Pixfra CrossLink: When Your Thermal Optics Start Talking to Each Other

It is an hour before first light on a property west of Roma. You are glassing the far paddock with a Draco; your mate is a few metres away with the rifle up, waiting. You pick up a fox working the fence line. Then comes the part of hunting that has not changed in decades: you have to tell him where it is.

“Left of the dead tree.” “This tree?” “No — further left. About three-eighty.” The fox, of course, has not read the script. It moves. He loses it. You start again — a little louder this time.

Every thermal optic on the market has become better at seeing: sharper sensors, better sensitivity, longer detection, built-in rangefinders. But the person on the binocular still has to explain what they can see to the person on the scope — out loud, in the dark, standing next to an animal with very good ears. Pixfra CrossLink changes that.

What exactly is Pixfra CrossLink?

Think of CrossLink as a wireless bridge between your Pixfra binocular and your thermal scope. The two devices establish a direct Wi-Fi connection in the field, and information generated by one is shared with the other. There is no cloud service in the middle and no phone acting as a go-between — the optics talk to each other directly. CrossLink is the first working example of a wider shift — we look at why connectivity, not more pixels, is the next real step in thermal optics.

How it works in the field

You are scanning a hillside with your Draco and you pick up a deer out on the flat. One press of the rangefinder sends the distance straight to your partner’s Cetus. The scope shows the measured range, the calculated holdover, and the live view from your Draco. The shooter does not have to range the animal, hunt for it in the scope, or do any ballistic maths in their head — they hold according to the reading and settle in. The Draco reaches out to 1,000 metres, so the ranging is there well before most shots are.

One person finds. One person shoots. The ranging and the holdover sync across automatically.

One person spots, one person shoots

Anyone who has hunted with a mate knows how much information gets passed back and forth out loud — the tree, the fence, the “no, further left,” the range repeated twice because it was misheard the first time. There is nothing wrong with that; hunters have done it forever. But when both people are holding sophisticated digital optics, describing what one of them can already see starts to feel like the slow way round.

With CrossLink, the spotter keeps scanning and observing the wider paddock. When they find a target, the Draco ranges it and works out the holdover, and that goes to the Cetus. Turn the live feed on and the shooter can also see exactly what the spotter is looking at, in a window inside their own display. The spotter is no longer limited to describing what they can see — their optic can show it.

Perfect for hunting with a partner

CrossLink is at its best when the two of you do not have identical experience behind a thermal. Picture taking your husband or wife out for the first time. One of you has years behind thermal optics; the other is still finding their feet. The experienced hand scans with the Draco, finds an animal, ranges it, and hands the information straight to the Cetus the newer hunter is behind.

Instead of “see the fence line, follow it right, there is a tree halfway up the hill, look underneath that,” the Draco view simply appears inside the Cetus. The newer hunter still has their own thermal image and their own reticle — but now they have a second reference showing precisely what their partner has found. A parent and an adult son or daughter, two mates, a property owner walking a visitor onto game — it is the same story every time. CrossLink does not replace talking to each other. It gives you another way to do it, and it does it silently.

No shouting, no repeating distances

There is an obvious second benefit here, and it is one every hunter will recognise. Animals have ears. Calling a range to the person beside you seems harmless, but unnecessary conversation is still unnecessary noise. CrossLink lets the important information move between the devices without every measurement becoming a spoken exchange.

It is not only for two hunters

The obvious CrossLink picture is a spotter and a shooter, but the feature earns its keep solo too. A lot of hunters prefer to do their observing on a binocular rather than spend long stretches peering through a riflescope — it keeps the rifle out of the equation until it is actually needed. The friction has always come at the handover: you have found something on one optic, ranged it, studied where it is — and now you switch to another device and have to find the same animal again.

CrossLink starts to bridge that gap. Your Draco and Cetus are no longer two isolated tools doing separate jobs; they can behave as two parts of one system, so the move from observing to shooting is a good deal more joined-up.

