LEUPOLD LTO Thermal Tracker Monocular Full Review
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- This is a DISCONTINUED model.
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Thanks for your review it is one of the most accurate reviews on the net, I bought the LTO a couple of months back and people need to realize that most Thermal gadgets are not like the thermal Cameras that you see the police or the military using so although you get a good picture close up at longer distances what you get is a heat source not a photograph or a picture like in an NV Scope, Yes it will Zap cars and Trucks at 600 yards no matter if they are driving towards or away from you, The LTO is a great Gizmo but remember it sees Heat Sources Not ID people or Animals at long Range. The clue is in the Name Tracker So if you are within close distance to your prey then it will see them and ID them, The LTO Tracker should be used as a Aid to searching not as a primal Spotting Scope, The LTO makes more sense than more expensive versions because you are not tying up 3-4-5k in something with limited uses So based on that The LTO is a perfect addition to any ones Kit. good luck and enjoy.
I absolutely agree with your first hand review. What I hoped to do with my video review and in my conversations with potential buyers of the LTO is to help them understand, it's not fair to compare it to a $3,000 handheld thermal monocular. It's not fair to compare it to a $2,000 thermal. It is fair to compare it to something like the FLIR TK Scout that is a similar price, but to be disappointed when it doesn't perform like a high end thermal, that is definitely foolish. Thanks again for the first hand review.
- Jason
The LTO has dozens of uses from Hunting, checking livestock, Security and the list goes on, It can ID Buildings for quite a few hundred yards and Vehicles and Large Game, I have even used my LTO for checking for Heat Loss around my Home, The thing with the LTO is it will show you a Heat Source and that is all a person needs to be aware of Game or a Threat of some kind or something that should not normally be there, By using the LTO in this manor it will give you the edge you need, Is the LTO worth the money ? the Answer is "YES" if any of the above uses are on any ones list or requirements then I say Go Fro It, From start up it has 7 Zoom settings 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and 6x. and 6 colour pallets and the Crosshair feature is a nice touch too, But one of the great things that I really like is that it is made to Leupold's Golden Ring range of quality optics, The LTO is made with an all metal construction so it is built to take the knocks, and for an entry level TI the LTO is a massive bang for the Buck.
You should come to work for me! You just gave a pretty darn impressive sales pitch!
I agree I'm working on large order of LTO's for two fire departments right now. An FD with a search and rescue team bought one from me to test out and they called back within 24 hours of receiving it and said they want to order more. Another nearby FD saw it and we are now in discussion for a large order for them as well. There is no question that there are a whole lot of uses for this thing.
Do you know another random thing it will do? Find studs in your house. Someone told me to try it and I was shocked, I could see faintly see every stud behind sheetrock in my house. Pretty neat.
- Jason
Well after writing my last post I took the LTO outside along with my rangefinder and I watched Two people vanish around a corner at over 212 yards, I could easily see them at over 100 yards and at 200 yards they appeared in the view finder as "TWO" vertical heat sources and I could see that they were walking/moving and Cars and buses I could see the heat from the Tyres at 2 to 300 yards and I could see the main heat from the engine at 3 to 400 yards and beyond, Baring in mind I was using it in the 1.5x mode in the "White" setting on a City street and all the distances were verified with my LRF, The secrete to the LTO is use it on the 1.5x mode so the screen does not pixelate but you have the benefit of full screen mode and only use the zoom when you are close to the target or item of interest, Many of the video's on YT do not do the LTO justice, This is a great tool and has many possibilities, Good luck.
Is this device capable of spotting small birds at the range of 50 yards in a land covered with snow ?
VERY helpful! You are almost the only reviewer who reports on the distance it will detect an animal, which is THE critical question I need to know. Thank you.
Some of the best customer service and product knowledge in the State of Texas. Keep the reviews coming Jason!
Thank you very much Joel!
Great review! you are so right. Any secondary video or picture does no justice to the LTO and how clear and sharp it truly is. Well done!!
Randy Higgins Thank you for the feedback Randy! Maybe one day they will include a video recorder in the LTO.
