Pushing Through the Fog: A Closer Look into an Entry-Level Thermal, by GuerrillaLogistician

Editors note: This is another great write up by GuerrillaLogistician (@glogistician on X.com) . Check out the Brushbeater Store for all of your thermal and night vision needs!


Reference – 2B Periscope

@glogistician on X.com

Merril shifted his weight, moving his hips to get a more stable position as he looked through his thermal.  Clicking the arrow, he zoomed in, and then holding the same button for a moment, he cycled through the color palettes.  Confirming that he had spotted his second pair of deer but no humans, he returned to the Sepia setting.  Hell, it might be the same pair doubling back and using the road to bypass the steep terrain.  They casually were walking along the edge of the road, biting and chewing small clumps of plants as they moved, fattening up for the upcoming winter.  He would have shot one for the food if he wasn’t working right now, but he knew they weren’t worth blowing the operation.  Executive orders had been signed that banned everything but bow and arrow, even though in his area, no one was enforcing such laws.  The only people who really engaged in enforcement were the federal government when they showed up and the Executive Enforcement Office.  EEO had basically pulled in sympathetic civilians and military personnel, gave them some training, and sent them to quiet any resistance with overwhelming firepower.  Unfortunately for the EEO, the half-trained civilians led by what few military personnel hadn’t deserted weren’t doing a very good job in his neck of the woods.  Merril was just a cog in the partisan movement; he was capable, but he never wanted to be in charge. He just wanted to do a good job, and there he sat, watching some very tasty animals move up a trail without a care in the world.

The op was simple: secure the egress for the Wireless Telegraph operator and crypto guy, a milk run for all intents and purposes.  All he had to do was make sure nobody came down a few roads as his radio operator did his magic and sent out some critical intel.  They had started calling the HF radio operators WTs or  Wireless Telegraphers, in homage to the WWII SOE branch, which ran spies and partisans throughout the war.  If the WT and crypto were worth their salt, they would have set up their little radio, pressed the button at a specific time, and then moved out. The window was coming soon, and if everyone played their part, the Direction Finding teams(DF) working in the region wouldn’t have a clue as to where they were.  Merril didn’t understand any of that and left it to those who were trained to do that job.  He was here to watch, observe, and hopefully prevent any issues.  He glanced at his watch from time to time as he scanned the dirt road from his vantage point.  Everyone knew when they were to be in place and when they could leave that area and move back towards their cache and then home.  The narrow time window was upon him now, and he redoubled his efforts, scanning for anything.  The few partisans covering this operation were separated from each other but able to interlock fire, radios set with headphones so they could listen to one another.  They all had been trained to stay off the air, leave different cache points in pairs, take different paths, and then ultimately be in the line of sight of their battle buddy.  He occasionally glanced at his fellow partisan, a friend and coworker he had recruited, as the seconds passed.  As the short window closed, he readied himself to move out of his hide.  He checked his gear slowly, making sure everything was secure, and he had nothing loose lying around him.  It would take under 30 seconds to remove any trace of his presence before he started to backtrack to the rendezvous point with his teammate before they exfiled.  With one last look through the thermals, he hesitated to move out; the hands of his mechanical watch seemed to strain against some invisible force keeping them from moving faster.

The two deer lept and dove down the rocky ridge, diving out of view for an instant behind rocky boulders.  Jerking his weapon in the opposite direction, the animals were fleeing; he started scanning.  As he scanned the ridgeline above and behind where the deer were, he caught a thermal signature moving in and out of the cedar shrubs. Quickly, he jerked his tablet from its pouch.  The tablet was connected to his radio, allowing the AR-152 to do a digital burst of information. The stubby antenna restricted its transmission distance, but it still could get to the Partisans with no problem.  He punched the pro word for contact and the degrees where he was looking.  His thermal had a compass built-in, making this far faster than pulling out his main compass and getting a bearing. Hitting the transmit button, the digital message leaped out of the AR-152. Zooming in with his thermals again, he looked and saw a six-man team moving through the brush. A bright glow came off of one of the men from an obvious device attached to his back.  Merril quickly took a few photos with his thermal and began recording them as he waited for a message.

