In recent years, the development of thermal imaging technology has accelerated and is progressing at a rapid pace. Once a technology reserved for uniformed services and hunters with thick wallets (but also enthusiasts of military simulations using airsoft replicas!), it has been becoming almost a standard over the past few years. In the last two years, the entry threshold for thermal imaging has dropped by about 30%. The appearance of additional manufacturers from China and the continuous improvement of the technology have revolutionized the market, making these devices with already very respectable parameters accessible to a much wider group of users.
One of the brands present on the Polish market for many years is Guide, owned by Wuhan Guide Infrared Co., Ltd. Guide Sensmart and Guide Outdoor are the civilian branches of this manufacturer’s portfolio. There we can find rifle scopes, clip-on devices, monoculars, and handheld cameras for technical applications. In recent years the company has been clearly focused on entering new markets, and its products, which do not fall short in quality compared to more expensive brands, also compete with them in terms of price. The new ApexVision technology may raise Guide’s products to an entirely new, higher level and cause quite a stir on the thermal imaging market.
During last week’s IWA OutdoorClassics trade fair in Nuremberg (Germany), the European premiere of a new technology for thermal imaging devices offered by Guide, called ApexVision, took place. Earlier, at the beginning of January this year in Las Vegas (USA), the technology had its global premiere at CES 2026. It was there that the new platform, intended to mark the next step for Guide’s thermal imaging solutions, was presented more broadly for the first time. ApexVision is a new full stack technology integrating a number of solutions designed to give Guide a technological advantage over competing products. ApexVision includes both the processing architecture and image enhancement algorithms. It consists of the new ApexCore S1 detector, the Nexus 1.0 processing platform, and the AI Hyper-Light 2.0 algorithm (for diagnostic thermal imaging this is called SharpIR 2.0).
The thermal sensitivity (NETD) of the new ApexCore S1 detector is very high and captures differences at the level of <15 mK, which means the system is capable of distinguishing very small temperature differences and in this respect matches the top designs from leading manufacturers in the industry. The new artificial-intelligence-based algorithms enhance details, intelligently highlight the target, and reduce noise and motion blur, resulting in a clearer image in real field conditions.
The presentation in Nuremberg was conducted by Andreas Trenzinger, a hunter from Germany who had already had the opportunity to test ApexVision in the Orion C scope for some time in the forests around Nuremberg. On a large screen he demonstrated how ApexVision improves the fidelity of the images in practice. In the presented footage, compared with footage recorded by a device without ApexVision, one could clearly see a significant improvement in contrast, sharpness of target details and its shape, while at the same time clearly separating it from the background. The presentation was impressive and we hope to see the capabilities of ApexVision for ourselves in the near future. During the presentation, the ultra-light (285 g) Orion C thermal clip-on details was also mentioned, which for us shooters not hunters, was particularly interesting, but that is a topic for a separate article.
ApexVision technology was designed to operate in scenes with low thermal contrast, where the temperature difference between the target and the surroundings is small. The computing power of ApexVision is up to 3× greater than in older devices. The goal of the project was to make it easier to distinguish the target from the background in unfavorable conditions (humidity, rain, or fog). The designers placed particular emphasis on maintaining a high level of detail and reducing latency (lag-free visuals) at long distances, even at higher magnifications (around 10×), which is crucial for observation and precision shooting.
ApexVision is a technology that is gradually being implemented across a wide range of Guide products, from hunting and outdoor optics, through observation monoculars, to industrial cameras and diagnostic thermal imaging. Thanks to this users, regardless of application, can benefit from the same consistent platform. The manufacturer provides a 3-year warranty for its devices, 10 years for the detector itself, and 2 years for the offered accessories.
On the civilian market, thermal imaging is slowly ceasing to be associated only with hunting and professional use. Among enthusiasts of military simulations (MilSim) it is also nothing new, but even though the entry threshold has dropped, it still creates a somewhat elite group among its owners. In the shooting community it is only now gaining popularity alongside the dynamic development of tactical shooting. This is partly influenced by growing awareness resulting from the war in Ukraine, where such devices are widely used, and partly because it simply adds an additional realistic element to shooting tasks in mid- and long-range competitions. There is no doubt that thermal imaging is becoming increasingly common in the hands of enthusiasts who also enjoy outdoor activities such as bushcraft or simple wildlife observation. That is why the development of technologies such as Guide’s ApexVision is also something we welcome, and we will be writing about such innovations for you even more often.
This article was created as part of an advertising collaboration with Guide. However, the authors of this portal respect their readers and always present their independent opinion, and no advertiser (even the best one) can ever influence it.