Awesome review! Thanks for going in depth on the details and abilities of the unit and not just reading off the list of specs.
Thanks Joe! Glad I could help! Let me know if you have any questions.
- Jason
Thanks for your review it is one of the most accurate reviews
Thank you for the review! How does this unit compare to the Flir Breach in your opinion?
the crosshairs are for pinpointing something that you are showing a friend through the device so they can see exactly where you're looking
John Denham Fair enough point John. That just seems like an extremely rare event that wouldn't justify Leupold making the crosshairs an optional function. I would make a lot of other minor changes before I'd have ever thought of that one! Haha! Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching.
Crushed it! Thanks for the in-depth review.
Thanks for the kind words. It's always nice to know when people enjoyed the reviews. - Jason
You could put a 30mm adjustable laser mount that is adjustable in windage and elevation for $50 and use the cross hairs that it has like a thermal scope.
Hey David thanks for the comments, I replied to your email earlier. The LTO Tracker does have fixed crosshairs and you are correct, there are probably ways to rig something up and use it as a make shift scope. The negative is, because of the low resolution and magnification, it's probably wouldn't be very useful out past 30-50 yards max.
It's also worth noting that since Leuopold isn't marketing the LTO Tracker as weapons mountable, it has no listed recoil rating and mounting is on a firearm would likely void your 5 year Leupold warranty. I'm not saying it won't withstand some recoil, but since we don't know, it's going to be trial and error on what calibers it will stand up to before the optic is damaged.
I know a lot of people are really into hacking and adapting and there is no doubt the LTO Tracker does offer some interesting opportunities! You've just got to decide what risks you are willing to take with a $699 optic.
Thanks and let me know if you have more questions.
- Jason
Thank you Jason yes im going to try to test it and see what happens
This handheld device and many ways is comparable to the scout TK as well if other people in the review section need a comparable unit
Thanks for the info!
Excellent Review Jason.
Thanks Matt, I hope you enjoy your LTO Tracker. I appreciate your business!
Awesome review Mr. Robertson
EastTexasOutLaws Thank you sir, I really appreciate it.
Hi, thanks for the review, I have a question, whats the max distance range it can pick up a deer?
exactly what I was hoping for. I just need to know an animal is out there on a small property, then switch over to my rifle to confirm and shoot. Fox hunting at night on small properties can prove a challenge.
Good deal Scott. That is what the LTO is great for......letting you know "something" is out there and then letting you switch to your NV scope. Thanks for the comments. - Jason
Hey cheers for the reply lucky enough here in New Zealand we don't have a hunting season and can hunt deer everyday of the week if we choose and we can hunt on privitely owned land at night I often test out products on a farm only 30 minutes from where I live to see if they will work well for up in the mountain tops... my wife works at the local hunting and fishing store and are often getting me to test out new products and they do stock the LTO and it dose sell but for me personally and the hunting I do it's not forMe...the scout 2 dose what I need it to do and last night we shotA nice yearling doing just that
Year round deer hunting, day and night? Hmm.....are y'all accepting dual citizenship applications from Texans? I might need a 2nd home! haha
Outdoor Legacy Gear year round everything hunting, except ducks ... and no suppressor limits either.
Best one yet review
john hatcliffe Thank you very much for the kind words John!
Sounds like the waiting thirty minutes for your game to die might be a problem if you want to track by blood. Most likely the same would apply for looking for hot tracks, would be very helpful in finding which way it ran. Looks like I'll be contacting you for a unit soon. Very helpful and maybe above all, honest overview. Would have been nice to see you actually use it in the field both day and night. Thanks again.
Thanks Capt. Roemer. There is no question that the standard waiting time for your game to die is going to prevent you from following the trail by tracking the hot blood. However, as hunters, we both know we'd rather be tracking a dead animal than a wounded one. On bright and warm days, thermal imaging is going to be less helpful because of the heat radiating off of other objects like trees etc but in cooler (or cold) weather and in dark or overcast/shaded conditions, thermal can be a huge help for finding downed game.
