BEST Helmet-mounted Thermal? | RIX Stride ST6

[@andbed82]

Just played a 24 hour milsim with a ST-6 and bridged PVS-14. It wasn’t even fair. Lots of opfor with NVGs. We just laid in the bush roadside and ambushed multiple squads while watching them gagglefyck down the road. You can’t hide, even in the bush. It was a rainy dark night. I’m so impressed

[@Path0g3n]

Did you need the PVS14 to walk or was the contrast of the thermal good enough to make out sticks/stones etc to not faceplant?

[@bassproshophat8999]

Did you need the Pvs 14 asshole ?

[@OhshitPositive]

I bought one and the battery that came with it wouldn't work with it for some reason. It took a charge and powered a vape, and the vape's battery powered the Stride just fine. But that included battery just would not work in the Stride. I reached out to Rix and asked for a replacement, and they sent a link to where I could BUY new ones lol. I asked again, citing that I had paid $3,000 for a complete package that was supposed to have a working battery. They responded with a request for a picture of the BATTERY so they could "track which batteries were bad". Idk how they're gonna track them considering there's no serial number, but whatever. Then they asked for my shipping address, and then shipped me a new battery. The really frustrating thing was that they would only send one email a day. Every single step I laid out above was an entire day's communication. Getting them to send me a new battery took the better part of a week. And one incredibly important thing that's left out of the overview by Arkayne is that the 18650 battery the unit takes is a flat top. No button top will work with it. So if this is how they handle a simple battery issue, I dread the day I need warranty service on the actual unit.

[@Mark-et8vh]

Wow! This looks great. Thanks for suggesting this.

[@ricky2699]

Do they make a unit without all of the WiFi and internet connectivity for a cheaper price? I literally only want the thermal capability, similar to night vision

[@joeboucher1849]

Looks like a Jerry-YM. AGM has rebranded these units as well with their StingIR lineup.

[@falconclaw_]

It probably is a white labeled Jerry-YM. Very nice review and good strategy on their part.

[@OneHorsefarmer]

It's definitely a Jerry YM 2.0

[@maccatfish]

right @@OneHorsefarmer

[@jhendies]

A software update to be weapon mountable? Does it not have a reticle?

[@Averagedude73]

Been through them all and ended up with nox18 and never looked back, should have bought the nox the first go around 🤷‍♂️This unit will fit the right person and budget for sure.

[@urbanandruralsurvival]

Hey my guy I am getting ready to buy one very soon, what's your thoughts on the nox18 vs rh25?

[@Averagedude73]

@@urbanandruralsurvival First thing it’s American made, better, customer support and superb build quality. Cons no onboard video or audio, cannot be used as a clip on. Pairs well with a pvs14. Iray customer service horrible. It’s funny how all these retailers are pushing Chinese products more than any other thing, such as rix and iray. Nvision has a clip on thermal coming out soon.

[@urbanandruralsurvival]

@ngaoutdoors4157 yeah I was aware of some of those differences, I have to admit I like the features of the iray but I have heard good things about the nox18. Good to know about the customer service. Decisions decisions. Thx for the response

[@Averagedude73]

@@urbanandruralsurvival you’re welcome

[@toms.7913]

Wow, sounds like a great little unit. Very exciting. Thanks for your videos, they are very helpful in wading through fluff of advertising.

[@sergebinder9363]

Is there a monocular thermal around 1000$ that is good quality

[@JOHN-hf9ow]

How does this stack up against the Armasight SideKick? Both are in the $3,000 range and have similar specs

[@davidfocardi8516]

Great question - cause my sidekick just came in yesterday. Here are a couple things i like about the sidekick: #1 Target mode. Essentially it's Black Hot but will highlight in red if it's above a certain threshold. If you are running PVS14+ thermal, that is SUPER nice, as it really makes it easy when you are scanning for life around you when it flashes red/orange on a deer or anything else emitting heat. #2 it takes 123A batteries. You can find these just about everywhere, in big packs, for not too much money. 2 batteries and you get 5 hrs of run time, though I have not ran them down yet and counted the time. #3 Updates - just today I installed a firmware updates, which smoothed out a couple things. They may do it too though, so i'm not sure it's a point in favor necessarily.....as far as image quality, I have not tested both units together so can't say. I can say that it is NOT as good as the RH25, as I have tried that, but is that what you are looking for? Are you looking for image quality, or speed of scanning an area with a large field of view, and spotting? For me, I wanted helmet mounted for spotting - once I identify, I know where to look with the NVG and I have eyes on the target with both...so Didn't really care to have fancy image quality. Just wanted light weight, and quick spotting. I would love to see a side by side of the two though.

