Holosun had a surprise for us at this year’s SHOT Show Industry at the Range day – a pair of brand new prototype optics. The DRS family includes a thermal optic and a night vision optic. While the optics were marked DMS, Holosun told us they would likely be launched as the DRS or Digital reflex Sight.
These new hybrid optics integrate thermal and digital night vision overlays with a red dot. The thermal optic, the DRS-TH, wasn’t attached to a firearms but I was able to take a look through the optic and play with its settings.
Building on the AEMS red dot both the TH and NV Pros will be powered by two internal 18350 lithium batteries. The standard DRS-TH will be powered by a single 18350 and have a battery life of up to 10 hours while the TH Pro, with 2 batteries, will have a 20 hour battery life.
The DRS-TH will have a sensor resolution of 256×192, while the TH Pro which we examined will have a sensor resolution of 384×288. The DRS-TH Pro showed clearly defined signatures even on the cold, windswept range. The DRS-TH will have white hot, black hot, highlight, outline and fusion modes.
Shooting with the DRS-NV in bright Nevada daylight wasn’t the ideal conditions to get a first impression of the optic. As a result while the image inside the optic was a little dull targets were still clearly identifiable.
The DRS-NV uses a digital night vision camera, with a resolution of 1024×768, which had a crisp reticle and the image through the optic was clear with a fast refresh rate that allowed smooth transitioning between targets. The 8x digital zoom also provided a decent sight picture with just a little extra fuzz when on max zoom.
Battery life for the DRS-NV is set to be around 2.5 hours, powered by one 18350 battery, while the NV Pro will have a 5 hour battery life with 2 batteries.
Like the DRS-TH, the NV will be available in regular and Pro variants, with the Pro having a larger sensor. While an MSRP hasn’t been fixed firmly yet, Holosun expect the NV models to retail for around $1000 while the TH will retail at around $1600 and $2300 for the Pro.
Another neat feature of the DRS-NV and TH is that they can record video and photos which can be downloaded through a USB-C port on the right side of the optic. The USB-C port will also allow users to stream footage from the optic to a secondary screen in real-time enabling some interesting applications.
Holosun hasn’t finalized the designs and features which will be included in the DRS optics so it’s hard to judge what their refined final form will have to offer but on first examination they are certainly an exciting future options for the thermal and night vision markets.
The new DRS optics could provide an affordable and capable route into night vision and thermals for those who have never had the chance to experience them before. We look forward to seeing more of them when they’re anticipated for release in Q4 of 2024.
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