Infitac Thermal Rifle Sights IOTS IOL25
As always with a blog, let's start with my relationship with this company and/or product. I am a reseller of Infitac products, though strictly for the FMP13 at the moment. The IOL25 just recently came out, and Infitac provided me the opportunity to test it. I did not purchase the IOL25, it was given to me for a two week testing period, and I shipped it back at the end of the two weeks. There was no stipulations, AKA this was not traded for a positive review. If I write a poor review and they want to dissolve our relationship and my ability to sell the FMP13, that's perfectly fine. So, let's get into it.
IOTS. IOL. 25. What does all that mean? I genuinely still don't know. A quick scroll through their product page also does not tell what the acronym is, so we'll just make it up. Integrated Optic Thermal System, maybe? I've got no guesses for IOL.
Right off the bat, you will notice the thermal is kind of in the shape of an ACOG, or one of the cheap Chinese knock-offs of an ACOG you'd fine on Temu. That's fine, I think, as there's a lot going on inside of this optic. Infitac seems to be on a mission to do more in a smaller package - the IOL25 is 5.6" long, 3.5" tall, and 2.7" wide - not a huge footprint for a thermal, in comparison to others in class (AGM Rattler V2, Sightmark Wraith, ATN's Thor line, etc.).
When I first opened the box and turned the IOL25 on, I was unimpressed. I thought the quality was incredibly low, and found myself wondering if I was doing something wrong. Well, I was - with the base settings, right out of the box, the optic will not be very impressive. When you first turn it on, it should be in the black hot / base settings - once I messed around with the settings and went through the 5 color palettes, and turned on the "AI Enhanced Imaging Mode" or whatever it's called, the quality cleared up very nicely. It was on par for what I would expect out of a ~$2000 unit.
Infitac advertises this as a multi-purpose unit, for handheld, standalone, and clip-on usage; I personally would never use this as a handheld unit, as it's large and awkwardly shaped. Fitting this into a GP may be fine, but into any other pouch may be troublesome. Using it as a standalone unit on a rifle purpose-built for predator control or hunting is likely where this shines, but may also be useful as a clip-on unit with an existing optic.
Out of the box, the IOL25 comes with a picatinny mount and 45 degree offset mount (RMR footprint). In addition, it comes with all of the wrenches and screws you need, 2x rechargeable 18650 batteries, a rubber eyeguard to use like you're in the GWOT, a lens cap, a flash kill, lens cloth, USB Type-C cable, heated targets for zeroing, and some admin/branding stuff. One other note, due to variation in sizes of 18650 batteries, there is a second battery cover that is shorter for use with the shorter length 18650 batteries.
The IOL25 has five different color palettes:
- Black Hot
- White Hot
- Red Hot
- Color
- Iron
Out of these five, I was most impressed with white hot and iron, as those seemed the most easy to use and clearest. The thermal-core used gives 384x288 resolution and SRE AI image enhancement algorithm, which does help with the sharpness and clarity of the image. As I stated originally, before I realized there was an AI image enhancement mode, I was relatively unimpressed with the unit. Once I got it t the correct color palette and SRE AI mode was on, everything seemed to clear up quite a bit.
The runtime on the IOL25 comes out to be around 6 hours, though that will vary based on temperature and usage of course. In optimized environments and minimal settings, you will get around 6 hours - when you're in extreme colds and utilizing everything the optic has to offer, you may experience much shorter runtimes.
As this was a "loaner" unit for a review, I was unable to test the ruggedness of this optic. If I was given one to keep, I would have torture tested it and done a continual-zero test as I tortured it in different ways. Infitac claims it is built for the harshest conditions, but I believe every optic manufacturer states that. It does have IP67 waterproofing, and states it is build for rain/sand/snow and whatever recoil, but of course, I wouldn't trust anything before verification.
In summation, I think the IOL25 is a viable option in this price range, but would want more hands on time before I give it the official seal of approval. I'd like to see someone (not affiliated with Infitac) beat one of these up and see if it's as ruggedized as they claim. The unit is crisp and the thermal imaging is what you'd expect out of it; dials are easy to use once you have a few minutes with it, and the mounts have very strong lockup to your rail.