Precious moments passed as he tracked the small team. Pulling out a monocular, he looked through it. The 8X magnification gave him a far better picture than its thermals. As the small force moved, he noticed the telltale sign of shrubs moving from an antenna array attached to the man with a large pack. The very one that had caught his attention from the thermal bloom he had caught in the sepia setting. His tablet updated with the reply from his team leader. EVANGELICAL BLESSED populated, telling him EXFIL plan BRAVO, which took him and his teammate the long way home.  Quietly, he cleaned up his area and made his hide look natural again, then packed up his monocular and tablet and slid it quietly away from his location.  Keeping an eye on the enemy forces moving along, he knew now the EEO was out hunting for his WT, but they really hadn’t figured out what area the transmission was truly coming from yet. The next scheduled transmission would be done in a totally different area, and Merrill would be waiting again just in case the EEO showed up, or the WT messed up. A few minutes later, behind a large rocky outcropping, the challenge and passwords were given to his teammate, who lost sight of him as they stealthily moved from their hides, and both began tracking as quickly and quietly as they could, knowing his other teammates were doing a similar thing.

Thermal image of a Xeigu 6100 operating for over an hour.

ARMASIGHT is a direct competitor to AGM, and I’m going to tell you right now that I am a big fan of AGM products. So why in the hell did I buy an ARMASIGHT? There are many reasons, but a lot of them came down to bank accounts, car repairs, and the necessity to have another radio because I am transferring my backup radio to a friend. I asked someone who knows more about thermals to guide me.  I also made a new friend who knew his stuff about thermals that weekend, and they both said the Jockey was an excellent choice for the price.  So let’s just say two guys who make their living around the thermal industry said, get it as it is a decent device.  Out came the card, and off I went with the 6100 and a Jockey 320.

The negatives of the 320… Well, it isn’t the 640 for a start.  Although externally and use-wise, the 640 and 320 are the same, the resolution on the 320 is quite a bit less.  For those of you out in places like MO, UT, CO, and AZ, save your money, and whatever you get, grab something with a higher resolution. The reason I say this is because of the ability to zoom in and see better digitally.  Another thing that kinda sucks depends on what weapons platform you want. The Jockey is only rated for 5.56 recoil, whereas AGM is rated for .308, so remember that when shopping around.  The run time isn’t super long, with batteries lasting 4 hours. Luckily, though, Armasight has that covered.  The refresh rate on the machine is a little weird, and I am not sure if that is because it is a 320 or Armasight. Also, will an update make it better?  Lastly, this is nitpicking here, but the USB-C port is possibly a weak spot and probably where I would worry water intrusion would come from.  Having the center piece of plastic sticking out of the body is an odd choice; if I find out why, I will leave that info on X.com.  For now though lets hits some features, and then I will wrap up with some tips and a conclusion.

What is ULTEM?

Armasight loves to promote in its advertising and manual that it is made of a lightweight yet durable ULTEM composite body.  Armasight, if you are reading this article, ULTEM means nothing to anyone not in the industry, especially to first-time buyers, unless you tell us why it is better than other plastics.  Authors Note: I reached out to Armasight because I wanted to know and I figured some of you would like to know as well.  Here is their response.

[There are different types/formulas of ULTEM. We use the stronger, higher quality ULTEM 2300 which has a 30% glass fill. This provides a durable, rugged, lightweight housing.]

So why not just buy an AGM?  Sure, they are great. Go get one, but you will be missing a few things I find very useful, especially for observation teams and dudes operating in the field.  Just like the AGM family, Armasight and the Jockey 320 can be powered with an external battery fed by a USB-C cable, meaning technically, you can run this basically until the device dies of overuse.  The  Taliban and both sides of the Ukraine war are using this to operate thermals.  Armasight is ITAR compliant, so they probably aren’t getting these specific devices, but similar ones nonetheless.  Removing one of the big limitations, what makes this thing stand out instead of, say, a FLIR Scout II or other products?  Well, realistically, not tons, but where this device shines is the creature comforts.  The first is the big jump, which is the ability to look in sight and see a digital compass, inclinometer, and angle cosine indicator.

