Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Night Vision or Thermal question

Considering a NV or Thermal optic to help with my hog problem that we've recently encountered this year. Do they make either a NV or thermal that can be used in daytime? Meaning, I've seen a few online in videos hunting and some have cross hairs, some have dot's. During daylight hours, can it be used like a regular optic?

I'm really not looking to spend a boat load of money if its 1 dimensional and can only be used at night. Yes I know its intended purpose, but was curious about what else it can do.

You will want a digital night vision scope to use day or night. Old school tube style will burn out during the day.

Thermal can be used day or night. There are advantages and disadvantages.

While thermal works well and anything with body heat sticks out like a sore thumb, anything that is ambient temperature is mostly featureless which makes it a bit of a blank slate looking through the viewfinder.

*When I say thermal can be used during the day, don't look at the sun with it. That will burn it out too.

Looking at the Pulsars. One thing I do like is the Talion xq38 which has a removable battery. So if your running out of juice, you can swap it out. The other one I looked at has an internal battery and will need to be charged. I did however notice that some offer reticle changes. And in those changes, they offer several reticles that can be visible in daylight. Its still $2k, for an optic. I wish those damn hogs wouldn't have shown up. Ha.

Hunted some with a site mark wraith during the day last season. Seemed to work fine other than having to deal with turning on and off, battery packs, etc. I’ll get one at some point.

Be aware though you can shoot enough hogs to make a dent. Maybe by trapping them with a pig brig or something similar that can catch large groups.

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You can do okay with a digital night vision scope, but if you buy one and then ever mess with a thermal, you'll wish you'd spent more and got the thermal instead because virtually nothing can hide from the thermal. BUT, here's what you need to consider: there's detection, and there's aiming.

For detection, nothing beats a thermal. Nothing can hide from it. That makes a thermal monocular almost essential, and the reason is that scanning for detection with a thermal rifle scope mounted to a gun will flat wear you out. It is terribly inconvenient. You don't have to have the very best thermal monocular to get by, either. Its purpose is just to tell you there's a critter "over yonder." Whatever scope you choose needs to be good enough to distinguish between cattle, deer, and hogs once you're aware there's something there, and it does not have to be thermal to do that. One of the better DNV units would probably serve you well, but if you can afford a thermal scope you'll want that instead.

One disadvantage of the DNV units is that they require an infrared emitter of some kind. Thermals do not. When you happen to be behind foliage and that IR emitter is active, it can degrade the performance of the scope itself because of all the reflected IR coming back into the scope. Thermals are completely passive, and are not subject to reflections as the DNV units are.

I'd look for one of the Pulsar Axion Key monocular units, and then buy the best DNV or thermal scope I could. The Axion Key will, as I have said, let you know when there's something there to look at. A better scope will let you know definitively whether or not it's something you'll want to shoot.

For the money, it is tough to beat a small handheld thermal scanner combined with a digital night vision scope on a rifle. The scanner is far easier to use as a viewing device than a rifle-mounted thermal scope. I even use mine during deer season before first light and after last light to see what comes out or what is bedded down near me, as well as to look for hogs arriving. Some guys use them for squirrel/coon hunting and a lower-magnification (1.5-2.5x) unit can be used for deer recovery after the shot. Some guys start with the thermal scanner and pair it with a green or red flashlight alongside their rifle. The thermal scanner just makes it easy to see what your eye cannot see. I like the Axions from Pulsar.

I didn't even consider a monocular, but that could work added with just a little moonlight with my Polar.

I agree with others a thermal monocular is the way to go for picking up animals. I've never scanned with just my gun/scope but have friends who hated it after the first 30 minutes and shortly bought a thermal scanner. A handheld monocular is just so much more convenient. Something like an AGM Taipan 384 or iRay Cabin will fit most. As others have mentioned, thermal scopes are great but its a buy once cry once deal. There are ~$2k thermals that will work but you will be wanting to upgrade shortly. I'd say around the $3k mark you can get a good 384 thermal. I've been running a Bering Optics Super Hogster which has fit my needs for the last 3 years and only upgraded to a 640 w/lrf recently.

