When it comes to hog hunting at night, you have to be able to find those swine before you can shoot them. Not only are hogs hard to see while destroying crops in the dark, but they can also smell or wind you and sometimes seem inclined to turn the table on you. You need a tactical advantage. That’s where a thermal monocular comes into play. The InfiRay E3 Max thermal monocular has been out hunting with me a lot lately.

The E3 Max is a handheld thermal monocular. If you’re new to hunting in the dark, a thermal monocular (aka, ‘spotter’) is similar to a thermal optic, but without the reticle and mounting hardware. In my opinion, quality in a handheld thermal spotter is just as important, if not more important, than that of a rifle mounted thermal optic. Most of our hog hunting involves nights spent driving and scanning fields with handheld thermals.

We often spot hogs somewhere between 400 and 1,000 yards out. Then we use the same handheld thermal monocular while navigating our way through fields to our firing position. Generally, around the 50-yard mark, we set up shop and get ready to shoot.

It is only at that time that we switch to our rifle mounted optics. When the shooting stops, we’re back on the handheld thermals to find and recover the bodies. I could go on here, but I think you get the point. When it comes to handhelds like the InfiRay E3 Max there are a few things I tend to look for.

The InfiRay E3 Max thermal monocular has a ton of features that can be found on their website. So, I won’t bore you by listing them all here. I’ll hit some highlights that stood out to me.

First is the built-in Li-ion rechargeable battery. I love the fact that this came with a rechargeable battery. CR-123s can often become the doom of a hunt in west Texas if you planned poorly. With a battery life of seven hours, we didn’t have any issues making it through the night by turning it off when not in use. A single night’s hunt can stretch to 12 hours if hogs keep showing up. If you do need to charge on the go, simply plug the charger into your vehicle’s USB plug.

The InfiRay Eye II has onboard video recording and pictures that are saved to a built-in memory module. Hallelujah! I am so sick of all the different devices and gadgets we have to have if we want to film something through a thermal. This is a huge win that speaks for itself.

The E3 Max comes in at just nearly a pound. It has a sleek ergonomic form factor with a soft touch rubber housing that is just right – not sticky, and soft.

At the end of the day, the InfiRay E3 Max is a power-packed thermal monocular that outperforms its 384 x 288 resolution, is easy to use, and comes to market at a great price point. While this is the only InfiRay product I’ve personally used, I’d say it shows great potential for this relatively new brand and the people behind it.