Help with night vision rifle scopes

[PJ1]

Pests, hogs, and large rodents are becoming more of a nuisance around here. I feel lost in this area regarding night vision scopes as I know absolutely nothing in this area. I will be using 6.5 CM and .308 Win for the hunts and have looked at the Hogster line.

What should I stay away from and where should I concentrate my research? I'd don't want to go cheap and get yesterday's tech., then have to trade up. Thanks for any help.

 

[boltfluter]

Maybe 5spd will chime in. He runs a thermal that he is quite happy with I believe. Running optics in Wyoming is a real test for anything with batteries!

Paul

 

[ebb]

Greg Tannel at gre-tan rifles

 

[5spd]

I've been running a pulsar xp38 since 2011 and its still kicking along, just works and with out a failure to date. Ive shot them from 20 feet yards to a tad over 400 yards with it. 640 core. I have 2 battery packs, so I never have dead scope issues., quick change packs.
Over 1k coyotes killed with it.
It's discontinued and replaced with the thermion line.
If I was buying again is pick up a pulsar thermion, infiray tl35, or something along those lines, lighter, regular scope profile, records, pictures, and some have built in rangefinders which I find usless, sheesh coyotes ain't that hard to figure ranges.
Bearing optics makes great thermals, lots of new styles out this year.
Hogster, super hogster, yoter lines will do what you need. The main thing I don't like about many thermal scopes is that they run cr123 batteries, last maybe 5 hrs
AGM makes good thermals.
Burris thermals use the 18650 inexpensive rechargeable batteries, fair enough scope for out to 200 yds.
Like computer's soon as new ones are out they are already outdated.
Look to make sure the thermal can be updated from your computer for any new firmware, nice to be able to do that.

 

[pdhntr]

The Hogster line is thermal. If you say "night vision" it often means some type of IR scope.

I have a Super Hogster that has been working for me. I have only had it one year. Hunted with it this winter just around my place. Terrible year weather wise for coyote hunting, but called in some at night.

The distance and the size of the animal you are hunting has a lot to do with your choice of thermal. For instance, if you are shooting hogs, they are much bigger than coyotes, and you can get by with a cheaper scope. If you need to identify and make accurate hits on coyotes over 200 yards, you should be looking at the mid range and higher end scopes. High magnification is nice, but if the pixilation is large, your long range success can be compromised.

I have an external (Apex) battery that I mounted inside an M2 stock (AR-15) and ran the wire up to the scope. Works really well.

I would advise you to go over to Predatormasters Forum and read as much as you can on their "Night Calling" sub forum. There is some very good information on some of Bering optic scopes and others as well.

Jim

 

[PJ1]

Thank you to all. Great information for me to explore.

The immediate problem is beavers. The bastards are really doing a number in the woods and are very destructive. Curious as to how the themals handle water with beavers swimming in it.

I've started looking at hogster and

Iray RICO Micro RH25 Thermal Monocular 4x 25mm Tan.​

Sad that they are all china components thermals. Hogster assembles them here in U.S.. The iray is strictly chinese. None of this stuff is cheap.........Lordy!

Should or is it a necessity to add an ir light to the unit for additional illumination?

Thanks 5spd for the insights on batteries. That is something that I never considered and should have.

Good idea on the external battery Jim. Thanks for that website.

 

[pdhntr]

Thank you to all. Great information for me to explore.

The immediate problem is beavers. The bastards are really doing a number in the woods and are very destructive. Curious as to how the themals handle water with beavers swimming in it.

I've started looking at hogster and

Iray RICO Micro RH25 Thermal Monocular 4x 25mm Tan.​

Sad that they are all china components thermals. Hogster assembles them here in U.S.. The iray is strictly chinese. None of this stuff is cheap.........Lordy!

Should or is it a necessity to add an ir light to the unit for additional illumination?

Thanks 5spd for the insights on batteries. That is something that I never considered and should have.

Good idea on the external battery Jim. Thanks for that website.

You can buy a lot of traps for that kind of money. I do some nuisance trapping of beavers, and it is easier than you might think in the summer. A lot depends on your laws though.

A thermal will detect any part of the beaver above water. Anything below the water line will not be seen. Only the water temperature will be seen. The scope has to have an unobstructed view of the object. Thermals don't work through windows, trees, water, etc.

An IR light is only for "Night Vision" type units. They use the existing light (even when it is dark to our eyes) and project it on a screen. Usually seen green in pictures. If there isn't enough ambient light an IR light can be added and that will help the unit "see".

A thermal scope detects the difference in temperature of objects, assigns them a color and then assembles them on a tiny screen to individual pixels.

The scope you are looking at is a thermal, and would not benefit from an IR light.

Jim

 

[PJ1]

Great information Jim. Looking at traps also..................Thanks