Zentron Technology ZentronOutdoors ZEN Q635 Thermal Imaging Rifle Scope WOW!

ZentronOutdoors

Model (ZEN Q635) Thermal Imaging Rifle Scope WOW!

Ok back in May 2024 I visited IWA in Germany specifically to see what were the latest hot products coming out in the field of outdoor pursuits such as hunting and fishing, specifically, but not limited to hunting (yes that's where I brought to you the latest images of new gear from Extrema Ratio in Italy and you have no doubt either got now, or have been watching my videos and reading my blogs here about this product. 

The show was huge as always and did not disappoint at all!

Needless to say, with technology like it is progressing, there were many manufacturers showing off their latest thermal imaging devices, some obviously familiar names, like one of the main show sponsors, name beginning with "P"! 

Now I did the rounds over the entire duration of the show, for you guys, not just breeze in and out for one or 2 days or a few hours because the show was so huge and so much planning involved to actually get to meet and speak with manufacturers. 

So being a hunter from way back, 

I was very interested in checking out what was to be had in the latest technology/models of thermal imagers. There were needless to say many manufactures all competing against one another and the crowds competing against one another to get their hands on products for some in show testing.

However, amongst these manufacturers,  products from the company ZentronOutdoor whose thermal imaging rifle scopes really stood out for me. 

Business front end of the Zen Q635 Thermal Rifle Scope is a F1.0 35mm front element, robust and compact design.

I spent nearly half a day at their stand in total after thoroughly examining the thermal imagers they had on show. 

Let's break it down on what I was looking for:

A product with easy to read menus (in device) and navigate to all the main features without having to be constantly pulling out and or referencing the manual. So therefore, I closely examined the GUI (graphical user interface) and to determine if it was "user friendly" and of course this meant "intuitive" to  use. 

So when I picked up one of their scopes it was plain to me that anyone who can read could navigate easily through their diverse menus and obtain access to quick menus/shortcuts quite easily. 

All of the buttons and knobs are located in just the right positions.

The Zen Q635 is a stand alone Thermal imaging Rifle scope (with the included rail mount shown below)

Rifle mount adaptor included

which can also be used as a simple thermal imaging scope (off rifle), comfortable enough to be held in the hand and small enough to fit in a jacket pocket as well!

How about power management? 

The units are run from x2 CR123A batteries (Rechargeable), easily obtainable and or tethered from a USB power bank. Approx run time (battery dependent) easily 3 hour constant operation. (note: like ALL Bluetooth devices, if you run bluetooth constantly it only help to drain the battery!)

IP67 weather proofing of the Zen Q635 . Screw down battery compartment shown above (all weather sealed). It takes X2 CR123A type batteries.

The Technology and Specifications and Overall Handling

Zentron Outdoors are using a VOx chip for the detector of the thermal imaging scopes.

If you don't know there are several chip types around and Vanadium Oxide (VOx) is one of the best semiconductors to use for such devices. With their chip they state they have <25mK NETD, that's  "less than 25 milli Kelvin Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference". 

Now, in the thermal imaging world, the NETD is how one "rates" sensitivity of thermal scopes and to give you idea of what this means in terms of practicality, any values less than 40mk are ok, less than 35mK is going to be very good. Any values less than 25 mK NETD  are going to be excellent! 

Of course there are other environmental considerations always to take into account for ANY thermal imaging device, fact, however these specifications of theirs certainly rank right up there with the market leader's top of the range devices, (I've checked!).

At present they offer: a 12 um pixel size

17.6m FOV (for the model I tested) ay 35mm F1.0 front element.

The chip isn't cooled and I noticed it was totally noise free and it does not overheat under prolonged usage.

 The image quality is spot on and combine this with a very nicely textured and fine tuning focusing knob that goes from 2m min distance out to infinity, it is very easy to focus so your images are very sharp.

The Zen Q635 has an identification range out to 550m and a detection range as far as 1800m!

The Zen Q635 is designed for both field and forest usage and we have tested it across both, especially under heavy forrest and with light fog as well! We found the detector very very sensitive.

(note there are other models in the ZEN Series and can be seen here: see here:)

Super bright OLED Display (example image from the real world, no Photoshop!)-White Hot color palette being used in a very low IR background environment.

Conditions:

Dense bush, slight fog, wallaby (kangaroo) at approx 60m. It's bending down feeding Head can be clearly seen. (camera/Thermal Scope: Zen Q635, stills image capture).

The Zen Q635 copes very well with quickly changing IR environments, ie when moving rapidly** with the scope. 

**What do I mean by moving rapidly? I mean normal movements one would expect to make out hunting and tracking their quarry and or simply scanning the scene with the scope. 

Eye Relief is excellent! and the OLED screen is great to look at with a 1280X1024 screen! (Zen Q35 is 600X800).

Fully Coated optics Removable rubber eye cup

What about all you spectacle wearers???

Diopter correction is also excellent and has a range from -5 to +5! this is seriously great for all those (who like me now) have to wear spectacles.

