AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Review from Outdoor Legacy Gear, the leading Thermal and Night Vision Optics dealer in the country. This is the new AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope announced at the 2024 Shot Show and now available from Outdoor Legacy Gear. Jason and Hans go over all the features of the new AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope in this review in the podcast video below.
Below is the transcript if you would rather do a quick scan of the features. You can purchase the new AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope at outdoorlegacygear.com or call them at 877-350-1818 if you have questions before you buy.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Review Transcript
Before diving into our discussion, let’s set the stage a bit. We’re going to talk about the differences between the Rattler V1 from AGM and its newer counterpart, the V2. Now, previously, the Rattler was simply referred to as that, but now we’re distinguishing between versions one and two. In broad strokes, we’re focusing on the 384 units.
The V2 has made some significant upgrades from its predecessor. For starters, they’ve decreased the micron size from 17 to 12, indicating a finer thermal resolution. Additionally, the NE rating, which signifies sensitivity, has improved from sub-35 to sub-20. This means the V2 performs better in adverse weather conditions, such as cold or wet environments.
Another notable change is the battery system. The V1 used CR123A batteries, while the V2 boasts a movable rechargeable battery pack system, a welcome enhancement for many users.
Hey y’all, welcome back to the Late Night Vision Show! This is episode 301, and I’m Jason Roberts, owner of Outdoor Legacy and one of your co-hosts here on the podcast. And as always, I’ve got my co-host Hans with me. What’s going on tonight, sir?
We’ve got a big review this week, Jason. One of the most talked-about scopes coming out of Shot Show 2024 is the brand new AGM Rattler version 2. Today, we’re reviewing the two brand new 384 resolution models: the TS25 384 and the TS35 384.
So this is confusing, so I want to try to lay this out before we get into the discussion. Let’s talk about the difference in a general term and the difference in the Rattler V1 from AGM. We’re calling it the V1 now. Before it wasn’t the V1. Now it’s the version one, and then these V2s, version two. In general terms, we’re talking about the 384 units, okay? They went from a 17-micron down to a 12-micron in the V2. They went from a 35 or sub-35 Melvin rating for the NE rating down to a sub-20. All right, you don’t know what that means. It just means the sensitivity is better, would perform better in wet, humid, cold, snowy, nasty conditions. It’s going to perform better with that lower NE rate.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Review: Higher Base Magnification
Moreover, the V2s have expanded their magnification options, offering a wider range for shooters to choose from. And perhaps one of the most significant upgrades is the addition of audio alongside video recording capability in the V2, enhancing the overall user experience.
Now, the big question on everyone’s mind: is it worth upgrading from the V1 to the V2? We’ll delve into that a bit later. It’s important to note that the V1s are still available on the market and remain a popular choice among shooters. In fact, many enthusiasts prefer the tried-and-true performance of the V1 and are sticking with it. The pricing can be a bit confusing, but let’s break it down.
New Features
The battery went from a CR123As to, in the V2, a movable rechargeable battery pack system. That is awesome. We will get into that. And then the cold temperature rating went from a -4. The V2s are -22. The magnifications went up. We’re going to talk about that here in just a second. And the Rattler V1s did not have audio along with the video. The new V2s have audio and video. So there’s your basic things that have changed. And I think something that, you know, Hans and I are going to talk about here kind of in our, you know, overall thoughts a little bit is, is it worth the upgrade? If you got a V1, do you need to run out and sell it and go buy the V2? We will talk about that.
Rattler V1 Still Available
I also want to say that right now, the V1s are still on the market. They’re still for sale. We are actually still selling them as fast as we can get them in because they’re still very popular. They are fantastic. They’re tried, they’re true. They’ve been around several years. And we’ve got guys that are looking at the V1, looking at the V2, and they go, “You know what? I just want the V1. I know what it’ll do. I’ve already got one, or my buddy’s got one. You know, I want these CR123A batteries or certain, you know, whatever certain things they want.” And they’re going for it. So I don’t want everybody to look at this and say, “Well, the V1’s junk.” It’s really not. And it is still available, and the pricing there is still really good on those.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Pricing
Let’s talk about the pricing real quick again, a little confusing. So the Rattler Version 1, 384, 25 mm is a 1 and a half power, and it is $1895. These are new lower prices, okay? $1895. The Rattler 35 Version 1 is a 2.2 power, and it’s $2095. All right, now this is where it gets confusing. So the 25 V1 is a 1 and a half power. The 25 V2 is a 2 power, and it’s $2095. The 35 mm V2 is a 3 power, and it’s $2495. So people are getting confused between 25 and 35. So what you’ve got is a magnification shift up in the V2s. So again, let’s just remember this. In the V1s, we have a 1 and a 2 power and a 2.2. In the V2s, we have a 2 power and a 3 power. So again, and sometimes you just got the Version 2. Yeah, the 25 is a 2.2 power, and the 35 is a 3 power. Correct. So you kind of got to look at the, if you go to our website (outdoorlegacygear.com) and you search Rattler, you’ll see all these models and maybe even take a piece of paper and write it down, and it starts making more sense of what’s going on there. But what it ends up being is again, so the Rattler V2 25 mm, 2 power, is $2095, and the Rattler 35 V2, which is a 3 power, is $2495.
