Have you used thermal optics while hunting? Know what is a pain in the behind? Ranging with thermal devices especially in the dark. The problem is laser rangefinders only work if you can see through them and unless you have a night vision one you can’t aim it. Thermal scopes and handheld devices for some odd reason make it difficult to gauge distance just by looking through them. Some devices like the Pulsar XP50 have a pseudo ranging feature called Stadiametric range finding. This is where you measure the height of the animal you are looking at and it calculates the distance. The problem is this is not very accurate if your measurement of the height is off or if you mistake the animal for a larger or smaller animal because you could not positively ID or recognize the animal. The ranging is based on known values for stereotypical animals like deer, pig or rabbit. The Luna Optics Genesis Revelation thermal monocular does not do that. Instead, it has an integrated laser rangefinder that is easy to use and allows you to range out to 700 yards with the touch of a button.

Genesis Revelation: Thermal Laser Rangefinder

• Industry-first compact Thermal Monocular with built-in Laser Rangefinder
• Proprietary GENESIS Hybrid Thermal Core with Industry-First Image Detail Enhancement (IDE) with Manual DSP removes the barriers between 384 and 640 resolution thermal sensors
• Industry-First Super Controller allows instant multiple image adjustments without having to access complicated menus
• Manual Gain, Brightness, Sensitivity and IDE adjustments
• Eye Proximity Sensor
• Ultra-High resolution 1,024 x 678 micro-OLED image display
• Thermal sensor with Shutter-Free and NUC-Free Technology
• Integrated 700m laser rangefinder provides reliable and fast distance readings
• On-board 32GB Video Recording with Quick Start and Battery Save mode & Wi-Fi data streaming
• 2.5x-10x image magnification
• Detection range 1,100yds
• 10 color palettes, each with polarity image inversion
• Super Contrast mode for instant game detection
• Multiple customizable user modes
• User-friendly Bad Pixel Correction mode
• Integrated Tripod Mount

Luna Optics are well known for their ELIR long range laser illuminator, at least in the long range night vision shooting circles. While waiting for them to send one for review, they offered up their Genesis Revelation thermal monocular with a built-in laser range finder. The integrated laser range finder reminds me of the Laserworks mini laser rangefinder on Amazon. It too can range out to 700 yards.

However, the Laserworks LRF is a standalone unit while the Genesis Revelation’s laser rangefinder is integrated into the thermal monocular.

The design of the Genesis Revelation is rather intuitive and designed to be operated almost with just one hand. It is for right-handed use though, so if you are left-handed, you will have to adapt just like you do with everything else that is not designed for you. The only features that you need to access with the left hand is the focus adjustment knob above the objective lens and the record button just off to the left side and next to the Micro USB port.

 

 

At the back of the Genesis Revelation is the menu knob which is also a button. To the left of the Menu button/knob is the battery compartment. It uses 2xCR123 for power. Below the battery compartment is the face proximity sensor and a power port for using an external power supply. And just below the menu button/knob is the power button.

As mentioned earlier, the record button and micro USB port are on the left side of the Genesis Revelation thermal laser rangefinder. You can use an external USB power supply to power the Genesis Revelation just make sure it is a 5V 2A USB power supply.

On the bottom of the body is a 1/4-20 tripod hole.

The Genesis Revelation body is all metal and covered in crinkle paint. It reminds me of Russian electro optics.

If you have small hands you may need to readjust your grip to access all the buttons. Holding the Genesis Revelation like a handheld scope, my thumb can push the power button easily while three of my fingers can access the LRF, invert and zoom button. LRF button activates the laser rangefinder. Invert switches from white hot to black hot and zoom is to change digital zoom. The Genesis Revelation starts at 2.5x and can zoom up to 10x. Just keep pressing the zoom button and it will cycle through them and go back to 2.5x.

I can either reach further upward with my thumb to access the menu button/knob or use my index finger.

Below are the menu options for the Genesis Revelation.

Using the Thermal Laser Rangefinder

Since the Genesis Revelation starts at 2.5x zoom, I found that it took a lot to steady the monocular. Any small movement would be exaggerated in the monocular and the video can be rather shaky. It can record video but just like some of FLIR’s products, the Genesis Revelation does not have a microphone to record audio. Also, there is no still image capture function but you can easily grab a screenshot off the video from your computer.

In order to adjust focus on the Genesis Revelation, you need to reach over the top and turn the focus knob. Due to the position of the laser rangefinder, there is no other way to position a focus adjustment.

Detection wise though it certainly can detect past 1,000 yards. Here are some screenshots when my friends and I were looking for some coyotes that sounded close by. The top of the hill is about 1600 yards and you can see the cows on the hill.

While we could easily detect the animals on the hill we could not easily positively identify them. We saw a lot of animals on the hill side while looking or the coyotes but never saw anything that looked like coyotes.

Final Thoughts

While the Genesis Revelation is easy to use and certainly provides a need, rangefinding while using thermal devices, the biggest detractor is the price tag. It retails for $4,799.95 on Fullmoon Optics and Lunaoptics websites. The Genesis Revelation is a handheld thermal monocular but Lunaoptics does make a weapon-mounted version with an integrated laser range finder called the Genesis Rifle Scope and it retails for $5,499.95.

The image quality is not as good as I would like for that price. I would personally prefer to pay just a little more for better resolution and better detection/recognition.

Actually, Fullmoon Optics has something called the Genesis Dominus. It looks like a thermal PVS-7.

It is priced similarly to the Genesis rifle scope but it has a detection range that is double that of the Revelation and rifle scope if you get the Dominus-80 that uses an 80mm lens. Also, the integrated laser range finder has more than double the range finding ability up to 1,500 yards depending on the model if you get the Dominus-55 or Dominus-80. I would prefer these capabilities over the Genesis Revelation.

For more information go to Lunaoptics or Fullmoon Optics.