Thermal guide me

[aslrookie]

I’m wanting to expand my night capabilities. I went hunting with a dude who had a thermal scope while I was wearing NVGs. He was like “hey do you see that deer over there?” I’m like “what deer.” This happened so much that it was actually kind of annoying and makes me wonder how many coyotes I’ve not seen because of this.

I’m curious on the whole one trick pony thermals compared to dedicated task thermals. Generally speaking, if you have something that does multiple roles, it’s mediocre at all them but never close to a dedicated unit. I like the idea of a clip on thermal that could double as a handheld spotter (Iray micro rico) but then it seems to lack when using past 200 yards in performance.

A dedicated clip on, although costs double the price, seems way better than a NV clip on and something like a multi role micro rico. The disadvantage there is I have to point my gun everywhere for detection.

In a ideal no cost matters world, I’d have NVGs for walking and thermal clip on for on the stand.

If it was thermal or NV (not both), would you get something like a micro rico or dedicated thermal clip on? I could see myself getting a quality PVS14 and thermal but not a nice thermal and dual tube NVGs.

 

[nutation]

NODs are more generally useful. Thermal is useful in specific circumstances. It seems like a superpower, but it's not at all guaranteed that you'll see every warm-blooded living thing. Vegetation obscures a lot because it's also warm, unless you are in somewhat cool surroundings. Birds in trees are very difficult to see, because the leaves are warm. Vehicles don't even stand out that much, unless they're moving. The thermal background can look very confusing, and many objects can retain heat long after the sun sets. On the other hand, thermal is very useful in the morning, before the ground and trees warm up. It also makes a great stud finder, since the studs act as heat sinks.

On a limited budget, I'd go with a PVS-14 and an IR illuminator to light up retinas. For example, it's easy to see illuminated jackrabbit eyes in thick brush, and can be difficult to distinguish the same jackrabbits under thermal. Get both, eventually, since they're complementary technologies.

 

[GreenMushroom]

It's entirely dependent on what you're trying to accomplish. For hunting having just a weapon mounted thermal is workable. Walk to your spot in the evening and get set up, do your thing and then walk back using a flashlight.

 

[Concrete shooter]

My Nvision thermal works extremely well for me as a dual role device. It holds zero very mounting and unmounted. Well enough, in fact, that I use it as a hand held scanner and quickly remount it when I begin a stalk on hogs. Same with my reap

 

[TheHebrewHammer]

PVS 14 for walking, Handheld Thermal for scanning, thermal scope for taking the shot.

 

[Evolution 9]

You’re right, you’ve definitely been missing (not seeing) lots of things because you have night vision instead of thermal.

I’m sure Nutation was accurately relating his personal experiences, but my experiences are 180 degrees different than his. In all but the worst conditions, if you can see a rabbit’s eye with night vision and an IR light, you can see it with thermal. There can certainly be false positives, things that are warm but aren’t animals, like big rocks, but it’s easy to recognize the difference.

Id definitely go with rifle mounted thermal, even if that ate up your whole budget and you had no night vision at all. I navigated with a rifle mounted Reap-ir for years. It wasn’t ideal because of 2.5x magnification and the weight of the rifle, but people who say it’s hard to navigate with thermal…

A thermal scope will usually give you more FOV and better weight/balance than a clip on, and be cheaper, so if a dedicated night rifle works for you, go that route. A clip on is great for the guys who always keep a gun with them, so they can just clip it on when it gets dark.

 

[cantankerous]

I've also navigated with a weapon mounted thermal, and for the most part it works well if you take your time.

I did have one instance where I took a night walk through my field from my house, I didn't get more than 50 yards or so from the house and decided to scan with the rifle.
I found myself in a fairly tense but short lived standoff: my rifle was raised and the SKUNK 15 feet in front of me had it's tail raised.

It was too close to the house to shoot (didn't want to explain the nearby dead skunk to my wife) so we parted ways peacefully.

Now I use head mounted thermal.

 

[Rambo Sonny]

can't the prey find you when you use a flashlight?

It's entirely dependent on what you're trying to accomplish. For hunting having just a weapon mounted thermal is workable. Walk to your spot in the evening and get set up, do your thing and then walk back using a flashlight

It's entirely dependent on what you're trying to accomplish. For hunting having just a weapon mounted thermal is workable. Walk to your spot in the evening and get set up, do your thing and then walk back using a flashlight.

 

[Rambo Sonny]

PVS 14 for walking, Handheld Thermal for scanning, thermal scope for taking the shot.

how long distance will you shoot prey when you use a thermal scope?

 

[Evolution 9]

can't the prey find you when you use a flashlight?

how long distance will you shoot prey when you use a thermal scope?

You walked in in the evening (no flashlight needed). You walk out with a flashlight after you finish hunting (any remaining critters will see you but that’s not too big a deal).

My longest intentional one shot coyote thermal kill coyote was 470 yards with a Reap-ir. I’ve gotten lucky well past that but couldn’t repeat on demand.

With a Halo XRF or Halo Lr (mil reticle), guys have filmed 800 yard plus coyote kills. Reticle is almost everything if you’re shooting long distances.