HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite digital day/night-vision scope

One of the stand-out new products for 2025 has to be the new HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite digital day/night-vision scope from HikMicro. It has been designed specifically for airgun use and provides the same amount of tech as the original Alpex 4K, but with around 50% of the size and weight. I’ve been lucky enough to have one at my disposal for the past two months, and I have to admit that I’m totally and utterly in love with it.

It may look like a traditional 30mm tube scope, but this compact unit measures just 283mm x 30mm x 65mm and weighs around 468g. You’ll notice that there is a Class 1 laser on top, which is where this unit comes into its own — you can laser rangefind with it from just three metres out to 1,000 metres detection range with the press of a button. It also has a built-in ballistic calculator, which is very easy to set up and invaluable out in the field.

This scope makes pest control a doddle. The ballistic calculator is pinpoint accurate, and with the simple press of the laser rangefinder button the scope works its magic and gives you a point of aim in milliseconds. I’ve been using it on rats and rabbits exclusively recently, and I’m amazed just how much it has changed my hunting. I rarely took shots past my 30 metre zero range in the past, but I’ve been taking rabbits at 42 metres without even thinking about it with the Alpex 4K Lite, such is the precision of the calculator inside.

It is powered by an internal battery but can also cleverly accept an additional 18650 battery to provide a total continuous run time of around eight hours, which is pretty impressive given the amount of tech held within its shell. You get one 18650 battery and smart charger supplied with the scope.

How many viewing modes does the HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite have?

This unit features five different viewing modes: Day, Night, Green, Yellow and Auto. Anyone who’s into photography will tell you that an F2.0 aperture lens is the ultimate for night time and low-light photography, and in photographic terms you can pay well over a grand for a decent fixed 50mm lens — this unit features a 40mm, F2.0 lens with a digital 1-8x zoom thrown in. You’ll need to buy an external IR torch in order to use the Night mode, but HikMicro makes a great IR torch and quick release mount specifically for the Alpex range of scopes.

Another great feature is the ability to record UHD video with sound, thanks to the onboard microphone. There’s plenty of on-board storage capability, and you can also connect the unit to the HikMicro App on your smartphone to browse and download your files, and even view everything live. This hotspot connectivity is also used for updating the Firmware whenever HikMicro updates it, which from experience is fairly regular to give constant improvements, and that means no more faffing around with leads and downloads from your computer.

Is the HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite easy to use?

One thing that strikes you when you turn this unit on is its simplicity. Press the On/Off button and the unit fires up in less than a second — yes, it really is that fast. There’s no “welcome” screen, or waiting two or three seconds for the unit to boot up: it’s instant. A short press of this button once the unit is switched on will put it into standby, and again it’s an instant start up from here to with a short press of the same button.

Up top there are three buttons with a rotating collar underneath, and it’s these you need to use to operate the entire unit. The right-hand button takes you into the menus, the left-hand button is your video record or photo capture, and the bottom button operates the laser rangefinder. Simple.

All the menu options are accessed by pressing the right-hand button on the three-way pad up top. A long press opens the first menu page, then you use the rotating collar to scroll up and down. A short press of the menu button selects whatever you have chosen, then a long press takes you back to the main menu or saves whatever data you have inputted.

The first thing you have to do is connect the scope to your smartphone. To do this, simply scroll down through the menu by twisting the rotating collar until you get to the “Network” setting, then use the push button and rotating collar to toggle between “Hotspot” and “Close” — you want it to stay on “Hotspot”. Now open the app on your phone and follow the instructions, which are basically opening your internet settings on your phone, selecting the unit and then entering the password, which is displayed on the screen in the scope. With your Alpex 4K Lite paired to your phone you can now take photos and record video directly to your smartphone via the unit.

What menus does the HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite have?

The first port of call is to get into the main menu, then scroll down to “Advanced Settings” and press the Menu button to enter the sub menu. Scroll down to “Zeroing” and short press the menu button again. This takes you into the zeroing menu. These are your five different saveable profiles to choose from, which is really handy to have because you can set No.1 to, say, 30 metres (you can choose either metres or yards in the settings), with a lightweight pellet, then maybe set No.2 to 15 metres for barn ratting with a heavier pellet, and so on.

In this menu you can also set your reticle type, of which there are 10 choices, as well as a choice of eight colours: Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Orange, White, Grey and Black.

Is the HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite easy to zero?