Thanks again and don't hesitate to give me a call, I'm always glad to help.
- Jason
I see there is an hd and a tracker 2. I know the tracker 2 hd is the newest. My question is which of the two is better of the tracker 2 and lto hd. Thanks. It would be for camping fun that's all.
Is this better than the flir scout tk . Thinking about purchasing this one but not sure. Just going to use it if there’s trespassers on property
Noel Travis I think the LTO is better than the TK for a couple reasons. The TK has a 9hz refresh rate which is extremely slow. The LTO has a 30hz refresh rate, which is the industry standard. The TK has an internal non-removable rechargeable battery, so if it goes dead, you are stuck. You’ve got to take it back to the house to charge it. With that LTO you can pop in another CR123 and you’re back up and running. The TK has a 160x120 thermal core resolution and the LTO has a thermal core resolution of 206x156. I think all around the specs show the LTO is a better device for the money. Feel free to send me an email via the “contact us” at outdoorlegacygear.com and I’ll can give you a coupon code for the LTO in my online store.
I've picked up the neighbors cows over 500yds, so obviously the larger the object the farther it will detect.
For sure. The larger the heat source it would definitely pick it up at further distances. I’m sure it might pick up and elephant at 800 yards.haha
Great vídeo its very help full
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
I realize this is a older video but your description on your web site says 50hz not 30hz. Did they do an upgrade or is it a typo.
Thank you for pointing that out. That is an error. The current crop of LTO Trackers are 30hz. Thanks again for letting us know that. - Jason
It would be pretty cool if you could find a way to mount this to a rifle
Dale Woods It would be but the effective range would be extremely close....20-30 yards. Also, Leupold has said the unit is NOT recoil rated and it will likely be damaged or destroyed if used on rifle ver long. But it’s an interesting idea! Thanks for watching.
Quick question, I’ve seen few reviews on the HD model, but for the most part they are people that have already purchased this model and returned it, most state the HD model is a solid upgrade usable as a scanning system and switching to NV for the shot, any thoughts on the HD model?
coydogcaller I use and sell both and no question the HD is a solid upgrade but I still don’t see it as a good scanning tool for serious hunting situations. The LTO’s were designed for tracking/locating dead or wounded animals and they are great for that. They have some other usability but for real world spotting while hunting.....I think you’re better off with a good digital NV optic or saving on up and getting a real quality thermal device for scanning.
Just my 2 cents having used both models extensively. Let me know if you have more questions!
Outdoor Legacy that, was a crazy fast response. Thanks for the honesty. I’ve been looking for something in thermal, still contemplating a scope, I use a photon RT right now. Thought perhaps a way to go would be a thermal unit to scan, switch to NV for ID.
coydogcaller Ha! I was still awake and saw the comment notification pop up. Figured I’d reply before I went to sleep.lol I’m not saying its totally unusable for your application but it’s just not really ideal. For scanning/spotting I really don’t think it would be better than something like the Sightmark Signal 320RT. It’s only $399. You will probably see almost as far with the Signal as the LTO and with the LTO you will see nothing but a tiny dot out past 100-150 yards.
I’m really not trying to be negative about the LTO, they are great for they are but they have an extremely high return rate and most people over estimate what these units are capable of and honestly they weren’t designed to be a spotter. I think if I was willing to spend $1,000 on the HD I’d hunt long and hard for a used Pulsar Core RXQ30V scope and use it as a spotter. It is $1,899 new but I saw someone on FB last night say they’d found a used one for $1,200, which is crazy cheap. It’s a real legit thermal scope and it would do exactly what you’re wanting. Just a thought.... Good luck!
Outdoor Legacy , sent you a email on your site.
coydogcaller I believe I replied to your email. Let me know if you have more questions.
Great review. I've been trying to decide between this and the flir tk scout. Leaning towards this one, but worried about the screen lighting up my face in the stand at night. Any thoughts on this being an issue and on this item as compared to the flir tk scout? Thanks.
