Night of the CONDOR: Ben Unten Ups His Game with the HIKMICRO CQ50L

*This passage is published on Hunter Issue 90. Please visit https://www.ssaa.org.au/our-media/our-publications/australian-hunter/ for the original text.

The latest offering from HIKMICRO is the CONDOR. While HIKMICRO are well established as a leader in thermal technology, the CONDOR builds on previous models to offer a laser rangefinder (LRF).

Out of the box the Condor comes with a cleaning cloth, velvet-type carry pouch, three rechargeable 18650 lithium-ion batteries, dual battery charger with a digital read-out and USB charging lead.

Constructed of magnesium alloy and measuring 197mm x 60mm x 95mm, the redesigned CONDOR offers a more ergonomic and streamlined, water-resistant unit which comfortably fits left and right-handed users thanks to a gentle concave underside. With the CONDOR nestled in your hand, the four control buttons are easily accessed on the top of the unit. The front SDLC lens is protected by a magnetic cover attached to a lanyard. 

The CONDOR weighs about 526g when fitted with the Li-ion battery. The improved battery life, when coupled with the two additional batteries, should provide about 12 hours of run-time. The USB cable means that the dual battery charger can easily be charged from a vehicle or battery pack.

The CONDOR features a 50mm f1.0 lens with 2.8x, 5.6x, 11.2x and 22.4x digital zoom, plus magnification of 3-24x. It sports a high-sensitivity-NETD <20mK thermal detector, which is designed to enhance the detail of the thermal image, which has a detection range of 2600m.

After installing the battery, a long press of the front button turns the unit on and off. Once turned on, a second short press puts the unit into sleep mode. 

The second button from the front activates the LRF. A short press turns it on, with run-time programmable. A  long press of this button activates video recording, which is stored on the 16GB internal memory.

The third button from the front is the menu button. Short presses allow the user to scroll through the  various thermal modes: red hot, white hot, black hot and fusion. To access the main menu functions such as brightness, contrast, PIP and zoom pro, hold this button down. Further options such as image pro, tone, sharpness, rangefinder etc as well as general settings are also available from here. The image pro and zoom pro functions are designed to allow for greater visual detail in the thermal image.

The rear button cycles through the zoom functions: 2.8x, 5.6x, 11.2x and 22.4x. 

Once you’re happy with the settings, you’re good to go. If you haven’t looked through a thermal before, you’ll be astounded at how completely pathetic the human eye is after dark. The highly tuned thermal technology embodied within the CONDOR meant that after a little familiarisation, goat-sized animals were clearly visible at ranges beyond 700m. 

Of all the improvements made, the addition of the LRF is the most significant. Earlier units were limited to range estimation based on not only guessing the relative size of a particular species, but also the user's ability to accurately sight and register the height of the animal from ‘head to hooves’. A bona fide LRF takes all the guesswork out of ranging various species. For close and mid-ranges, mobs and individual animals can be independently ranged, but like all rangefinders, I often find the quickest and most effective method for long and extreme rangefinding is to range a tree above or adjacent to the target, or a large, flat rock beside it. The in-built LRF is claimed to be accurate to +/- 1m to 1000m. I tested it against my Leica 1200 and could find no discernible difference between the two. 

My first outing with the HIKMICRO CONDOR was a trip chasing feral animals. We could see lots of goat sign but, due to high hunting pressure, we struggled to locate animals during daylight hours. However, at night I was able to gain excellent intel (and pictures) of the goats and their locations. This information proved invaluable as we planned our hunt for the next morning. We confirmed their location before heading out before first light and easily accounted for several animals. 

I next took the CONDOR out chasing pigs from buggies on a property where featureless, thousand-acre paddocks were the norm. Here, ranging pigs was tricky due to the extreme distances, but both single animals and mobs were clearly identifiable through the viewfinder. Due to the flat, clean paddocks we were able to drive up and exit the buggies to account for several pigs that night before heavy rain cut the trip short. 

The advent of thermal technology has been a major breakthrough for nocturnal shooting, including pest control. While some may consider this not technically hunting, it is impossible to refute its effectiveness. The addition of an LRF to high quality construction and clever, well thought out features, elevates the CONDOR to the next level. It allows hunters to accurately move to within confident shooting ranges when coupled with either a spotlight, torch or thermal scope. It will no doubt prove hugely popular with many Australian hunters. 

There are multiple products in the CONDOR range. The CONDOR CQ50L retails for $4899. For more information visit hikmicrotech.com

*Before purchasing any thermal or digital day & night vision device, please make sure you adhere to the local ledislation and only use it when it is allowed. Our ambassadors come from various countries and travel a lot, which allows them to test different devices. We do not encourage or support the illegal use of our devices in any events.