I love how easy it is to get the Alpex 4K Lite zeroed, it really is child’s play with HikMicro’s “One Shot Zero”. Simply line up on your target and adjust the focus ring found at the end of the scope in front of the laser unit to make sure everything is crisp, then press the Menu button and scroll down once more to “Correction”, and this is where the magic happens. Input your distance, scroll down and increase the zoom range to whatever you want for zeroing and then take a shot at your target.

The choice below the zoom in the menu looks like a snowflake, and this is what you use to freeze the frame. I would suggest that when zeroing you have the rifle on a bench either on a beanbag or bipod, but you must make sure it’s a rock solid position. Ideally, you should zero with the rifle clamped down in a vice – but that’s not a realistic real world solution for most of us.

Once you have taken your first shot, place the crosshair back onto the bullseye on your target and freeze the frame. You can then scroll down on last time to the X and Y adjustments screen and move the additional crosshair onto where your pellet hit the target. Once you’ve done this, simply long press the menu button and then save the parameters. Your next shot should be bang on target. If it is slightly out, that’s because you didn’t freeze the screen in exactly the same place as you took your initial shot. Just go through the process again and you’ll get it — although it will be easier this time because your point of impact will be way closer to your point of aim.

Does the HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite have a ballistics calculator?

The next step is where a lot of people tend to get a bit twitchy, but I can assure you it’s really very easy to set up. You just require a few very basic bits of information.

Below the “Correction” menu option is the “Ballistic Calculator” (BC) option. Scroll down to it and short press the “Menu” button. Once there, press the button again to turn “Ballistic Calculation” on. This brings up a screen to input all of your data. With regards to the first “Drag Model” setting, I just left that as it came. Next you have to input the speed at the muzzle, which for my .177 R10se using QYS Streamlined Heavy pellets is 227m/s (you can select metric or imperial in the main menu to have measurements in metres or yards and millimetres or inches).

Next is your Altitude. How much difference this makes for airguns I’m unsure about, but a quick ping on Google Earth will tell you that. I just left mine at 0. Next up is Temperature. For the sake of it, I inputted the correct temperature at the time of zeroing (it was a tad nippy back at the end of March).

Now comes the important bit. You have to use Google and find the ballistic coefficient of the pellet you are using. It took me all of three seconds to find it for the QYS. Last but not least is the distance from the centre of the glass at the end of the scope to the centre of your barrel. You can use a ruler to get a fairly accurate measurement to the nearest millimetre.

Now save it all and you’re good to go. It really is that simple.

Does the HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite have a rangefinder?

With the BC set up you can now test it out at your local range, or try setting out targets at five metres, 30 metres and 45 metres. With the scope at base magnification (3.5 x) you’ll see a little white box near your reticle, this is where the onboard laser will ping, so it’s important to position that white box on your target, not the centre of the crosshair.

Press the laser ranging button once at the bottom of the three-button control panel and the scope will ping your target and tell you how far away it is in the right hand menu on screen. You’ll also then notice an additional crosshair either above or below the centre of the reticle, and that’s where you need to aim — yes, the clever little Alpex 4K Lite has worked out your holdover/under for you. Honestly, this function really has changed the way I hunt now, it’s brilliant.

Another key selling point of the new Alpex 4K Lite is the ability to switch between 50 and 100 frames per second. The 50fps setting is superb, with absolutely no lag when tracking your quarry, but the 100fps is out of this world when tracking a fast-moving target — there’s zero motion blur. The electronics on board give smoother rendering and faster response, you won’t even realise that it is in fact a digital scope.

Pinpoint precision, crisp, clear viewing in both daylight and complete darkness, plus extremely simple operation make the new Alpex 4K Lite absolutely perfect for any airgunner.

HikMicro Alpex 4K Lite digital day/night-vision scope technical specifications

Laser Ranging: Yes
Ballistic Calculator: Yes
Sensor: 4K CMOS
Frame Rate: 50fps and 100fps
Lens: 40mm
Aperture: F2.0
Ranging Distance: Three to 1,000 metres
Magnification: 8x (3.5 – 20.5x)
Eye Relief: 55mm
Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 HD
Reticle: Choice of 10
Reticle Colours: 8
Operating Temp: -30°C to 55°C
Weight: 468g
Battery: Internal, plus external 18650 (supplied)
Battery Life: Around eight hours
RRP: £649
Web: hikmicrotech.com