy said:
Looks like there might be an issue with the new update per Armasight.
Click to expand...
Hello,

We did run into an issue with the roll out of our firmware updates that are now available through Armasight.com for registered users. We have identified the issue and are currently working to resolve it. We expect that this issue will be resolved before the end of the week. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience - and THANK YOU for choosing Armasight!
 
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#511
Deep pockets always helps but prioritising, pinching pennies here and there combined with shrewd purchases can make things a lot easier when it comes to NV and Thermal.

Prioritising, means is a vacation in Cancun betta dollars spent than buying a NV or Thermal Device is what I am getting at type of stuff. A lot of people waste money on what I would call "junk" but some peoples "junk" are other peoples diamonds.

The will to have something can open up a lot of avenues.
 
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#512
Armasight said:
Hello,

We did run into an issue with the roll out of our firmware updates that are now available through Armasight.com for registered users. We have identified the issue and are currently working to resolve it. We expect that this issue will be resolved before the end of the week. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience - and THANK YOU for choosing Armasight!
Click to expand...
Great to see the Manufacter on the site. That is impressive. (y)

I have great faith in the rebuilding of Armasight to its previous Glory pre Flir aquasition.

I will also throw my 2 cents worth of advice in. Wigwamitus (Joe with Strictly Offensive Kit) would be an excellent source of real life feedback and advice on any thermal devices as he is a real world user expert with Thermal.

I think many in the community are pulling for Armasight as a US based manufacter to have great success.

Thanks again for showing your presence on the site.
 
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#513
Hey all, I haven't been here since the website major reconstruction. (a decade?) I received my 640 back from Armasight Friday. My gate was open, but UPS decided to just leave it along side the road.
So the new updated firmware is 5067. Is there a newer version out already?
Frankly I'm not seeing any noticeable change from the firmware upgrade. I guess I need to get out and learn it better. The weather is forecasted for cold and dry the next few days so I'll chase some coyotes around and get a better opinion.
I'm thinking about the Rayvn bridge. I have the Mod Armory bridge and cannot get my pvs14 and thermals to align. Do you think the Rayvn will work better?
Is Bolt Tripper still around?
 
#514
Armasight said:
Hello,

We did run into an issue with the roll out of our firmware updates that are now available through Armasight.com for registered users. We have identified the issue and are currently working to resolve it. We expect that this issue will be resolved before the end of the week. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience - and THANK YOU for choosing Armasight!
Click to expand...
Sounds good. Customer service over at Armasight has been great.
 
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#519
hmjgriffon said:
Question for people who already have a thermal clipon or experience with one, do they work pretty well in front of a red dot with a magnifier? Just curios if that setup works at all.
Click to expand...
Yup, can be a great option since a lot of clip ons (smaller units) are designed to work within the 2-6x magnification range from a day optic.

I have seen people run small clip-ons like a SKEET on a flip to side mount with a red dot and flip to side magnifier for this very reason.
 
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#520
NHPiper said:
Yup, can be a great option since a lot of clip ons (smaller units) are designed to work within the 2-6x magnification range from a day optic.

I have seen people run small clip-ons like a SKEET on a flip to side mount with a red dot and flip to side magnifier for this very reason.
Click to expand...
flip to side thermal clipon, interesting.
 
#521
hmjgriffon said:
flip to side thermal clipon, interesting.
Click to expand...
Yep, a thermal clipon works well in front of a 1x red dot and even a 3x magnifier behind that.

If you can rig the clipon thermal to be on a Wilcox FTS it allows you to quickly switch to using your day sight if need be.

The above is a great combination if you not shooting way out there (say 300 yards or more) with thermal.
 
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#522
WhereNow&How said:
Yep, a thermal clipon works well in front of a 1x red dot and even a 3x magnifier behind that.

If you can rig the clipon thermal to be on a Wilcox FTS it allows you to quickly switch to using your day sight if need be.

The above is a great combination if you not shooting way out there (say 300 yards or more) with thermal.
Click to expand...
I will be trying that.
 
#527
Dual_BandGuy said:
Anybody have any progress tweaking the settings on the 640?
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm late to the party. Give me a call if you want to talk through settings.

RampedRaptor said:
Does the ax14 dovetail arm mount work with the Sidekick640 and g24 mount? Ordering stuff currently for my first helmet setup. Only interested in running a single monocular at this point.
Click to expand...

Unsure. Have not tried it. If it fits a micro-mount (MUM), then it should work fine.

Catman711 said:
Can I run both usb power and a 16650 at the same time?

If so, will it draw off the usb until dead, unplugged then switch to the battery?
Click to expand...

If they're both plugged in, it will draw off the internal battery first, then cycle on when it needs remote power.
 
#530
Jip4012 said:
Received an email from Armasight stating there is a new firmware version available. Has anyone attempted loading it? Curious how well it works.
Click to expand...
Been away, I will fire mine up tomorrow to see if its actually new, last time they sent out an update I think it was the same version the units got that were sent back. If its newer than what I have I will try the upgrade.
 
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#531
As I wait for the jockey's to materialize, has anyone used a clipon with a red dot and a magnifier much? I have an LPVO not on any rifles right now but I am kinda bouncing between dedicated thermal scope and thermal clip on. I don't think I will be shelling out for both since I have the sidekick and thermals are just crazy expensive.
 
#535
SkyScrapin said:
they’re in flight to us
We’ll share thoughts once we have a baseline
Click to expand...

if they are smart they sent a few to some of the respected reviewers to put them through their paces and such. I'm considering one, I have all red dot rifles with a 3x magnifier right now but I do have an LPVO I can slap on if I want. Would be nice to have a thermal I can swap around between guns. It's also a hard choice between this and a sweet kayak but I may need the thermal more by the end of the year, hahahaha.
 
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#539
Ok, here's some first impressions on the Jockey 640.

I shot it some
I looked around with it some
I compared it to the 10 year olde Armasight Apollo 640 ... an older "grand-cousin".

==

Note its HOT in SW MO these days - and so terrible thermal conditions !

I used a mk 12-ish with an ATACR 1-8x

53816073585_e6383c6d11_h.jpg


==


I day zeroed (the green dot) and I night collimated - the handwarmer. I'm a little bit left - IDK what the "click value" is but it isn't 0.1 inches.


53815965054_97a0ed6774_h.jpg


Collimating was super easy. You line up the "collimating reticle" with your day scope reticle - done. For a decade - we have to guess and guess and guess and shoot. No longer !! Now we line em up and shoot to verify.

==
Here's a shot of the mineral cube and salt cube on the ground around the corral ...

53815968324_628f4d90c3_h.jpg


==

And here's a shot of a cow ...

53815869828_5aa73458c1_h.jpg


==

Here's a side by side shot of the Jockey and the Apollo (my current Apollo is a 640 (30hz).

53815960504_dab8ef6497_h.jpg


==


And here's a shot of the cubes by the corral with the Apollo (the cow had moved)

53815961469_bca5d3f732_h.jpg


==


Pros and Cons

The Jockey is small
The apollo is about 50% longer than the Jockey


Judging by my mk1eb I'd say the Apollo could see more detail
Neither of them are a voodoo-S but they can get the job done. I usually run the Apollo on the 22lr and counting the earlier apollo I got back in 2014 - I've killed > 200 critters with Apollos ... mostly mice - but plenty of coons and opossum and other. I shot eley 40gr(or36gr) subsonic HP.
Both have manual focus. WIth the Apollo not much changes in the middle of the adjustment range ... only at the 2 ends. With the Jockey its much more sensitve and a small turn at any point thru the range gets you some visible adjustment.

This is a newer Apollo and has auto-nuc, so does the Jockey.

The jockey does NOT exhibit the "jerkiness" I experienced with the sidekick when the SK was first released - so that good !!!

The Jockey seems to be using a modified SK housing. The Jockey has a larger front lens and a different rear lens - a collimating - non-adjustable lens since its a clipon. The jockey has a double length battery compartment so can use a 16650 or 2xc123 without a extension cap.
==

I would not rule out using the Jockey for critter control - the small size is the most attractive aspect to me. I could even run it on the 10.3 carbine in front on an nx8 1-8x ...
I hope they keep hammering away improving the image - the upgrades have improved the SK.

The SK is way better than the breach. Breach starts getting fuzzy above 50yds ... and sees blobs above 100yds. The SK is still clear out to 200yds which is a far as I can see on my land - I'm in the Ozarks, in the Mark Twain National Forest. But the SK isn't up to the level of a VoodooS/Skeet/Nox18 etc.