So if you are leading troops, directing conversations, or taking precision shots, this is super nice to have.  Read the damn instructions to calibrate the compass.  This is a big step up from so many other systems; I no longer have to pull out a compass or talk someone else onto a target.  It is almost as if someone realized giving a compass heading to define a target is more accurate and faster than “contact 3 o’clock” than trying to define if it’s “Your 3 o’clock” or “my 3 o’clock”.  Mind you, if you are with someone who doesn’t know where they are heading, you will have the same issue, but if I have a guy with a general idea, things are far more clear.  Also, for those guys who deal with bullet drop, knowing the angle you are shooting up or down is helpful as well, but I will let a die-hard shooter explain that.  Round all this off with a compact setup that will sit in front of a LUCID optic or even a small Primary Arms etched reticle, and you have a good force multiplier.  To top it all off, the sight also has a boresight adjustment setup that is easy to use.

This device isn’t like some of those massive scope sized thermals, and while it is capable of riding on your AR platform with no problem, you can toss it in a bag and run it as a stand-alone monocular.  Either way, Armasight ships its thermal with a bunch of rubber eyecups and adapters to prevent light bleeding out at night.  I suspect this thing will line up perfectly with my Aimpoint and seal all the light away.

Display types

One nice thing about the manual is that if you have never owned a thermal, they explain the different “palette options” (AKA different colors for your knuckle draggers) in detail and explain why they are helpful.  That was a mark of genius, and I am not sure if other companies do this or not, but damn, it was nice to know why.  They went into some detail, and while I don’t have a photo of all of the palette options, here is what they said.

White Hot

So we have white hot, the most common display.  They say it is most appealing for use in shifting landscapes and urban areas and excellent for surveillance.

Dark Hot

The manual says law enforcement and hunters prefer black hot as it really clearly presents animal and human bodies well on a light background.  I haven’t preferred it, but that might be my novice experience with it.

If you know where this is, you know

Rainbow

Ahh, yes, the vision of the predator as you sneak around trying to hunt down Schwarzenegger in some distant jungle.  Seriously, it is nice to see the diverse and subtle temperature changes between different surfaces.  If I were setting up a hide and inspecting it, I would definitely use this to verify things aren’t too varied from the surroundings.  You also can track footprints on the ground if they are recent enough.

Target

So this system is interesting, but I have been having a bit of a problem with it on human bodies during the day and the high ambient temperatures where I am currently.  It will mark engines with no problem, but more testing needs to be done, and I suspect this works far better in colder climates and at night as the ambient temperature decreases.  It is pretty cool to see the red pop on the grey-shaded background, though, so when it works, it’s freaking amazing.


You can see a crowd to the left, and the thermal bloom of car engines.  I haven’t found out if this can be tuned to certain body temperatures and I will need to do some night work to see how this operates.  So far day is ok for vehicles.

Sepia

It’s probably my favorite view. Its like white-hot but adds shades of yellow, and I really enjoy it.  They also say in the manual it’s best for long-term viewing operations.  I tend to enjoy it visually, and I see some details that I can define more easily with the rainbow palette.

Presets

So, there are some optimization presets to choose from as well.

Default – a universal all-weather and scene setup (jack of all trades master of none)

Sky/Sea – Designed to improve contrast on plain backgrounds and it works well on the water from my experience.

Indoors – Enhances low-brightness scenes

Detect – This sets a hot target colorization

Forest – intended for a high-brightness scene.

You can also go into the enhancement menu and really tweak things, but I like they have presets, especially when doing surveillance and intelligence-gathering work. It makes things simple.  However, if you are a bit autistic, by all means, mess with everything, and the manual tells you how.  Good on them for spelling things out in basic human speak as well.

Collimating Reticle

LPVO with 320 in front on a PSA special.  I wish I had not given my LUCID P8 to a friend now.

Another nice feature is the collimating reticle. Those of you who have an LPVO can now align your LPVO, which is an easy way to get a more accurate zero.  The downside… An LPVO and this optic really weigh down your rifle.  So, I would say this is only really useful on fixed-position weapons and rifles with bipods.

