ThermTec Oryx and Ibex thermal scopes tested: premium vs. value thermal optics

Thermal scopes have shed their reputation as clunky electronic intrusions into the hunting world. ThermTec's latest designs feel almost natural in your hands—they look and handle like the glass you've always known, just with heat vision built in. The company's two newest models, the Ibex 335L and Oryx 650L, sit at opposite ends of the price spectrum, yet share most of the same feature set. The real separation happens where you can't see it: inside the Oryx lives a sensor and display that operate in a different class entirely.

To put them through their paces, one scope went on a Tikka T1X chambered in .22 LR, the other on a Lithgow LA102 Varmint in .223. The Ibex is the compact option—a 35mm objective, 770 grams without battery, 344 millimetres end to end. The Oryx is its opposite: 50mm objective, 1100 grams, 397 millimetres long. Neither comes with rings or mounts, but both use standard 30mm tubes, so sourcing them is straightforward. What struck me immediately was the eye relief. The Ibex offered 50mm, the Oryx 60mm, and both felt instinctively right the moment I pressed my eye to the glass.

ThermTec deserves credit for the control layout. Three rubber buttons on the diopter—power, laser rangefinder, photo and video—do multiple jobs depending on how you press them. A single tap, a hold, a double-press: each triggers something different. After a few hours in the field, the system became automatic. The USB-C port sits under a rubber cover on the left side of the diopter, handling both battery recharge and data transfer to the internal 64GB memory. The right turret houses the battery: an 18650 in the Ibex, a larger 21700 in the Oryx. The turret controls differ slightly between models, but both work smoothly. The Oryx adds a traditional zoom ring around the eyepiece—a familiar gesture for anyone who's used conventional scopes. Switching between the two during the same session felt natural; the differences never became friction.

Zeroing both rifles took only a handful of shots, thanks to the freeze function, which lets you move the reticle directly onto your bullet holes. The scopes store multiple zero and ballistic profiles, so swapping between different loads means no re-zeroing. This is where the sensor and display become everything. The Ibex pairs a 384 x 288 sensor with a 1600 x 1200 display. For a scope under three thousand dollars, the image quality impressed me. I used it mostly on rabbits, but I glassed deer and kangaroos through it as well. ThermTec claims detection out to 1800 metres; I could identify deer and roos reliably at 400 to 500 metres. The Oryx, though, operates in another realm entirely. Its 640 x 512 sensor feeds a 2560 x 2560 display. The image quality is outstanding—sharp enough that you can identify targets with confidence well past 600 metres. Despite its larger objective, the Oryx delivers a wider field of view than the Ibex, a benefit of its superior sensor and optical design. I found myself scanning paddocks with the Oryx and leaving my personal thermal monocular in my pocket; it was simply that good.

Digital zoom always costs you clarity. Both scopes start at 3.7x magnification and push to 4x digital zoom for a maximum of 14.8x. The Ibex remained usable but softened noticeably at full magnification—I wouldn't have wanted to shoot much beyond 200 metres at that setting. The Oryx also loses some sharpness at maximum zoom, but because it begins with so much more detail, the image stays workable at longer distances. In practice, most night shooting happens well below maximum magnification anyway, so clarity at the zoom levels you actually use matters more than the theoretical ceiling.

Both scopes integrate a laser rangefinder and ballistic calculator. Feed in your ballistic data, range the target, and the system calculates holdover and displays an aiming point. It proved reliable throughout testing, and I was pleased to see it also provide hold-under corrections on very close shots, where the scope's height above the bore becomes relevant. The feature set extends far beyond what I can detail here—reticle styles and colours, colour palettes, all customizable. Most shooters will pick one setup and stick with it. Picture-in-Picture became my most-used feature: a magnified window at the top of the display while the full field of view remains underneath. As you zoom the PiP window, the main image stays unchanged. This proved invaluable for placing precise shots while keeping the wider view needed to acquire or relocate moving animals. Recoil Activated Video automatically captures short clips before and after the shot, saving you from continuous recording that fills memory. The ThermTec AutoSight System works alongside it, automatically dropping magnification after the shot to give you a wider view for relocating running game. Both features worked as designed, though neither operates during manual video recording.

After several weeks in the field, I could usually stretch a single battery through a cool-weather night of shooting, though the included spare was welcome insurance. The Ibex accounted for plenty of rabbits and one cat, most shots inside 60 metres—typical .22 LR rabbit work. The Oryx on the .223 handled rabbits at greater distance, but I spent most time with it on pigs and deer. The Ibex is a remarkable scope for its price bracket. It delivers nearly all the features of the Oryx, with slightly different ergonomics and less image detail, but at less than three thousand dollars. For someone who wants capability without obsessing over absolute image clarity, and who values lighter weight for a balanced rifle, it's a genuine choice. The Oryx shines where precision at distance matters. Every time I returned to it after looking through the Ibex or my monocular, I thought the same thing: that looks very nice. It builds confidence, though it's not essential. If you're shooting from a vehicle or tripod and need to be certain at 600 metres and beyond, this is the scope to consider. At over six thousand dollars, it's a serious investment, not something most casual shooters will entertain. For hunters serious about thermal optics, whether your budget sits at the lower or upper end, these ThermTec scopes deserve a close look.