School me on Thermal Monoculars

[Jack321]

384 will let you see a coyote at 300 no problem. Being able to tell if its a German Shepherd or a coyote is going to be much more difficult. If you hunt where that's not an issue then 384 should serve you well. If that is something you need to be able to do then I would recommend bumping your budget a bit to get into 640.

Base mag will play into it as well. Higher base mag kind of sucks for scanning since your FOV will be narrow but it helps extend your positive identification range on a lower base mag unit.

Feel free to shoot me a PM, we can find a time to hop on a call and discuss more in depth if you'd like.

Thats a good point. I dont hunt anywhere that a dog may be out loose. So about the difference between that and say another animal?

Like a pig vs a yote vs a deer?

I guess if im looking at the end of a field thats 300-500 yds long and i see a heat signature, will i just see the heat signature as a speck in the thermal optic? Or be able to tell the difference between a yote, pig, deer or a opposum making their way accross the field?

 

[omicron1792]

Hey, possibly silly question having not used thermals.

At my cabin in WI I have had multiple evenings where I let the dogs out into my 2ish acre yard and discover wolves watching them just in from the tree line. Have always caught it with flashlight on eyes, so I go out and scan before letting the dogs out, but need to catch the eyes just right for that to work and often dont until the dogs are there.

I know folks use this to scan open fields for yotes, would it work seeing in past a tree or brush line and making out whats in the first 20-30 yards or more of timber?

I hate when my setter is mid piss and I spot a wolf 20-30 yards from him in the edge of the timber and I cant call him in quick until he finishes taking a leak...

Would work great for that.

 

[omicron1792]

Thats a good point. I dont hunt anywhere that a dog may be out loose. So about the difference between that and say another animal?

Like a pig vs a yote vs a deer?

I guess if im looking at the end of a field thats 300-500 yds long and i see a heat signature, will i just see the heat signature as a speck in the thermal optic? Or be able to tell the difference between a yote, pig, deer or a opposum making their way accross the field?

Depends on the sensitivity of the thermal. 384 gets hard to identify past 200 yards. 640 extends that out to 3-400 yards. They make 1000 level sensors where you can identify further. However magnification becomes an issue. Magnification is digital, so every doubling of mag (2x to 4x etc) halves the resolution. Thats why these things have a base mag of 2-3x. If it was 1x, you would be grainy at 3-4x. A 3x base would have the same resolution at 12x as a 1x base would have at 3x.

 

[riversidejeep]

Thats a good point. I dont hunt anywhere that a dog may be out loose. So about the difference between that and say another animal?

Like a pig vs a yote vs a deer?

I guess if im looking at the end of a field thats 300-500 yds long and i see a heat signature, will i just see the heat signature as a speck in the thermal optic? Or be able to tell the difference between a yote, pig, deer or a opposum making their way accross the field?

With the one that I have you could definitely tell the difference between those animals at 300. Bering optic super yoter. Thats a $2500 gadget, what the $500 jobs YMMV.

 

[ZeroFoxGiven]

And I also have Qs about batteries.

Seems like most thermal units have their own special type of batteries? Or they have a charging cord (or both)?

Do any of them run on standard AAs or CR123s?

I've always been leary of special types of [anything], just because I'm afraid I would lose it.

And the whole Recharging batteries thing brings me back to the 1990s when you could "recharge" Energizer batteries and they were ineffective!

Most are either proprietary or 18650s. Thankfully the market has moved away from 123s in thermal. 123s don’t last at all in the cold.

18650s are where it’s at for thermal. Good life, cheap, readily available

 

[Jack321]

Depends on the sensitivity of the thermal. 384 gets hard to identify past 200 yards. 640 extends that out to 3-400 yards. They make 1000 level sensors where you can identify further. However magnification becomes an issue. Magnification is digital, so every doubling of mag (2x to 4x etc) halves the resolution. Thats why these things have a base mag of 2-3x. If it was 1x, you would be grainy at 3-4x. A 3x base would have the same resolution at 12x as a 1x base would have at 3x.

Ok, so I should really be considering 640s then?

That DNT from @gr8fuldoug at Cameraland looks to be about the best bang for my buck for a 640 optic?

Do they make that without a range finder for less $$? (Just asking for a friend! )

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

One of the great things about shopping for thermals - given the onboard video recording, there are tons of video reviews on Youtube.

But, there are so many more specs to take into account compared to a normal rifle scope or binos. Took some time investment but I like that I understand all of these specs better now having put a spreadsheet together to compare. Helps to have an idea of them and what your priorities are before calling a dealer as well.

I ended up with the Nocpix Vista H35R LRF. The 2560x2560 display size is so much nicer than the 1027x768 I have in the Rattler scope. Should have got the Ace scope to match...

I'd definitely go 640 res for the scanner.

 

[omicron1792]

Ok, so I should really be considering 640s then?

That DNT from @gr8fuldoug at Cameraland looks to be about the best bang for my buck for a 640 optic?

