Zeiss up the market
It was only a matter of time before some of the big European names began to seriously flirt with night vision and thermal imaging, and my first encounter with such a product is the Zeiss DTI 3-35 thermal imaging monocular. There is no escaping that Zeiss have clearly displayed the device is made in China but before this seems a little worrisome, I have to say my overall opinion of the product is that its performance is a respectful reflection of the brand’s name and heritage – it is rather good in fact.
This monocular is unlike many others in that it is truly ambidextrous. The tube is slightly tapered in shape with a tactile rubberised finish coating the tough inner metal structure. The taper makes up for hand size variation and those at the extremes of this range will be used to compromise but my average-sized hands were comfortable with no need for a lateral strap to help accommodate an angular shape.
Starting at the front, the 35mm objective lens is recessed about 3mm within the