[@JOHN-hf9ow]

@@davidfocardi8516 Thank you for sharing your experiences. I'm looking to do some night navigation, so image quality and smoothness is very important to me. I have the syonix opsin and while it does fair for being a digital NV, I wanted a thermal to use in case it started sucking in low light/dense woods. I have a few ATN and AGM clip on/thermal scopes. But don't want to hold them while doing land nav. The sidekicks target mode really peaked my interest as it has many practical uses. My concerns are after watching a few videos it appears laggy, slow image processing and poor resolution (feel its more of a 384 core than a 640). But from the sounds of it the update kinda helps with this? And I completely understand I am not buying a top of the line BAE core. Theres a reason its only $3k for either the rix or armasight. But want the best bang for my buck as nothing is cheap nowadays. So buy once cry once.

[@anhzig]

Anyone know if this is the only thermal monocular that has a green-hot setting on the market? Seems like a good thermal unit to pair with a green phos pvs-14.

[@1youwatch]

I came here looking for thermals and found the Mandarin.

[@strat1960s]

I have a rifle mounted IR and thermal. To me, the thermal beats the IR in clarity and range. (I have an ATN xSight ii and a Thor 4) It is soooo much fun going out and watching the deer, coyotes, and sometimes skunks. (Un)fortunately, our dogs chase off the critters or I'd be shootin them. The 4x and 6x is a bit grainy, but not terrible. I know what we see with our eye is much better than what your camera and my computer screen shows.

[@MochiMoose]

Sold! Waiting for you to ship that bad boy

[@JMGENTERPRISES]

Congrats! Let me know how you like it!

[@MochiMoose]

@@JMGENTERPRISES The image is excellent. Buttons are easy to use. There are two menus to make going through options faster, though if you’re wanting to change multiple different settings, I suppose it’s more work. Not a con IMO. I have used this in conjunction with a PVS-14, and it pairs pretty well. There’s certainly a learning curve to using both and a sweet spot for messing with your gain on the NV, brightness and contrast on the thermal unit, and finding the right image color that works best for you. I also like that the zoom function is super quick. Up to 6x digital zoom. Max practical use is 4x, but at further distances, you can atleast detect heat signatures and movement. If anyone’s ever looked through a thermal and used a digital zoom, it’s nothing different. Just resolution loss with each higher magnification. But running it on a helmet or handheld, again, I love that it’s quick to switch between them. I primarily run this on a Mod Bridge with the PVS14, which I’m mostly happy with, but when completely stowed, if you try and articulate them too much, they hit the in and out mechanism on my G24, sliding them down (down while stowed, closer to your eye when not stowed) due to gravity. So I have to readjust if that happens. Not too big a deal, but it’s something to remember. One thing I wish was better on the ST6 is the edge detection mode. If a thermal signature isn’t moving, you can’t really differentiate it from the surroundings except for its outline. So if it clearly looks like a bunny side profile, there you go, but if it’s facing you and not moving, there’s nothing to differentiate it from the surroundings but the outline. If there were a software upgrade that made something with significant heat delta between the object and its surroundings by making it white hot (while on edge detection mode) or something, that would be great! It’s roughly 10.8 oz with the dovetail adapter per my scale. Makes an excellent handheld. The auto standby feature works… kind of. In order for it to go into standby mode, it has to be at greater than 70 degree angle and not moving. If you move, it’s essentially shake awake and turns back on. It is basically instant from standby mode to on. I’ll have to check to see if there’s a software update that fixes that, already out, but on whatever version mine is on now, that’s essentially how it works. One more criticism, I wish they ocular lens and eye shroud was slightly bigger, but thats a personal opinion. No complaints on the battery life. I like the 18650 vs CR123s, as all my flashlights run 18650s. I hope that helps if you were on the fence. Excellent value for the price. I would definitely recommend.