One more thing I’m going to say before I get into the specs on these. If you’re familiar at all with the AGM Adders, the Adders are the 30 mm (tube scopes), you know, scopes that look like a time scope, very, very popular. What they’ve done is they’ve essentially moved the Rattler V2 to match the specs of that scope. So that’s what it is. It’s an upgrade. So if there are any questions like, “Hey, I’ve got an Adder,” or “I’ve seen an Adder,” or “I’ve heard about the Adder,” and the Rattler V2 are essentially the same scopes in different housings. So now you just kind of know what you’ve got there if you’re trying to compare those side by side.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Specifications
So jumping into the specs, and again, most all of these things are going to be the same as we go down them from the 25 and the 35, and I’ll note where there’s differences. They are both a 384 by 288 12-micron thermal sensor. Again, they are both sub-20 Melvin NE rating. A 50 Hz refresh rate, obviously, we have a 25 mm and a 35 mm. The 25 mm again is a 2-power base mag with a 55 ft horizontal field of view left or right at 100 yards. The 35 is a 3-power with a 39 ft horizontal field of view from left to right. So you’re losing field of view, but you’ve gone up in magnification. That’s normal.
They have digital zoom: 1, 2, 4, and 8 times digital zoom. The detection range of a 6-foot object, so essentially like a 6-foot man or hot objects standing up or upright, would be about 1200 yards on the 25 and about 1800 yards on the 35. Now people say, “Well, why would the 35 do better?” It’s because of the lens. It’s because of the magnification. You just have higher magnification, so you can see further.
The display on both is an OLED 1024 by 768. Again, that’s the display. Thermal sensor is a 384 by 288. They have the same color palettes they’ve always had: black hot, white hot, red hot, INF fusion. They have something new. They have a scene mode, and it’s called cold and warm, and it’s just something for personal preference, kind of like a color palette. It kind of changes the display from a blue look when it’s in the cold, and then kind of a more black and white or almost a little bit of a sepia color when it’s in warm. So it’s just, again, doesn’t change anything. It’s just how you like it for your eye.
Video and Audio Recording
Both have video and audio recording. Again, audio is new in the Rattler V2. They have a standby mode. They both have picture-in-picture. They do have Wi-Fi streaming to the smartphone app, the AGM smartphone app. They have 10 reticles, so that’s an upgrade from the old Rattler. So 10 reticles with four different colors, and you can turn the reticles off or on if you just want to use it like a handheld and want to do some recording and don’t want the reticle in your way. They now have what they call shot-activated recall, or I’m sorry, recording, shot-activated recording. Some people call that recall-activated recording. I’m going to tell you guys, I’m just going to be straight up with you. I don’t like recall-activated recording, and here’s why, because it works most of the time. But that
The 25mm, 2-power is $2,095. The 35mm, 3-power is $2,495. So, you’re getting a whole bunch of stuff for that. Guys, this is a fantastic scope. Hans, show them the walk-around. Here we go. We’ve got the plastic AGM lit lens cap cover right here, or objective lens cover. Spring-loaded, push the button, easy pops out. Focusable, both of them are focusable objective lens. So, you’ve got a turn dial right here in the front by the objective lens. You’ve got your eyepiece diopter focus with a rubber eyepiece right here, which makes it a little bit more comfortable when you’re lining up for the shot.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Battery Upgrade
Battery Upgrade to Two Long Lasting Rechargeable Batteries
Now, the biggest upgrade, I would say, is the rechargeable batteries. You’ve got your button in here that releases the battery. (Two AGM rechargeable batteries) included with the scope will give you up to 18 hours of runtime in good conditions. Cold weather will shorten battery life.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Button Layout
And then, one of my favorite upgrades of the Rattler version 2 is the button layout. Way more friendly when it comes to cold weather, wearing gloves. They’re more spaced out. The buttons are more raised than on the version ones. So, you’ll be able to find them in the dark with gloves on.
