Sightmark Wraith Mini 2-16×35 Thermal Rifle Scope [Hands On Review]

“You must have big rats if you need Hattori Hanzo's steel.”

“Huge.”

I'm always looking for new tools, tricks, or Hanzo swords when it comes to reducing the local feral pork population. They're giant rats, and they don't belong here. Plus, it's kinda fun to shoot them.

Sightmark was kind enough to send over one of their Wraith thermal sights for me to put in some field time chasing pork with, and after a few months of time behind it, let’s get to it.

Test rifle configuration:

• Milspec AR-15 upper and lower
• Faxon 20″ fluted barrel, 22ARC
• Faxon 17″ carbon fiber handguard
• ThunderBeast Arms Ultra 7 suppressor
• NexTorch White/IR illuminator
• Hornady V-Match 62gr 22ARC

Field gear:

• Really Right Stuff TFCT-33 tripod
• Armageddon Gear Hunt big game chest rig

First, this might as well be a completely different company from the Sightmark scopes you see hanging on the shelf at your local big box store. It's still a budget-oriented brand, but in the thermal world, ‘budget' has a different meaning. The Wraith's build quality is surprisingly good, with a metal housing, compact form factor, and an OLED display with solid resolution. The thermal sensor is only 384×288, but that's to be expected for a thermal that sells for $1500 at the time of this writing. 

Frankly, it has not held me back one bit for hog hunting on wide-open sod farms. The detection and identification range had been excellent to identify hogs before stalking in on them, and since my typical shots are inside 100 yards, it's been more than adequate for precise shot placement as well.

Depth of field, which is essentially how forgiving the focus of the optic is, has been very good for me on the Wraith, with minimal, if any, adjustment needed for typical shooting distances. Even when taking the optic out to 800 yards on steel with my 22ARC hunting rifle, it was a relatively minor adjustment from my typical 200-yard focus setting. The field of view is also quite respectable, with a rated 13 degrees that gives ample viewing to track moving hogs or look for your next target.

The Wraith is stripped down in some ways (lacking wireless functionality, for example), but still has a lot of the basic features thermal users and especially hunters have come to expect – Video and photo capture capability to a MicroSD card, multiple weapon profiles for zeroing, the ability to use an external power supply like the Mini QD battery pack they supplied with the test system, as well as user selectable reticles and color palettes. The MicroSD card is also how you perform firmware updates for bug fixes and feature updates from Sightmark.

While the Wraith does have a fairly standard selection of color palettes to choose from and several reticle options, the menu system to change them is not quite as user friendly as some other thermals I have used. 

There are also features that somehow got left out of the user manual, a prime example being that you can long-press the left arrow button while on the main shooting display to change the color palette without going into the menu itself. Additionally, while the Wraith does offer MIL and MOA-based reticle options that are covered in the manual, it doesn't tell you that said reticles are configured like a second focal plane traditional optic, where the reticle is only true at one set magnification. 

In the case of the Wraith, that correct setting is at 4x, not the default 2x. One other minor con to the optic is that there's no warning when the auto-calibration is about to recalibrate the sensor, and there's a split-second, unavoidable stutter in the image while that process completes. However, these are minor quibbles for a budget-minded thermal. 

The supplied mount with the Wraith is basic but serviceable, but it was a bit too low for my personal preference and comfort. While it's not outlined in the manual, ACOG pattern optic mounts are compatible with the Wraith, so a higher quality, quick-detach, or, in my case, taller mount is an online shopping click away if desired. Alternatively, if you feel the need for a higher optic setup, you can use an inexpensive riser to raise the optic up.

I mentioned the battery pack earlier, and Sightmark provided one with the Wraith for the purposes of this review. The Mini QD pack is exactly what it says – compact, easy to clip onto a Picatinny rail, and has enough juice for several hours of use in the field. It also includes a magnetic breakaway USB-C cable that will detach from the plug on the thermal end to prevent damage to your optic if it gets snagged on something, and the Wraith will seamlessly switch between external power and the internal 123A batteries in the process.

Finally, I was involved in a pretty violent car accident during the process of testing out the Wraith thermal, and it was bad enough that I had some other shooting gear that was damaged in the process. Despite a couple of small marks on the Wraith's body from the crash, though, it held up perfectly and even returned exactly to zero when re-mounted on my rifle afterward. The Wraith came through the accident better than I did!

Overall, I have been pleased with the performance of the Wraith, and it's a worthwhile option for those looking for a rifle thermal on a budget.

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