Who has a Thermal Scope? What do you have? What do you like of dislike about it?

[HBARleatherneck]

found, thanks

[Linkless]

I've been looking for a thermal as well, hoping someone will share some personal experience.

[DOC]

I bought a sig scope. They don't support it anymore. But its cool. Mounts right up and I can sweep the room in complete darkness.
ETA: Sig Echo1.

[Duman]

I'm not familiar with thermal scopes, but interested in following this thread.

When you say far out, are you thinking 500-yds.? Or longer?

[Great-Kazoo]

doesn't matter what thermal you go with. What everyone needs is a good IR light. There's a lot on the market but most seem to fade after a few hundred yards.
I had the basic ir light on an ATN XSightII 4x, that was good for the neighborhood back in CO. Once you got in to open range it failed past 50-75 yds. Upgraded to (have to look later) and that had a nice beam out to about 350ish.

Once you get the optic you need to figure out where to mount the IR. I made a mount that sat along on the right front side of the stock on my bolt action.

This one says out to 700. But you will see fading before that, take in to consideration the realistic distance the thermal you buy can go the distance.
https://www.predatortactics.us/coyot...unting-lights/


For yotes and the uninvited guest be realistic about clarity out to X distance. For me the down side to thermals is the damn glow of the screen when you move away from the reticle. Takes a few for your sight to come back to the natural light.

IF i were to buy another night optic, i would look at a NV before thermal. Seems to be better performance at dusk & fawn than thermal. However as fast as the NV market changes, who knows .

[battlemidget]

Thermals are great unless you're moving around, then you'll be wishing for regular nods real fast. If you get thermal, I'd consider it just for hog/coyote hunting.

[zimagold]

I have a PVS-7 (Gen III Autogate) and PVS-14 (WP Filmless) for Nightvision, comfortable with night time hiking/shooting. I rented a Pre-Trijicon Ir-Defense Thermal a couple of years ago (???Hunter M II???). Thermal seemed to have a lot of advantages for detection at distance. The resolution trade for narrow field of view made me think I would still want to use Nightvision for any shots and thermal for scanning. Having one thermal for scanning and a second thermal scope would have been better but even more expensive. Thermal also seems to have a much higher turn over in technology. I did not find the performance (additional detection mostly) worth the cost (~8k) at that time. Please post your thoughts after you have had some time with the unit. I'm still looking for an entry point sometime in the future.

Edit: Most recently I was considering a FLIR Breach to mount opposite a PVS-14 for scanning. Unfortunately, the product launch was a mess, support seemed suspect, and the sub $2k price never materialized at any reputable dealer.

[William]

I have a ATN X-Sight II that I got to go on a hog trip to Tx that was postponed. Played around on a 100 range in the dark and seemed pretty clear. Need a battery pack for anything serious as AA batteries don't last more than an hour.

[Great-Kazoo]

I have a ATN X-Sight II that I got to go on a hog trip to Tx that was postponed. Played around on a 100 range in the dark and seemed pretty clear. Need a battery pack for anything serious as AA batteries don't last more than an hour.

here's what i powered my X II with . You can fit it in the Xsight bag, or other cheek rest with side pouch. Reading where some mount it to a rail section. Others have found the round power banks, they stick in a flashlight mount. Not sure how may MaH they are.



https://www.amazon.com/SOLICE%C2%AE-...dDbGljaz10cnVl

[Duman]

I thought thermal imaging didn't require a IR light source, as opposed to IR imaging.