Do they make that without a range finder for less $$? (Just asking for a friend! )

Are you wanting to hunt them also? If so you’ll want a rangefinder on one of your thermals (spotter or rifle thermal). If not yes most companies make models without the rangefinder.

Cameraland has always been good to buy from for me. I have usd pulsar. Pard. Rix. Nocpix. But certainly not all of them out there. A good seller I’m sure has lots of good advice. I would talk to @ZeroFoxGiven also.

 

[waspocrew]

A monocular is super helpful. I started with an Iray Rico 640 scope and a Burris 384 handheld. The 384 was ok, but I found myself scanning with my rifle more since the 640 looked way better. Sold the Burris and have a 640 Pulsar Telos scanner. It’s a huge step up.

I second the rangefinder as well. If I were buying again, I’d look at the iRay. There’s a 640 scanner with LRF for ~ $2500.

InfiRay Outdoor FINDER FH35R V2 640x512 12 Micron 35mm LRF Monocular

iRayUSA, LLC is the official source for high performance thermal imaging optics by iRay Technologies in North America. Leveraging InfiRay Tech's completely independent intellectual property rights and more than a decade of industry experienc, InfiRay USA is committed to providing professional...

irayusa.com

 

[Tmm1270]

A monocular is super helpful. I started with an Iray Rico 640 scope and a Burris 384 handheld. The 384 was ok, but I found myself scanning with my rifle more since the 640 looked way better. Sold the Burris and have a 640 Pulsar Telos scanner. It’s a huge step up.

I second the rangefinder as well. If I were buying again, I’d look at the iRay. There’s a 640 scanner with LRF for ~ $2500.

InfiRay Outdoor FINDER FH35R V2 640x512 12 Micron 35mm LRF Monocular

iRayUSA, LLC is the official source for high performance thermal imaging optics by iRay Technologies in North America. Leveraging InfiRay Tech's completely independent intellectual property rights and more than a decade of industry experienc, InfiRay USA is committed to providing professional...

irayusa.com

A monocular is super helpful. I started with an Iray Rico 640 scope and a Burris 384 handheld. The 384 was ok, but I found myself scanning with my rifle more since the 640 looked way better. Sold the Burris and have a 640 Pulsar Telos scanner. It’s a huge step up.

I second the rangefinder as well. If I were buying again, I’d look at the iRay. There’s a 640 scanner with LRF for ~ $2500.

InfiRay Outdoor FINDER FH35R V2 640x512 12 Micron 35mm LRF Monocular

iRayUSA, LLC is the official source for high performance thermal imaging optics by iRay Technologies in North America. Leveraging InfiRay Tech's completely independent intellectual property rights and more than a decade of industry experienc, InfiRay USA is committed to providing professional...

irayusa.com

As a rule scanning with 640 is better . You’ll learn movement is as much an id as visual , no matter what you pick .

If you want to tell the difference in a dog or German Shepard, you’re looking at spending military money on a cooled array, not ordering something off the internet .

There’s lots of qd mounts made for actual weaponry mounted optics, that are return to zero . You can always do that as double duty.

Base mag is very important, especially in a scanner . Don’t think about it like a pair of binos . 2x is the most I’d use. Anything else you give up a lot for FOV . Folks don’t realize how important this is in the dark .

 

[kooch]

RIX Storm S2 works fine for a friend and won’t break the bank. That’s the extent of my knowledge on thermals. It’s not a handheld monocular but this image is pretty good. Granted, it’s only 40 yards.

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[Tmm1270]

full disclosure, I don’t sell theses things, but have been using them since before YouTube made them popular…. I’ve owned most all of them over the years, up until about last 18 months. So not up to date on very new stuff, but the following still applies

1. Buy one from somewhere that has good CS . They break….. optics planet should be hard no

2. Individual “dealers “ have ability to negotiate price if they want . If they won’t, find somebody that will . Don’t let them tell you their not allowed to

3. Most of the guys selling them don’t actually use them that much. Find the ones that do, they can help put you on something that’s right for your situation, not just sell you what sitting on the shelf

4. When you’re watching you tube, understand the videos are mostly marketing. They’re trying to g to make the product look as good as it possibly can . This is why they show you pictures of buildings, trucks barns ect . Those material have sharp edges, show heat differential very well . They also love to show videos from cold, low humidity environments. Again, ideal conditions. Go out with a 384 on high humidity night, there will be a HUGE difference in a 640 unit

5 . This may come as surprise, but a lot of the YouTuber killers, aren’t the killers you think they are . They spend a ton of time editing video of the 3 pigs they killed, to make it look like it was 30 pigs . Actually pretty easy . They also get paid for pushing abc brand over xyz . They’re loyal to whoever pays them the most ..

 

[Logan T]

For IDing 300+ yards 384 is going to take a while to figure out if you’re just getting into it. It’s amazing how much a mule deer doe can look like a coyote with a 384 even when she’s moving towards you. If the weather gets even a little foggy or humid it gets really hard really fast.

For a scanner I wouldn’t want anything more than 2.5 base mag. The fov is pretty narrow relatively speaking in thermals so I like a lower base mag 640.


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