Night Vision FLIR T-75 Long Range Operational Review

[SkyPup]

As many of you know, I had the good fortune to get one of the first FLIR T-70s available to civvies when they came out to apply to my land management problems and liked it so much I soon got another, as well as a nice M-18 Recon hand held scanner that uses the same controls as the T-70.

The T-70 is basically a weaponized M-18.

Many hogs and coyotes later I was excited to hear about and see the new T-75s with the 100mm germanium lens at the 2014 Shot Show in Vegas where I got my hands on one at the FLIR Government Services booth and talked to their engineers about them at the beginning of this year.

The T-70's have a 35mm germanium lens and a WFOV 0.5X, 1.0X and 2.0X Stand Alone internal magnification and will work with a day optic up to 4X without pixelation and up to 6X with some pixelation. These are [span style='font-weight: bold;']short range[/span] thermal weapons scopes good out to 300 yards.

The T-75's have a 100mm germanium lens and a 1.0X, 2.0X, and 4.0X Stand Alone internal magnification and will work with a day optic up to 8X without pixelation and up to 12X with some pixelation. These are [span style='font-weight: bold;']long range[/span] thermal weapon scopes good out to 800 yards.

Having a couple of 7.62mms and a couple of Elcan 1.5X-6X-42mm day optics, I was itching to get my hands on a T-75 and stretch things out a bit over my previous T-70 experiences.

I talked to Victor at TNVC, where I had purchased my T-70's and M-18, to see if he would let me use one of the FLIR GS T-75s when he got his hands on one and he sent me one to try out last month. It immediately went on one of my SIG 716/Elcan rifles and I proceeded to try it out to compare to my extensive T-70 experiences in the same woods on my properties where I night hunt, unfortunately it was August/September in Northern Florida in the hottest wettest soggiest time of the year with an active El Nino pretty much saturating us day and night for the last couple of months. This is the WORST time of year to be using a thermal weapon scope, however it performed admirably, although I wish I could have targeted the mosquitoes with it.....

SIG 716/Elcan Specter DR 1.5X-6.0X-42mm FLIR T-75:

I will work up more to this review and answer questions as they arise as time permits....

 

[SkyPup]

The manual controls and ergonomic operational features of the T-75 are identical to the T-70/M-18.

Front shot of the 100mm lens/lens cap and nice solid LaRue mount on the T-75:

Ocular lens view:

Bottom view of T-75:

Right had side showing battery compartment, On/Off switch, Remote Control port for attaching remote:

Top view showing internal battery compartment and black focus adjustment right above ocular lens:

Left side showing Joystick/Menu controls and video out port:

The LaRue Mount puts the T-75 at the proper height to integrate with either a Truijicon ACOG 4X:

Or an Elcan Specter DR:

Both the T-70 and the T-75 were specifically designed for optimal performance with each of these two scopes and I will 100% agree to that, they work perfect.

 

[SkyPup]

Using the T-75 at night in the pouring down rain, I could easily ID and Target the head of a bunny at 225 yards without a problem, the video shows what you would be seeing if your were using the T-75 as a Stand Alone thermal scope, but I am seeing the same thing at 6X through the Elcan:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2CjwMP7KkM&feature=youtu.be


This is the kind of incredible resolution I was looking for.

 

[earthquake]

Nice review! I have a T75 coming Friday. If you don't mind, I have some questions, or I can ask in PM.

 

[SkyPup]

I'm not finished yet, but bring on the ????s, that is what this thread is here for!

 

[SkyPup]

Here are a couple of video out-takes from the T-75 to show it's long range, this is the same view you would have using it as a Stand Alone thermal weapon scope at 1X, 2X, and 4X, I am viewing this same view at 6X through the Elcan in Clip-On mode.


Environmental parameters were: pouring rain with heavy lightning, ambient air temperature 84*F:

 

[SkyPup]

These are my rough attempts at taking a photo through the entire setup from the Elcan Specter DR 1.5-6X-42mm day optic of some buzzards chowing on fresh hog offal in the rain in my back yard at a distance of 250 yards in the rain.

I held a digital camera up to the ocular lens of the Elcan on 6X and tried to take a pic of each of the internal digital magnification setttings in the FLIR T-75, ie 1.0X, 2.0X, and 4.0X, which actually through the eyepiece of the Elcan on 6X were photos of 6X, 12X, and 24X total magnification.



This one is 6X total:

This one is 12X total:

This one is 24X total:

Again, this was in the pouring down rain at sweltering 85*F temps, so about the worst possible thermal conditions to operate in, it has been like that here nonstop for six or more weeks now.....like I said earlier, even in the rain, I could (and have) make a head shot on a coon at 250 yards without a problem from a rest.

 

[SkyPup]

Okay, not finished with this review yet, but any good review needs a good night hog killing video to get things rolling, so here is one of many I took in the pouring down rain.......

Enjoy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Fwk-8ojMw


Believe it or not, that was a two for one shot, I was waiting for the two hogs to line up so I could shoot the first one through the lungs and have the Barnes 130gr pass though and take down the far side hog. You can see he was hit in the video but got away from me alone by myself out in woods in the rain at night. However, one of my friends saw some buzzards and smelled something bad and found my hog not far away from where this all went down...

 

[SkyPup]

Since people that are interested in LONG RANGE will be interested in the T-75, here is what I learned using it for long range kills.

First off, when you turn in on in Clip-On mode or Stand Alone mode, it comes on in 1X digital magnification, there is no 0.5 WFOV digital magnification like the T-70 has.

So, your FOV is limited.

My T-70 at 200 yards has an FOV about 150 yards wide, the T-75 at 200 yards has an FOV about 35 yards wide.

The T-75 will put you right on top of your target at 200 yards if you can find it in the FOV, which in the woods can be a difficult feat to accomplish after first spotting a heat signature with a handheld thermal scanner with a much larger FOV.

Your target really needs to be out about 300 yards before you have an adequate FOV at 1X to be able to pick it up first off prior to targeting.

I used one of my Elcan Specter DRs with the T-75 and it REALLY increased my targeting ability since I was able to flip the Elcan to 1.5X or 6X at will.

Rarely, except at long ranges over 250 yards, would I start off with the Elcan on 6X because I could not find the target I had spotted with my LS64 or M-18.

Once I spotted the target in the T-75 FOV, I could then immediately switch the Elcan to 6X for targeting long range.

The T-75 is just too powerful to start off using it at 6X, although turning the digital magnification to 2X and targeting at 12X was a piece of cake, even at digital magnification of 4X and targeting at 24X I still easily made long range shots.

However, these long range shots were sniper shots from a suppressed .308 and once the slug wacked a hog and they scattered, it was next to impossible to retarget the ones on the run at that high magnification as they would run out of the FOV.

Same thing happened to me numerous times with charging coyotes and it was very frustrating to see the coyote out at 350 yards and then have them charge in and loose them, only to see them again in my LS-64 or M-18 50ft in front of me but unable to find them in the T-75.....

So, if you are thinking of investing in a true hardened mil-spec long range thermal instrument like this, only do it if the majority of your shots are over 250 yards or more, it is NOT a short range instrument.

Sow at 300 yards in Stand Alone mode 1X, I am seeing this at 6X:

Sow at 300 yards in Stand Alone mode 2X, I am seeing this at 12X:

Sow at 300 yard in Stand Alone mode 4X, I am seeing this at 24X:

Here is the sow after I pulled the trigger @ 300 yards:

Here is the video of the sow getting shot with the T-75 from the T-75 video output:


http://www.phossil.com/thom/Night Vision/FLIR T75/T75 Sow/T75 Sow.mp4

 

[SkyPup]

The above thermal photographs of that sounder and the sow was in teaming down rain at 85*F, and the T-75 still performed extremely well under these conditions.

Pay attention to the FOV in those photos @ 300 yards.

This rural electric powerline is two miles long and one of the few places that I can use the T-75 on the property since the electric company keeps their easement mowed and uncluttered.

Their easement is 80 feet wide, on both side of their easement are planted pines and live oak plantations.

In the first 1X internal digital magnification photo at 300 yards, you can see that the entire FOV of the T-75 is about 120 feet wide or only 40 yards.

In the second 2X internal digital magnification photo at 300 yards, you can see that the entire FOV of the T-75 is about 25 yards if that.

In the third 4X internal digital magnification photo at 300 yards when I pulled the trigger, the entire FOV of the T-75 is about 10 yards.


I was able to ID and specifically target the sow and not the rest of the sounder group, however after I dropped her, even with the suppressor, they scattered and ran out of the FOV so I could ttarget them again and take out more of them.


Like I said, the T-75 is a high power long range hardened mil-spec thermal, not a short range device.....

 

[SkyPup]

The other thing I wanted to mention about the T-75 is that it is too much for a 5.56mm rifle, at the extended ranges it is good for you need a rifle/cartridge that will put out over twice the energy of a 5.56mm round for reliable kill shots. A good tripod is required for making those long range shots too.