ATN ThOR 4

We been using the ATN X-Sight 4K for about 7 months now which is a day/night scope with IR for night. Using it along with nvg's and ir aiming lasers, we have been pretty successful eliminating nuisance opportunistic predatory members of the canine family and feral hogs. We added a thermal monocular and to aid in locating in cover which blocks IR. Been contemplating thermal scopes for quite some time and have tested a few out. We decided to go with ATN Thor series because the price is unbeatable for the quality of the ATN products. The interface is easy to use and very intuitive with ranging, built in ballistics, etc. And since we had the IR XSite HD already, we were familiar with the onboard features and navigation. It's truly one shot zero. After mounting and doing a quick bore sight we were able to put the host in a vise, punch a hole and adjust the reticle to the point of impact. Of course we did some more testing before going into the field, but the scope required no more adjustment. Not having a thermal sight compatible target we simply used a small hardware, busted it open and taped it to a decent sized piece of cardboard on our farm range. The hardware provided an adequate target with the thermal contrast between the cardboard. Looking forward to the battery life in the field although we added the ATN battery backup and upgraded to a decent QD mount. Make sure whatever mount you use is low and as close to the bore axis as possible and that the scope when fully mounted is level, without casting and inline with the bore. Most issue I've heard people complain about were addressed and fixed by remounting the device with these things in mind because it's much different than a variable power traditinal optical scope. We are very satisfied so far and obviously with the X-Site HD IR scope. It is nice not needing an illuminator for the thermal version. Although we rarely use the features, the photo and video capabilities are nice to have onboard with the recoil activated recording. The Obsidian app connected via wifi to the scope allows your partners to see exactly what you seen through the scope and it also gives you access to the settings and gallery without actually being on the scope looking through the diopter.

I did a great deal of research before making this purchase. Good thermal scopes are not cheap, and I wanted to make sure that I didn't make a purchase that I would regret. I read the reviews of others and watched a number of YouTube videos before proceeding. I also called the Customer Support number BEFORE making my purchase to see if they would actually pick up. They did. I not only had a conversation (with a real person) but they were actually knowledgeable about the product. [FIRST PLUS]. When I purchased a Thor 4 HD Thermal scope, it required a firmware update. It behaved exactly like the instructions and videos said that it would, and I had no problems at all. I zero'd the scope and that process was as simple as they claimed it would be. Once it was dialed in, it has been a pure source of joy and satisfaction. The videos that are produced from the scope are easily exported via wi-fi to your mobile app. This makes it super easy to post or share with your friends, providing a super unique way to share your thrills and provide some excitement directly with your friends. I also added an ABL for auto range finding, which was simple and easy to configure, connect and zero in. Everything worked according to plan. I have since bought a second one so that I can share the same fun experience with a buddy while we venture out together. I would NEVER have bought a second if I didn't believe in the product, the company, and their great support. The only negative I experienced is that the first scope locked up on me - because I did NOT follow their directions to update the firmware immediately. Once I did what I was told, it solved the issue and it never happened again. All Good!

2020 JULY UPDATE: Been using a Pulsar Thermion XP50 for several months now. The Thermion series doesn't have laser rangefinder capabilities, though Pulsar makes bulkier thermal scopes that do. The XP50 definitely feels like a quality product in comparison. Getting solid digital zeros out to 300 yards with a 9" SBR in .300 BLK running supersonics that it likes. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Context: I've used a lot of optics at varying price points. This Thor 4 640 2.5-25x is among the most expensive. A week later, the price dropped by almost a thousand dollars, likely due to some of the issues detailed below. Got the scope on 1/25/2019. Hardware/Fitment/Accessories: 1.5/5 Underwhelmed by the NcStar-feeling metal and poor fitment of parts. Aluminum tube quality feels sub-par for a $40 Simmons .22 scope There is a significant gap between the top plastic cover housing the buttons and the electronics of the scope - I doubt it would survive anything other than dry weather, but don't want to try and find out due to the cost. The USB-C port and MicroSD slots are significantly out of alignment with the holes cut for them, and are mounted deeper than they should be for usability. -This causes only certain USB-C cables to be able to charge the unit, and generally requires that cables be bent/damaged in order to fit deep enough into the port to initiate a charge. -Extremely difficult to insert or remove the MicroSD card. The memory slot is smaller than the fitment gap beneath it. Removing a card requires the use of tweezers until you enlarge the surrounding plastic with a nail file to expose more of the MicroSD port. The rubber gasket providing alleged weather resistance will not fully seat when a memory card is installed in the unit. My example has multiple dead pixel areas on the thermal sensor - an unacceptable amount for glass this expensive. The magnification levels are a half-truth(at best) - the maximum standard magnification is actually 10x (not 25x) - the rest has to be specifically enabled in software, and is exceptionally pixelated - the resulting image at 25x is unusable as far as quality. The "ATN Auxiliary Ballistic Rangefinder 1500" accessory has a very clunky and unreliable mechanism for mounting onto the scope. The first ABL I got came with the front plastic plate cracked, and something rattling internally. It is of similarly poor construction. Will write a separate review for this. The scope cover that comes with the unit cannot be used if you opt for the the ATN ABL1500 companion rangefinder accessory - I've found no larger case from ATN available for this scope configuration, and no lens covers or other accessories that would offer in-transport protection to this incredibly expensive piece of glass. This scope also does not come with a QD mounting solution. Presumably, most shooters can't afford to get one of these scopes for each of their rifles, so this seems like an obvious thing to include at this price point. The scope even has functionality to store multiple ballistic profiles for this exact purpose! Unfortunately, the vast majority of one-piece QD scope mounts will not fit this scope due to the space between the rings that the electronics box requires. The purpose-built (and $100 extra) "ATN Quick Detach Mount for 30mm Scope Tube" one-piece mount is of similarly poor quality, and doesn't hold zero on anything with even a moderate amount of recoil. Will write a separate review for this as well. Software/App: 0/5 As of this review, 3.3.04.330 is the latest firmware available. The scope crashes semi-frequently before even firing the rifle that it is attached to. Recoil Activated Video functionality/detection didn't activate recording upon repeated shots on a suppressed .300BLK SBR The companion app is useless - on most phones/tablets, the application doesn't detect the scope. On the devices that do occasionally detect the connected scope, there's effectively nothing functional in the app. According to reviews, the feature to get a live view from the scope was disabled in a prior app update because it crashed the scope. Attempting to change the default WiFi SSID or password in the app breaks all connectivity and results in a corrupt network name ("_unknown>" SSID), requiring factory reset of the scope to make it operational again. Downloading pictures or videos from the scope via the app usually throws an error, and crashes the app and/or scope - hence the need to remove the microsd card from the slot every single time. This Android companion app is currently rated two stars on the Google Play store. It really doesn't deserve such a high rating, as it accomplishes the rare feat of providing ABSOLUTELY NO FUNCTIONAL FEATURES worth mentioning at this time. (Obsidian 4 - version 1.23) Customer Service: ?/5 Attempted to contact ATN about some of these issues upon receipt of the scope and accessories, and haven't heard back. Overall: 1/5 Total cost for the scope, the ABL, and the QD mount was $5106.27 My example of this system is wholly unacceptable in multiple ways. Will refund unit with Amazon. Hopefully, the software/app experience is improved in the coming months/years, but I'm not especially optimistic. Intending to wait for the next generation of thermal scopes from other brands in the coming months.

I bought this scope to hog hunt with. The picture quality and refresh rate is good for a scope at this price point. It would be nice to have some magnification, but I could not afford a scope with higher magnification. This scope really shines when it is cold outside. Game stands out really well in cold temps. In 100 degree summer temps it is much more difficult to site on your game. Since everything is hot in the summer the pigs don't stand out as well as they do when it is cold outside. The battery life is extremely long. I mounted my scope on an AR10 .308, and it has kept it's zero very well.

Maybe they have fixed the QC issues - Mine shipped with the most up to date software and is working fine right out of box. I will update later after I have used more. I got the 2-8x zoom 384 model The sensor has high refresh rate and there is very minimal lag. Streaming to phone works, but there is a ~1 second video lag (that is a limitation of the wifi I'm sure, not a problem with software) The resolution looks great at minimal zoom. At full zoom it starts to look a little less clear but is still pretty good and plenty effective for deer & hog hunting. Understand that this is a limitation of the resolution of the sensor - not a problem with the software. If you want better resolution at higher magnification, then either get the 384 in a higher base magnification (so the sensor array will be grouped tighter) or get the 640 model. Only complaint: because the screen is small, the zoom is effectively half of what is stated. so the 2-8x is effectively a 1-4x. Field of view is pretty narrow though so this is better for spotting. So the model i got is perfect for both spotting and taking precise shots at varmint & game up to realistically ~120 yards. Maybe more. You will definitely be able to identify animals MUCH further out, but would have difficulty getting a clear & well placed shot (which is important for taking ethical shots on whitetail, and yes you can use this in the daytime). *Edit: I liked it so much that I upgraded to a refurbished one of the top models. It constantly froze and had issues. I returned it and now have nothing. Will buy Pulsar next time.

