Nocpix RICO 3 L35R Thermal Rifle Scope

The Nocpix RICO 3 L35R is the most affordable scope in the RICO 3 lineup. It has a 35 mm lens, starts at 3× magnification, measures distance to your target on its own, and works out your holdover for you. It suits hunters who use a handheld thermal to find animals and want a rifle scope that makes the target look big once they have found one.

The Nocpix RICO 3 L35R has every RICO 3 feature except the bigger sensor

You are not giving up features by buying the cheapest RICO 3. The rangefinder, the ballistic calculator, the screen, the recoil-activated video, the 64 GB of storage and the Wi-Fi are all the same as the models above it. One thing changes: the thermal sensor is a 384 instead of a 640. That is what you are paying less for.

Where the L35R fits in the RICO 3 lineup

There are four RICO 3 rifle scopes. The L35R is the starting point. Step up and you move to a 640 sensor, which shows more detail. The H35R has the same 35 mm lens as this scope but a 640 sensor, so it shows you more ground at once and starts at 2× instead of 3×. The H50R puts that 640 sensor behind a bigger 50 mm lens, which sees further. The PRO H50R is the H50R with autofocus added, and it is bigger and heavier for it. All four have the same rangefinder and the same ballistic calculator, so spending more never buys you better ranging.

Nocpix Rico 3 H35R.
Nocpix Rico 3 H50R.
Nocpix Rico 3 H50R Pro.

A 384 sensor is the main thing you give up on the L35R

A thermal sensor is measured in pixels, and more pixels mean a more detailed picture. This scope has a 384 sensor. The three above it have 640 sensors, which hold about three times as many pixels. At normal hunting distances a 384 works fine and you will see animals clearly. The difference shows up when you zoom in. Digital zoom does not add detail — it just makes the pixels bigger — so a 640 stays sharper when you push it. Nocpix rates this sensor as being just as sensitive to heat as the 640 models. It is the detail that differs, not the ability to pick up heat.

Starting zoom on the L35R is 3×, with a narrow view

The scope starts at 3× magnification and zooms to 12×. Starting at 3× means an animal looks bigger through this scope than through the 2× H35R. The trade is how much ground you see at once. The L35R shows the narrowest view of the four RICO 3 scopes, listed as 7.5° by 5.7°. Think of it like looking through a paper towel tube instead of a wrapping paper tube. That is good when you already know where the animal is and you are lining up a shot. It is harder work if you are trying to find animals by sweeping the field with your rifle up. Most hunters who buy this scope use a handheld thermal to do the looking.

Ranging on the L35R reaches 1,600 yards

The scope has a laser rangefinder built in, so you can measure how far away something is without carrying a separate device. It reads out to 1,600 yards. How well it works in practice depends on the size of what you are ranging, what it is made of, and the weather. One thing worth understanding early: 1,600 yards is how far the laser reaches, not how far you can tell what an animal is. Those are very different distances on any thermal scope, and the gap is wider on a 384 than a 640.

Holdover is worked out for you after you range with the L35R

A bullet drops as it travels, so at longer distances you have to aim higher than the target. Working out how much higher is called holdover. Range something with the L35R and the built-in calculator does that math for you and shows you where to aim. You can save settings for different rifles and different loads. One thing to know: the calculator works when you take a single range reading. It does not run while the rangefinder is in continuous mode.

Screen quality on the L35R matches the pricier models

The screen is the same one Nocpix puts in the more expensive RICO 3 scopes — a round 1.03-inch AMOLED at 2560×2560. Spending more does not get you a better display. You can switch between seven colour palettes, which change how heat is drawn on screen. Most hunters settle on one or two and leave it there. There is also a picture-in-picture mode that puts a zoomed-in aiming window at the top of the screen while you still see the wider scene behind it.

• White Hot

• Black Hot

• Red Hot

• Rainbow

• Violet

• Crimson

• Viridian

Video and photos save inside the L35R, with no memory card needed

The scope takes still photos and records video, with 64 GB of storage built in. There is a microphone, and a recoil-activated mode that starts recording when the rifle fires so you catch the shot without pressing anything. Wi-Fi connects the scope to the Nocpix app on your phone to move photos and video across.

Two batteries ship with the L35R, each good for about ten hours

The scope runs on removable NBP-8 battery packs, and two come in the box. Each one lasts up to 10 hours, so swapping to the spare covers a long night. There are four ways to charge:

• Charge a battery on its own with a USB-C cable

• Charge through the scope using the magnetic connector

• Charge through the scope with USB-C

• Run it off a 5V power bank

Weight on the L35R comes to 28.89 ounces

A quick-detach Picatinny mount is included, which means the scope comes off the rifle without tools and goes back on holding its zero. The body is magnesium alloy and rated IP67, meaning dust cannot get in and it handles rain without trouble. Nocpix rates it for 1,000 g of recoil and lists .300 Win. Mag. and 7 mm Magnum as examples, so hard-kicking rifles are not a problem. At 28.89 ounces it weighs less than the 32.77-ounce H50R and much less than the 42.13-ounce PRO H50R.

Who should look at a different RICO 3

Buy the L35R if you scan with a handheld and want an affordable scope that makes the target look big when you shoulder the rifle. Look elsewhere in the lineup if you expect to find animals through the scope itself, since the narrow view makes that slow — the H35R sees much more ground at once. Look at the 50 mm models if most of your shots come at long distance across open ground. And if you plan to lean on digital zoom regularly, the extra detail in a 640 sensor is worth the money.