This is a 3x lens that I was able to look over for a couple of weeks.
2012-3-22 www.TexasGunTrust.com had the opportunity to use the SPI (www.X20.org) 3x Afocal magnifier for the FLIR M24 Recon Thermal unit. My M24 has the 640x480 core.
The M24 recon is a small, handheld high resolution Thermal imager. The additional of the SPI 3x AFocal Germanium lense almost doubles the size of the unit. that said, it does not make the unit unwieldy.
The native FLIR lense has a very wide Field of View. In fact, the lense on the M24 Recon appears to be less than 1:1. The 3x lense definitely narrows the field of view. This is expected and acceptable for the intended use of the lense.
The 3x AFOCAL lense from SPI (www.X20.org) comes in a plastic padded case with a objective lense cap. The mount is made of plastic that fits securely over the objective lens of the M24 Recon unit. The user is requried to remove the metal ring from the objective lense of the M24 and the plastic mount slips over the onjective lense assembly on the M24 unit. The later units metal ring will fit over the plastic mount and secure it to the unit. My unit's metal ring did not fit over the mount. This is being addressed by SPI. The Plastic mount was a very tight fit and securely held the lense to my M24 Recon. I was able to walk around wiht the lense mounted on hte unsecured mount wthout any issues relating to the lense working loose.
The lense did show some spherical aberration around the edges. This was noticeable in the house. I did not notice the distortion when using the unit in the field.
The 2x and 4x were useful with the 3x magnifier. The Digital 2x was most useful in the average setting. The 4x digital zoom gets pixelated, even with the 640x480 core.
I did notice some fogging or clouding when using the unit is a very humid environment. This is visible in the last section of the video. There may have been some user error.
Using the unit in the field with the 3x lens will require the user to mount and unmount the lense from the M24 Recon unit. This requries teh use of a padded, protective pouch to carry and protect the lens when it is off the unit. The lens mounts on the M24 unit by threading onto the plastic mount. Therefore, the user will have to screw and unscrew the lense to mount and dismount.
Overall, I beleive the 3x Afocal lense is useful in situations where you need some longer range capability with the FLIR M24 Recon.
The 3x AFOCAL magnifier is available in Texas at www.WildRiverRanch.net.
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2012-3-22 www.TexasGunTrust.com had the opportunity to use the SPI (www.X20.org) 3x Afocal magnifier for the FLIR M24 Recon Thermal unit. My M24 has the 640x480 core.
The M24 recon is a small, handheld high resolution Thermal imager. The additional of the SPI 3x AFocal Germanium lense almost doubles the size of the unit. that said, it does not make the unit unwieldy.
The native FLIR lense has a very wide Field of View. In fact, the lense on the M24 Recon appears to be less than 1:1. The 3x lense definitely narrows the field of view. This is expected and acceptable for the intended use of the lense.
The 3x AFOCAL lense from SPI (www.X20.org) comes in a plastic padded case with a objective lense cap. The mount is made of plastic that fits securely over the objective lens of the M24 Recon unit. The user is requried to remove the metal ring from the objective lense of the M24 and the plastic mount slips over the onjective lense assembly on the M24 unit. The later units metal ring will fit over the plastic mount and secure it to the unit. My unit's metal ring did not fit over the mount. This is being addressed by SPI. The Plastic mount was a very tight fit and securely held the lense to my M24 Recon. I was able to walk around wiht the lense mounted on hte unsecured mount wthout any issues relating to the lense working loose.
The lense did show some spherical aberration around the edges. This was noticeable in the house. I did not notice the distortion when using the unit in the field.
The 2x and 4x were useful with the 3x magnifier. The Digital 2x was most useful in the average setting. The 4x digital zoom gets pixelated, even with the 640x480 core.
I did notice some fogging or clouding when using the unit is a very humid environment. This is visible in the last section of the video. There may have been some user error.
Using the unit in the field with the 3x lens will require the user to mount and unmount the lense from the M24 Recon unit. This requries teh use of a padded, protective pouch to carry and protect the lens when it is off the unit. The lens mounts on the M24 unit by threading onto the plastic mount. Therefore, the user will have to screw and unscrew the lense to mount and dismount.
Overall, I beleive the 3x Afocal lense is useful in situations where you need some longer range capability with the FLIR M24 Recon.
The 3x AFOCAL magnifier is available in Texas at www.WildRiverRanch.net.