Preface:
I have no involvement with the company, purchased this product for full MSRP on pre-order. This post is meant to discuss the unit's capabilities and impressions after using it for couple of days. The idea is to expand and update (& correct) this post with feedback from others who have experience with the product.Background:
Rumors began flying in early '24 about a new WMLRF coming out later that year. This was eventually confirmed when a few posts surfaced on social media and @DocUSMCRetired himself confirmed the unit's existence later in the year here on the Hide. With options limited for years to essentially a Raptar, Radius & STORM or recently MARS, MRF and Vortex 4000. With some major downsides to most of those options, new WMLRF with onboard Applied ballistics just north of a $1000 was a fairly exciting proposition. Despite sour taste from a few pre-orders in this industry in the past, I obviously learned nothing & went ahead and got on the list. Orders were taken in late December '24 with full price paid upfront, ETA from Tango Innovations was 2nd or 3rd week in Jan '25. They only missed the deadline by about a week, with email communication on the original deadline stating as such. Shipping was upgraded to expedited as a result for everyone on pre-order free of charge. Good on them in that respect, no gripes from me.
What arrived:
Well packaged unit with remote button (4 pin connector, fisher maybe?), some zip ties & zero-ing reflective targets (no stickers, c'mon guys, all of us are suckers for stickers!). Manual is on the website and another copy was emailed with the note "no paper manual included. Applied Ballistics is in the process of transitioning to the new AB Quantum app, which will soon simplify the control of all your devices. Since this change is happening soon, we’ve provided a virtual manual instead." I have no idea what this transition will look like for Fire4000 users.
Key Features directly from Tango with a few of my own notes:
We develop our own app (AB Synapse - BOSS) and ally with Applied Ballistic. There are different models of software applications. Search for AB Synapse – Boss or BOSS on both Apple iOS and Android, Google Play.1. FIRE4000 UltraLite (For Hunting)
2. FIRE4000 Sportsman (For Sport Training)
3. FIRE4000 Elite (For Long Professional Shooting)- I assume this is what we got with lower models coming out in the future?
OLED Display
The built-in laser rangefinder can quickly measure the target distance and angle, displaying the results on the OLED screen. Additionally, there is a setting for adjusting the screen brightness. The display is amazingly crisp, 3 brightness settings, it shows all relevant information as far as I can tell so far. if I had to complain about something. I could use a NV friendly brightness setting on the low end.
Vertical and Horizontal Screen
There are settings for both Vertical and Horizontal screens, available on both the left and right sides. To adjust the screen direction, long press for 2 seconds to cycle through the 1-2-3 options. This function works as advertised and is obviously useful for horizontal vs vertical mounting.
Invisible Laser and Visible Laser
The invisible laser, Class 1 with a wavelength of 905nm, is used for measuring distances up to 4000 yards.
The visible laser, Class 2 with a wavelength of 635nm, is utilized for zeroing in on targets and measuring distances up to 100 yards.
Battery Performance
Battery Model : CR123A 3V
Installation : Battery "+" facing inward, "-" facing outward.
Weight is listed at 420g which is 14.8 oz, I weighed this thing at 15.7 oz including the activation cable, so they weren't lying and this thing is a Chooonk. Not that it's current main competitor Vortex is any lighter at 16oz. This area should be the main area of improvement if there's ever a V2 of this. MARS is 1/2 the weight (and 7x the price, I know) but the technology is there nowadays, and I don't see any backcountry hunters packing an extra pound when handheld RFs are in the 6-8 oz range nowadays.
Dimensions listed are 111x75x47mm, which is 4.37x2.95x1.85in. The width is really 2.5in if you don't measure the battery cap and the height is closer to 1.5in from top of the rail.
Performance:
While we are talking about zeroing, the red laser activation button can be hard to activate/deactivate (this is by design to prevent NDs). The elevation/windage adjustments have no clicks to them, it just feels like you are turning against about 2-3 in/lbs of resistance. This doesn't bother me as I never understood everyone's obsession with tactile clicks and somehoe judging optic's tracking ability by how the clicks "feel" or "sound". Unless we are talking about TT clicks, but that is more of an art to me than a necessity. I'm probably starting an argument here so I digress... Looking through the optic, you can clearly see the laser moving the direction you're moving the flathead screwdriver, no biggie, gets the job done.
My vis seems fairly well slaved to the RF laser, I didn't get ranges off target (or inversely no range while on target) until I got out to ~2000 yards and even then it was only .1mil in the horizontal direction.
There are 2 AB modes on the unit, External and Internal.
External is straight forward, pair with a kestrel via BT and go. Connection is fast and automatic once you initially pair them. I have had those two units synced for about 30 min total so far on about 5 occasions and haven't dropped connection once. Kestrel gets the range from the Tango, does it's thing and spits the solution back out to the Tango under 0.5 sec. One great thing I was excited about is you can build your target card on the Kestrel by ranging with the FIRE4000, great.
The internal mode is a little different story and I hope I get some feedback from others so I can update. You use the BOSS app to set up the rifle profile (is the Quantum making it easy to transfer profiles from device to device?! because I'm about tired of making the same AB profiles across the ecosystem evertyime I pick up a new device...). This is where I am seeing some discrepancies, when the BOSS is connected to the FIRE4000, I seem to get correct elevation adjustments that match my Kestrel (within reason, some of the atmospheric and DOF conditions were off in below pic resulting in a small discrepancy). However, once I go to airplane mode on my phone and let the device do 100% of the internal calculations, I get results that are... well let's say not exactly jiving with the Kestrel... I am sure I'm missing something here and hope to get corrected via other users so I can update.
Ranged .2mil targets no problem out do 1000yds, all I have available past that are buildings, a water tower and stadium lights, it hit all those no problem to 2000yds first time everytime for me.
Random facts and thoughts:
Ranges compared to my Sig8k came back 3-5yds long on the FIRE4000 consistently at all distances, whether it was 100yds or 2000yds. Not big enough discrepancy to be able to verify with a GPS, so I'm calling it good enough for gov't work.
Vibration when acquiring a target is a feature I thought would get turned off immediately, will have to see how it affects battery life but as of right now it's actually a useful tool I will keep enabled.
Tango Innovations is a company I know nothing about, according to their contact, they appear Canada based, customer service communication has been ok so far.
Unit is made in China (ewww) according to the box.
Mount is a spring loaded crossbolt design with 2 screws, no torque spec included so I guestimated and sent it..
Powered by a single cr123 battery positioned in the correct perpendicular orientation.
Confirmed some load data and fired roughly 50 rnds of 6.5cr out of LMT MWS today, holding zero so far
Activation switch could have been lot smaller, if not even just just more low profile, but not a deal breaker compared to a Raptar switch etc..
Distance and internal solution return is lightning fast, like .2-.3 sec is my guess.
Buttonology on top of the unit is well thought out, with most buttons providing a function with a short click and then some sort of a mode change with a 2 sec hold. GTG there, simple and effective.
Will have to update later on how this gets along with my PVS26, didn't get a chance to go out for night shenanigans this weekend.
I'm sure I missed a ton, fire away Hiders, let me know what else there is to touch on...