Compass

The last thing I want to touch on is the compass.  There is a simple number compass at the top of your image.  Select the CALIBRATE menu and then rotate the device in all directions to calibrate the compass; you should see SUCCESS when it is calibrated.  Hold B2 for 3 seconds to get out.  The manual says to do this outside, away from structures, obviously.  Why is this so important?  Want to call for fire?  Have sight on an enemy and need to get their exact position without getting close?  Get your GPS out, mark your location down, and get a bearing, then do that a few more times, moving positions.  You can send that back to a good indirect fire unit, and they can basically drop their first round right on target.  Using the Guerrillas Guide to the BaoFeng Radio, you can learn how to do digital bursts and send this information more safely.  If Merrill had access to indirect fire in the story, and the mortar team knew his location, two bearings from two Partisans would have had the EEO down, one DF team, and some expensive kit.  Add to that the function of giving you if your weapon is angled up or down, along with its canted, really is a nice feature.

Things this is missing over more expensive Armasight optics

I asked Armasight about the housing they were proud of.  Overall, there was nothing too shocking or motivating there, but I asked one more question, allowing them to put their best foot forward and maybe educate me on their thermal.  Here is what they said to me, which was kind of shocking.

[The Jockey series was designed to be a compact, lightweight, affordable option within the growing thermal clip-on market. While the Jockey does not have all of the features as some of our other thermal devices, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, it does have all the necessary features and capabilities in a small and easy to use package.]

So, yep, compact; the material they use is durable and lightweight, and while not cheap, it is very affordable for an entry-level thermal.  Also, Scout loves clip-ons for many reasons. All the shots here were me playing with this as if it were just an observation monocular, but it works on a weapon just fine.  So, what is it missing besides not being a 640, which you can save up and buy if you have to deal with long-distance observations? The only thing it really doesn’t have, according to Armasight, is the lack of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth…..  Thank GOD!!!!!!!!  As a radio nerd, amateur SIGINT guy, you have no idea how much I hate random crap that can turn on.  Sure, if I was hunting and wanted to show my buddy some cool pics, etc., that would be nice, but this isn’t the intended purpose. How often would I use those features?  If I had a choice between this and one with WIFI Bluetooth in the same quality, I would choose this.  You won’t be DFing me in the middle of the woods because my sight is looking to connect to the internet.

CONCLUSION

I had initially decided that I was going to buy an AGM for my first thermal because so many of my friends had purchased one, and I had played with them multiple times. I felt comfortable with their product and was really supportive of them and their team, with whom I have had limited but good interactions. This isn’t to knock Armasight in any way; I just really haven’t involved myself with them very much. I saw the AGM at Shootah and really enjoyed seeing the new products they had to offer. Now that the cat is out of the bag, their new laser designator is freaking fantastic, and I also got to see that a little ahead of time. So, do I feel any buyer’s remorse for the Jockey 320, even though I had two experts tell me to skip the AGM and get the Jockey?  Both the AGMs I was looking at and the Jockey 320 have a standard USB-C plug that allows you to power the system without having to recharge the batteries. Although the Jockey 320 won’t charge batteries, it will stay operational with an external power source. Also, honestly, I really love the compass feature built into this platform.

Would I recommend this optic to other people over an AGM? For the base model possibly, I think the advantages of the compass for your basic partisan really do make it stand out, but it’s not one of those diehard things that I think you must have.  However, it gives you that videogame creature comfort knowledge other optics in this price range don’t have. The optic is well-built and functions very well, and the only real drawback I see is that it has a wonky refresh rate compared to AGM. One of the big things that I’ve been told is to go in and update the software so this might be tweaked or corrected with a software patch. Currently, there is no update for the Jockey 320, but there is one for the 640, and you have to contact Armasight to get the patch, which is a slightly tedious task. This is done specifically for ITAR protection, and make sure you don’t try to install the 640 software on your 320.

Overall, I really can’t stress how nice of a device this is for entry-level guys who may not be working with thousands of dollars to throw at a problem. As time goes on, I hope to dive deeper into this optic, and hopefully, with updates in the future, I might be able to give you a couple of updates on X.

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About the Author: Patriotman

Patriotman currently ekes out a survivalist lifestyle in a suburban northeastern state as best as he can. He has varied experience in political science, public policy, biological sciences, and higher education. Proudly Catholic and an Eagle Scout, he has no military experience and thus offers a relatable perspective for the average suburban prepper who is preparing for troubled times on the horizon with less than ideal teams and in less than ideal locations. Brushbeater Store Page: http://bit.ly/BrushbeaterStore

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