Choosing your first thermal optic can be a confusing set of hard choices. You know you want thermal capabilities. You think you might want a stand-alone sight to gleefully eradicate hogs at 100 yards, but then it occurs to you that you might get more use out of it if it were small enough to helmet-mount so you can walk around and stalk. But then again, maybe it’s best to get a clip-on that goes in front of your day scope so you can get more distance use and don’t have to re-zero every time you swap scopes. But then you might not be able to really use it as a handheld. Deep frustration sets in as analysis-paralysis whispers wait and-see justifications to your wallet.
With the release of the RH25 RICO MICRO thermal optic, iRayUSA, a Texas-based provider, has taken a pretty good swing at bat in trying to make everyone happy. The RICO (“Rugged Infrared Compact Optic”) MICRO is iRay’s attempt to provide a compact, jack-of-all-trades thermal optic. It’s a sampler-platter of pretty much any role you envision a thermal filling, but it doesn’t leave you compromised badly on any particular front.
Running through its basic specs, the MICRO is a 640x512 resolution optic with a 12 μm pixel-size sensor and a manual-focus f/1.0 objective lens. It sports an AMOLED 1024x768 display and a 50Hz refresh rate. That refresh rate means it updates the visual information that’s displayed quickly enough to not lag annoyingly like cheaper 30Hz optics often do, but is just below
