For the past year, I have been trying to find the perfect night setup. I have tried PVS-14, hand held FLIR, and now a vehicle mounted system. With this setup, I have found what I was looking for! I finished mounting the FLIR setup today and its working great! Using Ram mounts gives me unlimited mounting options. Even better, I can remove it or transfer the camera to my other vehicles.
For those looking for thermal setups, you have two options. This one, and a weapon mounted FLIR. The weapon mounted option is more than twice as expensive as this, and the only time you can use it is when you have it held up to your face. In my experience using a hand held (FLIR H Series) thermal setup, it kils your night vision, and you have no depth perception. A PVS 14 costs about the same as this except you have a smaller field of view, and if its pitch dark, you will not see much.
In my experience (which is limited, but better than none) I like this setup for identifying creatures, and using either a PVS 14 or external lighting for taking the shot. I found it to be a real PIA walking around with a PVS-14 strapped to your head, then it being in the way when its time to shoot. Your mileage may vary, but I find this hard to beat for the price.
In case you missed the videos I posted in the hunting forum, here they are again. I was using a field expediant method of mounting when I took those... (wire ties)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsZfdjDtxas
Here is what a deer looks like at night on the FLIR video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAOcxHpUQXE
For those looking for thermal setups, you have two options. This one, and a weapon mounted FLIR. The weapon mounted option is more than twice as expensive as this, and the only time you can use it is when you have it held up to your face. In my experience using a hand held (FLIR H Series) thermal setup, it kils your night vision, and you have no depth perception. A PVS 14 costs about the same as this except you have a smaller field of view, and if its pitch dark, you will not see much.
In my experience (which is limited, but better than none) I like this setup for identifying creatures, and using either a PVS 14 or external lighting for taking the shot. I found it to be a real PIA walking around with a PVS-14 strapped to your head, then it being in the way when its time to shoot. Your mileage may vary, but I find this hard to beat for the price.
In case you missed the videos I posted in the hunting forum, here they are again. I was using a field expediant method of mounting when I took those... (wire ties)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsZfdjDtxas
Here is what a deer looks like at night on the FLIR video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAOcxHpUQXE
