Night vision options

I started looking at reasonably priced night vision options for home defense and protection scenarios. I have no interest in hunting nocturnal critters at 300yds. I see monoculars are priced less than most mountable scopes but I think a scope would fit my needs better. Does anyone have experience with night vision in the $500 range? I was intrigued by the Yukon Mini Varmint Hunter after watching this YouTube video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-7OEhOjEGI After using the search function I was able to find any recent, relevant threads.

I have an ATN X-sight II 3x if you'd like to road test it, works great, especially for the 1-200 yd 4 legged nocturnal critter. 300 is good for hogs and other similar sized targets
I might part with it as i'm not looking to upgrade to something a little more $$.

How clear are these type things? I've never seen one in person, but it seems to me that all the photo's you see online are doctored one way or another. Can you clearly tell what you're looking at or do you kind of have to recognize shapes, heat temps (for thermals), etc and guess a lot? For instance... If I see something at 100 yards can I tell it's A.) A short haired German Shepard with a brindle coat or B.) a "dog". Hope that makes sens and sorry if that's a stupid question.

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Originally Posted by BigBear

How clear are these type things? I've never seen one in person, but it seems to me that all the photo's you see online are doctored one way or another. Can you clearly tell what you're looking at or do you kind of have to recognize shapes, heat temps (for thermals), etc and guess a lot? For instance... If I see something at 100 yards can I tell it's A.) A short haired German Shepard with a brindle coat or B.) a "dog". Hope that makes sens and sorry if that's a stupid question.

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That's going to depend on what gen the setup is and what ambient light you have(moonlight, etc). I can clearly tell that there is a horse at 600yds on a cloudy night using mine, but it isn't within the budget listed here.

Kazoo beat me to the ATN X-sight II recommendation, they come in 3-14x or 5-20x...
The zoom is digital, so you lose resolution as you zoom. They also work as a day scope, just not without power... they are an HD camera and a little screen, no glass straight through. They also go thru batteries quick.

There are other features, like they can capture video on an SD card... I'm planning to get one for hog hunting, but don't have one yet.

Amazon approves:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Tech.../dp/B0788F2Y23

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Originally Posted by SouthPaw

Amazon approves:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Tech.../dp/B0788F2Y23

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Not bad... There are some brand new cheaper on ebay (I know, right? gun stuff on ebay again!)

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Originally Posted by BigBear

How clear are these type things? I've never seen one in person, but it seems to me that all the photo's you see online are doctored one way or another. Can you clearly tell what you're looking at or do you kind of have to recognize shapes, heat temps (for thermals), etc and guess a lot? For instance... If I see something at 100 yards can I tell it's A.) A short haired German Shepard with a brindle coat or B.) a "dog". Hope that makes sens and sorry if that's a stupid question.

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Let me know if you want to look through a PVS-14

Yea you can get into a PVS7 for $750-1k with minor blems.

But night vision is a deep hole, but what hobby isn’t. You will eventually get an Surefire IR illunimator. A full power IR laser. Etc


I’ve never done any official training, I’m just a mall ninja, but NV on a helmet with IR laser is where it’s at. A rifle mounted NV optic, is exposed to recoil. Not to mention you’re pointing the rifle at what you want to identify.


Like Cav said If anyone wants to look through a PVS14, I have one on a helmet. With a surefire IR light and a full power PEQ15A (you can see it miles away for calling air strikes :P)

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Originally Posted by BigBear

For instance... If I see something at 100 yards can I tell it's A.) A short haired German Shepard with a brindle coat or B.) a "dog". Hope that makes sens and sorry if that's a stupid question.

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You're not going to see exact color at night for the under (IMO) $1K easy, let alone $2K I've looked through a few different NV & Digital optics, yet to see one show me the color of a target at night.

Better clarification of a target at night requires better lighting. The ATN comes with an average IR light, lower output but can still identify critters at night with little or no moon.
Most night shooters step it up IR wise with one of these or more powerful. Like anything gun or outdoor sports related. How well yo udo is based on how much you're willing to step up your game

I'm little league but this works well out to 200
https://www.amazon.com/UniqueFire-Vi...rds=evolva+t20


People are running one of these if not more output for serious hog and other vermin night shoots.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071RLH7Z9...&pd_rd_w=ULuck

With a 1/2- full moon i was and am able to identify game out to 150ish with no IR. That's also in city limits where ambient light bounce back helps.

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Originally Posted by 68Charger

Kazoo beat me to the ATN X-sight II recommendation, they come in 3-14x or 5-20x...
The zoom is digital, so you lose resolution as you zoom. They also work as a day scope, just not without power... they are an HD camera and a little screen, no glass straight through. They also go thru batteries quick.

There are other features, like they can capture video on an SD card... I'm planning to get one for hog hunting, but don't have one yet.

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They go through batteries due to people believing regular AA batteries with the STILL GOING sales pitch does exactly that, Keep Going.
The only place regular AA's go is in the shitcan after maybe 5 minutes of use.
Those ATN/ digital units suck the power out of regular batteries like an ex can your bank account. Only faster.

You want AA's to stay in use for 1-3 hours, go with the Kentli's
https://www.amazon.com/li-polymer-re...eywords=kentli

They hold the charge. Then you get one of these for backup, as power drains you can lose all info and may require a reboot when power gets low.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G1XH46M...=7495335750201