Tony Leonti is the designer of the SWATSCOPE by Micro-Times, LLC. He took time out at his very busy booth at SHOT Show 2012 to give us a tour of his tactical periscope.
The SWATSCOPE is a hand held tactical sniper periscope that extends 22 1/2″ above the operator and provides a safe view of hostile territory with a 4X to 9X zoom lens. The aluminum body of the scope is sheathed in 4 mil removable 3M CamoClad material that is flat black. The optics consist of high quality glass prisms and lenses.
Some kind of magic goes on inside the angled tubes of this SWATSCOPE that keeps the image viewed through the eyepiece at the proper upright orientation to the user, no matter how the unit is rotated! It can even be turned 90 degrees to look around a corner and be viewed normally without adjustment. This makes for canting one’s head or trying to decipher a sideways image unnecessary.
As for other features, there is a belt or utility hook on the left side of the unit to temporarily free up the user’s hands when necessary. The SWATSCOPE can be fitted to a tripod or monopod by using the threaded mount in the handle.
The upper prism is protected by anodized aluminum guards, which are threaded for an optional anti reflection device. There is an attachment point for a flashlight or IR illuminator on the head. The basic SWATSCOPE comes equipped with an aluminum hard case and a black MOLLE compatible soft nylon carry case.
Weighing 20.6 oz, the scope is 17.62″ retracted and 28.125″ fully extended. Its field of view is 9.5 degrees at 4X and 5.0 degrees at 9X. The MSRP for the basic kit is only $349.00.
An upgraded scout sniper periscope kit has all the same features of the basic kit with the additions of desert camo 3M covering, tan soft case, a PVS-14 adapter clamp, and included anti reflection device. The upgraded kit has an MSRP of $600.00.
I tested out both the basic and upgraded units at the SHOT Show floor. It provided very stable imagery over the booth dividers. Long range viewing was very clear, as you could see through doorways between three large conference areas. I was even able to snap a few images at the eyepiece with my digital camera.
This isn’t your grade school version of the two mirrors and a milk carton periscope. The SWATSCOPE has an NSN and is used by the Military, federal agencies, and law enforcement. With its rotating image and zoom power, it is, in my opinion, a very nice covert surveillance tool.
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This is really cool! I love the coverage of something besides guns, knives and flashlights – sure that stuff is all awesome, but this is just a really unique product. I personally have no use for a periscope like this, but it would be fun to have. Thanks for sharing it!
Dan,
The coolest thing about the scope was rotating it around and having the image stay upright in the eyepiece. It was just really neat. Apparently I love toys because the Bushnell night vision I tested (9/28/11) and the FLIR (1/28/12) also had a huge fun quotient.
Randall