FOG HORN
June 2021 Twobirds Flying Publications
Yes I Can… LIEMKE KEILER 35 PRO (2020)
Copyright 2021, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
LIEMKE KEILER 35 PRO (2020)
2021
LIEMKE KEILER 35 PRO (2020) – an upscale thermal monocular for the affluent hunter By: Sal Palma
Several features account for this level of fidelity. LIEMKE chose a large 35mm objective which is manually focusable and has a 13 meter field of view at 100 meters. The ocular is also adjustable producing a very crisp display. LIEMKE quotes a detection range of 1818 meters for a 1.7 meter target. In 2021, American hunters will have more choices in thermal imaging accessories. LIEMKE, a German manufacturer of high quality thermal imaging products and part of the German owned Blaser Group, will be offering thermal imaging technology that will help hunters tag that prize winning game. I want to thank the folks at LIEMKE for the opportunity to test drive their Keiler 35 PRO (2020) thermal monocular; Impressive as a standalone tool but formidable when combined with the Infiray IOS or Android app. The hallmark of the LIEMKE thermal devices is their image quality, which is excellent.
The Keiler 35 PRO monocular uses a 384 x 288 1 ceramic VOx (vanadium oxide) thermal detector translating to a massive 110,592 pixels with a 12µm pixel pitch. Adding to that formula is its new 1,280 x 960 LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) display, an advanced technology used on high end projectors.
1
Vanadium oxide, along with other materials, is commonly used in uncooled thermal imaging applications.
Copyright 2021, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
LIEMKE KEILER 35 PRO (2020)
2021
The Keiler supports white hot, black hot, red hot and color mode; each serves its purpose in assisting you to detect and identify your target.
Color Mode
White Hot
In addition to the customary thermal imaging features, the Keiler-35 PRO (2020) provides ranging, direction of fire, cant and inclination angle data. The Keiler monocular offers a heat source tracking mode that further enhances a hunter’s ability to locate and track game. It marks the heat source with a red box that moves with the heat source so you won’t be losing that buck in the brush.
Black Hot
Direction of fire, cant and inclination angles are menu item toggles; when set to on, they display regardless of the mode you’re in. As you can see from the display, I have a steep negative inclination and a slight cant as I faced to the north east.
Red Hot
Ranging is accomplished by bracketing your target using the adjustable T’s at the center of the display. Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved
LIEMKE KEILER 35 PRO (2020) The Keiler monocular was not designed to be a tactical tool but you can get some fairly accurate ranges. I’ll run you through an example. Let’s assume that you want to range a structure that’s out in the middle of a field. If you bracket the structure from the ground to top you’ll get an erroneous range; instead, you want to range your target by using one of three fixed references. The male figure is a 1.7 meter reference, the boar 0.9 meters and the rabbit 0.2 meters. To get an accurate range you’ll want to decide what your reference will be and bracket your intended target using that reference. Let’s assume that you are going to use the structure’s entry door to range the structure, and that you’ve decided to use the boar as the reference target height. Doors are generally 80 inches in height, so you would bracket the door as shown then read the range value displayed at the boar’s image. If you decide to use a 1.7 meter reference you would bracket 69 inches of the 80 inch door and read your range at the male figure.
2021
In the picture above you’ll notice I bracketed an SUV and obtained a range of 247 meters. Since SUVs are on average are 69 inches high, it closely matches the 1.7 meters that Keiler uses as a default target height, so I use the range indicated next to the male figure. The difference between the range indicated and the LRF range was 15 meters; accurate enough to put a round on target. LIEMKE has an opportunity that I’d like to see them explore. As you’ve seen, the monocular provides reasonable range estimates, magnetic direction of fire, cant and inclination angle; with Bluetooth pairing to a Kestrel AB meter it could display elevation and windage data on its LCOS display; however, as of this writing, the Keiler meter does not offer Bluetooth support; in its place, it has a WiFi hub feature. During my familiarization and testing, I was able to obtain best results when the monocular was tripod mounted using its 1/4x20 mount; it’s at this point that the InfiRay app comes in very handy. Your smart device connects to the Keiler via Wi-Fi. Using the InfiRay app you can take pictures and videos. The app also lets you look through remote folders and their contents. A remote folder is one that resides on the Keiler; they are created when using the Keiler as a standalone device. The app will also allow you to download video and pictures as well as share them to social media or via email. While connected to your smart device, the Keiler will stream what the thermal detector sees so it’s a very convenient way to observe the surroundings.
Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved
LIEMKE KEILER 35 PRO (2020)
2021
Manufacturer Specifications Resolution, pixels
384×288
Pixel Size, μm
12
NETD, mk Frame Rate, Hz
≤40 50
Objective Lens, mm
35
Field of View
7.5°×5.7°
Display
1280×960 LCOS 3.5
Optical Magnification, x Digital Zoom, x Max. Battery Life, h
Image folders can be opened; photos and videos viewed, downloaded and even shared via the InfiRay app.
Amount of built-in memory, GB
The Keiler 35 PRO is powered by an internal lithium battery that is USB rechargeable, or using the provided AC adapter. I was surprised at how power thrifty the Keiler is; the manufacturer cites 7 hours of run time but as with all battery operated accessories, your mileage will vary with changes in environmental conditions.
2/4 7 16
Dimension, mm
186×65×64
Weight, g
<420
Detection Range, m
1818
(Target size:1.7m×0.5m,P(n)=99%)
The USB charging port is located under the monocular body and cohabitates with a video out jack that can be used to connect to an external monitor. The LIEMKE Keiler 35 PRO (2020) is an exceptional thermal monocular but undeserving of its owner’s manual which is poorly written; lacking clarity and detail, but other than this minor frustration, this German supplier has a winner on its hands. LIEMKE delivers superb performance and quality in a monocular that will give the hunter a measurable edge day or night. -SP
Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved