Seize The Night With X-Vision Optics: Hands-on Thermal and Night Vision Review

Image	Product	Price
	Infinity 105 Monocular	Check Price
	Shadow 37 Binoculars	Check Price

As a kid, I always wanted to have night vision. Unfortunately, the closest thing I had back then was some glow-in-the-dark toys that would fade out within minutes. But what’s better than having night vision as a kid? Having night vision as an adult!

When we had the opportunity to review some of X-Vision’s thermal and night vision optics cross our desks, I was the first to throw my hand up to cover them. Today, we’ll be taking a close look at the Shadow 37 night vision binoculars and the Infinity 105 thermal monocular.

While they are two completely different products in every aspect, from technology to features to price, depending on your needs, they can both be valuable tools in your kit.

The most popular use for these night vision and thermal optics is hunting, which X-Vision is clearly passionate about as you can see on its “Who We Are” page.

But what earns my respect is the acknowledgment that with the right to hunt comes the responsibility to make clean and ethical shots.

However, there are other practical uses for night vision too. As someone who does not hunt, I’ve still found value in having a quality set of night vision tools. Activities such as camping, wildlife observation, and property monitoring can all benefit from additional visibility in the dark.

Especially if you live near woods or have a sizeable property, being able to investigate that weird noise coming from way back in the trees can put you and your family at ease.

These optics are fun to play around with any time of the day, but they are extra fun at night…obviously!

Taking these out on multiple occasions, I was able to familiarize myself with the realistic capabilities of each. Most of my testing was done within 200 yards, given where I live, but it gave me more than enough idea of how these would perform at further distances.

The Shadow 37 binoculars thoroughly impressed me. With the ability to toggle between 4 levels of IR brightness and zoom between 3x and 6x, everything within 125 yards was easily viewable.

At close distances, the details were very easy to make out and capture through photos and video. While they aren’t as clear as your typical camera, they aren’t expected to be. They shine at night time, pun intended, whereas the daytime is better served by using standard binoculars.

As you can see, even at over 100 yards in complete darkness, you could see anybody or animal easily unless they are behind the tree line, which is where the thermal would come into play.

At the same 100 or so yards, the TM105 thermal monocular could easily capture the heat signatures from my body. The recognition range is advertised as 475 yards, but I’d be shocked, to be honest, to make something out at that distance since this was only just over 100 yards. Once zoomed in, the silhouette got much more blurry.

At close distances, it’s of course easier to determine precisely what you’re looking at, including the details. I would estimate that if hunting, this would be most useful within 100 yards if trying to assess what animal you’re looking at. If you’re concerned with simply finding heat signatures without the detail, several hundred yards does not seem to be a problem.

On paper, the Infinity 105 has many features that should check most of the boxes for your thermal needs.

The internal storage is one of the best features because who wants to keep track of a micro SD card? Not me, that’s for sure. The 16 GB storage easily held all of the photos and videos I took to make the review, which were quite a few since I was learning how to use it.

All of the controls, minus the diopter adjustment knob, are large and rubberized, making them very easy to manipulate in the dark. The 2.3 – 9.2x magnification gives you plenty of wiggle room to find the right distance to focus on your target.

Other appreciated features include rangefinding, hotspot tracking, picture-in-picture, and an IP66 rating for those who push your optics to the limit in the elements.

As I said, the feature set is impressive and helps justify the price tag.

The Shadow 37 binoculars are near the top of the line for X-Vision’s night vision line, so you’ll get most if not all, of the features you’re looking for.

My favorite feature is undoubtedly the ability to capture photos and videos like the thermal above. However, this one requires a micro SD card. I used a 32 GB micro SD card and took dozens of photos and videos with no issues.

The 3-6x magnification is right at the sweet spot for the distance ratings, as anything much farther than what you’ll get a 6x would not benefit as much from the IR.

As you change magnifications, the bottom-mounted focus adjustment helps you keep things as clear as possible.

Everything you’re looking at is viewed through the 320×240 LCD screen nicely tucked inside the rubber eye guard. From the screen, you can access and adjust the various menu settings and check your battery levels, which brings me to my last point regarding the features.

I’m a fan of standard battery-powered optics as opposed to rechargeable ones for the sake of being able to carry spares and not rely on electricity, so I was glad to see these were not rechargeable. However, the 8 AA batteries that came with the unit (it was a nice touch to include them) died within half of the stated battery life. I’ve since switched to higher-quality batteries, and they’ve already surpassed the run time of the first batch, and I’m getting closer to the stated 6-hour night life. I’ll update this review if these new batteries don’t make it either.

Specifications

Infinity 105

Shadow 37

I had a lot of fun with these units while testing them. At the end of the day (or night), I can see the binoculars coming in much more handy for my use cases.

If you need thermal, especially for hunting purposes, I would probably opt for the Flex Reflex Sight and pair it with these night vision binoculars.

I was slightly disappointed in the performance of the Infinity 105, so for the price, I think the reflex sight and binoculars would be money better spent. That’s just my 0.02, so take it with a grain of salt.

Still, I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next from X-Vision.

As always, stay safe, train hard, and have fun.