I would be amused if the actual reason for upscaling is that a 256x192 display is hard to source and that the firmware is partially shared between models with a display and models without one.

It connects to a cell phone for display so the image is scaled either way. The issue is how the chosen algorithm may be adding non-existent detail or not. If you disable the enhancement you get nearest-neighbor. The true sensor size is all that really matters. Flir has nothing in this segment that comes close to that.