Trijicon Electro Optics IR Hunter MK2 Thermal Riflescope Review

Hunting is a thrilling and hilarious adventure one has to experience in his lifetime. It gives you a lot of fun in the wild. But when you’re outdoors you may have to tackle different climatic conditions, so your gears should also overcome those situations. 

Nowadays hunting has become very easy with the innovative technologies of thermal products. Even beginners can find it easy with thermal rifle scopes. 

Thermal scope is a must-have thermal imaging hunting equipment that allows you to identify the targets from a long distance with clarity. It assists you in detecting, recognizing and identifying the targeted animal. So you’ll not waste any shot.

Trijicon Electro Optics IR Hunter MK2 Scope
5 / 5
4.9/5

In that line, thermal scopes are available with plenty of models. Finding the best among them is such a difficult task. In this article, we have given the review of Trijicon Electro Optics IR Hunter MK2 Thermal Riflescope which would be helpful for you in the hunting field by providing a clear and crisp image of the target. So let’s dive on to know about it. 

Trijicon Electro Optics IR Hunter MK2 Thermal Riflescope

IR Hunter MK2 is a revolutionary thermal scope used for various purposes. You can use it for hunting, military operation, competitions, home defence, and for rescue operations. Let’s get into the detailed explanation of Trijicon Electro Optics IR Hunter MK3 Thermal Riflescope and its features. 

Features of Trijicon Electro Optics IR Hunter MK2 Thermal Riflescope

Construction

Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 Thermal Scope is the powerful tool for your hunting. It has a rugged, solid construction with military grade aluminium alloy that can last for years of use. The materials used in the Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope are highly durable, long lasting, but more expensive than other competing products. 

The entire scope is polished with a black matte finishing that is good looking and protective. The scope is also nitrogen purged to resist water and fog. So you can use it even in any bad situations. It is built with a single lever mount that makes it easy for you to handle. 

Refresh Rate

IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope has 30-60Hz refresh rate. The scope is activated with a 60Hz refresh rate to track the fast-moving animals easily without image distortion. You can also reduce the refresh rate to 30Hz, if you want to save the battery life. 

Digital Zoom

Here in IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope magnification is done using the digital zoom option. Because the magnification range of this scope is very low, i.e, 1.5x while the digital zooming has 8x range. This allows you to zoom the target quickly and MOA helps you to hit the prey accurately. 

Micro Core

IR Hunter MK2 is equipped with 12 Micron BAE Micro Core which is truly an amazing feature that produces impeccable images compared to other products in the market. It comes with two battery sources that help the core to run continuously for 2 hours. Both the batteries have the same lifetime.

Reticles

IR Hunter MK2 comes with dynamic reticles to provide a better view of the targets when zooming. They keep proper ballistic calculations on every zoom level to achieve a good clarity image of the target.

It is also provided with a subtension reticle for ranging. So you can use it with other devices to record the happenings. Because it does not have thermal video recording option. If you’re interested in capturing the events then IR Hunter is provided with video cables to use it with an alternative video recorder. 

Edge Detection Mode

Edge detection mode is a new feature that is entirely a different way of viewing your target. It delivers images with 90% of the screen in black and only the edges of the target remain white. It limits the brightness of the screen and reduces your eye fatigue. 

So you can have a clear view of the target without any disturbance to your eyes. This useful feature is not found in any other models of thermal scope.

MAXPOL Polarity

Most of the thermal scopes come with different color palettes but the users prefer only black hot and white hot. And some other models come with only one level of White Hot and Black Hot. 

But this Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope is designed with 3 levels of White Hot and Black Hot. This is a unique feature in MK2 thermal scope. It ensures you to select the perfect level of polarity, depending on the situation you are hunting in. 

Our team has tested its performance in various scenarios and it really worked well. Great thanks to Trijicon for such a wonderful feature.

Enhanced Target Recognition (ETR)

ETR is another beneficial feature in IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope. This technology automatically adjusts the brightness and contrast of the image on the display screen. It also provides you a perfect image of the target with the majority of the display area being washed out. 

Digital Focus Control (DFC)

The Digital focus control allows you to focus objects to the optimum setting. It also sharpens the entire image to give you a detailed view of the target. IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope is featured with a 320×240 pixel resolution but this technology makes the images appear like a 640×480 pixel resolution. This is also an extraordinary feature in Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope.

Protective Lens Window

Trijicon IR Hunter MK3 Thermal Scope is made of a germanium lens which is the costliest component on thermal devices. MK2 scope is designed with a highly transmissive IR window to protect the germanium lens in the scope. This window is replaceable, but replacing the window will also cost high as of the germanium lens rate. 

Eye Relief

Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope is provided with 1.06 inches of eye relief. Why is relief given? Eye relief is a certain distance between the reticle and your eye. This is given to keep your eye protected from fatigue or damage. Longer eye relief will not make you tired quickly and so you can focus your target as long as possible. 

Turret Control

The Menu system of the scope is connected with the turret control adjustment knobs for easy access. There are 3 turret control knobs to operate the menu icons based on its location in the scope. This makes the operation intuitive and fast. 

Menu Operation

The menu system or the menu levels are numbered from 1 to 8 and each having different functions.

Level 1: This controls the polarity settings, digital zooming option, and edge detection mode.

Level 2: This operates the digital focus control mode and can adjust the contrast of the image.

Level 3: It controls the brightness and ca;ibration of your target.

Level 4: This option is only for reticle selection

Level 5: It allows you to control windage and elevation adjustments.

Level 6: This option is responsible for image capturing and enhanced target recognition (ETR).

Level 7: You can review images using this option.

Level 8: This level is responsible to operate many features such as the reticle lock, refresh rate, start up settings, battery settings, sleep mode, display auto dimmer, video output, and deleting the captured images.

Video Output

Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope does not have inbuilt video recording rather it comes with a high end mil-spec Fischer connector. This connector also costs higher than the other connectors, but the video connection can withstand even in any harsh environmental conditions. It is highly durable and can last for years. 

It is very important to have a high quality connector and video cables for your recreational activities, because it should bear up all the weather changes. A small fault in a cable can miss your perfect shot on video. So IR Hunter MK2 comes with a top quality video cable that connects the scope directly to a mini digital video recorder. These cables are strong, rugged, and can last for years. 

Pros

Cons

Final Words

Trijicon products are always costly for its high graded components. Though it is costly, Trijicon IR Hunter MK2 thermal scope really bangs a lot for its money. It is built in such a way that no other brands can compete with Trijicon thermal scopes in its quality, durability, image capturing, and ranging. 

This is very well suited for hunters who travel in all climatic conditions. No matter whether day or night nor the weather conditions, IR Hunter can survive in all situations and provides you an excellent performance. 

Leave a Comment