FLIR Scout TKx - Compact Infrared/Thermal Imaging Monocular for Wildlife Viewing, Hunting & Outdoor

Alright, from pandemic to social unrest. Options, options, money money. You want night vision capability but you don't want/can't shell out the 3-7k? Plus that device can be used by only one person, so unless you have enough cash to buy night vision goggles for everyone in the family, at least those that can be of assistance if needed... If you're in this conundrum, I'll tell you what I did. I got some night vision binoculars (around $300), a night vision scope (around $700) and thermal imaging (this Flir). For a fraction of the price I have 3 devices that can be used separately, either by one person or by 2-3 people working as a team. Now regarding this particular product: works well, day and night, really light and small, plenty of color palette to ensure thermal acquisition in different environments. Overall, this a relatively inexpensive when you consider the technology. IF you're looking at this specifically for the reasons I mentioned at the beginning of the review and of you have enough ammo, food, water...AND you want to be able to have the capacity to identify if something is out there...AND you're not going to break the bank by purchasing it... Yes!, go ahead and have it. If not, focus on the above.

At this price point, you probably don't need me to tell you that this is definitely not a toy. And neither is it a $3500 thermal rifle scope. In fact, it isn't a rifle scope at all - just a great little thermal monocular. My house is surrounded by woods and I have used this several times to determine what kind of creatures are making the sounds I hear out there at night. Even thru the trees, I can usually pick out deer out to nearly 100 yards. Possums and raccoons, probably half that distance. It's also kind of fun to use indoors. On a cold winter night, I can see which windows all of the cold air is coming from. And one of the most interesting things I've discovered is that I can see the dog's or my wife's barefoot footprints on the carpet up to a full minute after they were made. About the only (minor) negative I see is that the temperature range it displays constantly self-adjusts to accommodate what you're pointing at. So if you have a campfire in the viewfinder, you won't see a coyote at the edge of the clearing behind that unless you change position so that the campfire is out of scope long enough for the device to re-calibrate (usually just a few seconds).

This is a good entry level thermal monocular. I have family members that have thermal devices that are upwards of $4000, but for me to get a thermal imager this Flir was in my price range. Price point is THE BIGGEST deciding factor to me in thermal quality, more money available to spend simply relates to better equipment. A friend of mine has the Leupold tracker LPO HD I believe and I was able to use it last night on a hog hunt side by side with my Flir TK Scout. The Leupold had better image quality and picked up heat signatures further out with better detail, BUT the light from the viewer will backlight your face or hunting blind as you must hold it about a foot away from your face and definitely can be seen by people and animals. This is a big draw back for me. The Leupold model I used was also around $850, which is about $350 more than the Flir TK Scout. I do not believe it's worth the additional money. The Flir TK Scout will pick up heat signatures well over 100yds in an open field, yard or road under "good conditions". At 75 yds deer, hogs, dogs or people can easily be differentiated in open/semi open areas. In wooded conditions it of course depends on the thickness of the woods, but in mature forest animals can be picked up at 75yds easily. Brushy undergrowth, grown up fields and thickets will greatly reduce the thermals ability to pick up heat signatures. Rain, high humidity and high surrounding heat will mess with any thermal device to some degree. I like the video and photo capture options. Biggest issue is battery life, battery life will last about 2 hours of intermittent use, keep in mind that this unit is rechargeable. There's pros and cons to that. The battery does seem to lose its charge during storage. Probably my biggest complaint with this unit. When I was trying to decide which thermal device was right for me reviews like this would have been very helpful, so to sum up my review. This a good unit for the money, it does exactly what the manufacture states it will do, very easy and simple operation and is produced by a very reputable company. Would have given 5 stars if not for battery life. I'm overall happy with this product.

Update! So much has gone wrong with this unit! The charging cover breaks off, the battery won't hold a charge but the worst was the software glitch that renders it unusable! So FLIR no longer supports this model there is no software update so when you get the glitch your units fubar! Avoid unless you want to just burn a few hundred dollars! I bought the AGM to replace it and it's Miles ahead! Huge disappointment, I expected so much more from FLIR! I've been such a huge fan of the company for years! It's unacceptable for even a bottom optic to have these problems! Day one right out of the box it had problems! I followed the direction and I fully charged it. I waited until night time to use it, I took my kids out to a clear field. 1st problem was the picture quality. I couldn't make heads or tails of my kids at 60 feet! This claims 100 yards? No Way!! I could pick the Orange coloring out at 50 yards but any further I couldn't see them and we were on the flat clear ground. After about 30 mins the battery needed to be charged again! How could this be when the manual says it will record 4 hours on internal memory. SO I opened to cover to charge it again and the rubber cover pops off and gets lost in the grass! What a cheap and dumb idea for a cover! I have night vision that came with a call of duty game that works better than this. This site is NOT worth the money, or maybe I just got a dud! Update 6/26/22 the unit is dead! The battery stop charging a long time ago so you have to use an auxiliary power pack. Now that no longer works the picture got grindier and granier and FLIR no longer supports this model even though there's thousands still unopened in circulation. Have contacted the company several times about warranty issues and never received a response! There is no firmware updates available though their website says there is, It's a headache navigating it just to be disappointed. With AGM making a clone that's twice as good stay away from this You will be sadly disappointed as was I and many other people!!

I use this for work to locate “bad guys” and it may have actually saved my life a couple of times. It also gives me peace of mind when I can CLEARLY identify the noise in the tall grass, shrubbery or thick trees is a harmless quadruped (deer, rabbit, raccoon, etc) and not a hiding weapon-toting bipedal threat. I also use this at home. We live in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. When our dogs bark at something, I can QUICKLY ascertain, again, whether it’s a threat. Is it a bear, coywolf, bobcat, fox or just deer passing through? I even “caught” a person standing out on our road in front of our property at around 0200 hrs in the morning. Creepy lol The FLIR is pretty much idiot proof. Once you use it a few times, you don’t even have to look at the rubberized controls to operate it. FYI, I also use it to identify warm targets in the fog and during the daytime. Pretty amazing. I’ve even used it to locate deer that I harvested just before dark if I lose the blood trail. Folks, this small FLIR is about as handy as pockets on a shirt. Many legitimate uses. Gives me peace of mind. Well worth the coins. Hope this helps someone. :)

The positives, quality look/feel and overall build. However, when it comes to usability, this is lacking in almost every aspect. I understand that this is an entry level and inexpensive offering. But, there are units from other manufacturers that will yield much better quality at close to the same cost. With the price being reduced by 57% here and even on the FLIR site, I'm wondering if they are about to release a newer and hopefully better entry level monocular?? The image quality or lack there of, is most likely a result of the refresh rate of 8 Hz. Reviews are certainly mixed on this. I guess it's all about expectations. I purchased this with fairly low ones, but this unit is not up to any standard (except build quality) for FLIR. Tried it in several scenarios after charging and the next day requested a refund and boxed it for return. Really wish this was better, but to me, not even worth it at the sale price.

Ok. So it is a thermal device. It is very simple to use great start up time and turn off. Love the picture and video capture. However , this is a very intro level device. You can’t use this to look out your window unless the window is open. Max range is about 75 yards. If You have some land or camp or want something for very close range outside or inside. No barrier in between them this is a decent model. The next model up is a different brand which is far superior but you lose the picture video capture which is one of the best features of this. The more expensive models also allow for external batteries which is nice to charge. This particular model only allows USB charging I would say between 2 to 3 hour battery life it really should run on AAs, CR 12 threes, or a proprietary rechargeable battery or you can buy extras. I will be returning mine because it’s too entry-level. I need more distance and a better refresh rate.

This monocular does everything the descriptions say it does and more. I didn't need this as much as I wanted it, but I am still very surprised by the capability of the device. Obviously(or at least it should be) ambient temperature affects the thermal view significantly. For instance, a tree that has been in a hot sun all day, will glow at sunset. On cool wet day, anything that has legs shows up and the brush/trees are a cool color. I have been able to locate and video deer at 125 yards through thin brush and rabbits at 50-80 yards. A rabbit at 50 yards, will display brightly, while a rabbit at 80 will be more of a softer white color, but still is clearly visible. I use this monocular every time I hunt. In the mornings, it is nice to see what, if anything is around you and in the evenings, it is nice to survey the landscape to make sure you aren't bumping animals out of the plots before you get out of your stand. I am not 100% sold on the battery capacity, but then, I tend to be very bad at charging things before I need them. Consequently, I always carry a backup battery charger for my phone and also use it to make sure this is charged and ready when I need it. If I lost this today, I would buy another one. It might not be the most important piece of gear in my bag, but it is definitely the coolest.