The new Alpex 4K Lite from Hikmicro has been developed to meet the huge demand for compact, lightweight digital scopes for airgun shooting. Although I have only been using it for a short time, I think most UK airgun shooters will be very happy with it.
With a recommended retail price of £499 for the standard A40E model and £649.99 for the A40EL laser rangefinder version, the Alpex 4K Lite delivers excellent value for money – especially when you take its awesome performance into account. Not only is this digital rifle scope compact and versatile – it is also packed with features.
Building on the proven success of the Alpex models that have gone before it, the Hikmicro Apex 4K Lite is much smaller and lighter – it is about 280mm long without its soft rubber eyecup fitted and it weighs comfortably under 500g. Although super-compact, the new Alpex A40EL model comes equipped with laser rangefinder and ballistic calculator.
As with all Hikmicro products, the Alpex 4K Lite is beautifully packaged, and inside its neat box you will find a USB lead, a rechargeable 18650 battery and charger, a lens cloth and some fine scope mount shims. That battery combines with a rechargeable onboard cell to deliver a seven-hour runtime which can easily be boosted by swapping the removable 18650 battery which is accessed via a screw-off cap on the left-hand turret. A quick-start manual is also supplied, although the Alpex 4K Lite is very intuitive to operate.
Below top: The Hikmicro Alpex 4K Lite is a compact day and night scope made specifically for airgun shooting
Below bottom: The ability to swap batteries gives you freedom to hunt for as long as you want
Straight out of the box, this scope looks and feels like a quality piece of kit. I particularly like its 30mm tube configuration as it makes it very simple to mount and, being very similarly proportioned to a traditional telescopic sight, it balances very well and immediately feels familiar.
I initially mounted the Alpex 4K Lite to my FX Impact MkII, my reasoning being that by using a high-powered bullpup airgun – with a substantial gap between the sight and the barrel – I would be able to really test the accuracy of the ballistic calculator over very long and short ranges.
Being eager to get started, I didn’t even use the removable battery for my first test – just the integral one.
How to operate the Hikmicro 4K Lite
I am not very technically minded but it didn’t take me long to find my way around the Alpex 4K Lite’s controls. The scope switches on with a long press of the power button on the right turret – a short press sends it into power-saving sleep mode, from which another short press starts it back up extremely quickly.
All remaining controls are operated via the top turret. In normal operating mode, you turn the wheel around the turret to wind magnification up and down. Zoom range stretches from 3.5x for a very wide field of view right up to 20.5x for precision shooting at long range.
Below: Mat didn't take long to master the Alpex 4K Lite's simple controls
The three buttons on the top turret provide easy-access controls for common functions in normal operating mode. A short press of the rear/arrow button turns on laser ranging and another press turns it off, while a long press turns Picture in Picture (PIP) function on and off. The left/camera button takes photos with a short press, while a long press turns video recording on and off – you can choose between 50 and 100 frames per second recording rate for video capture.
Press and hold the right/menu button to open the main menu. Once inside the menu, your turn the wheel to scroll up and down and press the right/menu button to confirm your choices as you scroll through the lists.
The main menu features brightness, contrast, day/night/auto/green/yellow mode setting, as well as the albums where photos and videos are stored. Click on the advanced menu icon and you open a further set of sub-menus for tasks such as date and time setting, on screen display options and much, much more.
Other features here include network connectivity, zero profiles (you can save up to five) zeroing, zoom settings, prerecord on/off, frame rate, Smart IR function, pitch scale and screen style (round or square) to name just some of the options. I was very pleased to see the pitch scale option – this feature activates onscreen dials measuring horizontal and vertical angle, which is great for maintaining accuracy by avoiding cant.
Zeroing is the familiar one-shot arrangement in which you take a shot, freeze the picture with the reticle held on the bullseye and use the controls to shift the crosshair through the x and y axis until it corresponds with where your shot struck. An option to increase magnification within the zeroing menu makes for precise adjustment as point of aim is tweaked by very small increments.
I assume that the shims supplied in the Hikmicro Alpex 4K Lite’s box are there to enable you to keep the crosshairs centred if you run out of adjustment. I didn’t need them as I only had to make a small adjustment to the factory setting to achieve zero. As with previous Alpex models, you can save numerous zero profiles to cover different guns and ammo.
Inside the zeroing menu you can choose from ten different reticle types and also choose different colours for the main reticle and central aiming point.
Ballistic calculator setup is also done within the zeroing menu. Here you input relevant data such as ballistic coefficient and muzzle energy and the all-important measurement from the centre of the barrel to the centre of the objective lens so rise and fall can be calculated to provide you with an accurate aiming point as your pellet or slug travels downrange. You can save numerous profiles for different gun/ammo combinations.