Construction and Aesthetics

Other than extremely well presented in the box* (*see my unboxing video if you haven't already), the Zen Q635 came in a very nice and practical carry case, (padded shoulder strap not shown).

sporting YKK weather proof zippers, 

and box tacked well-stitched nylon components.

Now to the body of the Zen Q635 Thermal Rifle Scope

Excellent construction and attention to detail, ie Magnesium aluminium alloy housing (strong and robust and helps to keep the weight down to 410g!) 

All threaded holes are tapped with stainless steel threaded inserts for robustness and durability.

Note, this is a very small unit! My hand size is only 8.5/9!

The Zen Thermal imagers are all assembled like some high tech scientific pieces of equipment but not looking like some university Heath Robinson construction; smooth lines, nice to hold and more importantly, all buttons and knobs are in the "right position" and can be used easily with gloves on or off! 

The units are held together with Allen bolts, not Phillips head screws. There is a robust, and again easily actuated front lens cap to protect the outer "business end" lens from accidental damage. 

IP rating IP67 Weather sealed push buttons and knobs along with the a weather seal over the USB C port. 

Yes that's right a USB C port. This is the kind of port I want to see nowadays on technology because I know they will last being able to see many insertions and removals of USB male plugs; not these designed to fail mini USB A type connectors, I hate them!

Easy Firmware updatable: Zentron Outdoors have just released their latest version of the OS, at time of writing this article, Ver Q635-V0.97

Navigating the Software

Zen link software (down loadable from the web) easily allows one to connect these devices to either a mobile phone, tablet and or computer, connections can be made also via the supplied physical USB C cable. The user interface is, as I have already mentioned very easy to navigate and using a tablet or phone can hasten any setup changes simply by having a very large screen on hand; however, changing menus simply using the device is dead easy in the field.

I noted too that one can also use any Android app to transfer images and video to ones Mac computer such as Android file transfer (at least working just fine on OSX 11.5.2) if not using a PC.

Here are The Key Features of the Zen Q635 Thermal Rifle Scope are the following:

F1.0 35mm front element

A 12 um NETD <25mK 640X512 VOx chip

Accelerometer and Digital Compass

A 1280X1024 OLED display

Dual Band 2.4G/5G WiFi and Bluetooth

USB C connectivity (as well) and power options.

So Much to say!

There is just too much to say about this very cool thermal imager, like all the great features with false color palettes, reticle choices, optional accessories like LASER range finders, ballistics calculations,  etc., etc. to fit into this blog; so stay tuned for much much more!

Now!

Stick around to see my un boxing video and then later videos of the Zen Q635 Thermal imaging rifle scope, coming this Friday evening on @BushCampingTools 

Example stills images (White hot color palette being used, this is the best choice when hunting in a low background IR environment) IMHO.

Feral cat at 40m

Cattle at approx 30m

BCT

Extrema Ratio Tuscan First Impressions by @BushcampingTools

 New this year, The Extrema Ratio Tuscan premiered at IWA 2024 in Germany along with a host of other cool products from Extrema Ratio.

I had the pleasure of having this baby in my paws in Germany but had to wait until I could actually see it sitting on my desk.

With the TUSCAN, Extrema Ratio have departed from their classic tried and proven, full width tang at the hilt, asymmetric tapering design to the pommel type-tang surrounded by that signature  Forprene grip. 

Now for those who simply insist upon a full tang blade the Tuscan  will satisfy all those who insist upon seeing more steel under the handle/scales/grip. 

Yes, there is some stock removal otherwise this beast of a knife would simply be too handle/butt end heavy and make it tiresome to use for long periods, not to mention throw the front end geometry out of whack. However, rest assured the steel is plenty thick enough at 1/4" ie 6mm throughout. 

The scale pins are just as beefy too!

The Extrema Ratio Tuscan is equipped with G10 scales and currently comes in 2 color schemes, Black handle and scabbard with polished blade and this model, Mil Spec blackened blade with a olive drab G10 grip and a similarly colored scabbard.

The stitching work is top dollar throughout as I have come to expect from their products.

Certainly their scabbards are ALL weather designs and I have never had issue with mildew setting in even after prolonged usage in humid conditions.

The scabbard is fully adjustable and there is also included a (rather large) velcro and elastic leg loop (not shown here as I removed it since it is too big for my skinny thigh LOL).

Let's look at the Scabbard in Detail!





As can be seen in the following 4 images below, the carry is reversible by simply removing the belt strap and turning over the scabbard (which isn't symmetrical of course) and this allows one to simply reverse the mode of carry for either left handed or right handed knife extraction.

Making the scabbard with a sloping top entry/angled entry provides a better fitting system than simply making the entire thing symmetrical, thus the need for a reversible belt loop.

Of course the double press stud is also reversible since the attachment is a wide velcro hooks and hair strap.



These are the loops one can push the belt strap under. So the actual position of the retaining strap on the grip can be varied if so desired.