[@MochiMoose]

After having this for a while, I wouldn’t change anything I said about it’s performance but I would add one thing. If you can get your hands on a Jerry YM 2.0…. Do that. I have not personally been behind a Jerry YM2.0, however, you could say that I have. I found out that these are essentially the same thing hardware wise, but the Jerry YM 2.0 actually has the ability to collimate the image which is both useful running on the helmet with a PVS-14 OR useful as a weapon mounted clip on. There’s ZERO reason they can’t give us an update to the firmware to allow for collimating the screen except maybe that Iray/Infiray just doesn’t want them to? I really couldn’t tell you. I haven’t reached out to them about it, but word on the Internet from those who have is that Rix essentially tells them to go pound sand, it’s a helmet/monocular unit not designed for weapon mounting…. Except it IS because the Jerry YM 2.0 is rated for 500G of momentary force, which is good enough for 5.56. There’s literally no hardware difference between that and the Stride ST6. Same housing, same sensor, same display, same field of view, same ocular lense, same objective lense, same eye relief, same diopter adjustment, same memory… same hardware. Jerry YM 2.0 I believe COMES WITH a helmet mount, even if it isn’t a true Wilcox G24, it comes with a better waterproof case, it has an azimuth compass HUD, it has pitch and roll angle on the HUD, it has reticles that you can choose from, as well as reticle color, and those reticles can be changed on the X and Y axis from a +100 to -100 pixel value for “sighting in” as a clip on in front of your day scope or just a CQB case use standalone thermal. I got this figuring that (firmware) might roll out in a future update, because why not? but I doubt it ever will, to make sure the Rix US brand doesn’t interfere with the Iray international one. They can be had for the same price…. Just go with the Jerry YM 2.0 if you can choose. (Edit) Or just save the extra money and get an RH25…. It weighs more but it’s definitely the most capable, even if the thermal sensitivity is slightly not as good.

[@Tyborg425]

Absolutely love my st6 and pvs bridged. Spent 3 hours solid under it the first night hiking. Kinda walked around drunk, it was a challenge to get use to switching eyes, I found changing the gain in the pvs helped me associate what eye to use, and my IR laser helped as well (only being visible by the nvg. Also flipping up the thermal, no headache but I have spent a long time under Vr on the pc and I feel I might have trained eye strain a bit. I will say my neck got a little sore from the little bit of added weight. I don’t think the 3 lead plates I added to the back helped enough for balance but it would only lead to my neck being sore. Did anyone else walk around disoriented while under them, it was kinda like I was drunk. Do I get better at this with time? Also the two images where not even close to lining up, I could “trick” myself to use both but they 100% don’t line up in my head. Are we expecting ways to weapon mount this anytime soon, out of curiosity. Something 3D printed maybe? Also idk why but I wasn’t expecting 2 things, my pee to be so cool under thermal, and the square image in the circle night vision, idk why it’s obvious but I don’t think anyone talks about it or has tried to “show” what it looks like in post. If I made videos I could do that pretty easy. I don’t have the recording thing to hold the phone onto the night vision. Side note extremely dark night with rain all day long, in Washington the ability to kick that contrast up to 5 did wonders, this is a big reason I went with this model…well and the price.

[@mikef5694]

So is it correct to say that the StingIR 640 is the same in every way performance wise and form to the ST6 except for the weapons mountable functionality? So you’re paying ~$600 extra for the clip on and standalone weapons use function. That doesn’t seem like a bad trade off to me.

[@yzhou05]

Sorry got confused: Yes StingIR is very similar to the ST6/Strider, significant difference is the StingIR uses a proprietary mount so bridging with another device is hard. I don’t think the StingIR is clipon/weapon mountable . The Armasight Sidekick has much better FOV (24 vs 16-17 degrees) than the irays and other Chinese thermals. Also from what I can tell from the internet the “Target” mode on the Armasight seems to be the best for HMT detection work. I only personally have experience with the MH25, which works well enough, but if I didn’t have it already I would probably get the Sidekick (once they update the firmware some more to fix lag issues).

[@mikef5694]

@@yzhou05 the StingIR is most definitely weapons mountable.

[@yzhou05]

@@mikef5694 You’re right, 5.56 or lesser? Can’t seem to find good info on that.

[@Spare_Mag_Mike]

This vs mh25? What’re we thinking? For helmet mounted only gotta compare apples to apples.

