Night Vision Helmet Mounted Dual Thermals

[Bunkin]

I've seen it talked about in the past, but can't find much info running dual helmet mounted thermals.

I currently have L3 1531's, but would like helmet mounted thermal capability. I don't like the idea of dual band (NV in one eye and thermal in the other) set ups.

Currently looking at picking up a pair of MH25 V2's and helmet mounting them. I think this works on paper, but not sure if I am missing something, Is the resolution good enough to walk out to a coyote stand, hunt, and then safely walk back?

Appreciate the in site!

 

[shields shtr]

This guy does it.

I live out west, and run a dual NV/Thermal Setup. I have a Nox 35, so it is pretty big and you gotta get creative with counterweights ala lead sinkers purchased out of the ol fishing section. Once you get your helmet balanced it's all good though. I never run both at the same time, but I always have both down when scanning since my dominant eye always wants to take over if I don't have both my eyes covered.

 

[Downtown]

Unlike dual night vision, I found that dual thermals were still two dimensional, no depth perception. Fine standing still, but very difficult to move on uneven surface.

 

[CTM1]

Perhaps the Horta will chime in as he has run dual SKEET IRX's.
If memory serves me correct he was wearing them in a side by side when he crashed into a ditch and almost drown.
Not sure if the crash was caused by lack of depth perception or if he is just a bad driver.

 

[Bunkin]

This all makes sense. The flat image and depth perception is a problem I had considered.

I do have a RH25 as well. Perhaps I should stick with the 1531’s and roll them up an scan with the rh25 as a handheld. I was opposed to dual mounting my RH25 or even running it solo due to the weight.

 

[CoryT]

The challenge with dual thermal is seeing shadow and contours. It's OK if you are just scanning in a fixed position, but movement can be quite a bit more challenging than movement under I2. Can you? Yes. Should you? I advise against it in my classes. For thermal target detection while maneuvering under NODS, I use and suggest the E-COTI or TAD.

 

[Rio Precision Gunworks]

2nd Cory and others above. Moving with dual thermal sucks.

I’ve seen many falls and crashes when people are trying to move on foot or vehicle with only thermal.

 

[tekmann2377]

Dual SkeetIRx are amazing and do provide some depth perception, although I wouldn't say to the same degree as NOD's because you are fundamentally looking at a digital screen more so than a true optical representation from bino NOD's.

I wouldn't want to try navigating with lower quality thermals, that just wouldn't work. A friend of mine has a Sidekick and it didn't have that 3-D "pop" to the image you need for depth perception as well as too much latency/lag.

 

[Dogtown]

It’s annoying because technically you are getting depth perception via parallax when you have bino thermal; each eye is getting a unique image. But like Cory said, part of the problem is that the image looks nothing like what we’re used to seeing with reflected light: no specular highlights and no shadows. The lag from a digital display plays a little less of a role I think with binos as the lag is consistent, while lag from a bridged NV/thermal will annoy your brain.

 

[45cal4life]

I've been pondering the same question for hunting, as of now I'm going with dual band (tanto) with a Nox18. Already have the Nox helmet mounted but want the ability to walk around better than just the thermal alone. The rifle will have its own thermal scope

 

[st1650]

RH25 left eye, pvs14/tanto right eye and dedicated WMT is still the best way.

The problem running RH25 on both eyes is that you can’t use offsets in the low latency mode and running both eyes without low latency you’ll catch a fall eventually.
On the other hand, when you run a RH25 left eye with the offsets to match your pvs14 image and then turn down the brightness on the thermal to minimum your vision will default to your pvs14 and it’ll be very easy to move and only when something bright pops up that it will get in your field of view.

 

[st1650]

The challenge with dual thermal is seeing shadow and contours. It's OK if you are just scanning in a fixed position, but movement can be quite a bit more challenging than movement under I2. Can you? Yes. Should you? I advise against it in my classes. For thermal target detection while maneuvering under NODS, I use and suggest the E-COTI or TAD.

I still think a dual band with full featured HMT is superior to the COTIs although I haven’t tried a fully integrated fusion bino/thermal like the PSQ42 or the JerryFB