Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics educate me. thermals and night vision...

Learn me up. No experience with such, other than night hunting with kill lights. Don't do much night stuff anymore because I'm usually in bed about then....grin

But an experience a couple nights ago that got me to thinking of my shortcomings. I-70 borders the ranch and there was a car/semi wreck right out by the gate. When the cops and amberlamps showed up, an armed passenger from the car fled the scene on foot. He headed for my creekbottom, towards my corrals and cowshed. Lucky for me, the local fire chief(who was in the ambulance) gave me a call to alert me to the situation. I don't even have a light on any pistols (which is shortly to be rectified). But anyway, I headed down the hill to the main house to lock everything up and get my guns and car keys outta the ranch trucks and be ready to give the fugger a big surprise if he showed his face. I didn't want to turn on a flashlight to give the perp an idea that I was out and about, so it was a stumblefugg doing all this in total darkness. I sure figgered NV gogglers woulda been handy about then, along with a thermal/NV scope on an AR. Clip-on's sound interesting, as I could use it as a monocular to see/scan with, then slap in on the rifle if needed. Am I off base here? I don't need no fancy stuff, no video/phone capabilities, do they make simple on/off switch models?

Eddicate me, here. Thanks

PS.. They recovered the guys gun on the shoulder of the hiway about a half mile south, and finally caught him a few hours later on the other side of the interstate. Quite a deal for a few hours, 8 State cops, 4 SO depittys from 2 agencies, a game warden, 2 fire trucks, an ambulance and 2 hiway dept dump/plow trucks.....

Thermal for spotting and shooting, Night Vision for navigation.

Edit: my experience is military (old tech) and recent using high end setups doing run and gun at night at competitions with borrowed gear. But shooting is way better with thermal, and running through the woods is way better with NV. Shooting with just NV requires optics be setup at a height that works, with magnifiers etc if using NV compatible red dot settings

Another avenue for info. Call this guy, seems he is pretty knowledgeable.

Clip-ons are great in theory, but not so great in practice.
Something along the lines of a Bering Optics Super Hogster is pretty handy and high quality, and you can still pull it off the AR rail to use as a scanner.
An added bonus to a thermal that could possibly serve as a reason to have your employer make the purchase or as a tax write-off is to use the scanner during calving season to find a dumbazz two year old heifer's calf when she walks off and forgot where she left her calf. Or as a way to look at your buildings on a cold night to find areas of heat loss in need of extra insulation.

NV need an illuminator?

Watched this one last night.

Shows 1 thermal and not sure what you classify the other as but uses an illuminator. One with the illuminator tends to let the brush ruin the video and the thermal picks up the critters which he shows and talk about.

Depends on the setup. Using the really high end stuff I could make hits to 300ish without, but I'm not buying double tube nods, helmet, mount, 1.9" optic mounts, etc for 10k+ to shoot with NV, and using and illuminator literally screams HERE I AM to anyone using NV in the area. I mean, a great illuminator is amazing, but it's like a tracer at night times a billion. So it really depends on your intended use. I'll probably go thermal with a unit good enough to work as a decent scanner, but I don't plan on running around in the woods at night playing Ranger/SEAL/Recon, so intended use would be detection and shooting.

👍🏿👍🏿

How 'bout this as a cheap intro?

https://cameralandny.com/shop/arken...ariation=3644735&query=arken%20night

I have 6 of their scopes and like the heck outta them.

Something like that used with a GOOD illuminator would probably work great, but the digital NV isn't on the same playing field as tubes, in clarity/resolution or price.

understood. thanks

Separate scanner and scope or just use the rifle while scanning?

Don, I'm just starting to learn this stuff too.. Night Vision is usually an Infrared set up that has its own illuminator, or another can be added, but its just more junk to pack around. Thermal is the way to go IMO, but its still too pricey for me, considering how little I'd actually use it.Thermal shows you temperature, NV just lights everything up for you and doesnt discriminate my temp as far as I can see.

I'd prefer quick detach that holds zero. I'm not a fan of "looking" at/for people with my weapon since I'm solidly 1st CivDiv now. 😁

This is good advice.

I’d consider one of those Bering products - they can be had on the used market for a decent savings.

My partner uses one as his scanner but easily doubles as a backup scope if need be.

Don, for what you’re describing, thermal is the way to go, far more covert and due to heat signatures, targets (or humans 😀 ) visible at far greater distances.

Be for scanning for critters.

I started using kill lights circa 2004. Used them until i got night vision. I have 3 different night vision optics that I used for several years until I got the Bering Optics Super Hogster. It is a "384" unit. When the Super Yoter ("640") unit came out, I got that. It is the main thermal that have used for the last two year or so. It works.

Night vision is best when viewing a stationary object or when depth perception is key. As mentioned, I'd not be wanting to run though heavy brush using Thermal.

Those new ARKEN ZULUS ZHD520 night vision units are interesting.

Three weeks ago I did a comparison between my Sightmark Wraith 4K-mini with a Nightsnipe N-750 aftermarket IR Illuminator vs. my Super Yoter vs my Taipan Scanner. Bunnies at 70 yds. Felt like i was in sand-box using the Night Vision compared to both thermal units.

Nothing hides from thermal.

The RIX LEAP 600 is new, but looks to be awesome, price is about 2/3'rds of comparable Pulsar units. One the things that make it different is what is being labeled as "continuous optical zoom" (not true optical) as opposed to digital. IIRC early on users have mentioned problems with both software and audio.

If discovery/observation is key rather than hunting/shooting, I'd say get a thermal scanner with a minimum of 384 x 288 resolution sensor, 12 micron sensitivity is superior to 17 micron sensitivity.

There are a number of different brands. I chose the AGM Taipan TM 15-384 as it had the lowest base magnification at 1.5x of the 384 units I could find. I Do not think you would be satified with a 256 resolution optic.

The Taipan is in my pack every time I go afield. My Leica binocs have almost become obsolete when it comes to discovery. With thermal, day or night, anything above the ambient temperature just "Pops".

Here is a short vid of a thermal hog hunt. The white dot in the distance is a hog.Distance is estimated at 400+ yds (optic has 710 meter detection range.) People in the vid are +/- 50 yds in front of the high rack vehicle. Flashing green markers are hot tracking (an option).



As to simple on off. Yes. Press the power button and the unit comes on. Press the zoom button to increase the magnification. Other things can be done such as snapshots and video capture, but that is about as simple as it gets.

I typically keep mine at base magnification for the "field of view" and clarity of image.

Good luck on your quest.

Best,

GWB

GW,
Had never considered it, but you’re saying you use the thermal during daylight to pick up heat signatures/identify game also?

Also, you used your yoter on a .308?
Have a dedicated suppressor host that needs to pull double duty as dedicated thermal host.

Based on my experience coyotes in pressured areas can see IR. I switched to thermal a few years ago. They are a game changer. Spend the money and get a reliable thermal. I like Bering thermal products. They have a good reputation

I use a tri pod and rifle is mounted to tri pod. I sit or stand depending on area and foliage . I use this set up to slowly scan

Hint..............