Night Vision Major Disappointment: FLIR BHS-XR 65mm

coues7

coues7

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Minuteman
Feb 3, 2007
64
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46
White Mountains AZ
#1
So my brother ended up dropping the coin ($10k) for a BHS-XR with a 65mm lens. The main intent of the purchase was to located big game here in AZ. We can't hunt with them, but we can use them to locate. What a waste of $10k......am I missing something here? This thing sucks!!!!
 
#4
I would have expected to get to an area early (dark) and find game. I would have expected them to stand out. I've gone through all the different settings.....black hot, white hot, numerous shades of red hot......I've done it all. We got the 65mm lens because we wanted the most we could get out of it without being too bulky.....I've never been so disappointed in a $10k purchase EVER. You guys in the midwest/east had me convinced this was the thing to have. Hell if I wanted to go find game at 100 yards I sure don't need a $10k paper weight.....
 
#5
Hmm, strange, i have used the same model and overhere we are able to spot foxes out to 300m, and bigger animals like horses and cows out to 600m easily. You cant tell if it is a dog or a fox or if it is a horse or cow at those distances, but at least it tells you there is something living standing there at 4 legs.

No pun intended, but you do know the limitations of a thermal, wright?
 
#7
Have you confirmed the lens cap is removed? lol

I have a much less expensive model that works very well, you just have to know how to use it.

Also, some good info can be found in the owners manual if you haven't read it yet.
 
#9
I did the same thing. It is the waste of money. For hunting is good enough some cheaper thermal device . If I buy it again I would spend max 3000 Euro for it.
My BHS XR 65 works. But I do not need to detect big game on 2000 Yards. BHS XR 65 can do it. But battery works only 15-20 minutes. So I need to carry 4 extra to replace during hunting. When I bought this Flir it came to me from US and did not worked. So I had to send it back to US waited 5 months and I received new one. It works. But for this money it is a crap. I had a chance to test Flir H series, 24mm objective for about 3000USD and it is good enough for what I need.
I also found much better devices in Europe in good. price. I had no chance to test it. If I sell this Flir, I am buying new one from Germany.
 
#10
So you did not see game with the thermal, are you sure there was actually game to see?
Good thing it was your brothers money. :)
 
Last edited:
#11
Lens cap has been removed. I don't know if it is the heat in AZ or what. Hell even at night everything glows and I know sure as hell it's not all game animals. I've read the owners manual. I've watched videos.....I feel that I've more than done my part.
 
#13
coues7 said:
Lens cap has been removed. I don't know if it is the heat in AZ or what. Hell even at night everything glows and I know sure as hell it's not all game animals. I've read the owners manual. I've watched videos.....I feel that I've more than done my part.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean.

Thermal is incredibly dependent on conditions; a person's bare skin is roughly 94 degrees, imagine that's an animal and add some fur on top of and I'm sure the visible heat would be in the mid 80s.
A rock sitting in direct sunlight all day might actually be hotter. I've never been to AZ but I'd imagine that's not out of the question this time of year.

Thermal works best for detecting living things in cold conditions, or if you're in a hot and sunny climate, during the morning. I've been in situations where the polarity was reversed (i.e. living things were black when my optic was in white hot mode) in some cases the temp of the surrounding terrain is exactly the same as the animals I was looking at, I could only tell by movement.

On the flip side - I was looking at individual birds 100-200y away a few nights ago in my area because it was a cold night.
 
#18
I will say that I put the FLIR in the same catergory as Trigicon rifle scopes. Overpriced and limited use. I can't see how a company like Trigicon stays in business, well, I know how, Trigicon is a first tier government supplier probably the makers of the FLIR are as well. The gummit can pay any amount for hard goods because it's not their money they are spending (it's really yours paid in taxes).

Whereas, paying 10 grand for some imaging hardware or 3 grand for a scope out of your pocket is IMO, not too prudent, especially when (in the case of the scopes) there are real viable alternatives for much less.

I'll take a good hound over electronics anyday.
 
#19
I used a significant amount of thermals in the military pretty high end ones. Never thought they were worth shit compared to the NV we had. Maybe it has changed since i left in the last couple years but I doubt by much. Until thermals make Major strides i'll stick to NV.... even then NV will probably continue to develop.

Best use i saw for thermals was OP. You could detect entry to a perimeter then put the thermal down and pick up an NV weapon
 
#20
Thermal systems are great to use. You just have to understand them.

What are the local temps?

Have you looked at your brother with them at various distances to test them? Read the instruction manual? I have worked with many thermal systems and really like the capability of thermal systems, you just have to know the limitations of the various systems.
 
#26
Old thread, but I have one of these units with the 35mm lens. It is awesome. I can see everything. Horses/Cows at thousands of yards, small birds in trees, Heck I can even see fresh dog shit, urine 100 yards away.

Some things I learned - Focus is very fine. Make sure you are using the focus know to fine tune your view. Make sure you adjust the contrast to whatever works best.
 
#28
Rocks+Arizona+Thermal=Tough time for thermal.
It took me several night excursions to really start getting the hang of my LS64.
Had to develop a scanning technique that really fine tuned toward movement of an object.
It has been very cold out here,and I am still amazed at how well rocks can hold heat.
If there was a lot of rock croppings on a hill,it really gets tough.
When its cold out and looking into fields and sage,its the absolute bomb.
I could spot elk at some crazy ranges.
I know where your coming from,I wasn't overly blown away with my unit off the bat,but it has grown on me and am finally getting rest assured it was worth it.
 
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