NV will obviously be a lot cheaper. Pulsar C50's are around $1400 and probably one of the better NV scopes or Rix just came out with the Tourer T20 for $600. I recommend upgrade the IR light for either NV. NV is better for identification as others mentions but with a little time behind a thermal/watching thermal videos its not a problem identifying an animal based on body movement. I went straight thermal from the start and haven't looked back. I'm not a fan of the reflection from vegetation that happens with NV/IR light or if an animal is in beans/grass field it can be difficult at times to find them with NV if they aren't looking at you to get the eye shine.

If hunting open areas, I could certainly see the advantage of also having thermal for your scope as well. Same goes for hunting on foot and trying to aim through brush or scattereed timber. The digital NV is going to give you glare. If you hunt mainly lanes and small food plots like I do, the NV scopes with a stronger illuminator is a way to have a useful aiming device for under a grand, plus you can use it in the daylight if you are making a late afternoon hunt that transitions into night. I'm trying to justify a thermal scope to go with my handheld but I'm having a tough time with it, based on my results with the Wraith HD and Neith night vision units. I imagine I'll bite off at some point.

I did not read all of the responses and this idea has probably already been mentioned, but in case not…

I have both night vision and thermal. Thermal is far superior. Once you’ve used it, you won’t want to use any other option. It is that much better.

What I do is use my day scope in the daytime and then remove it and attach my thermal for the night time. The thermal mount returns to zero excellently. My day scope is also on quick detach rings, and it returns to zero very well.

Only takes a few seconds and then I’m not compromising or trying to make a specific scope work in a situation it’s not Best suited. I’m using a super hogster and I’ve been very happy with it. The next step for me is a thermal scanner.

We use thermal scopes on rimfires at dairy farms to kill rats and pigeons. Scanning with the rifle works for me. My partner sometimes uses a scanning thermal, only because his thermal scope has relatively high base magnification and narrower FOV. I'm happy with lower magnification (just over 2x), being able to scan with the scope. Faster locating and killing.

I bought a Pulsar Thermion 2 XQ38 last year to shoot hogs at night and man it's fun. I haven't hunted with it during the daylight hours, but
have played around with it in the yard looking at dogs, etc. Most upper end Pulsars have an internal battery and an external battery that can
be removed. I bought an extra external battery to easily swap them out when the one in the scope gets drained. The internal battery has a USB
port to keep it charged and it comes with a charger to charge the external batteries. Their technology continues to constantly change for the
better. My XQ38 is only a little over a year old and already obsolete. I was on the fence between night vision and thermal, but definitely glad
I went with a thermal.

These guys have 291 episodes. They discuss thermal scopes, rather than vids of killing stuff.

This week their episode is in regards to "entry level" thermal scopes.




Best,

GWB

Very nice. I'll have to watch.

Thermal on the rifle is the superior way to kill pigs in the dark. They glow in the dark and you can see them through brush and fog and such. NV is good for navigation and movement. I will run a laser, but the thermal gets 99% of the kills.

You need to have a deep pocket.

https://pulsarnv.com/products/thermion-duo-dxp50

$3k and under Night vision scope/thermal scanner.......




ya!

GWB

The OP was asking about double duty, day and night. I don't think a thermal is going to help in daylight.

I recently bought an AGM Taipan thermal monocular to pair with my old faithful Sightmark Wraith night vision with an upgraded illuminator.

The thermal is amazing for finding animals without using the rifle to spot.

I'm hunting in a hayfield hedgerow and have a clear view of approaching animals.

In a forest, a thermal is great and the night vision does reflect and doesn't give nearly the same definition.

The Night Vision scope is a camera that works in daylight for shooting or sighting in, or dark with an illuminator .

Sometimes use thermal in daylight. Works fine unless background is same temp as the animal. Helps to turn up the brightness some.

Agree thermal is great for locating live or downed animals, and much easier to spot them just inside tree lines vs a regular day scope.

Forgot to mention another thermal advantage: it's passive. Animals may not see IR well as visible spectrum, but some do. Rats, for sure.

NV has advantages tho.