Below: A built-in laser rangefinder works with a very precise ballistic calculator to keep shots on target
The Alpex 4K Lite’s WiFi connectivity means you can pair it with your phone and take advantage of the Hikmicro Sight app, which boasts a raft of functions including rapid firmware updates and access to the acclaimed Hunt Ground feature. Using Hunt Ground you can map your shooting permission along with all its features including quarry hotpots and potential hazards as well as trail cameras – you can also use it to share captured footage and other information with friends and the global hunting community.
The Hikmicro Alpex 4K Lite is equipped with 4K CMOS sensor, 40mm F2.0 large-aperture lens and 1920x1080 HD display. Those specifications, combined with Hikmicro’s technical talent for creating and utilising remarkable image enhancement algorithms, result in an incredible viewing experience.
Even when setting up on the range in daylight, I could appreciate this little scope’s excellent image quality. Viewing in lifelike full colour, I was able to view targets in pin-sharp detail. Image clarity was excellent across the board but what really struck me was how well the Alpex 4K Lite retains its sharpness at higher magnification settings and how bright its colour images appears on the fading light of twilight.
Below: The Hikmicro Alpex 4K Lite delivers full colour daylight viewing even in poor light conditions
My weeks of testing this scope have seen me using it on several guns to target a variety of quarry in scenarios from full daylight to total darkness.
Dusk rabbit shooting is always a good test, as it tends to cover the full range of light conditions. The Alpex 4K Lite excelled in them all, and its twilight performance was phenomenal, providing bright, clear full-colour viewing in the fading light.
I was targeting rabbits at between 20m and 40m, and the new Alpex’s ballistic calculator didn’t miss a beat. It had already put in a convincing performance on the range but there is no test like a proper hunting situation. Based on my experiences so far, I would say it is the most accurate ballistic calculator I have used to date.
One thing I really noticed was how quickly the Alpex 4K Lite powers up from its energy-saving sleep mode. One short press of the power button and it was back in action in a split second. This enabled me to save battery life while feeling assured that I could still quickly get myself on aim when opportunities arose.
Rats offer a small target, which means precision is vitally important and that demands a sharp sight picture. This scope’s night vision image quality is absolutely brilliant. In fact, footage captured through the Alpex 4K Lite while shooting a night hunting video was as good as that recorded on the expensive video camera we were using to shoot the main footage.
The after-dark clarity of this scope’s night vision viewing really does have to be seen to be believed. Even with my illuminator on a very low setting, I was able to see rats’ twitching whiskers in very fine detail.
The ballistic calculator proved its worth again in this scenario, not just for longer shots but more often for very close shots when it’s easy to get caught out by misgauging hold-over. As before, it was bang on and the result was decisive and humane head shots. Shooters who carry out close-range pest control will be pleased to know that the Alpex 4K Lite focuses down to just 2m, while its laser rangefinder and ballistic calculator operate down to 3m.
Ease of use is critical when shooting at night, and I found the Hikmicro Alpex 4K Lite very easy to operate. Its buttons are an improvement on earlier models – I was able to easily locate them by feel when I couldn’t see them in the darkness, even when wearing gloves.
This scope doesn’t come supplied with an IR illuminator or an adapter to fit one, which is an extra cost you will need to factor in if you plan to take full advantage of its infrared night vision capabilities. The Picatinny adaptor fitted to the Alpex 4K Lite in the images here is my own.
Below top: Sharp image quality and a precise ballistic calculator enabled Mat to shoot rabbits with confidence
Below bottom: Add an IR illuminator, and the Alpex 4K Lite produces pin-sharp images in total darkness.
The new digital scope from Hikmicro is very good indeed and leaves me wondering how long it will be before all shooters switch from traditional telescopic sights to digital scopes.
Hikmicro has listened very carefully to what airgun shooters want from a riflescope, and the Alpex 4K Lite meets the brief very well indeed. It is compact and lightweight, it delivers brilliant image quality in daylight, twilight and in total darkness, it is packed with useful features – including a very accurate laser rangefinder and ballistic calculator on the A40EL model – and, most importantly, it is sensibly priced and very easy to operate. Designed for field use, it also feels very robust. I can see this exceptional little digital scope going down a storm with airgun shooters.
Made by: Hikmicro
Product name: Alpex 4K Lite
RRP: £499.99 for A40AE, £649.99 for A40EL
Length: 280mm (without eyecup)
Weight: <500g
The Hikmicro Alpex 4K Lite is available from Scott Country International
Article first published 22nd May 2025
