Seek Reveal XR Hand-Held Thermal Imager by Ed Jackson

Traditionally good field craft was the only way to secure a good bag back in the day but things are changing! Obviously it will always remain at the forefront of good hunting and is very important, but technology is now complimenting it by making more efficient use of time spent out in the field. Scan and move on…could it be that easy? As end users, we are now very lucky that both thermal (heat sensing) and night vision equipment that was traditionally prohibitively expensive is now very much affordable. The Seek, hand -held thermal imager at just £399.95 puts this amazing technology within the reach of all of us. Given the leaps forward that thermal devices and optics have made in the last few years, along with its increasing popularity, is the Seek too good to be true? As and in truth, there’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to any piece of equipment, no matter what it is!

UNBOXING

In the box you find a decent set of instructions, as well as a USB charger cable the same as the ones used with android phones. The Seek that I was kindly lent by Night Master featured the rubberised camouflage colours. It appears that you can also have it in black with the same rubberised coating if you wish. The unit is a good size, width and height wise it is no more than a smart phone though it is deeper and heavier at 177g. This gives it a really good quality feel; I suspect the lithium batteries make up most of the weight, not that this is an issue as the battery life is excellent at nearly 10 hours! Charging is done via a micro USB cable which allows easy connection with a PC as well, so that you can download any images that you have captured while out in the field. These are stored on a micro SD card that is positioned just above the charging port, all nicely covered up with a rubber tab. Once connected, you can extend your warranty from one year to two years by visiting www. thermal.com. Also available at the website are free software and firmware upgrades. Finally a handy lanyard is supplied for your wrist and is connected at the corner of the device. All good so far!

The controls consist of three buttons, which work well with the simple and well thought out menu. Powering up takes less than three seconds, which is very useful. You can then use the buttons to cycle through the seven different thermal filters which each offer a different perspective to the user. Once a filter has been selected you can then capture images freely and view them on the device or your PC. There is also a separate button on the side which can be used to activate the built-in, 300-lumen torch which offers two brightness levels. Within the device menu you can actually adjust the level of the brightness by a percentage/ intensity of the two pre-sets to meet your individual requirements. This is a very useful feature to have.

206 X 156

This particular hand held thermal imager has a reticule that indicates the temperature of what you are pointing at as well as a fixed focus. It boasts a sensor resolution of 206 x 156 and a >15hz refresh rate, which gives it the edge when scanning. This refresh rate essentially means that it processes more quickly and therefore provides a less blurry image. The screen size is good at 2.4”. The list of uses for this device is quite extensive and not limited to field sports. This always helps when trying to justify a purchase like this! From using it to search for your intended quarry such as rats or feral pigeons in barns, locating shot quarry such as a fox in the pitch black of the night, checking on livestock to searching for escaping heat in your home. After all Thermal Imaging equipment always has the habit of finding things you didn’t realise were there!

IN THE FIELD:

Now, I feel it is important to manage expectations when considering the Seek or any thermal imager for that matter. Quite simply the effective detection, identification range and the quality of the final image is heavily influenced by the ambient conditions. I was very surprised to find just how much heat various objects and vegetation retained, even well into the evening, which does affect the contrast between heat sources. For example I have a local urban fox, which sits at the other side of a concrete car park and I was staggered how much heat was coming off the concrete even at 11pm. Unfortunately, as the concrete was the prominent heat source, I could not make out the fox at around 80m away. Saying that, as soon as the temperature dropped, the results are very different, I managed detection of the Labrador out to 100m and I am certain this would improve during the colder months!

CONCLUSION:

I would liked to have tested the Seek during the winter months, as we just happened to have good weather the weeks that I had it but even in these less than ideal conditions. In use it showed real promise; small, rugged and water-resistant it proved easy to use and once registered has a 2 year warranty at under £400! I should like to thank Night Master for the loan of the Seek, which is imported and distributed in the UK by Thomas Jacks Ltd.

PRICE: £399.95

CONTACT:
Thomas Jacks Ltd, 1789 264100, www.thomasjacks.co.uk
Night Master, 01535 611688, www.nightmaster.co.uk