Night vision options

[Where's Bruce?]

Looking for a night vision option in the $2-3K price range, either gen 3 or thermal that can be used on a variety of rifles and scopes (as opposed to a designated scope) for ADC work. Any recommendations? Wanna be able to scan the area 360* detached from the rifles then attach and use with regular scope already on gun.

 

[Crazyalskn]

Go thermal... armasight makes some good ones.. look up night_vision_guys or lone star boars on IG(or same for websites)

 

[SierraLima]

Bruce, the type of optic you are describing will be very hard to get within your budget, especially if you are wanting to use it as a clip-on (in front of day optic).

You can find a PVS-14 gen 3 used in your price range, possibly some new, and they can be mounted behind a day scope (not in front like a clip-on unless you get a collimated lense setup that would also have to be mounted $$). You can also mount the PVS-14 behind red dot sights, and it is designed to use as a scanner/navigation.

If you truly want to do it right, get a gen3 night vision scope for the rifle, and find a thermal scanner. This would be a hunting setup, you do not want to navigate with a thermal monocular as you lose detail/depth perception and will walk into a lot of branches or step into holes. The NV on the gun is for positive identification, the thermal scanner will show you what is alive around you to look at with the NV scope/clip on.

The scan and mount to gun for 2-3K is the thing most people want but it does not really exist in a single unit, and if you cut corners to try to obtain it you will regret it down the road.

You can get a Photon XT or RT digital night vision scope and a FLIR PTS-233 Thermal scope within your budget. The thermal you can scan with or mount on several rifles quickly, get a good image and be multiuse for you. The digital night vision will just need an aftermarket IR illuminator and you will be able to see clearly pretty far, further than you might be able to shoot accurately.

The Flir 233 Thermal will run you 2k, the Photon XT/RT are 4-700, illuminators vary.

Also look into tripod setups if you do not have one, scanning with a NV/Thermal on a right is awful, unless you are hunting over a baitpile or have an area to hunt that isnt 360. Tripod setups can be very expensive as well, with the lower/mid range budget being 500$.

Lone Star Boars as mentioned above did a review on the Photon RT recently and it was very impressive for the price, I will be picking one of those up for a backup rifle/friends.

Several Reviews are out on the Flir PTS233, you can find several reviews online (Night Goggles has a good video on it)

Thanks

 

[SierraLima]

To clarify the Flir PTS-233 is a stand alone scope, not a clip on like you originally wanted. I can guarantee once you looked through a clip on thermal you would regret it as they dont support the magnification range most clip on NV units do. I have a gen 3 PVS-30 Clipon and it supports up to 18x or more of magnification with a clear image, it is crazy good but scanning with the clip on on a bolt gun, with a FFP vortex scope, the chassis with handguard to mount IR illuminator and range finder/etc and suppressor the gun is very heavy (25+lbs).

I use the rifle with a tripod with a RRS BH-55 Ballhead, you can not find a better ball head for a rifle that I know of. I sold my last thermal scanner so I currently am only using the NV but will be getting another scanner sometime soon...which might be the PTS233 I recommended above to be able to mount it on a rifle as well.

If you have any specific questions on tripods I am happy to answer what I can. I am not a pro at the NV/Thermal but I have gotten to play with a couple different ones.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

I have pulsar thermal. Highly recommend it over night vision

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