The clever bit: Cetus stays Cetus

One of the most important things about CrossLink is what it does not do. It does not take over your scope. The Cetus keeps showing its own thermal image, and its normal reticle stays exactly where it is. CrossLink simply adds the Draco view through an extra picture-in-picture window. You keep full awareness through your own optic and gain a second source of information at the same time — a bit like having the spotter looking over your shoulder, except that instead of describing what they see, they can put their view inside your scope.

Draco does the heavy lifting

Worth being clear on one point: the Cetus is not suddenly becoming a laser rangefinder. The Draco remains the ranging and information-generating device. It takes the laser measurement and calculates the holdover; CrossLink just carries that information across to the Cetus.

That is what makes this genuinely interesting for existing Cetus owners. A Cetus has no built-in rangefinder — pair it with a CrossLink-capable Draco and the two complement each other, so the scope gains rangefinder-fed holdover without you buying a second rangefinder. Rather than duplicating every function in every optic, Pixfra lets one device’s strengths feed another. That is a different way of thinking about a kit of optics.

Already own a Draco and a Cetus? This is the best part

You do not need to buy anything to get CrossLink. For owners of compatible devices, the capability is delivered through firmware — the hardware you already own has simply become more capable. Every Pixfra Draco can act as the sender, and all four Cetus scopes are supported as the receiver.

To switch it on, both devices need current firmware:

There is no subscription, no communications hardware to add, no router needed in the field and no CrossLink accessory to buy. For an owner with compatible gear, it is a firmware update that unlocks an entirely new relationship between the two devices.

How to set up Pixfra CrossLink

Setup is straightforward. Update both devices first, then pair them.

Once connected, every range measurement from the Draco updates on the Cetus in real time, with the holdover calculated automatically. CrossLink supports both triggered and continuous laser ranging.

How far apart can the devices be?

Pixfra nominates roughly 3 metres as the conservative distance for stable, optimal CrossLink operation, and that makes sense when you consider what it is for. CrossLink is not designed to beam an image to someone standing on the next hill — it connects two devices being worked by a hunter or a hunting team in close company. Real-world range may stretch past 3 metres depending on conditions, but treat Pixfra’s figure as the benchmark. For two people hunting side by side, three metres is generally plenty.

Why direct Wi-Fi matters

CrossLink does not depend on mobile reception, and that is the point. A lot of the places where thermal earns its keep — a property well outside Roma, a block a few hours from the nearest town — are exactly the places where leaning on mobile infrastructure is a poor idea. CrossLink makes a direct connection between the Draco and the Cetus. No cloud service sits between them, no internet is required, and no phone has to become the middle-man. The relationship is simple and it holds up wherever you are: Draco → CrossLink → Cetus.

More than another specification

Thermal makers have spent years competing on numbers — 640 versus 384, 12µm versus 17µm, NETD, detection range, refresh rate. Those specifications matter and always will. But CrossLink is progress in a different direction. Instead of making one optic more capable on its own, Pixfra has made two optics more capable together. A Draco is not simply a binocular any more, and a Cetus is not necessarily an isolated scope. Connected through CrossLink, each contributes to something larger — and that opens up some genuinely interesting possibilities for where a Pixfra kit goes next.

Two devices. One connected system.

The best technology tends to solve a problem that only looks obvious once someone has fixed it. Hunters have spotted an animal on one optic and tried to explain it to someone on another for as long as there have been two optics in the paddock. We have called distances, pointed at trees, whispered directions, repeated ourselves, swapped devices, lost the target and found it again.

CrossLink does not pretend that technology replaces fieldcraft, judgement or talking to the person next to you. It does something simpler: it gives the equipment a way to communicate too. One hunter scans, one stays ready. Draco finds and ranges; Cetus receives. And when words are not the best way to explain what you are looking at, the person behind the Cetus can simply see it. For existing Draco and Cetus owners it is a firmware update away. Update your firmware and try CrossLink on your next hunt.

Pixfra CrossLink — frequently asked questions

Product information current at the time of writing; CrossLink capability, firmware versions and specifications are set by Pixfra. CrossLink shares information between optics — it is not a substitute for positively identifying your target and knowing what lies beyond it. Genuine Australian stock, serviced locally by C.R. Kennedy. Draco laser rangefinder rated to 1,000 m; recommended CrossLink working distance approximately 3 m — the two figures are unrelated.