Hey Chester, thanks for the comments. I'm a FLIR dealer as well so I'll give you my thoughts on both. While I love FLIR products and the TK Scout definitely serves it's purpose, it has two major downfalls compared to the LTO Tracker in my opinion.
1) The TK Scout has a refresh rate of less than 9Hz as compared to the 30Hz refresh rate of the LTO Tracker. That's a huge difference. You cannot quickly scan with a 9Hz refresh rate without a good deal of image lag. With 30Hz that's no problem.
2) The TK Scout has an internal battery that must be charged with a USB cable. Compare that to just popping in a single CR123A battery into the Tracker.
As for lighting up your face in the stand, I haven't considered it much but that is a fair point and good thinking. The screen is only 1.5" and I don't really believe it's going to be a big issue unless you are dealing with hogs/predators that are extremely close to you. The amount of light put out by the screen is very small. **Ok for grins I just went into a pitch black bathroom and looked into a mirror with the LTO Tracker turned on. It lights my face up enough that at 4-5 ft away from the mirror I can strain to make out my face. There is a very faint glow being put off but the unit but it's not too much. I also found that by cupping my hand around the viewer I was able to shield a lot of that light from escaping. Conclusion: The TK Scout is going to win that race but I don't think it will be a giant issue unless you have animals very very close to you.
I hope those thoughts help a little bit. No matter what you decide on buying, give me a shout and let me see if I can get you a deal on it, whatever it is. : )
- Jason
Ha I'm not sure about the duel citizenship thing but people do immergrate to nz...mind you there's no second amendment but we do have licensing for fire arms and we have better gun laws than Canada and California and Australia I could even hunt deer with an ar15 223 here at night with nvgs or thermal but only on privitely owned land
I do have to admit I'm spoiled to the 2nd Amendment freedoms we have here in the US but your hunting laws sound pretty good to me!
Wheres the Image in the field?
I’m wanting something to track wounded game and possibly pick up heat signatures of an animal the size of a coyote? I don’t give a shit if it shows round circles as long as it will pick up an animal that I could then identify with my NV rifle scope.
This model was discontinued a long time ago but I'd suggest the LTO Tracker HD 2. We quit selling all the LTO Trackers because no matter how much I warned people what it wouldn't do.....many people still had too high of expectations of them. In almost every case, to suit that user's needs, they had to spend $1,900+ on a higher end thermal monocular.
For finding dead/wounded deer in the brush, it's great! For picking up the heat signature of a coyote....it's going to need to be close, 100-150 yards or less most of the time and you don't be able to ID it. Before I quit selling them, I just started telling people, if you want to find a dead/wounded deer, buy the Tracker. If you want it for any sort of spotting, don't buy it.
Is the HD version of this model worth the extra 200
That's my question too
@@outdoorlegacy thanks for the reply I see what you mean
@@UCJMQdIRZf Glad to help.
Can you record or take picture using that thermal scope?
yojimbo anima No sir, not at all.
Thank you for your time to reply god blessed
Could be used in the day??
Alexander Calles Absolutely. For tracking and finding dead animals it works just fine during daylight hours.
What is the black bar across the bottom?
Sorry, I’m Not sure what you’re talking about? I don’t see any black bar in this video?
Look thru the lens. There is something black across the bottom viewer. It kind of interferes with the screen
Glenn Roberts I’m sorry that doesn’t sound familiar. You may have a defective unit. I would contact your dealer and see what they have to say.
We stopped using and selling the LTO Trackers in 2018. We believe there are better products available now and Leupold continued to raise the price on the newer models and they are no longer reasonably priced in our opinion. A lot has changed since Feb 2017 when I reviewed the LTO. Thanks for watching and I’d contact your dealer to see if your unit is defective. Good luck
Outdoor Legacy hey bud. I see it on yours too. Well I’ve contacted Leupold. They will be open tomorrow. Thanks
If I can’t put it on my gun it’s useless
fck fracking Its a handheld monocular....it’s not useless. Binoculars are not useless because you can’t put it on your gun. A truck is not useless because it won’t fly to the moon. You buy the tool that meets your needs but you don’t hate hammers because you want a screwdriver. Thermal monoculars range in price from $500-$6,000 and they are extremely popular and useful in the hands of someone who needs/wants one. If you want thermal to mount to your gun I can hook you up. Good entry level starts at $1,899 and goes up to $10,000.
