Thermal Scope

[Sundown]

If you were going to purchase a thermal scope which would you buy and why? Pixels, Magnification, brand, etc.

 

[msinc]

The one I have is a weapon sight made by FLIR. They are the ones that make them for the military. I don't think you can go wrong with FLIR brand weapon sights or view scopes. I would definitely stay away from Russian ones or anything that seems too cheap to be true...these are not cheap items. Do not expect to get a decent one for half of what the good ones cost.
The higher you go up in magnification the less resolution you will have. More resolution {more pixels or LPI} the more it will cost. Only the ones in Hollywood can see a man standing behind a concrete block wall....I guess those scopes are not sold to the rest of the world.....
A few years back somebody was making an "attachment" for your cell phone. it was cheap enough and it did work, well, kinda....if you were less than 10 feet away from what you were trying to see. I am not an expert on how these work, but the main ingredient, the bolometer is what picks up the difference in temperature must be a high quality part or the scope wont pick up what you are trying to see at distance.
Even the best ones may not resolve enough depending on the conditions. E.g., I use mine while coon hunting to see if there is a coon there or a slick tree. Mine was expensive and I still usually have trouble telling if it's a coon, cat or opossum. More magnification just makes the image harder to see unless you also go way up in resolution. You are seeing the difference in temperature so obviously these things work better in the winter.
Fox hunting I can sometimes tell if it's a red or a gray, but not always. Once I thought a nice red came in and it was a coyote. Things appear larger than they are when you first start using a thermal, at least for me it did. One night calling predators I thought a giant wolverine was coming straight for me...it turned out to be a weasel about 8" long!!!
I don't know what you need this thing for, but honestly, for what thermal cost and owning/using both....I'd a whole lot rather have a good 3rd gen night vision scope.

 

[BleedsBlue]

Trijicon is #1, pulsar is #2 in my opinion.
More pixels along with a lower micron core gives the best picture.

I have a pulsar xp50 and it is amazing now the bugs have been worked out.

 

[people]

msinc brought up many of the drawbacks to thermal. I do not know if this matters to you but many are not rated for larger rifles. Like semiauto 308 rifles.

A huge draw back to NV is shadows. NV needs light to work and they just do not have the ability to see into most shadows. I have lots of trees in my yard and many things use the trees to move through my yard. Even with a IR flashlight it is hard to look into trees and see anything. This is where thermal excels. Even if you just see little heat spots you know something is there.

 

[msinc]

msinc brought up many of the drawbacks to thermal. I do not know if this matters to you but many are not rated for larger rifles. Like semiauto 308 rifles.

A huge draw back to NV is shadows. NV needs light to work and they just do not have the ability to see into most shadows. I have lots of trees in my yard and many things use the trees to move through my yard. Even with a IR flashlight it is hard to look into trees and see anything. This is where thermal excels. Even if you just see little heat spots you know something is there.

This is a good point regarding night vision...it works fantastic with a good IR illuminator, but only if nothing is in the way. You can kind of see into the trees a little bit when the leaves are off and it seems like turning on the illuminator would help, like it does with open ground, but it really makes it worse. All you can see is the infrared light reflected off the leaves or branches. Thick brush is even worse, you cant see anything but brush.
This is where thermal is good to tell you if something is there. We used to say, "thermal burns thru the brush" and it does. A deer standing in thick scrub brush that you wouldn't be able to see even in the daylight can be seen with thermal. You probably cant tell a deer from a bear or hog behind a bunch of brush in a thermal, but you will know something is there for sure.
Where night vision excels when looking for an animal is the illuminator will make eyes glow bright in the scope. I can see an eye way out there and know it's an animal. If any infrared light gets thru brush of trees and there is an eye back there you will know it, you just wont know if it's a grizzly or a rabbit.

 

[people]

The IR lights does have its benefits and short comings. Being able to see the eyes is a huge one. It is kind of odd to turn your IR on and see a bunch of eyes looking at you. Darn birds! What does stink is you turn it on and all you can see is that little branch right infront of your face you did not even know was there before you turned on your IR.

Focus on NV can be an issue. What is needed in a building is not what is needed out side.

I like to have both. I have thermal on my rifle and NV on my head for moving around.

It is generally considered poor form to walk around using your scope for navigation.

 

[jsn]

There are numerous videos on Youtube of people hunting hogs and coyotes with both thermal and night vision.

 

[Catfish]

I have worked my way up from ten 1 to gen lll night vision, and own a Flir 240 monical. I have also had the opportunity to check out a wide range of thermal. After a lot of comparing I found that Thermal does have an advantage in detection with well camoed targets, but is not near as good as Night Vision at identification. With thermal what you see is what you get, and there is is no way to improve the lower end stuff. With Night Vision you can simply buy an IR light and greatly improve the performance of your equipment. With rather but the best you can afford, it is cheaper than trading up, and you will always want better until you have the best. If you can afford it, get both, I cannot and decided to go with night vision.

 

[5spd]

I have a Pulsar xp38 thermal and its perfect for night calling, 640 core, onboard recording/picture taking etc. I can pick out coyotes/antelope/rabbits and other game without having to use a standard NV scope. My handheld scanner is a Pulsar XD19a. No issues IDing whats what at night for me. You can spend way past 10K on a thermal.
I have a D740 3rd gen scope and a flir ps32 handheld that I started off with and its now a backup rig. I use both depending on the weather.
A thermal can "wash out" meaning there will be times that everything looks like a white/grey sheet and you cant make out details but if and animal pops into view it will stand out. That can change with temps and weather.

 

[Schism]

If you were going to purchase a thermal scope which would you buy and why? Pixels, Magnification, brand, etc.

What is your intended use? What type of environment?

 

[rcparker1]

I have a trijicon reap it and honestly it exceeded my expectations. Not often I say that about a product. We hog hunt and have no problems identifing a hog at 300-400 yards. I have not tried it but it has a option to use it with a scope or as a stand alone optic.