Nocpix ACE2 thermal scopes: identification over detection

Detection was solved years ago. Any thermal worth owning will show you a warm body across three fields on a still night, and the arms race over detection range has long since passed the point where it tells you much about how a scope performs in the hand. The part that still catches people out is the next step: deciding, with confidence and before the safety comes off, whether that heat source at 300 yards is a rabbit or a hare, a roe doe or a fallow prickett, a big dog fox or a badger.

That is the problem Nocpix has aimed the ACE2 at, and it is the right one.

The range launches through Hawke Optics, the UK distributor, in three configurations: the H35R at £2,999, the H50R at £3,499 and the S60R at £5,299. Nobody is pretending this is entry-level kit. The slogan is “Generations Ahead” and the positioning is unapologetically top-of-market – this is aimed at the stalker or professional controller who is out three or four nights a week and treats optics as plant rather than toys.

Dual Clarity: two image modes in one scope

The genuinely new idea is Dual Clarity, and it is a neat piece of thinking. Motion Mode renders fast-moving targets cleanly and without ghosting – the fox trotting the field edge, the muntjac that has decided to leave. Still Mode goes the other way, intelligently extending exposure time on a stationary animal to pull out finer texture, sharper edges and subtler temperature differences.

Most thermals ask you to accept one compromise or the other: smooth enough for movement, or detailed enough to study. Splitting them into two selectable modes acknowledges that the two jobs are different, and that identification of a static animal is the one where extra image data is worth having. Anything that adds usable detail to a stationary target is worth more, in practice, than another few hundred metres on a spec sheet.

Sensor resolution, NETD and the F1.0 glass

The headline is a self-developed sensor: 1280×1024 on the S60R, 640×512 across the H-series, with NETD quoted as low as 12mK. That last figure is the one worth attending to. Resolution sells scopes, but thermal sensitivity is what separates a deer from a warm patch of hedge on a wet, still night, and 12mK is at the sharp end of what’s available. It is paired with an F1.0 aperture – F0.9 on the H-series – and a new processing algorithm Nocpix calls R+2.0, with the claim that the result approaches white-light fidelity even in rain and fog.

British weather will test that harder than most markets, and it is the claim we would most want to check on a filthy November evening rather than in a car park. But the aperture figures are real and unusually fast, and a fast lens is not something software can fake.

Focus, at last, where your hand already is

Identification also depends on something more mundane: getting a sharp image quickly. The ACE2 moves focus to a central wheel, fingertip-adjustable from behind the scope without taking your cheek off the stock or reaching out to the objective. It sounds like a small thing next to a 1280 sensor. In practice it may be the change that most alters how the scope feels in the field, because it keeps the spot-focus-identify-decide loop happening in one position rather than two.

The rest of the ergonomics follow the same logic. Eye relief is out to 60mm and the exit pupil to 10mm, up 20% and 25% respectively on the previous generation, which in plain terms means a more forgiving eye box and a less contorted shooting posture off sticks or a high seat. Ocular Zoom 2.0 blends optical and digital magnification for a natural, day-scope-like view, with the reticle and interface staying aligned and sharp through the zoom range rather than pixellating up as digital-only systems do.

Ranging, running time and the app

An integrated LRF 2.0 ranges to 1200m and feeds a ballistic calculator that factors pitch angle, wind drift and environmental conditions into an automatically compensated aiming solution. The chassis is full magnesium alloy, under 1,000g, rated to 7,000J of impact resistance – light enough to carry all day, and built for the knock it will eventually take getting out of a truck.

Power is a dual-battery arrangement: a built-in rechargeable cell alongside a replaceable 18650, good for up to eight hours continuous, with hot-swap so the scope stays live while you change cells. Connection to the Nocpix app is over combined Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and now takes a single tap rather than five steps. Intelligent Tracking uses an electronic compass and onboard processing to guide you back to a downed animal’s last recorded position – anyone who has spent 40 minutes in bracken looking for a muntjac that ran 20 yards will see the point immediately – while photo, video and recoil-activated recording capture the shot without you taking your eye off the target.

Which ACE2 should you buy?

The S60R’s 1280×1024 sensor is the flagship and priced accordingly; for most British stalking and fox work the 640×512 H-series will be the sensible buy, with the choice between the two coming down to objective size and how far you genuinely shoot. Worth deciding that before you decide on the sensor – and worth reading the box below first if night deer work in England is any part of your plan, because the licence has an equipment specification of its own.