I have to admit that I’ve been beyond slow to adapt things such as thermal and night vision optics. As someone who doesn’t do a lot of anything at night (besides sleeping), it’s never been of much importance to me but it’s always remained an interesting proposition. Regular magnified optics, ones used in precision shooting, have come a long long way and now employ a considerable amount of technology to assist the shooter and elevate the user experience. Technologies such as on board displays that display your optics dialed elevation, environmentals, and even shot timers. Some even include the range. In the end they are still a standard scope. But this particular optic is different.
First Look at the Zulus 4K
The DNT Optics (Day Night Technologies) Zulus 4K is a digital day/night vision optic. I became interested in its capabilities at SHOT Show where I spent some time looking through a sample. What I was impressed by the clear picture and wondered if it could work in any way for my type of shooting. I didn’t know what its limitations were so I thought I’d find out.
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Looks Like a Scope…Until It Doesn’t
The Zulus 4K looks much like your standard magnified optic. In fact you’d be hard pressed to know the difference outside of the laser rangefinder that is visible just behind the objective lens. Even this isn’t a dead giveaway.
Ultra HD Viewing Experience
Power up the Zulus 4K peer through the ocular end and you’re greeted with an excellent display. It’s an Ultra HD micro-OLED display with 1920×1080 resolution. In daylight conditions, where I mainly used the optic, it’s bright and detailed—inviting to the eye and lets you see the range differently. I think that’s why I’m so attracted to it. Targets look more inviting, landscape more appealing. The display has 6 levels of brightness. It’s sharp and clean with a 15.4×8.6 yd field of view. In 4K mode at 30 FPS it has 3x to 24x zoom and 6x lossless digital zoom. In 1080 HD mode it will film 60 FPS and support 3x-12x zoom.
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Features & Build
The optic is absolutely stuffed with features, too many to list so we’ll cover the main ones. For a full run down you’ll want to visit the DNT website. The outer dimensions include a 50mm objective and a 30mm maintube and it’s 11.4 inches long.
Powered by a single 21700 flat top rechargeable battery, you’ll get about six hours of use from the unit and it comes with two batteries. They take a considerable amount of time to charge. Storage is internal with a capacity of 64 gigs. You transfer your video and images to computer via a USB-C slot and it uses 5G WiFi signal to connect to your smart device.
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Zeroing the System
To use the Zulus you turn on the power, it takes a few seconds to boot up. You can cycle through endless settings and customization but in order to get to shooting as quickly as possible you need to zero the unit. This is accomplished by firing one round, then freezing the frame and using the menu button and dial, located where the elevation dial would be, moving the reticle to the point of impact. It’s technically a one-shot zero but multiple shots are best.
This is the part that you really want to take your time to get right because your ballistics data, which is inside the DNT app, is based off of this zero. I found out the hard way how important this step is. A mistake here can bring lots of frustration on the range. I used black targets, which made it difficult to see exactly where I was aiming. I suggest using white or brown colored targets.
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Ballistics & App Integration
Once zeroed, you input your typical ballistics data/ bullet profile data into the app. The DNT app has an included bullet library so it made precise data input quick and easy. I found the Hornady .243 ELD-M and selected that. I’m not sure what ballistics engine is utilized but it proved to be fairly accurate even at distances beyond 700 yards. I don’t believe there is a truing option inside the app.
Range Performance
Once everything was set up, I proceeded to engage targets from 350 yards all the way out to 1083 yards. This is where I discovered my zero was just a bit off, having to aim consistently high to impact targets. That said I was very surprised by just how easy it was to engage targets due to the accuracy of the ballistics app. Ranging is accomplished via the onboard LRF that has a max range of 1300 yards though I managed 1700 yard reading some how.
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The process is straight forward: peer though the device and locate target. Place the reticle over the target and press the range button. A Picture in Picture view can be turned on in the settings that gives you a more zoomed in view so that you can be more accurate in your aiming. This PIP can be moved to different locations on the display. One press of the LRF button give a range. A second press give a range and adjusts the reticle for accurate engagement (depending on the aiming mode you’re using). You can see the adjustment of the reticle as it happens. There is a holdover mode as well, but I opted to not use it. There are several different reticles use in both first and second focal plane options.
Limitations in the Field
Some targets, depending on color, were difficult to see even when zooming in. Now, I must say I was likely pushing the unit well beyond the distances that it should be used in this way. That said, gray targets, one with the paint stripped off were hard to see beyond 600 yards.
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I observed its night vision capabilities and while I’ll admit I’m no expert in night vision yet, the picture was stunning in a black and white tone. Unfortunately, I did not get to shoot with it at night. Be sure to watch the companion video to see a sample.
Final Take On The Zulus 4K
My take on the Zulus 4K: solid digital optic with great picture, excellent LRF function, coupled with an impressive ballistic solver. I was shocked by how easy it is to use and it was only limited by my initial poor zero and me pushing it likely way beyond it’s limits. That said I think it’s limits are well beyond what most shooters would be comfortable using it. Can this be used for precision shooting? Yes. Within its limits This would be great on a varmint rig or something used for shooting pigs thanks to its night vision and ability to record in 4K. I’m tempted to buy the unit, that’s how good it is.
Specifications: DNT Zulus 4K
- Weight: 24.3 oz
- Resolution: 4K Sony Starvis 2 Sensor 3840×2160
- Recording capacity: Internal 64 GB
- Viewing Modes: 4K 30 FPS/ UHD 1920×1080 60 FPS
- Recording Resolution: 1920×1080
- Zoom: 3x-24x in 4K 30/ 3x-12x in UHD 60 FPS
- Modes: Day color/Night color B/W
- Brightness Settings: Six
- Ballistics: 1300 yd LRF/ Built-in ballistic solve
- Data Transfer: USB-C/5g WiFi
- Caliber Rating: .50 BMG/ IP67 Water and Dust Proof
- MSRP: $1129.99
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