A friend of mine bought the FLIR unit onechance had up for sale. Great transaction and delivered on time. Thanks for the help! I went out hunting with my friend until 1am this morning so here are my observations.
1. With FLIR, you will find every living creature both big and small. The hunting grounds we go to are VERY rocky, and rough. When we first got to the hunting ground around dusk, the rocks still were warm and it was hard to distinguish hot rocks from small animals. As things cooled down the rocks got darker and it was easier to see small game in the area. We saw more furry creatures last night than we have seen for the last year combined. Rabbits were all over the place, and coyotees running in the treeline were easy to see. We also picked up rabbits hidden in brush, and we even found a baby rabbit at the base of a tree. Its that good! I could also see a hot spot on a tree where something was living in it. One area on the property is a 500+ yard wide clear cut hay field. The difference between night vision and thermal is dramatic. We went from trying to find furry creatures with night vision, to seeing so many with FLIR we had to decide what one to go after. Driving through the field we spotted a coyote a few hundred yards ahead and were able to watch where it went in the treeline.
Now for the negative (if you can call it that)
With FLIR you have no depth perception. When you see a heat signature it could be 50 or 200 yards ahead of you. Unless you are real close all you will see is a hot spot. Its not until you get real close that you start to see features that identify the creature. You will do most of the identification based on how they are moving. With more time behind the unit we were able to tell what things were based on the movements, but its something you will have to learn.
Night vision is still a plus!
At one time we saw a bunch of heat signatures near the treeline. As we got closer what appeared in the FLIR as large hot spots were easily identified through the PVS14 as cattle. Without depth perception on the FLIR, you cant tell how far things are away so night vision with a strong red light puts things in perpective. They could have been hogs for all we knew. (insert FNG comment here) We identified a bunch of heat signatures near a water tank, and couldnt tell what they were with the FLIR. With the PVS14, I saw it was a family of raccoons.
We now have the best of both worlds. The hand held thermal finds every living creature on the property, and the PVS14 mounted behind an Eo-Tech is great for making the shots and identifying targets. This thing is AWESOME! If you got the funds, you will have more fun hunting at night with FLIR than you ever have.
1. With FLIR, you will find every living creature both big and small. The hunting grounds we go to are VERY rocky, and rough. When we first got to the hunting ground around dusk, the rocks still were warm and it was hard to distinguish hot rocks from small animals. As things cooled down the rocks got darker and it was easier to see small game in the area. We saw more furry creatures last night than we have seen for the last year combined. Rabbits were all over the place, and coyotees running in the treeline were easy to see. We also picked up rabbits hidden in brush, and we even found a baby rabbit at the base of a tree. Its that good! I could also see a hot spot on a tree where something was living in it. One area on the property is a 500+ yard wide clear cut hay field. The difference between night vision and thermal is dramatic. We went from trying to find furry creatures with night vision, to seeing so many with FLIR we had to decide what one to go after. Driving through the field we spotted a coyote a few hundred yards ahead and were able to watch where it went in the treeline.
Now for the negative (if you can call it that)
With FLIR you have no depth perception. When you see a heat signature it could be 50 or 200 yards ahead of you. Unless you are real close all you will see is a hot spot. Its not until you get real close that you start to see features that identify the creature. You will do most of the identification based on how they are moving. With more time behind the unit we were able to tell what things were based on the movements, but its something you will have to learn.
Night vision is still a plus!
At one time we saw a bunch of heat signatures near the treeline. As we got closer what appeared in the FLIR as large hot spots were easily identified through the PVS14 as cattle. Without depth perception on the FLIR, you cant tell how far things are away so night vision with a strong red light puts things in perpective. They could have been hogs for all we knew. (insert FNG comment here) We identified a bunch of heat signatures near a water tank, and couldnt tell what they were with the FLIR. With the PVS14, I saw it was a family of raccoons.
We now have the best of both worlds. The hand held thermal finds every living creature on the property, and the PVS14 mounted behind an Eo-Tech is great for making the shots and identifying targets. This thing is AWESOME! If you got the funds, you will have more fun hunting at night with FLIR than you ever have.
