Thread: Sytong Thermal Scopes

Starting this thread now because I’m sure a lot of people will buy these, and the slim manual will leave people guessing I reckon.

I just took delivery of an AM-03LRF from Night Vision NZ. Great price and after initial inspections it looks really well made. Same specs as my Pard monocular, but somehow the image seems better. More crisp.

Tomorrow I need to zero it. Does a paper target show up on thermal? We’ll see.

Zeroing needs me to freeze the image (after I’ve shot I guess) and use buttons to move the reticle to the POI. If I learn anything useful I’ll post it here.

Fold some tinfoil in to a cross and tape it on a box is all i do, works quite well and is easy as.

Another sighting option is to cut a 1” whole in a cardboard box and angle slightly toward the sun. The hole will be visible out to 150m. Also others recommend an incense stick for the smallest thermal target.

A mini hand warmer from a $2 shop works well.
The idea of shooting and then winding the crosshairs to the point of impact is actually my preferred method of zeroing any scope. With electronic scopes (thermal or NV) you have the advantage of freeze frame, with opticals you need a good solid shooting rest

My experience with sytong instructions is they are woefully inadequate and offer no usefull help at all

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

A mini hand warmer from a $2 shop works well.
The idea of shooting and then winding the crosshairs to the point of impact is actually my preferred method of zeroing any scope. With electronic scopes (thermal or NV) you have the advantage of freeze frame, with opticals you need a good solid shooting rest

So the way to do this is take the shot and then without moving the rifle, grab the freeze frame?

Yes, but make sure the impact is visible, if not mark it with something like incense or an ice cube, hold the crosshairs in the point of aim and take the freeze frame. Then you can adjust the crosshairs. I don't know the sytong process but most are the same in that you have "zeroing profiles" and you have to save it to one of those.
The idea of those is you can use the scope on a number of different rifles by saving the zero setting for each in a different profile/folder.

Enter the reticle adjustment menu, Take the shot, click the menu button to freeze the image while holding the reticle on your point of aim. move the crosshair to the point of impact using the x and y adjustments, enter the zero distance and save. Take another shot to confirm.

I got the scope zeroed this morning. I used the tops off last night’s beer cans as targets, since they’re about the same as centre mass for rabbits. They worked fine. I used a can opener to cut them off the cans.

Note: measure your distance to target before you start zeroing, otherwise you need to back out of the reticle adjustment window and go back in again.

Also, It looks like you can’t open the menu while the rangefinder is active.

Things I’m wondering about….

Why is there a red laser pointer always on? (Rangefinding for ballistics I expect). But with my monocular, I’ve felt that the rabbits can see the laser once it’s trained on them. So maybe this isn’t ideal.

How do I overwrite reticle data stored in the menu list?

Can I adjust stored reticle data if I select one and re-zero the rifle?

Using the rangefinder you see the reticle plus a small box. I’m guessing that marks the rangefinder POI?

Otherwise, all good I reckon. Lots more to learn, buttons to master, but nothing so far has sapped my confidence in the scope.

One other thing I learned.. to calculate your shot using the ballistics software, you need to turn the rangefinder on, place the white box on the target, and press the menu button to lock the range. You’ll see another red dot further down the reticle. That’s your new aiming point at the distance you just locked.

It’s a bit of a faff trying to hold the rifle still on the target and press the buttons.

Now I’m wondering if the scope is taking the angle of the shot into account. If I’m shooting uphill, is that factored into the calculation?

This morning I missed three rabbits in a row. Then discovered I was on the wrong reticle setting - wrong zero basically. No idea how that changed in the menu but best check it’s right before shooting from now on.

Also the iPhone app crashes when you try to connect over wifi. I don’t really care about the app but somebody might. I’ll try a reinstall of that later.

Originally Posted by YosemiteSam

One other thing I learned.. to calculate your shot using the ballistics software, you need to turn the rangefinder on, place the white box on the target, and press the menu button to lock the range. You’ll see another red dot further down the reticle. That’s your new aiming point at the distance you just locked.

It’s a bit of a faff trying to hold the rifle still on the target and press the buttons.

Now I’m wondering if the scope is taking the angle of the shot into account. If I’m shooting uphill, is that factored into the calculation?

The lock on the ballistics reticle is a useful feature especially if shooting in flat terrain. Imagine ranging a rabbit at 100m, then placing the ballistic point on the rabbit. The rangefinder is now looking at a spot 300m past the rabbit as youve raised the point of impact and it realigns the ballistic point. Locking it fixes the ballistic point while you take the shot.

The red laser pointer comes on if you hold the menu button for more than 3 seconds. same to turn it off. Laser is a useful feature for pointing out animals that a hunting partner using night vision might not be able to see. You ac also adjust the laser zero with the small allen key provided.

You can adjust reticle data at any time. You can also reset everything back to factory settings.

If you adjust the zero in the reticle data, it automatically creates a new reticle data copied from the original one.

I also have a Sytong - hand held. But agree the supplied instructions are very limited in explaining the features. I was stuck on the rangefinder too until I made a ph call to clarify. They need to be rewritten or more detailed english version supplied. I am sure others continue to ask the same questions but the product is very good for value for $$.

Thanks. Very handy.