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Night Vision The Official: Steiner C35 Thermal Clip-on Review and User Thread!
- Thread starter TheHorta
- Start date
So I got mine in and its awesome. Especially for the price point. Only issue I'm having is that it doesn't zoom in. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong but the manual says to hold the up button to zoom in. I held it for 10 seconds and the image doesn't change. Anyone know whats up?
I have already brought this up with Steiner and they should be fixing the issue with the manuals.
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Same with mine so I called Steiner and they said the C35 does NOT have this feature by design. The manual is not correct.
I have not played with the PIP feature yet. I am still trying to reach far enough out to adjust the focus when I am behind the rifle. 
I did not like that there is no cover for the ocular, seems odd for a clip-on I thought. If it helps anyone I purchased a Monstrum Scope Lens Cover Size D (31-36 mm). It fits real tight and is larger than the ocular so it does not obstruct the picture. Works very well.
Edit: Added an "s" to work
Edit: Added an "s" to work
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I am waiting on the final design stages of the focus throw lever before I will have them. I have been working on this since I recieved the first couple C35s.
Is someone developing one? I was working on a throw lever/ring design but would rather buy something, depending on what it is.
Edit: After rereading your post, I guess you are designing one?
Yes, water jetted 3d modeled aluminum being made by the same guy who made the PVS30 throw levers on here.
So close. I've been wanting to see one on the MWS, but mine has the shorter rail. I think it will barely fit with my Mk5 25x behind it. If anything, the front objective will hover over the gas block. How did the C35 change the overall feeling of the rifle? Mine currently weighs 15.8lbs unloaded. Adding another 2lbs already makes my shoulders sore thinking about it.I have not played with the PIP feature yet. I am still trying to reach far enough out to adjust the focus when I am behind the rifle.
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The SR-25 weighs in at 18.9 lbs, unloaded, as shown in the picture with the suppressor. I haven't had a chance to fire it with the C35 on yet. The rifle as is, minus the C35, has a relatively low felt recoil already and it is a smooth impulse. The addition of the C35 will lower the felt recoil even more.
That's surprising. You must have a heavy can, longer rail, and 24" barrel? My MWS is basically the same as yours minus the red dot and not that heavy. I know the SR25 is generally 1lb lighter in equivalent setup according to specs from the factory.
I weighed the rifle when you asked your initial question because I had not done that since adding the can and the stock and was surprised how much it weighed. Mrs. DustBun has been complaining about the weight every time I make her carry it when we go shoot but I figured she was just complaining about yet one more thing.
The Knights model is the SR-25 E2 PR which has a 20" barrel and it is a somewhat heavy walled barrel. The can is a Knights model 7.62 PRS/QDC and it is listed at 20.8 oz. The scope, a US Optics B-17, is rather heavy at 31.1 oz and then there is the Spuhr mount. The LMT DMR stock is also a bit heavy. The ounces do add up, a little here, a little there. I think the weight problem is because of the DeltaPoint Pro.
If you would like me to take some measurements on the C35, like from the Picatinny rail lock and the ocular and objective lens, to give you a better idea of how it would mount on your MWS, let me know.
Has anyone successfully used a C35 in front of a scope mounted in a 20-30 MOA mount? It has always been fine with my PVS-30, PVS-27, and PAS-13G, but those are mil-spec collimated devices. My guess is that it would be fine since the image can be zeroed, but if anyone has any direct experience I'd love to hear about it.
I weighed the rifle when you asked your initial question because I had not done that since adding the can and the stock and was surprised how much it weighed. Mrs. DustBun has been complaining about the weight every time I make her carry it when we go shoot but I figured she was just complaining about yet one more thing.
The Knights model is the SR-25 E2 PR which has a 20" barrel and it is a somewhat heavy walled barrel. The can is a Knights model 7.62 PRS/QDC and it is listed at 20.8 oz. The scope, a US Optics B-17, is rather heavy at 31.1 oz and then there is the Spuhr mount. The LMT DMR stock is also a bit heavy. The ounces do add up, a little here, a little there. I think the weight problem is because of the DeltaPoint Pro.
If you would like me to take some measurements on the C35, like from the Picatinny rail lock and the ocular and objective lens, to give you a better idea of how it would mount on your MWS, let me know.
I have 5.5” of room from the end of my scope cover to the last open pic rail spot. Is that enough room?
Yes, you will have room. I have attached a picture with some dimensions that may help. The distance from the center of the Picatinny rail lug to the end of the ocular is 3.00". From the ocular to the right side of the Picatinny clamp is 3.00"+2.25" = 5.25" so you should get full clamping. The focus ring/objective will extend past the rail as you previously mentioned.
You can also possibly "inset" the C35 ocular into the objective end of the scope to shorten if needed as shown below. Of course being careful not to get too close to the objective lens which could damage it. It will just depend on which slot the Picatinny rail lug on the C35 will work.
I have not had mine out in the field yet. I have mine in front of a USO B-17 3.2-17X. I have an illuminated Horus H102 which when turned on is really nice.
According to Steiner's sell sheet, attached, the distances are:
DETECTION: Human 1800 m, Vehicle 4400 m
RECOGNITION: Human 450 m, Vehicle 1100 m
I received mine today and got to look through it but not shoot it yet. I can only speak to the image at this point. I am simply dumbfounded by how good the image is, before even taking into account the price tag. I've owned a shit load of thermals, the nicest of which was the AN/PAS-13G LWTS. That was a hell of a scope but I sold it after moving out of FL where I could hunt hogs. While I don't still have that one to compare this to side by side, I must say that this is at least its equal as far as image quality goes... if not better. If this thing zeroes nicely, holds onto that zero, and doesn't have crazy firmware or recoil issues, it is going to be a big winner for me. The bang to buck ratio here is off the charts as far as thermals go so far.
Spotting coyotes at 700m, bunnies at 500m and mule deer at 800m was the best I could do at 4x with an IOR Recon optic with the C35. I'd probably tap out beyond 500m if I was looking to engage something the like a mule deer and 400m on something like a coyote but that's a matter of personal choice and judgement.
I was able to get some rounds under my new C35 today. I'm impressed with the image and how easy it was to zero to my setup this afternoon. I confirmed day scope zero on my AR22 at 50 yd, then added the C35. Out of the box, POI was 2 MOA low and 1 MOA right. After two adjustments and six rounds, it was zeroed. I then pulled it off and put it back on the same rail slot to test RTZ. It worked perfectly, no shift. I've saved the AR22 as profile A and recorded the X/Y coordinates and rail slot number to keep w/ that rifle's data and on a card with the clip-on. I'm glad it provides the X/Y coordinates since that allows you to save zero data for more than just the three profiles in the menu. I brought out some foil to use on the target like I've done for thermals in the past, but this one did not need it despite it not being particularly sunny. I was able to use a standard paper target w/ a darkish bullseye just like I was w/ my LWTS when I had that. I ran out of time to zero it on my lightweight 16" 6.5 Creedmoor gas gun since I wanted to get home for the kids' bedtime, but will do that in the next couple of weeks.
Also, people are saying these are enormous. It is about the same size/weight as my LWTS was, so I don't really notice it. It feels sturdy and I like how non-cheap the battery compartment/door feels. I am extremely happy with it so far and feel like I got WAY more than my than my money's worth on this scope, just like my PVS-27. I've not used the Oasys/now Trijicon stuff before so will have to defer to Horta's earlier comparisons, but I do believe it has a better image than my LWTS (which was, itself, spectacular) did and I LOVE having the ability to adjust screen position and take pictures/videos. As others have mentioned, a 75-100mm lens version of this optic would be spectacular as long as they don't cheap out on lens quality.
TL/DR: So far, I love it.
Also, people are saying these are enormous. It is about the same size/weight as my LWTS was, so I don't really notice it. It feels sturdy and I like how non-cheap the battery compartment/door feels. I am extremely happy with it so far and feel like I got WAY more than my than my money's worth on this scope, just like my PVS-27. I've not used the Oasys/now Trijicon stuff before so will have to defer to Horta's earlier comparisons, but I do believe it has a better image than my LWTS (which was, itself, spectacular) did and I LOVE having the ability to adjust screen position and take pictures/videos. As others have mentioned, a 75-100mm lens version of this optic would be spectacular as long as they don't cheap out on lens quality.
TL/DR: So far, I love it.
Vortex gen 2 PST 3-15x44 MRAD. I only used it at 6x and below due to the short range involved and so I could still see the menu (I like how they placed the menu/battery indicator so that it is visible through the magnified day optic). The day optic sits in 1.25" rings. I have also looked through it on another gun that has the same optic in a 1.125" height 20 MOA mount and could see through it no problem. One of the things I was wondering about this unit was whether or not it would be tolerant of low-mounted scopes as I prefer on precision guns. So far my experience mirrors that of the poster above, it does fine w/ 20 MOA bases.
I've only used it up to 8x on a LPVO so far, image was still completely usable. I recall my LWTS degrading severely above 6x, but that has now been a few years.
I would think yes based on the reasoning that my 1.125" mount is ~0.375" lower than the standard 1.5" and it still worked fine. I can test a more extreme version of that later today since I have an LPVO in a 1.93" mount on my X95. I'm guessing you won't have as much screen to work with on the lower magnifications, but we shall see later... for science.
I'll be curious to see your results on this, so keep us posted. I went and got 1.73" rings because my night vision hood for my chassis is about .3" taller than my day scope base in order to keep the two optics as close as possible, and it works but I ran out of vertical adjustment on my cheek pad.
Other than that I love this thing, and to answer another question in the thread I'm able to identify cattle out to 1000+ yards easily and this is in front of a Razor Gen 3 6-36 day scope, and have made consecutive impacts on heated steel out to 765. Once I get to 10x it gets really pixelated, but you can still make hits with it. It really shines around the 6-8 range for my scope anyway. The main reason I ever zoomed past 6x was to see more of the reticle for wind adjustments.
And clipping it on and off it holds zero just fine. Also on a 20 MOA mount and it works fine, I'm even able to use my scope turret adjustments to hit the farther targets. I love that it has 3 zero settings because I can hop it around on different rifles easily.
Absolutely. Please consider that this is ONLY IMAGERY. I have NOT fired this on my X95 yet or tried to zero it. I truly did not intend to do so, but may do so now just as an experiment. I doubt it would pose any problems to zero this setup, but have made no effort to do so at this time. See images below taken through LPVO in ADM Recon-H 1.93" mount at 1x and ~2.5x (absolute minimum magnification and lowest magnification where all of LPVO's FOV was w/in thermal output screen, respectively). This is a fairly extreme example of height misalignment, yet the image still presents itself fine. I opted not to glass over the neighborhood with this, so you will have to settle for basement pics
I've also started messing with the "enhanced" scene mode and think it potentially holds a great deal of promise for zeroing or aiming in general. We will see if that shakes out practice.
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