Vortex Veil 400

Thermal imaging devices might be the hottest (pun intended) debate in the hunting community. Many states have banned their use for any activity associated with hunting, even scouting in the off-season and predator hunting. Some states allow them for predator or hog hunting, and if I understand correctly, you can hunt wolves at night in Montana on private land only. The rules/laws for this emerging technology are in constant flux, so do your research.

In my home state of Arizona, we cannot use thermal for hunting or scouting; it is technically illegal to even have one in your possession when in the field. Why such a draconian approach? Well, thermal imaging is that good. Game animals can’t even hide at night; they literally glow in the dark under thermal imaging. Believe me, I would love nothing more than to run around at night looking for animals; it would be an absolute blast. But when the sun comes up, I would have information that only technology, not my hunting skills, could give me. We must draw the line when it comes to fair chase. Besides, if success doubled, then tags would need to be cut in half, which leaves most of us sitting at home during the hunting season.

BUT…if you can legally use a thermal, then you will want to take a hard look at the Vortex Veil 400. The Vortex engineers nailed the perfect combination of image quality, magnification, and ease of use in a package that feels and operates like any handheld rangefinder. And before you ask…yes, it is covered by their lifetime warranty.

Thermal optics are like cameras and TV sets; the quality/resolution of the image depends on the number of pixels available, and like all technology, the more you get, the more you pay. The Veil hits the market at $1500, which is a very good price from a brand you can trust to support the product for a very long time. Let’s take a deeper dive and see if you agree.

The Veil has 400x300 detection resolution with a 50Hz refresh rate, and the OLED screen resolution is 1024x768, which is right in the middle of commercially available units. That may not sound like much, considering a 4K television has 8 million pixels, but a thermal device is designed to offer strong silhouettes, not precise details.

What separates the Veil from the competition is the ergonomic design and menu operation. As I mentioned, it feels like your favorite rangefinder, and the operational buttons are in a familiar location and can be operated with one hand. There are only three buttons needed to toggle through every available image option, or to take pictures and video. Given that I had this unit before it was launched, I didn’t have the advantage of a YouTube tutorial, but I had everything dialed and ready to go in about 20 minutes with just the owner’s manual (I felt old-school smart). 

Within the menu, you can choose one of four color palettes: white hot, black hot, red hot, or multicolor. Personally, I prefer the black hot option for larger landscapes. I can read the terrain much better, but it is much brighter, which can mess with your night vision in that eye. I will say that movement is much easier to detect in the other palettes, and the dimmer image is easier on your eye. You also have three viewing modes to improve performance in varied weather and vegetation conditions.

The fun doesn’t stop here; you can also take a picture or video with one press of the back button. The images are saved on an internal hard drive and can be transferred to your computer with the provided USB-C cable.

The unit is powered by a single lithium 18650 battery, which will last for hours. Vortex doesn't just provide one battery; they give you two, so you don’t have to search for a backup on Amazon, along with a dual battery charger.

At the end of the day, whether thermal belongs in hunting is a debate that isn’t going away anytime soon. Technology will keep advancing, and agencies will try to keep up, drawing lines where they think fair chase still exists. Until then, tools like the Veil 400 sit in an interesting spot: borderline controversial, but undeniably impressive. If you live in a state where you can legally use one, it’s hard not to appreciate what Vortex has built here: a rugged, user-friendly piece of gear that delivers real performance with the only lifetime warranty in the industry.