The handheld thermal is definitely in demand today because it’s regarded as a needed unit in its own right. But this wasn’t always the case.

In the past, many saw the thermal handheld as an adjunct to the thermal scope, something that was nice (if you had any cash left over after buying the scope), but certainly not necessary. And, hell, you could use the scope as your scanner, anyway.

This point of view has changed. Today’s hunters, for example, use handheld thermals for a range of applications, from scanning for roosted tom turkeys after dark to deer hunters making sure they don’t spook big bucks on their way to the hunting stand. 

Of course, the night hunter using a thermal scoped rifle finds it much easier to search out coyotes and wild hogs with a handheld thermal versus continually having to raise rifle and scope to eye.

Best-known for its binoculars and riflescopes, German optics maker Carl Zeiss AG (Zeiss) launched itself into the handheld thermal market several years ago. Today, Zeiss offers a range of handheld units, from the base Zeiss DTI 1, extremely compact and offered in two models, to the top-of-the line DTI 6/20 and DTI 6/40.

Many Users

The handheld thermal market has definitely expanded into other user groups,  too, with law enforcement, search and rescue units, and preppers purchasing these handy high-tech units.

With new users and ever-increasing applications, it’s no surprise that handheld thermals are available in a wide variety of models and technical capabilities. Today, one can buy everything from full-sized units to the relatively tiny thermals capable of being helmet mounted, with various sized handhelds in between. These units come in at a range of price points.

The DTI 6/40 ranks among the higher-end handhelds, both in features and price point.

Features

Zeiss sent me a DTI 6/40 handheld unit for testing and evaluation. I ran my DTI 6/40  during four nights of hog hunting in East Texas, as well as on a number of nights in my home area. 

The images I saw through the unit were very clear and sharp. Credit, in part, the 640×480 sensor with 12 micron pixel pitch and the 1024×768 HD AMOLED display. Zeiss itself also gives much credit to the ZEISS Smart Image Processing (ZSIP Pro) algorithm, a key part of the unit’s high-tech build.

According to the  Zeiss webpage, ZSIP Pro is the company’s  proprietary image processing algorithm that optimizes thermal images. In essence, ZSIP takes the information the objective lens sends to the sensor and, in a three-stage process, improves the contrast and overall quality of the images created. 

As the Zeiss website explained, “When observing and identifying birds and other wildlife, there are often large temperature differences between the particularly cold sky and the warm animal. Comparable image processing algorithms have so far often been unable to compensate for this, making it difficult to identify the details you are looking for in an almost completely darkened image.”

The explanation continued, “Previously, you always had to resort to shifting the camera’s viewing angle and pointing the camera toward the ground to block out the cold sky. This made the image contrasty again, but the observed species was at the edge of the field of view, which is hard on the eyes over a long period of time.”

The ZSIP Pro algorithm does a triple-play “read and adjust” for those temperature differences so that all images are finely detailed.

Controls and Menus

The controls on the DTI 6/40 are very straightforward and will be a great place to start with customers. The front top button in the ON/OFF control. The scrolling wheel is next, mid-top of the unit. A rectangular MENU control sits right below the wheel, and just beneath this is the media control button for photographs and video. 

The first thing a customer will likely observe is that scrolling wheel, which looks like the magnification wheel on a pair of binoculars. This wheel allows both left-handed and right-handed users to select the DTI’s zoom levels or menu items quickly and precisely. The wheel is easy for fingertips to find in the night without looking, too. 

Hold down the MENU control and the various menu options appear along the bottom of the viewer. At this point, all one needs to do is to gently move the wheel left or right to select options which include Brightness, Contrast, Color and Scene.

Taking photographs and videos was easy. A long press on the media button selected which of the two media I wanted. Then, a short press either took the photo or started the video. With video, another short press stopped the recording. 

Zeiss rates the battery life of the DTI 6/40 at 6.5 hours of continuous use. The battery pack is charged via a port on the left side and near the bottom of the handheld.  Connect the included cord to the port, the other end to a standard charger. Just above the ON/OFF button, a tiny blue dot begins blinking to show that charging is on-going. View the charging level of the battery pack in the lower right corner on the unit display.

Charging the unit was not a speedy process. From 50% charged to fully charged required over 2.5 hours of charging and took much longer when the battery was nearly spent.

For those users who need power over an extended period, extra battery packs are available for purchase. Operating a latch on the bottom of the unit allows quick change-out of the battery packs.  

In the Field

The DTI 6/40 sports a flat spot at the bottom front of the unit with a threaded hole in the center to attach the unit to a bipod or similar stabilizer. That flat spot helped me to rest the unit solidly on fence posts, tree limbs and across the roof of my SUV. 

One problem I had with the DTI 6/40 concerned the front focus ring surrounding the objective lens. It moved easily. Too easily, I thought, as even a slight touch against a branch or even my wrist shifted the ring and took me out of focus. 

The Images

The images I viewed, photographed and videoed through the DTI 6/40 were nicely detailed. For example, heat signatures within a particular object, like a vehicle, stood out very well. 

One night, a van I spotted through the Zeiss was very visible, the vehicle radiating heat from the body in the 60 degree air. At the same time, the van’s tires stood out from the body as clearly warmer. And when the vehicle headed away from me, I clearly saw (and photographed) the much hotter muffler just below the van’s body at 100 yards. 

