I currently own a Rico Rs75, Halo-X LRF, and Trijicon UTC-Xii, and while I never planned on doing a review and didn't take any notes, I figured I'd do a quick review based off my recent observations.
The Rs75 significantly outperforms the Halo-X LRF and UTC-XII by a very significant margin on image recognition, distance, and FOV. I've never seen a thermal picture as smooth, crisp, and enjoyable as the Rs75's, even when comparing it to a Hiss-XLR! The image recognition isn't as good as a Hiss-XLR, but it is prettier to look through and has a smoother / less grainy overall picture from the 1280 x 1024 resolution and insanely wide FOV not to mention you don't have to wait 5 minutes for the Hiss-xlr to cool down all while scaring animals off with it's loud humming noise!
The Halo-x and UTC are superior when it comes to their 60mhz refresh rate vs. Rs75's 30 MHZ . You won't notice the lag on the Rs75 until you start scanning, but when you do, you start feeling it could make you sick if you did it long enough.
While the Rs-75 offers better image recognition than the UTC-XII if I'm looking to reach out past say 300 hundred yards, I'd choose the UTC-Xii clip-on to be able to dial in my shot using my Raptar-S ballistic solution. A few inches in shot place is the difference between a wounded animal or even a miss so simple holdovers on the Rs75 aren't going to cut it at a distance with live targets . I'd love to see the next version of the Rs75 have a built-in ballistic calculator and 60mhz refresh.
I occasionally use the UTC-XII Traceir functionality; however, the UTC-XII polymer and small base mount results in it flexing too much to be reliable. I live in Texas and my UTC requires a nuc every 5 minutes or so since the UTC-XII doesn't have auto nuc built in. I have to put the cap on it and press the Nuc button, and unfortunately, pressing the button puts enough force on the UTC-XII to move the traceir out of alignment. I have an AXSR so am confident that the rail isn't the problem with the flex. I love the concept of the TRACEIR but on the UTC-XII it's all but worthless in my opinion.
I'm in the process of putting a deposit down on the new x-ELR MK2 and am looking to replace my UTC-XII simply for the luxury of not having to manually NUC anymore. I can't tell you how many targets I've missed spending half my time in the field struggling to reach the end of the Xii to put the cap on it and nuc it. The other big gripe I have on the UTC-xii is that it has terrible POI shift as a result of it's 1.31 optical center vs a standard 1.5 center.
This leads me to a few questions I have on POI shift with thermal clipons..........
Let's say I own the x-ELR MK2 which has a 1.5 centerline and pair with with a scope base that has a 1.5 inch height centerline. Clipping the thermal on would normally would result in in 0 POI shift from my daytime scope....
2.Many guns have inclination built into the rail these days. If the thermal is 1.5 and the scope base is 1.5 what happens to POI if it's put on an mrad with a 10 mill inclination built in? Would this result in POI Shift?
3.If you have a scope base that has 13 mil inclination and put it on a gun such as the Mrad with 10 mil built into the trail how does this affect POI shift from daytime to thermal?
I've looked long and hard and couldn't find any information on the above three questions; hopefully, someone here knows. thanks!!
The Rs75 significantly outperforms the Halo-X LRF and UTC-XII by a very significant margin on image recognition, distance, and FOV. I've never seen a thermal picture as smooth, crisp, and enjoyable as the Rs75's, even when comparing it to a Hiss-XLR! The image recognition isn't as good as a Hiss-XLR, but it is prettier to look through and has a smoother / less grainy overall picture from the 1280 x 1024 resolution and insanely wide FOV not to mention you don't have to wait 5 minutes for the Hiss-xlr to cool down all while scaring animals off with it's loud humming noise!
The Halo-x and UTC are superior when it comes to their 60mhz refresh rate vs. Rs75's 30 MHZ . You won't notice the lag on the Rs75 until you start scanning, but when you do, you start feeling it could make you sick if you did it long enough.
While the Rs-75 offers better image recognition than the UTC-XII if I'm looking to reach out past say 300 hundred yards, I'd choose the UTC-Xii clip-on to be able to dial in my shot using my Raptar-S ballistic solution. A few inches in shot place is the difference between a wounded animal or even a miss so simple holdovers on the Rs75 aren't going to cut it at a distance with live targets . I'd love to see the next version of the Rs75 have a built-in ballistic calculator and 60mhz refresh.
I occasionally use the UTC-XII Traceir functionality; however, the UTC-XII polymer and small base mount results in it flexing too much to be reliable. I live in Texas and my UTC requires a nuc every 5 minutes or so since the UTC-XII doesn't have auto nuc built in. I have to put the cap on it and press the Nuc button, and unfortunately, pressing the button puts enough force on the UTC-XII to move the traceir out of alignment. I have an AXSR so am confident that the rail isn't the problem with the flex. I love the concept of the TRACEIR but on the UTC-XII it's all but worthless in my opinion.
I'm in the process of putting a deposit down on the new x-ELR MK2 and am looking to replace my UTC-XII simply for the luxury of not having to manually NUC anymore. I can't tell you how many targets I've missed spending half my time in the field struggling to reach the end of the Xii to put the cap on it and nuc it. The other big gripe I have on the UTC-xii is that it has terrible POI shift as a result of it's 1.31 optical center vs a standard 1.5 center.
This leads me to a few questions I have on POI shift with thermal clipons..........
Let's say I own the x-ELR MK2 which has a 1.5 centerline and pair with with a scope base that has a 1.5 inch height centerline. Clipping the thermal on would normally would result in in 0 POI shift from my daytime scope....
- What would happen if my day scope base had a 13 mil inclination built in? Would the 13 mil inclination affect POI on the thermal vs my daytime scope POI?
2.Many guns have inclination built into the rail these days. If the thermal is 1.5 and the scope base is 1.5 what happens to POI if it's put on an mrad with a 10 mill inclination built in? Would this result in POI Shift?
3.If you have a scope base that has 13 mil inclination and put it on a gun such as the Mrad with 10 mil built into the trail how does this affect POI shift from daytime to thermal?
I've looked long and hard and couldn't find any information on the above three questions; hopefully, someone here knows. thanks!!
