Lots of Thermal in a Small Package

Sightmark’s Wraith Mini 2-16x35 is feature packed and value priced.

February 19, 2025 | by Brian McCombie |

My 100-yard zeroing target was a cardboard rectangle overlaid with four strips of black duct tape laid out to form a cross. I used the black tape knowing it would absorb the sunlight, become nice and warm and very visible in my Sightmark Wraith Mini 2-16x35mm thermal riflescope.

I steadied my Ruger SFAR, chambered in .308 Win., looked through the Wraith and easily spotted the cross. With the thermal set on 4X zoom magnification, I shot three times using Federal Premium Vital-Shok loaded with 165-grain Trophy Copper bullets. They impacted high and to the right of my aiming spot, the center of the cross.

Using the push-button control atop the thermal unit, I opened the menu, selected “Reticle Settings,” and then “Reticle Zero.” Per the instructions, I next moved the zeroing reticle to the spot where my shots had hit and saved this setting. I shot three more times, but even with my binoculars I couldn’t see if I had hit my mark. I made the long walk to the target wondering if I’d missed it altogether. Had I utterly screwed up the Wraith’s zeroing process, simple though it was, adjusted the point of impact in the wrong direction and shot up and over the top of the target? I felt slightly nauseous.

But at the target, it turned out that all three rounds had struck the cross dead center where I’d aimed, three holes in the black tape measuring just .70-inch. Very compact and relatively inexpensive though it was, this Wraith was actually a damn functional thermal. Maybe, I told myself, smaller and much less pricey was the way to go.

The thermal’s battery compartment, left side of the unit, holds two CR123 batteries.

Expensive = Good

I’ve been using thermal optics for over a decade now, and the general guidelines I’ve generally assumed were: If it was expensive, likely it was a quality unit. Very Expensive? Very good. I’d been disappointed a few times, for sure, but the guidelines almost always held true. And I’d found the reverse just as true with the lower-priced units I’d used. Here, the lower sale prices usually meant difficult to maneuver controls, sketchy zeroing functions and/or very limited reticle and palette options.

So, stuck in my brain was the idea that a night hunter would likely need a $4,000 to $6,000 thermal riflescope, with the expensive 640 sensor no less, to do any serious shooting after dark. Then I recently received a Sightmark Wraith to use and review. It sported a 384 sensor, smallish lenses front and back, a single control module atop the unit and a suggested retail price of just over $2,000. Cute, I initially figured, but about $2K short of really getting the job done.

Boy, was I wrong!

Compact and Easy to Use

The Wraith, as noted, is built with a 384x288 resolution thermal sensor. Sightmark rates the unit with a 1,400-yard detection range. Detection here means the ability to spot a heat signature with a shorter identification range (discussed below).

The Wraith has a base 2X optical magnification with 1-8X digital zoom. The OLED display provides fairly crisp images at my close- to mid-range distances. It offers five thermal color palette modes and nine reticle colors, plus 10 reticle styles. Its five configurable weapon profiles allow the unit to hold multiple zeroes for different types of weapons; this feature eliminates the need to re-zero the Wraith Mini Thermal every time it’s mounted on a different rifle.

The Wraith’s built-in camera, with audio recording, can take and preserve videos on a high-capacity memory card (card not included, 256 GB max). It can also take photos.

Powered by the required two CR123 lithium batteries, Sightmark rates battery life at 3.5 hours with the Wraith set on the video mode and 4.5 hours when running it on thermal only. It can also operate on external power through the unit’s USB C port. The unit comes with a Picatinny-style mount attached to the rifle’s rail with a single bolt. Recoil-wise, the Wraith can take on calibers up to and including .308 Win.

The author’s first shots (blue triangle, top right) at 100 yards, followed by reticle zero adjustment and his second, .70-inch group (white triangle).

Easy and Intuitive Functions

The Wraith’s functions are controlled via a rubber-coated, push-button system located atop the receiver. Push the center of the control to start and close the unit, as well as to enter the various menus once the unit is running. The center of the button is surrounded by four arrows signifying the Up, Down, Right and Left movement of the inside menus.

So, as noted, zeroing requires the user to push the central button to enter the menu selection. The Down arrow moves to the Reticle Settings, and then the Right arrow followed by the Down arrow leads to the Reticle Zero.

I found these controls very easy and intuitive to use. However, and as with any thermal unit, the shooter will have to practice. Essentially the same process of pressing and then directional scrolling takes the user through palette and reticle options, plus weapon profiles, image resolution and brightness settings, etc.

Up Close and Personal

Most hunting after dark is relatively close up. There are certainly opportunities for longer-range shots when night hunting, but one of the main reasons we hunt at night is because we can get so much closer compared to day times.

Most night hog hunts I’ve done, for example, have me spotting hogs at a distance with a thermal handheld and then, by using the wind to my advantage (because hogs have those super-sensitive noses!), moving in for the shot.

To test out the Wraith’s detection range and image quality, I spent several hours on a friend’s large dairy farm property in north-central Wisconsin. I arrived just before dark to first use a rangefinder and record the distances of various tree lines, hills and structures. Once it was fully dark, I started my scanning with the Wraith as a handheld unit.

As noted, Sightmark rates the unit’s detection of a heat signature at 1,400 yards. I didn’t have an open stretch of land large enough to test this out, though I could easily see vehicles on a nearby road that were over 1,000 yards away. Of course, vehicles are much larger than the hogs, coyotes and other predators night hunters pursue. However, I had no problem spotting deer out to 700 yards and knowing they were deer. I also had a pair of coyotes cross a field at 200 yards or so, and they would’ve been relatively easy shots. I’d estimate the Wraith as having no problems taking on hog-sized game out to 300 yards, on lower humidity nights.

The best magnification I found for spotting was 4X, though 6X and 8X worked decently out to 700 yards. After 8X, images got more and more blurry. I was also impressed with the detail the Wraith revealed on structures out to 500 yards or so. While scanning a harvested corn field, I could make out individual stubby corn stalks left standing out to 200 yards.

More Shooting

I ended my shooting time with the Wraith and the SFAR firing at two Birchwood Casey Pre-Game Splattering Targets, one of a coyote, the other a boar hog. They were also positioned at 100 yards. The mistake I made here was using only single strips of black tape to make crosses over the animal targets. Plus, the boar target had a darker background, which absorbed sunlight, making the background nearly as warm as the tape.

My first three shots on the boar target impacted to the left of the cross’ center, two of them just low. I took the credit for that shooting, got into a very steady position and placed the next two Vital-Shok rounds in the center and the third a little left. Dead boar. The shooting would have been much easier on an actual hunt, the whole boar lighting up the rear lens. At that point, the only question would be where on the hog to hold the center of the reticle.

The unit’s low profile and compact nature make getting in and out of vehicles that much easier, too. Some of the more expensive thermals I have used in the field are certainly heat seeking marvels. But they can also be nearly half as long as an AR-10 and add almost 2 pounds to the carry weight! I much prefer the size and weight of the Wraith. I’d have zero problem using the Wraith Mini Thermal on almost any night hunt and will be using my test unit afield in the very near future.