Pretty impressive.

Zeiss App, Palettes

I also uploaded and used the Zeiss Hunting app onto my iPhone and synced the app with the DTI 6/40.  

The Zeiss Hunting app provided news on Zeiss products and promotions, a “Hunting Diary” where I could record my hunts and photos, plus the ability to check the weather forecast.

For my evaluation, I used the app mainly to view and transfer the photos and videos I took with the DTI 6/40. And I took a good number of both.

For my purposes, I viewed the photos and videos on the app and then downloaded them via my Dropbox app onto my computer. The photos and videos provided very clear and detailed images. 

While recording media, I also switched between the various color palettes available on the handheld’s menu. In changing palettes, I noticed that a different color option could and did provide somewhat different details. A building I scanned in the White Hot mode, for example, showed all the structural details just fine. But when I changed over to the Rainbow mode, the obviously warmer windows were much more pronounced than in the White Hot. 

Of course, the color modes are affected by the air temperature, humidity and other factors, and what works best one night might not be a user’s first choice the next night. With the ease of changing out palettes, a user will have no trouble finding the night’s perfect palette.

Sales 

One key feature sales staff need to stress is the DTI 6/40’s first-rate ergonomics, starting with that aforementioned scroll wheel. 

“Point out that this wheel gives the user a quick and ergonomic zooming feature that is easy to operate, even with gloves on or in cold and dark conditions,” said Barton Dobbs, head of hunting and nature sales for Zeiss North America. “Also, note that the exchangeable and rechargeable battery pack can also be run from a power bank, assuring the user they can always operate the DTI 6/40 while in the field.”

Of course, stress the image clarity and level of detail the DTI 6/40 provides. Let users view various objects in your establishment to see these details.

And don’t just mention the Zeiss Hunt app — the prepared salesperson will have it downloaded onto their cell and connected to the display DTI 6/40, to show potential customers all that the app+unit can do.

A Growing Market 

“It’s been exciting to learn about all the new markets requesting our DTI 6 units and other handheld thermals,” Dobbs noted. “This includes law enforcement and surveillance, farmers and ranchers either searching for lost livestock or surveying the landscape to spot lurking predators, and power companies looking for overhead transformers that are at risk of overheating and failing.”

But hunters remain the top market for the DTI 6/40 and handhelds in general.

“Many hunters use the DTI 6/40 to search for wounded game in the dark,” Dobbs noted. “The handheld provides an amazing aid that will help hunters locate blood trails and harvest their game much more quickly. Honestly, the use cases for the DTI 6, from hunting to surveillance to so many others, are nearly endless.”

In-Store Help

For its thermal units, Zeiss offers its dealers a range of point-of-sales display materials including thermal-specific brochures and other product-specific brochures. Also available to dealers: ZEISS logo signage, counter cards, and even a premium, stand-alone optics display for dealers that commit to a certain annual volume with Zeiss. 

Zeiss provides its dealers with a range of training opportunities for sales staff.

“We try to be flexible with our training methods and utilize everything from Microsoft Teams/Zoom training meetings, to retail over-the-counter trainings, to the Expert Voice digital training platform,” Dobbs noted. “Honestly, we prefer to use all available training methods for any dealer that will allow us as we believe that salesperson training is a critical part of growing the ZEISS brand and our share of the market.”

 Zeiss has a staff incentive program, where dealer salespeople earn ZEISS Points for every ZEISS product they sell. After the salesperson builds up enough points, those points are redeemable for any product in the Zeiss lineup.

“Our sales team works hard to lay out marketing and sales plans with our dealers, and co-op and market development funding are big parts of that,” said Dobbs. “For dealers that will allow it, my sales team will work with them on a monthly basis to ensure we are promoting the right ZEISS products, tapping into existing dealer-specific marketing initiatives like annual sales or eblasts or other promotions, and engaging their consumer base consistently.”

Dealer Info

“The quickest way to become a ZEISS dealer is to contact the territory account manager, or TAM as we refer to them, for the given area, and the TAM will gladly walk the prospective dealer through the steps required to become a ZEISS dealer,” Dobbs explained. “We require financial verification and a few other items to verify that the business operates with integrity and will be a good partner for us in the future.”

Prospective dealers can call Zeiss at 800-858-6745, and they will be connected to the specific TAM for their location.

Zeiss offers a few different dealer levels, from Silver (the entry level dealer) up to Blue Diamond dealers which tend to stock the widest range of ZEISS products.

The majority of independent FFLs buy directly from ZEISS as long as they meet the company’s annual dealer minimum purchase requirements. 

“Those that do not, or cannot, meet those requirements are usually directed to purchase from our exclusive Hunt/Shoot distributor, Bill Hicks & Co.,” Dobbs explained. “Bill Hicks is a long-time partner of ZEISS, and they help us service a wide range of FFL’s across the country.”

 

More Handhelds

Don’t forget, Zeiss offers a number of handhelds built with various features at different price points. This includes the “little brother” to the 6/40, the DTI 6/20, perfect for thermal scanning at shorter distances than the 6/40. 

Increasingly, it’s a handheld thermal kind of world. And it’s open for business.