Night Vision Basic Thermal Clip ON Q's.

[Magsz18]

Hey guys,

I've got some basic questions that my google fu is weak on. I'm just going to go ahead and list my questions in no particular order. Any help would be appreciated. These questions are only applicable to Thermal as that is what I am interested in.

1. Do you need an illuminated reticle to use with a clip on? I'm a little confused as to how visible the reticle will be without illumination overlaid on a digital screen.

2. Obviously this is clip on dependent and seemingly subjective but how much low end magnification can you get away with using a clip on? I was hoping to be able to use a Mk5 3.6-18. I'd rather not buy an LPVO if I can avoid it. By the same token, if say my optic is 3.6 on the low end, will this be similar to listed native magnifications on thermal scopes, ie "base mag of 2X". Would 3.6 effectively be my "base mag"?

3. To the best of my understanding, there are only a few commercial grade clip ons that supposedly don't require collimation. The Sig offering and I believe the new Armasight clip on. Am I missing any?

4. RE: Zeroing profiles and collimation. Lets say you have four guns and four zero profiles. Do you have to collimate the optic each time you place it onto a different platform and switch zero profiles or is that somehow saved within the zero profile?

I think that about covers my questions for now. If I think of anymore i'll add em!

Thanks guys!

 

[Evolution 9]

1. No. Your black reticle will stand out against the thermal screen unless it’s super super fine.

2. Get away with it, yes. I’ve used a 4-20 and hunted successfully with a Voodoo-S, but for most clip-ons that will severely limit your field of view so LPVOs are highly recommended. Yes, 3.6 would be your base magnification.

3. The Sig was recently outed as not having real collimation, and unless you can verify otherwise, I’d bet the Armasight isn’t any better.

4. For each gun, you’d zero the clip-on once, and save that zero as a profile. So that’s 4 times you’d zero the clip-on. Now, when moving from one gun to another, you’d simply select the profile that matches the gun you are moving the clip-on to. No need to zero again.

 

[Magsz18]

1. No. Your black reticle will stand out against the thermal screen unless it’s super super fine.

2. Get away with it, yes. I’ve used a 4-20 and hunted successfully with a Voodoo-S, but for most clip-ons that will severely limit your field of view so LPVOs are highly recommended. Yes, 3.6 would be your base magnification.

3. The Sig was recently outed as not having real collimation, and unless you can verify otherwise, I’d bet the Armasight isn’t any better.

4. For each gun, you’d zero the clip-on once, and save that zero as a profile. So that’s 4 times you’d zero the clip-on. Now, when moving from one gun to another, you’d simply select the profile that matches the gun you are moving the clip-on to. No need to zero again.

Awesome info, thanks!

So, I would imagine a PR2 reticle is nigh useless with a thermal clip on? I can't see shit at 3.6X mag lol. Hrm. That puts a small damper on my plans.

 

[Bravo6niner]

I’ve used my mk5 3.6-18 with a few different clipons just fine. As evolution9 said, it’s maybe not ideal for some but it works.

 

[NHPiper]

I use a Mk5 3.6-18 with a T3 reticle on a Steiner C35 and Guide TA651. It works great.

 

[Magsz18]

I use a Mk5 3.6-18 with a T3 reticle on a Steiner C35 and Guide TA651. It works great.

Interesting.

Are you using the optical zoom to grow the crosshair to a useable size?

or, are you able to see what you need to see at 3.6X?

 

[Old Man with Gun]

Illumination helps a lot if your reticle is tiny on low magnification in a FFP.
If your screen has settings around the edge you can't see on minimum magnification it is more than just a pain.

The pics in this thread may be useful to you

Post in thread 'Help understanding non-prisim thermal clip on magnification' https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...l-clip-on-magnification.7243893/post-11957206

With my Clip-on 3.6x is a deal breaker, I wouldn't be able to see enough of the screen to see and use menu options.

 

[NHPiper]

Interesting.

Are you using the optical zoom to grow the crosshair to a useable size?

or, are you able to see what you need to see at 3.6X?

Can see it at 3.6. For me though, the bottom end looks best at 5x. An illuminated reticle would probably help at the 3.6-5x if the reticle is finer.

 

[tekmann2377]

The FOV and menu locations are different for every clipon. I have experience with the SNIPE-IR, Clip XELR, and PoT products. All would be "optimized" in terms of resolution, ideal base scope mag, and maximal minimum usable mag with different optics.

The ideal optic for the vast majority of clipons is a 1-8 or 2-10, maybe a 3-15. Unless you have something really high grade, over 15x may or may not be even usable.

 

[SkyScrapin]

The FOV and menu locations are different for every clipon. I have experience with the SNIPE-IR, Clip XELR, and PoT products. All would be "optimized" in terms of resolution, ideal base scope mag, and maximal minimum usable mag with different optics.

The ideal optic for the vast majority of clipons is a 1-8 or 2-10, maybe a 3-15. Unless you have something really high grade, over 15x may or may not be even usable.

Agreed.

Most people aren’t shooting over 15x with a clipon due to resolution and FOV limitations.

A 1-10 anything is the sweet spot. But… run whatever you have.

Over 2-3x, you run the risk of clipping menus.

Over 10x, you’re getting diminishing returns with LWIR devices.

 

[Bravo6niner]

Here’s some pictures I took a couple years ago. Mk5 with t3. I’ve busted plenty of coyotes on 3.6 and if it was a longer shot I zoom to 5x. Eotech clipir LR

 

[Bravo6niner]

Couple more