You know, you’ve got your power button, your record button, menu buttons, and your zoom buttons right there. I love that upgrade on the Rattler version 2. But that’s the walk-around. That’s what it looks like, y’all. I don’t know if you mentioned it or showed them the USB charging port or not charging, sorry, power. And you might have. I just didn’t mention that it takes USB external power. Actually, I think it will charge. I said that, I was thinking back to V1, but it does charge that way. But again, you do get a cradle charger so you can charge your batteries that way. I did not mention it, so there it is. I can show them the USB-C port right there. It’s got a little light, letting you know that it’s charging for all you fans of all things charging that you can see it and see it when it’s done, red and green and all that kind of stuff. So, yes, that is the walk-around. It looks very similar, but it’s very different.
AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope Likes & Dislikes
So, guys, I know with this review, we, with the specs, took a long time. We’re dragging this on. We’ve got a lot to say. So, I’m going to kind of speed this up so we can get to it. I want to talk about our likes and our dislikes. I think the dislikes are going to be pretty quick and easy.
I have one dislike I think should be fixed with the firmware update. This annoys me just a little bit. So, if you’re this, right here, this button, I’m trying to get it where you can see it on the camera right there. This is your record button, okay? If you press it one time, it takes a picture. You long press it and it starts your video recording. You long press it and it stops your video recording. Right here is your power button, okay? So, what I’ve done a couple times out, you know, videoing hogs and coyotes and stuff, is I’m out here, I’ve got this great video, and I’m done, and I go, okay, great, and I reach up here in the dark, and this is my fault, okay? Nobody but mine, but I press this button, which is the power button, and I do a long press because I’m trying to shut the video recording off.
Well, when I do it, it starts the sequence of shutting down the scope. And so, what it does is it goes like 5, 4, 3, I don’t know, I think it starts at five, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Well, here’s the problem. In a lot of optics, when you press that and it starts the sequence, 3, 2, 1, if you let off at any time, then the scope does not shut off because you haven’t held it long enough. And it’s again, it’s a safety feature from keeping you from accidentally turning your scope off. If you long press this power button, it’s shutting off, period. You cannot stop it. If you can stop it, I haven’t figured out how, because when it starts going off, I’m like, no.
And here’s the problem. If you’re recording a video and shut the scope off accidentally, you’re going to lose that video because it was never stopped, so it’s going to be corrupted, it’s going to be gone. So, it’s a little bit of an annoyance to me that once I long press that, it shuts off. Again, with that countdown timer, most optics are going to give you the option of like, oops, I don’t want to do that, let off, and it just goes right back to where you are. I don’t like that fact that, you know, once that sequence starts, it keeps going. Minor detail, and I’m the fumble finger who’s pressing the wrong button. I want to be clear here, that’s my fault. But I think I’m not going to be the only guy who does that. I think that’s something that could be fixed down the road.
Hans, do you have anything else you know that you’re not you know dislike? I’ve got some positives here.
Longer ID Ranges
Oh yeah, we got our positives that we need talking about. And in that, the positives list, Jason, I think one of the big things is ID ranges. So, we need to make sure to talk about that as well as the increased ID ranges. But, so it’s kind of fun, because when you’re negative, when you say you’re negative, I’m like, H, that’s not that big of a deal. And I tell you my negative, you’re like, uh, you know, it’s not that big of a deal. So, it’s kind of funny how these negatives work out.
So, what I would say is my negative about the scope isn’t anything external, it’s when you look through the screen, especially when you go to the menu, there are a couple of things in there. And this didn’t just start with the V2s, it was also in the version ones. And I think some of the AGM products, there’s some things in the menu that might be a little bit confusing. So, when you get at the Rattler V2, the first thing you want to do is go to the menu and look at what the menu icons mean.
There’s a couple of things in there that are worded a little weird or might be a little strange. So, one of them is hot tracking and it gives you the option to turn it on or off. And people are like, what is hot tracking? Jason, I wish I could really explain it, but it throws up a lot of dots on the screen where some of the hot spots are.
AGM QD Mount Standard
And last but not least, as you can see right here, it includes our favorite, an American Defense Manufacturing quick detach mount right here. You can see this low rep, low throw lever, and that is a return to zero mount. You can see right here, there’s a little notch on the rail. You can set this, tighten it down. It’s going to return to zero. That’s what the guys want. So, they’re including that. I think that’s about a $200 value.
So, again, we don’t have firm pricing. We’re going to have that in a few weeks. We’re going to be taking pre-orders. We’ll have all the prices. So, guys, thanks for listening to this. I hope this has been helpful.
You can purchase the new AGM Rattler V2 Thermal Scope at www.outdoorlegacygear.com or call them at 877-350-1818 if you have questions before you buy.
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