Outdoor Legacy if I’m paying that amount just to look around then it’s useless to me.. I can buy a scope for that amount and it would be more useful
fck fracking As I said....it’s not useless....it’s useless to you for what you want to do. It’s the wrong tool for what you need/want and no one ever claimed it would do what you need/want. Leupold never designed this to be a weapon mountable scope and that’s never been a secret. It’s a handheld monocular. Again, hammers aren’t useless tools just because you can buy a screwdriver for the same money. Buy what suits your task but don’t bash the other tools that don’t meet your immediate needs.
Outdoor Legacy it’s useless to ME!!
fck fracking LOL! Exactly. So what scope are you thinking about buying?
NOT made in the USA, assembled. LOL
All of their thermals are discontinued. LOL
This is a 4 year old video.....
@@outdoorlegacy That comment was more for your viewers just in case they are interested.
I am disappointed in mine.
Kevin Kipp why is that Kevin? What does if fail to do that you had hoped it would?
The poor screen resolution is this products greatest downside. You cannot see things past 100 ft because of it. If you can replace the screen with higher resolution that will probably improve performance significantly.
404, thanks for your thoughts. Just to clear up any confusion, changing the screen would not solve the problem. The main issue is the 206x156 thermal sensor. The lower resolution is what causes the poor image quality at the further distances.
But we have to be fair and compare the LTO Tracker to the only other similarly priced unit which is the FLIR Scout TK for $599. It only has a 160×120 thermal sensor. FLIR's next Scout model up the line has a 240 sensor and it is $1,999. This isn't a bash on FLIR, because I'm a dealer and they make awesome products. But we just have to be clear what we are comparing here and what we are expecting a $699 thermal unit to actually do. The TK has some pros over the the LTO but the LTO out performs in a several categories, especially the 30Hz refresh rate.
With that said, I agree the resolution isn't as great as I'd like it to be but the LTO is a $699 unit and it has the highest resolution of any comparable product in that price range. I would also strongly disagree that you can't see past 100 ft. There are tons of videos here on RUclips showing the unit working well past 30 yards. If you own the LTO and can really only see 100 ft I would highly advise talking to Leupold about getting a replacement unit under warranty.
Good luck in the field and thanks for watching the review.
- Jason
no images to show lol
Thanks for watching Ronald. As I mentioned in the video, there is no way to record images from the LTO. The only thing you can do is hold a camera or a phone up behind the unit and take a picture of the viewer. This gives a terrible representation of what they user actually sees. I've tried to do it and it just doesn't do the unit justice to the quality that the user would see while using it. There are other videos on RUclips that do that though if you'd really like to see. I wanted to give a hands on review of the unit and manage customer's expectations that way.
Guess what deer can see the light bounce off your face and the only thing you will see is the deer running off....not to mention where I'm from at 100 metres you can't tell the diffence between a red deer and a cattle beast......best to keep saving your money and by a scout 2 twice the cost but 3 to 4 times better
Thanks for the review Molz. It really comes down to what you are using the device for. As I mentioned in the video, the LTO is designed to be a tracking device, hence the name. I also agree that being able to tell the difference in a small cow or a calf and a deer at 100 yards is not likely to happen. But in the US we can't legally hunt deer at night and no one is shooting cows at night either, so it's really a non-issue.
I agree that the FLIR Scouts are much better, but as you stated, they cost at least twice as much (some a whole lot more than twice as much), so that isn't a fair comparison. The FLIR Scout TK actually costs less than the LTO but in my opinion, it is not as good as the LTO and it has several features that cripple it in my opinion.
There is no question that the LTO isn't for everyone, that's why I made this video. If someone is looking for a serious thermal spotter, they need to upgrade to something like a Pulsar or FLIR monocular. But the LTO is a great little device as long as you know what to expect and it can be well worth the money for some people.