Night Vision Skeet IRX or ?

[jbuck88]

Its hard to narrow down parameters that haven't been asked a thousand times.

I looking for a clip on thermal that can double as a hand held thermal. My backyard backs up to a river valley that extends 700yds across. So ideally I need something that can deferentiate a coyote from a small deer as far as possible. The coyotes are bad this year and just killed a fawn in my yard, having young kids who play around the house has me thinking its time for a showdown.

I had a Pulsar apex aq50 2.8-11 before but I would need something that could double as a handheld scanner. Also would like something with a greater fov.

I was getting ready to buy the SkeetIRX from NVincorperated for $13k'ish but is sold out now.

@TheHorta would you recommend anything else? Fog, brush, rain and high humidity are all a factor.

 

[White Mamba]

Utm will work as well

 

[texasleftychef]

My two bits is you have to have magnification to ID at distance. And while the skeet is the dream (for all of us) you may be better served by an NVision spotter that’s got some mag range. Other wise you are only going to be able to see that there is something out there but no idea what it is.

So maybe better served by thermal spotter and a PVS 27/30. Thermal clipons are expensive and not hand held useable that I know of. I don’t think you are going to get the range out of the skeet that you want.

 

[liaisons]

Voodoo-S (and M) are the bomb.
At the same price, Voodoo is a better product, IMHO.

@oldfart80 The Voodoo products are out and about? And available for civilian purchase?

 

[TheHorta]

Voodoo-S is available, but be prepared to wait many months. I don’t think the Voodoo-M is available

700 yards is a LOT to ask of any 1.0x thermal, even a Skeet/Voodoo. Not as far as detection is concerned, but you won’t be taking any shots with them. You’ll want a UTC for that.

Voodoo-S works better than SkeetIR as a clip-on. For helmet use, I’d give the edge to the Skeet. Both have TraceIR, so that’s a draw, but it’s less effective / useful on a 1x device than it would be on a UTC-Xii or Voodoo-M.

Honestly, a good 1x spotter and a Halo-LR would be ideal. Or a WP PVS-27/30 and a nice 5-25 scope and IR illuminator, while using a Skeet or Nox 35mm as a spotter.

 

[jbuck88]

For clarification. I would like to spot animals in the valley, and call them in to ID. Is 200yds out of the question for the skeet to deferentiate a coyote from a deer?

Are the KAC PVS30 returns still around? I don't see then at eurooptic.com But If they are still available what would be a good helmet mountable spotter?

 

[SkyScrapin]

200 yards is fine. 300 is close to pushing it. You’ll see Heat way beyond 700 yards.

 

[jeffl838]

Can you pid at 700 with an aimpoint is a better way to look at it

Edit: On the low budget I’d scan with a small unit on a tripod slaved to a laser and have a pvs 27 on the gun. Medium budget, a small handheld unit and a halo lr but the reticle might make it hard to shoot. Higher end, handheld and utc. 700 yds on a coyote, you’ll want a clip on unless you’ll creep up to it

 

[jwramp]

There seems to be more retired PVS-27s floating around at the moment than 30s. I decided to go for a handheld thermal with 2.5x magnification for spotting and ranging stuff, then take shots through a -30. Easier to just sit there with a small device rather than have to peer behind a rifle all night or whatever.

 

[jwramp]

If you’re just looking to spot from your back porch, buy one of these and let it ID the critters for you.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Equipme...Long-Range-Thermal-Camera-System/172-1865624/

 

[jbuck88]

How much magnification can you run behind a skeet when using it as a clip on?

 

[TheHorta]

How much magnification can you run behind a skeet when using it as a clip on?

Personally, 4x is about tops. Both the CRATOS and Skeet seem purpose built to run in front of a 1/4x Elcan. I’m sure you could push it to 5-6x, but I doubt you’d gain much, if any.

The UTC-X and Xii are good up to 15-18x. I had the X out last week before my knee surgery in front of a SB 3-27 and I was surprised how well it held up all the way to 27x. I was tracking a small animal at >300 yards and couldn’t figure out if it was a cat, possum, raccoon, etc.

At 27x I could clearly tell it was a skunk. That really blew my mind.

 

[SkyScrapin]

How much magnification can you run behind a skeet when using it as a clip on?

We’ll not 100% sure but believe to be 1.5x about the sweet spot. You can get a 4x magnifier for the Skeet which would presumably get you 6x with 1.5x on the optic.

 

[jeffl838]

I wouldn’t run more than 4x. 4x is severely degraded but usable. 2x is very usable.

 

[Choid]

I find that the 4x on the spectre is fine.

 

[SkyScrapin]

We’ll not 100% sure but believe to be 1.5x about the sweet spot. You can get a 4x magnifier for the Skeet which would presumably get you 6x with 1.5x on the optic.

For clarity, I’m talking about a 4x germanium afocal. Then throw a 1.5x behind it and you will get the best of all worlds.

 

[jeffl838]

i thought you lost zero with the skeet magnifier?

 

[wigwamitus]

Not sure why you need a hand held. For my cattle overwatch, during calving, I get up on some higher ground, setup on a tripod and do 360s with my rifle and UTC-x on the tripod. I can magnify up to 16x, though I rarely do. But I've been able to see cow's ear flopping while she was working on a bales at 508 yards in the pouring rain ...
I've never had a hand held, at least not a thermal that was only a handheld. I have three head mounted thermals, I use those for walkin and stalkin with my carbines ... but for distance, I use bolt gun with a scope on a tripod with a UTC/x clipon in front.

REM700 762x51 175gr FGMM, Zeiss 4-16x MOA/MOA, UTC-x, RRS, Cattle at 250yds, yote came thru those cattle straight at me, right after I took the pic, then turned 90 degrees to my right and headed towards some woods, The shot was 275yds to the yote from my position. If you can't find a UTC/x/xii then an LWTS-LR will get the job done.

 

[jbuck88]

I wish I play with a UTC x. I had myself talked into a skeet, whats the utc? Another 10k?

 

[wigwamitus]

The street price for the UTC-xii's in the last several batches was $19,900 though there were a few that went for $18,300-ish.

For the Insight/Harris/EOTECT LWTS-LR, street prices have been around $14,000.

 

[jbuck88]

Thanks. I'll reach out to some dealers about prices.

 

[wigwamitus]

Dealers to reach out to (that had these items)

Kathleen Hanson, PR-Infrared (Skeet, UTC)
Daniel Drover, DownRange Thermal (Skeet, UTC, LWTS-LR)

And its more about availability than pricing. These are ethereal units, they appear and disappear at will - but not our will - they appear and disappear per the god of thermal availability !!!

 

[TheHorta]

I might be rehoming my UTC-X and LWTS-LR to make room for... something. I swear these Damn things are breeding behind my back.

 

[Choid]

lol.

 

[jeffl838]

Handheld is for wide fov scanning. The skeetir is more commonly used as a scanner than as a weapon sight or clip on. Some thermals get up to 30 fov (if i remember right). Once you find a thing, if it's too far for to pid with your hand held, it's nice to be able to go narrow fov on a weapon sight or clip on to pid/shoot. The nfov and wfov units complement each other well, especially if you're not hunting from static positions

 

[wigwamitus]

Aye, i know what my skeet is for, i just wear it on my head instead of holding in my hand, so i can scan hands free while moving !!