Left handed carry (as shown above)

Right handed carry (as shown above)

Attaching the Scabbard to a Pack

One way to attach this knife to a pack (there are many ways) is to use a malice strap as shown here:

But first: How easy is it to carry several metres of paracord as shown below? A: Easy!

Now for a Malice strap (and some important observations)

Note in the above image one can also use the small loop of paracord to "extra" secure the blade by insertion of the retention strap through this loop. More to come with this on a video.

I'm a big fan of the Extrema Ratio Scabbard because as I mentioned above, these things are stitched together like a high quality trekking pack or a high quality pair of mountaineering boots. The fact that they are made this way means that repair is easily possible either in the field or back in civilisation. However, a key feature of this type of scabbard is that the release and insertion of the knife produces no audible sound to give away one's position (for whatever reasons). Also there is less likely hood of dulling the knife edge due to the synthetic welt construction of this scabbard.

The business end, ie the BLADE of the Extrema Ratio TUSCAN.

This is a very interesting blade geometry. Here's why:

At first glance, we see a sort of tanto-esque or western sort of tanto but certainly a Japanese influence for this knife design, despite it's name (we will come to the name a bit later on). 

The weight is towards the tip and this can only be seen by holding the blade and looking down upon the spine, once you start to move this knife you will feel where the advantage is for any sort of chopping, despite it being only 170mm from tip to the hilt or 160mm (in a straight line of cutting edge), ie approximately 175mm of actual cutting edge!. That is in imperial measurements 6.3", 6.69" and 6.9" (ie 7") respectively.

The cutting power is all there (here we see the edge in a super tough large base of a palm bract. But in fact the cutting is optimised for close to the hilt where is is a slight narrowing of the blade profile.

The G10 scales are of course not as forgiving as their Forprene grips however, the grip is impossible to slip upon, wet or dry and there is ample gimping in all the right places, none of which interferes with using this beast without gloved hands, the latter I have tested in several hours of on stop use-maybe my hands have been hardened by Judo? Seriously, though, the grip is comfortable however, don't expect G10 to soak up any excessive vibrational forces, like any G10 scaled knife.

Let's have some Eye Candy for a minute or two where the Extrema Tuscan is now far from Tuscany and in the tropics of Australia.

(Just out of interest, this is a base of a very large tropical palm tree, with these crazy finger-like roots).

The Extrema Ratio Tuscan is perfectly balanced with the fulcrum being located directly at the hilt.

A N690 Böhler 6mm or 1/4" spine for super beefiness!

Here we see (above image) an interesting cut away and one which can allow one to cord wrap this handle in the absence of the G10 scales..

The grip like all of their grips is tapered towards the back end and this of course makes for a very ergonomic grip since the little fingers of the hand form a smaller grip than the middle etc. Just make a fist and then turn your little finger towards you -small hole Vs big hole at the index finger- makes sense right?

There is a very good point on this blade too.

There is the generous thumb gimping as seen on other models of their knives although here, somewhat bigger.

For those who didn't like their rather (I didn't say it) ostentatious labelling of their name upon the blade on some of their other models, the brand name now appears on the spine and in fact is of course covered when the knife is in use. It does look rather cool here too IMHO. There is no longer any labelling of N690 either. So they listened and reduced the amount of engraving.

As for gripping power, the G10 composite scales are scalloped in such a way as to provide an excellent all weather grip in either gloved or ungloved hands. I really like this style of G10 grips.

An Allen key/hex wrench or flat bladed tool can easily remove the scales for cleaning if submerged in dirty or salt water.

Speaking of water, there is of course a lanyard hole so as not to drop it in the murky waters of which no amount of zero visibility diving will one be able to retrieve it!

A bit about the name:

Well Tuscany, it embodies the diverse landscape and rugged mountains of the region (although maybe most people think of the region as home to Renaissance art) however, and I guess, the this knife can handle a diverse environment for sure (It's built like a tank but doesn't handle like one ie too heavy). I knew at once when I picked this thing up for the first time in May that it was going to be a winner for me (and maybe too for you?).

The butt end too is not so aggressive that one can injure themselves upon it and in fact his knife being multipurpose will easily lend itself to outdoor work in harsh environments. 

Palm pressure can thus be applied to the butt end for pressing the tip into objects without damaging one's hands.

There is obviously NO guard but in this case with the grip, highly unlikely for one's hands to slip upon the blade. However, the absence of a guard may not be a clinching point for purchase. For me however, i really love the clean lines and Japanese influence (at least that's the way i read it).

As for servicing, I've already mentioned how easy it is the strip the blade however, note the straight main edge, yep, dead easy to sharpen for those with basic sharpening skills due to no funky curves.

I weigh the Extrema Ratio Tuscan in at 558 grams without the leg loop. Although the text on their site says 437 grams? What the heck I think my kitchen scales are off LOL because it's noway near 1/2 kg!

Ok so I've dragged this baby out into the wilds 

to give it a bit of test and there will be a preliminary video V soon if not already live by the time you have read this blog, more to come stay tuned!