I haven't seen the latest upgrade to the SK software, but I suspect the Jockey's have that. The auto-nuc frequency is much reduced (still higher than the Apollo).

The focus is better on the Jockey (vs Apollo). Collimating is WAY better. WIth a little practice you can collimate the Jockey in seconds.
Battery compartment is better on the Jockey as well.

I briefly had a T&E Contractor 75mm 4.8x TWS last year and I thought it was great - it seemed to be in the OASYS ball park, so I'm not sure why the newer models aren't up to that standard. I'm sure the larger lens on the 4.8x helps.

I've been out 3 nights with it - but we hit 101F yesterday so not ideal conditions ...

Ask away if any questions and I'll try to answer.
 
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#541
wigwamitus said:
Ok, here's some first impressions on the Jockey 640.

I've been out 3 nights with it - but we hit 101F yesterday so not ideal conditions ...

Ask away if any questions and I'll try to answer.
Click to expand...

Can't wait to hear more about it. Looks like it would be a solid loaner unit instead of having to mount my RH25 that I mainly use these days for scanning.
 
#543
... Thanks for the info and pictures so far, is your scope at normal height?
Click to expand...

My scope ? You mean the NF NX8 1-8x dmx ?

Yes !!! 49mm ... aka 1.5" ish ...

Does that answer the question !?

==
EDIT:

My "normal" height used to be 1.34" (aka 34mm center) because I had 2 BAE UTCs and then we both 1.31" center and 34mm center was as close as I could get to that. But since I sold the 2 UTCs I am slowly migrating all my mounts to 1.5 ish (aka 49mm) to better align with the standard clipon height which is 1.5 ish ... like the PoT stuff is 1.535 ... and actually so is the Jockey, but 49mm is well within the tolerance.
 
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#545
wigwamitus said:
My scope ? You mean the NF NX8 1-8x dmx ?

Yes !!! 49mm ... aka 1.5" ish ...

Does that answer the question !?

==
EDIT:

My "normal" height used to be 1.34" (aka 34mm center) because I had 2 BAE UTCs and then we both 1.31" center and 34mm center was as close as I could get to that. But since I sold the 2 UTCs I am slowly migrating all my mounts to 1.5 ish (aka 49mm) to better align with the standard clipon height which is 1.5 ish ... like the PoT stuff is 1.535 ... and actually so is the Jockey, but 49mm is well within the tolerance.
Click to expand...
yeah, my thing is I like to run my optics at 1.93" so I will need to figure out how to make the jockey sit higher, or maybe it will be fine, I dunno.
 
#546
javemtr said:
I hope you mean 39 mm, which is exactly the PoT 1.535". 49 mm would be 1.93".
And the Spuhr mounts are officially listed as 38 mm, so 1.496".
Click to expand...
Thanks for the corrections !! What I get for bein' in a hurry (n)

yeah, my thing is I like to run my optics at 1.93" so I will need to figure out how to make the jockey sit higher, or maybe it will be fine, I dunno.
Click to expand...

When I've needed to go higher (like when using Apollo 100mm which is about 1.9 ish) ... I put a 0.5 riser under the clipon ...

49961073582_80535e736e_b.jpg


Though the case in that pic (I found first) is utc at 1.31 on 0.5 riser matching up eyeball close to that elcan ...
 
#547
wigwamitus said:
Thanks for the corrections !! What I get for bein' in a hurry (n)



When I've needed to go higher (like when using Apollo 100mm which is about 1.9 ish) ... I put a 0.5 riser under the clipon ...

49961073582_80535e736e_b.jpg


Though the case in that pic (I found first) is utc at 1.31 on 0.5 riser matching up eyeball close to that elcan ...
Click to expand...


you have some wicked stuff.
 
#549
... You aren't worried about muzzle blast next to that optic? ...
Click to expand...

Nope, the devil is in the details :ROFLMAO:

That a2 is on there as I was running a BFA up there for recent training event. I removed the BFA for the pic.

When I'm actually shooting that gun it has a suppressor on it and moves the muzzle blast several inches farther forward.
 
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#550
I love my Armasight Jockey 320 Compact Thermal Clip-On. It is super easy to use, the controls are simple. It weighs so little that it is barely even noticeable. It say to be used with a LPVO (max 6X) but I have it behind a Leupold MK5 2-10 and I was able to accurately use it at 10X at 200 yards.
 
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