Night Vision

[MMH]

Thinking about night vision for coyote hunting. Don't know much about it and looking for a quick education. Ideally I would like to get night vision that mounts in front of the scope of a picatinny rail and not just a night vision scope. Does this exist? Want decent quality but not crazy price. An analogy would be I'll pay for a Viper PST but not a Schmidt & Bender.

 

[markT]

Look up Huey outdoors / Fox Optics / The Night Vision Show. and there are others.. Start there. A whole lot more better..

 

[Dusty Stevens]

It wont be long and the chinese will reverse engineer our night vision we left in afghanistan. We used to own the night, now everybody will be equal and the civilian prices will come down, with superior night vision available

 

[MMH]

It wont be long and the chinese will reverse engineer our night vision we left in afghanistan. We used to own the night, now everybody will be equal and the civilian prices will come down, with superior night vision available

Sad, but true. I don't worry about myself, only my children (and the current generation). And, these are the kids that do not understand the fight that they will encounter.

 

[5spd]

You tube " night vision", about 16 million vids on products.
Yes there are units that mount in/on front of day scopes, usually called clip ons.
For the price of those you can have a dedicated thermal scope like the Adder, Infiray or others.

 

[swimster]

My son and I night hunt coyotes. We use thermals. We have. Hand held for scanning and and thermal scopes mounted on the or 223s. And tripods to shoot off of. Works really well. I would call ours mid range price. Scopes are in the 3000 to 4000 $ range and scanners are just over 1000. They work fine for shots out to 200yds or so.

 

[MGMIAM]

www.opticsplanet.com
best prices and selection for thermal scopes, etc

 

[lp6]

NV and thermal serve two very different roles. NV for moving/big picture and thermal for spotting and weapon sight. I have both and suggest thermal first.

 

[swimster]

If you go through Optics planet make sure you check availability. A buddy ordered one from there. Their Webb page said available. After a week waiting he called some the Dude told him it should ship in a couple days. After another week no scope. He called back and got another guy he said it was backorderd and Should ship from the factory in 3 weeks. He canceled and ordered one from another distributor and had it in 4 days. Same price.

 

[Knotwild]

I'm watching this one. Price is certainly important, but I've looked through an IR Hunter 60mm and the budget ATM. A friend gave me an ATM to try out and it ate the micro sd card when I tried to update it. ATM fixed it fast. But, the scope was so poor that I left it in the box and never used it. It would not let me identify a deer at less than 200 yds. The IR Hunter allowed me to check a deer at 100 and see that it was a young spike - it was that detailed.

So, what brands are dependable and provide good support while not breaking the bank? I like shooting varmints/vermin like armadillos and coons. For that purpose I think a good scanner would let me know where they are and a green light would make the kill. Right?

 

[Wolfdog91]

Not a clip on but if your in a budget you can get an ATN X-Site 2 pretty cheap now days . I really like mine for what I do

 

[markT]

You will get what you pay for.. The OP said he didn't mind spending some money but not ridiculous.
My recommendation: Pulsar... Thermal!! Not NV.. Pulsar are mid range priced picture quality is amazing CS is great. NOT made in China. The Thermion is what I run they are great and they have a new scope that is day time and thermal.. I'd buy that! Thermion DUO XP55.

Home | Pulsar Vision

www.pulsar-nv.com

 

[ZenArchery]

There are thermal clip ons but unless willing to drop over 18K not worth the dime. I don’t know if any Night Vision that is clip on. Night Vision requires CCD screen and IR illuminator to see image.

Clip ons I’ve played with require too much work lining up scope, adjusting focus, matching focus, lining up reticles. Using the right reticle.

You’d be better buying top end QD mounts and entry level thermal vs current clip ons. Just my experience.

 

[Knotwild]

I've been researching a little bit, but not seriously. One thing not mentioned about the clip on's is that you can't turn the power up on your scope much. The scope is seeing the image the thermal is producing and when the scope magnifies the image, it gets grainy/has poor quality.

There is a Reap-IR in the optics classifieds that has been there a while for $5500. That's a deal.

You get what you pay for applies to many things, but in my opinion, thermal scopes are number one on the list.

 

[avidflyer]

There are thermal clip ons but unless willing to drop over 18K not worth the dime. I don’t know if any Night Vision that is clip on. Night Vision requires CCD screen and IR illuminator to see image.

Clip ons I’ve played with require too much work lining up scope, adjusting focus, matching focus, lining up reticles. Using the right reticle.

You’d be better buying top end QD mounts and entry level thermal vs current clip ons. Just my experience.

Been using one of these for the last several years

L3Harris CNVD-LR UF WP 2376+ MIN FOM - Tactical Night Vision Company

Clip-On Night Vision Device - Long Range

tnvc.com

 

[Shifty6br]

Go thermal, hunted years with a pvs 30 and duals for spotting and sold it all for dedicated thermal sights. Less weight and quicker acquisition, in most aspects thermal is king. Switching optics to and fro is no problem with good quality rtz mounts, and even easier if setting up a dedicated night rifle.

Would recommend a scope with a spotter. If hunting coyotes I would look into an lrf built in model such as Pulsar's new offerings or Nvisons xrf.

 

[MMH]

Thanks for the responses. Doing a little additional research & talking to a couple of manufacturers, for what I need I am at a $4,000 plus price point. This means that it will be a while before I can buy. Might as well keep on reading up & learning though.

I am comparing a AGM Varmint LRF TS50-640 to a Pulsar Trail 2 LRF XP50/XQ50. From what I understand, both of these will have good enough resolution to shoot coyotes up to 600 yards. They both have integral laser rangefinders. My rangefinder would be useless (is a regular daylight rangefinder) & I don't see how I would get around not having one.

Some mentioned scanners. What is a scanner - a handheld device used for spotting so that you do not have to 'glass' through a scope?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Put a coyote target up at 500 and put your rifle in a stand up tripod. And take a honest 1 shot attempt, let's us know how you do. During the day with your current scope.

 

[MMH]

Put a coyote target up at 500 and put your rifle in a stand up tripod. And take a honest 1 shot attempt, let's us know how you do. During the day with your current scope.

You are correct. Right now I do not have the skills to shoot coyotes at 600 yards off of a tripod. 300 yards - sure. Significantly longer range off of a bipod. I guess that I do not want a scope that would limit me to what I do now and want room for future improvement.

I probably don't need a scope as good as my Razor either, but am glad that I have it.

 

[Stugots]

There are thermal clip ons but unless willing to drop over 18K not worth the dime. I don’t know if any Night Vision that is clip on. Night Vision requires CCD screen and IR illuminator to see image.

Clip ons I’ve played with require too much work lining up scope, adjusting focus, matching focus, lining up reticles. Using the right reticle.

You’d be better buying top end QD mounts and entry level thermal vs current clip ons. Just my experience.

I own an N-Vision HALO 50 thermal that I attach to my 6.5 Grendel when I hunt Hogs down in Florida every year and have never had an issue Identifying a target. I liked this scope so much, I ended up buying an N-Vision Atlas 50 Binoculars. I started out using a Gen 3 night vision clip-on with an Aimpoint for hogs along with an infrared light but rarely use it much any more since I picked up the 2 N-Vision 50's. The cost of the 2 was more than $4,500 less then the $18k price point you stated.