My family wants to enjoy hunting lately and they liked ATN products so much that we purchased another one. We used this thermal Thor 5 scope over the weekend and I can tell you that this thermal technology changes the game completely. The image quality is superb. Also, with this one I don't need to use an external illuminator which decreases the weight. It has all of the smart features where you can connect it to the phone or tablet and the family can watch in real time exactly what the scope is seeing. Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of this thing. I highly recommend it to every hunter out there.

I was very excited to get this scope (1.25x5)....but in the end and after testing for about 10 days decided it wasn't for me. I unpacked, read directions, charged, updated firmware and followed all of the suggested setup steps. From the initial power up, I always had a brief burnout on screen where the color would change and then grow outward and then back to the center. Many times I had very visible vertical lines on screen. I called ATN for help and they suggested another update to firmware and reset of factory settings....neither resolved this. My bigger issue though was range. ATN suggests on their website that this model will detect to about 750 and identify out to 205 meters. I didn't find that I was getting near that range on any of the days I tested. I have a clear line of site to a lake behind my house (about 120 meters) and got to observe deer, raccoons, horses, dogs and cats at that distance. At that range I wasn't really able to tell what anything was smaller than a deer ...I could tell something was there...but wouldn't be confident in taking a shot with what I was seeing. In talking with ATN they told me that realistically I should only expect 70 yds or less for identification with this model. Out of the 10 nights I took it out, I had what I'd consider good performance on 2 of them. Mostly I'd say this was due to weather as several days were windy or foggy which definitely affected the distance and contrast between hot and cold. I had it freeze and need a hard restart 2 times ....and the phone app was a little buggy. With that said...I really liked the one shot zero and many of the other features of this scope. I went back and forth on keeping it, but ultimately decided to return.

I purchased the ThOR 4 in October of 2018. At the time of this review, I've had it for a little over a year. I'm not a professional hunter. My use case is mainly to go out after coyotes so my dogs will shut up. Any of the reviews about software freezes, can probably be dismissed. This was definitely an issue for me at first, but it's since been resolved by a firmware update that was released late last winter or early spring. The cover for the micro sd card slot fell off the first time I took it out back to zero it. It has a lip that seals the micro sd card slot when there is no card in there. However, when there is a card in, the lip presses against the card, making it just about impossible to close without popping the micro sd card out. The cover was easily replaced with a piece of black gorilla tape. While on the subject of micro sd cards, there is also a gap between the microsd card slot and the case. If you're not careful, you'll be busting out the 00 phillips screwdriver to get your micro sd card back out of the case. Now, the last sd card complaint. I have struggled to find compatible sd cards. I have one old 16gb from a phone that works, but is not reliable (the card, not the scope). I've tried a couple sandisk ultras and neither worked. One was 128gb, the max is 64 gb (my bad, but silly to have that as the maximum in this day and age in my opinion), but the 64gb card did not work either. I asked ATN if they had any recommended micro sd cards that do work back on 1/13/2019 via their online support, and have yet to receive a response. Overall, I can't say that I'm disappointed with the scope. The freezing issues were an inconvenience, but those have been resolved. The android app had more problems than the iOS app. I haven't tried the android one recently, but the iOS seemed to be stable the last time I used it. When I got this, I was considering night vision instead of thermal. Both have advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. With thermal, when the ambient air temperature is higher than the surroundings, everything is pretty washed out. Think like when a warm front moves in at night. If it's 90 degrees and sunny out, choose a different scope. On the other hand, if you're looking for the coyotes that are driving the LGDs crazy in the middle of a blizzard, you'll be glad you went thermal because with night vision it'll be like trying to drive through the blizzard (or fog) with your bright lights on. If you've got ambient light around, it won't effect the thermal, where it will the N/V. The best visibility I've seen with thermal is when the ground is snow covered and there is a big temperature drop at night. Some nights and a lot of days, thermal is just not going to be the right tool for the job. I do have to say, you can pretty much always see an animal with thermal, it's the distance at which you can detect and identify the animal and verifying that the surroundings are clear that are challenging. Unfortunately, this isn't as good as those hollywood thermal products. You aren't going to be able to see through trees or thick brush with thermal, but you can pick up any heat that's within your clear line of sight. So you can pick up pieces and parts as an animal moves through thick brush or in the woods, as long as they aren't too deep in it. The battery life is fantastic. I don't use recoil activated video or streaming, which I assume would consume more battery power. So all in all, this is a low-end, but high-featured thermal scope. I don't really care to use most of the features, but they are there. It's not perfect, but it fits my needs. Most of the software/firmware issues that I've seen have been rectified. It seems like it may have been rushed out to market before it was ready (as a software developer, I understand how the marketing and sales people can get stuff pushed out before it's ready). I was not impressed with ATN's non-response to my micro sd card inquiry, but it wasn't enough to stop me from purchasing other products from them.