[@joeboucher1849]

the StingIR uses the exact same 3 bolt mounting system. @@yzhou05

[@mlc2016]

How would a software update make it weapon-mountable? Surely that would be a hardware limitation, no?

[@neverend777]

If you're using this with a Jerry 14/PVS 14 is the FOV a close enough match to walk around with both on?

[@99cobra2881]

The weapons mountability of the AGM stingIR 640 says one thing to me that it is durable

[@Polarbear-nq9nd]

I heard somewhere that the ST-6 is basically the same as the Jerry YM's they use in europe. mounted to rifles, rated for 5.56

[@based_val4505]

This or AGM stinger IR? Torn between this or that. Or just getting the 384 resolution version of the stinger to primarily run helmet or handheld?

[@Arkayne]

If you only need a helmet-mounted/handheld thermal, the ST6 is a solid choice as you can get a 640 core for a really good price. On the other hand, if you are looking to weapon-mount a thermal, the RH25 is probably what you want.

[@ThomasShue]

What happens if you helmet mount this and look through a regular scope or red dot?

[@WisSota_Boy]

Weapon mounted I’d used the RH-25 but for a helmet mounted this is a nice “affordable” option for sure.

[@GravySealNetwork]

Damn, i was thinking of getting getting the lower end StingIR.. it would be nice to have the higher resolution at a slightly higher price, but it would be nice to have the oprion to weapon mount the unit.. damn. Ive got a L3 Harris pvs14 already so im not to sure what to go with

[@ep6727]

I would love to hear your opinion of the RIX K2 handheld thermal if you've had a chance to try it out.

[@thegolflife7565]

Better image quality than the nox18 with the higher res display?

[@GoldenDuck0]

Still waiting for you guys to cover the armasight sidekick 640, seems a lot better than this unit at the same price

[@mikef5694]

From the videos I’ve seen, the Armasight unit doesn’t perform as well.

[@yzhou05]

@@mikef5694Depends on your use case/environment. The lens/sensor configuration on the Chinese thermals allow for longer detection/ID range at the cost of FOV.

[@illduitmyself]

Armasight was bought by an anti american company

[@AtlasRandGaming]

@@mikef5694which videos? From ones I watched it outperforms the Chinese like infiray units and is close to other US ones.

[@KeystoneCarry]

That's something we can definitely discuss with the team. Not sure if it's in the cards right now but likely could be in the future.

[@boardapatrol9667]

What bridge do I need to buy to run stride with pvs14?

[@ikemouser2580]

Is it a *true* 1x, this is critical for dual band.

[@King-IbnDragon]

Is there any way to get a non-wifi version?

[@FumiTheKitten]

Which dove tale clips would work on the ST6 for the KVS mount?

[@brennantx]

So am I tripping or is he running Pvs14’s with this thermal mount? If someone could please clarify it’d be greatly appreciated.

[@thatchsmash]

Does Rix optics make this inhouse in Texas.......or is this chinese manufactured?

[@jcrosby735]

Can’t access your website. It doesn’t like VPNs. Too bad. Really been wanting to check out your website for months now.

[@Alex-log1c4l]

to the experts, please tell me if i can put rechargeable batteries in night vision? .

[@kingchungus]

Nyoes

[@securemindsetofficial]

Im in search and rescue, I need to pay for this stuff out if my own pocket. I hope it becomes cheaper it's such a vital tool for me to save lives.

[@pyeitme508]

RAD!

[@musicman1eanda]

I was excited until I heard the price tag.

[@joelbuck5033]

Haha, you said "hand hold your unit..."

[@idkidk7985]

Wifi enabled everything so when it really matters will most likely just be scrambled and shut down

[@Just_A_Gun_Guy]

If it was weapons mountable it would be awesome at that price point.

[@oubliette862]

The next time I decide to invade Virginia I'll have to get one, helmet to, I can't play soldier without a good helmet.

[@saltyreviews1848]

Brand new on the market...still unproven.

[@kingchungus]

Seems like there is a strong marketing push within the nvgtuber sphere

[@AP3FX]

Idk this company just seems,(please forgive me, but) slimey to me. Reading their replies on reddit and watching them talk on a video, I just get bad vibes off of them. May God have mercy on your souls. Hope you guys can turn it around, life is beautiful.

[@viktorbezvidkhodko2199]

Made in China?

[@Adrenaline89Junky]

Trim your beard man.