Thermal Monocular for Hunting, 750m Range, 32GB & WiFi App

You can hear the pigs working the creek line or a fox in the chook run, and the second a torch goes on they are gone. This thermal monocular for hunting shows you body heat instead, so a pig, a fox, a deer or a roo glows white against the paddock with no light at all, on the darkest night, in fog, and through light scrub. It shows a person-sized heat source 750 metres out, runs past eight hours on one 18650 cell that you swap in the dark, and at 170 mm and 238 grams it lives in a jacket pocket.

Key Features & Benefits

• Picks up a person-sized heat source at 750 metres - Rated by the maker to spot a person-sized heat source 750 metres away and to tell a person from an animal at 375 metres, with its 15 mm lens; a pig or a fox is a smaller target and shows closer in. You see the warm shape first and work out what it is as you close in; it is not built to pick out faces at that distance.
• Swap the battery, keep hunting - One 18650 cell runs it past eight hours with WiFi off, and it comes out through the cap on the front, so a charged spare from your torch kit gets you through till dawn. Streaming to your phone all night eats into that.
• A real thermal core, not a night vision camera - The 256x192 sensor reads heat between 8 and 14 microns, which is why it needs no moon, no infrared lamp and no torch, and why an animal standing still in long grass still shows. AI super-resolution processing sharpens the edges of what that sensor sees.
• Phone-grade screen in the eyepiece - The 1.43-inch AMOLED is the same screen tech as a good phone, so a warm animal pops bright out of black ground instead of sinking into grey mush. There is no screen on the back of the unit; you look through the eyecup or at your phone.
• Picks out small differences in heat - It resolves a temperature gap of four hundredths of a degree (40 mK), which is what keeps a roo separate from ground still giving back the heat of a 35 degree day. It shows relative heat, not a temperature readout in degrees.
• No smear when you swing it - 50 Hz frame rate, so a running pig stays a pig on the screen instead of a streak.
• Records it all, no card needed - 32 GB built in for video and photos. Show your mates the pig that got away, or keep the footage of what has been getting into the feed.
• Watch on your phone - It makes its own WiFi hotspot, so the free smartphone app (iOS and Android) shows the live picture on your phone, records, zooms and changes palettes. Your mate in the passenger seat sees what you see. HDMI and analogue (CVBS) video also come out of the USB-C socket with an adapter cable, for a screen in the ute.
• Finds the hottest thing for you - Hot spot tracking flags the warmest spot in view, handy when there are three warm shapes in the scrub and you want the one that is moving, and PIP (picture-in-picture) opens a small zoomed window in the corner while the full view stays up.
• Modes and palettes for where you are, zoom that knows its limits - Six scene modes (Forest and Rainforest for scrub, City, Outline, Birdwatching and Normal) and five colour palettes, from plain white hot and black hot through red, green and iron red. Digital zoom 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x: keep it at 1x or 2x to scan, because at 8x a 256 sensor is being stretched thin, and use the top end only to confirm what you have found.
• Built for a wet night - IP66 against rain and dust, works from minus 20 to 60 degrees, camo shell, tripod mountable for a long watch over a dam, and USB-C for charging and updates. It is not a dive camera; do not drop it in the creek.

Real-World Scenarios

1. Pig weekend on a mate's property - Glass the creek flats from the ute at midnight with no light on. Every warm body shows, you pick the mob from the roos, and you have the swap cell in your pocket for the 3 am walk back in.
2. Something is getting into the chooks - Stand on the verandah and sweep the yard. The fox shows up white against the grass before you would ever catch it with a torch, and you record the clip so you know what you are dealing with.
3. Camping and 4WD trips - Hand it round the campfire and count the roos and wombats moving through the dark. In the morning it still works, because it reads heat, not light.

How It Works

1. Charge a cell and load it - Unscrew the front cap, slide in the 18650, close it and hold the power button. You are looking at a thermal picture in a few seconds.
2. Sweep slow, in white hot - Scan the paddock at 1x. Anything warm stands out. Zoom in or change palette to work out what it is, and let hot spot tracking flag the warmest shape.
3. Save it or share it - Hit record and it writes to the built-in 32 GB. Or join the monocular's WiFi from your phone, open the free app and watch and record from there; the files come off over USB-C.

Technical Specifications

• Model: VIM-THC2
• Sensor: 256x192 thermal, 12 micron pixels, 8 to 14 micron response, with AI super-resolution processing
• Sensitivity: NETD 40 mK or better
• Frame rate: 50 Hz
• Lens and view: 15 mm F0.95, field of view 11.69 by 8.78 degrees
• Range (maker-rated): person-sized heat source detected at 750 m, recognised at 375 m
• Eyepiece: 1.43-inch AMOLED viewfinder
• Zoom: digital 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, plus PIP
• Scene modes: Normal, Outline, City, Forest, Rainforest, Birdwatching
• Palettes: white hot, black hot, red hot, green hot, iron red hot
• Hot spot tracking: yes
• WiFi and app: own hotspot or joins your WiFi; free smartphone app, iOS and Android
• Memory: 32 GB built in, video and photo
• Video out: HDMI and CVBS from the USB-C socket, adapter needed
• Battery and charging: swappable 18650, 3.7 V 3200 mAh, 8 h plus at 25 degrees with WiFi off; USB-C charging and firmware updates
• Weather rating: IP66
• Operating temperature: minus 20 to 60 degrees Celsius
• Mounting: tripod mountable
• Finish: camo
• Dimensions: 170 x 80 x 61.5 mm
• Weight: about 238 g

Packaging Contents

• 1x camo VIM-THC2 thermal monocular (18650 cell fitted, lens cap on a tether)
• 1x clip-on padded hand strap
• 1x EVA carry case for transport
• 1x microfiber lens cloth in a sealed packet
• 1x USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• 1x manual

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can thermal monocular be used in daylight?

Yes, any time. It reads heat rather than light, so full sun changes nothing. In daylight it still shows you a fox lying up in long grass or a pig in the shade, because the animal is warmer than what is around it and that is all the sensor cares about.

2. Can you use a thermal monocular with a scope?

Use this one as a spotter: find the animal by heat with the monocular, then take the shot through whatever scope is on the rifle. It is a handheld viewer, not a riflescope, so it has no reticle and is not sold or set up to be mounted on a firearm.

3. How to choose thermal monocular for hunting?

Check detection range (750 metres for a person here), frame rate (50 Hz keeps movement smooth), a swappable battery (standard 18650 here) and recording plus streaming (32 GB and WiFi). Sensor size sets the price: 256x192 steps up from entry-level 160x120 cores, and 400 and 640 cores sit in the tiers above.

4. Will it see through my windscreen?

No. Glass blocks thermal energy, so the windscreen shows as a flat grey wall. Wind the window down or lean out. The same goes for house windows and walls; it sees through darkness, fog, smoke and gaps in scrub, not through solid things.

5. Does it cost anything to run?

No ongoing costs. Video saves to the 32 GB inside the unit and your phone joins the monocular's own WiFi, so everything works out bush with no mobile signal and nothing goes to a cloud. You only ever buy a spare 18650 cell if you want one.

Legal Disclaimer

Use it on your own place or with the landholder's permission. Each state sets its own rules on thermal imaging for hunting, so read yours before you head out. It records heat and video only; no microphone is supplied.

Learn More

• See every night vision monocular and binocular we stock, thermal and infrared
• Prefer a built-in 10-hour battery over a swappable cell, and can live with a longer body and an LCD eyepiece? See our other thermal monocular
• Torn between thermal and infrared? Read our night vision optics buyers guide