Night Vision Need help on a thermal or NV setup for father's day gift

[Nivium]

New'ish to night vision, but I would like to get my dad a thermal or night vision set-up for coyotes. He typically hunts from a shack overlooking a lake and about 450 yards of maximum shooting range, most shots being within 250ish, but some 450 yard shots could come up.

He is a user-friendliness guy, so if its a whole thing with a scanner and scope with complicated features, he won't end up using it. I'm really hoping to start him with a good clip-on or scope and then wean him onto the idea of a scanner slowly, because I know how important the scanner will be once he's willing to tote along another piece of gear. It will be enough to get him to take the tripod.

Budget would be 4k or less, ideally. Would like 640 resolution if I go thermal, but no other features necessary. LRF would be nice, but might make my budget impossible. No onboard recording or anything like that because he'll never use it. If a case can be made for NV, such as battery life, I'm amenable to that over a thermal because he will hate charging it.

In terms of clip-on vs. scope, I don't really know the answer. He has a lot of scoped rifles and may love being able to throw it on any gun and run without taking off the scope or having a dedicated gun for it. But is it that easy to run a clip-on? Might that be too complicated? He will want a good field of view, particularly because he won't start with a scanner.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[Evolution 9]

I’d give this one a serious look. Ten year warranty and image quality far better than its price would suggest.

https://strictlyoffensivekit.com/products/guide-sensmart-tr650-tws

 

[gr8fuldoug]

I’d suggest the Armasight Contractor 320 6-24x50 Thermal Weapon Sight It has all of the features you’d expect from a premium thermal scope, is incredibly rugged with MIL-STD compliance, and most importantly the two turret system is the easiest to use interface on the market.

Or

The AGM Clarion 320 or 640 .
The Clarion is a dual base magnification with a dual lens system. It has a 25mm objective at a 2.0 base magnification as well as a 50mm objective magnification at a 4.5 base magnification. You have the ability to switch between both magnifications without losing any resolution. This would work perfect for the setup of 250 – 450 yards.
The Clarion 640 has a 35mm objective lens at 2.0 magnification and a 65mm objective lens at a 3.0 magnification
It really comes down to budget and how much you'd want to spend.
If you want the 640 sensors, another option would be the Rattler V2 35-640 or 50-640

Or

The Pulsar Thermion 2 XG50. It's a few hundred dollars above the $4k budget but is well worth it. It's a 640 sensor @ 12 µm and NETD <40 mK sensitivity. Coupled with the 3-24x magnification, it would be ultra-clear at 450 yards. If considering a refurbished or used model, I would consider getting the LRF model of the Thermion 2 XG50 or the Thermion 2 LRF XP50 Pro (also a 640 sensor, but @ 17 µm NETD <25 mK, which may give better clarity at shorter distances). We can check into a refurb unit for you for less $$$ if you'd like. please give a call, 516-217-1000, to discuss it.

All of the current Thermions have internal and external batteries, so battery life shouldn't be an issue. You're looking at 6-10 hours, depending on use and settings. They can charge via USB-C as well, so you can carry a battery bank (like the ones you use to charge your cell phone) and double or triple your run time.

I'd go with a dedicated riflescope as opposed to a clip-on. The clip-ons always seem like a good idea, until you realize how much time you're spending getting everything lined up correctly when moving the clip-on between rifles. With a dedicated Pulsar Thermal Riflescope, you can save 10 different zeroing profiles and swap between platforms with ease.