Night Vision Reap ir trouble in the cold.
- Thread starter Dogsniper
- Start date
I've used thermals down to -20F though not all are rated for that cold. I've had the lens freeze over and the on off switch freeze and not operate on other thermals. But after I took off my glove and unfroze it the thermal worked.
I generally have better images in cooler temps than warmer.
All that said, we have nothing to go in in terms of other aspects of your situation.
If you are an experienced thermal user, then we can skip over "did you adjust contrast and brightness" ... or did you try other pallets ... or did you focus ...
Has the unit ever had a "good" image for you?
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But otherwise ... I've had a lot of mist around in my area lately and that does create "sea of grey" conditions ... or tonight just "near sea of grey" conditions ... I can see the critters fine in such cases but not the terrain. So harder to judge the distance.
You can increase the contrast in those cases. The image will "grain up" but you will be able to see a little bit more of the terrain.
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If none of this applies to your situation tell us more.
It is possible the unit is messed up ... but I'd try to rule out everything else before giving mine up for a month !!
My nights in the past 3 weeks have been 40F down to 20F ... so not much different here and I'm usually out with a Mk3 35mm ...
I generally have better images in cooler temps than warmer.
All that said, we have nothing to go in in terms of other aspects of your situation.
If you are an experienced thermal user, then we can skip over "did you adjust contrast and brightness" ... or did you try other pallets ... or did you focus ...
Has the unit ever had a "good" image for you?
==
But otherwise ... I've had a lot of mist around in my area lately and that does create "sea of grey" conditions ... or tonight just "near sea of grey" conditions ... I can see the critters fine in such cases but not the terrain. So harder to judge the distance.
You can increase the contrast in those cases. The image will "grain up" but you will be able to see a little bit more of the terrain.
==
If none of this applies to your situation tell us more.
It is possible the unit is messed up ... but I'd try to rule out everything else before giving mine up for a month !!
My nights in the past 3 weeks have been 40F down to 20F ... so not much different here and I'm usually out with a Mk3 35mm ...
Yes my unit has given me good images. Now that You mention it it may have been the lense. Hot house to truck ride to instant cold. May have condensated and froze. I dit try to fix the contrast etc and the terrain was hard to see. I nuked it several times as well and the last time it nuked to white fuzzies and lines everywhere. Nuked it again and they went away. My battery's were getting low as well. May have been a couple of different things. I'll recheck everything you mentioned while hunting Monday night. Thanks for the reply
Fuzzies and lines ... hum ... every now and then I have what I call a "bad start up" ... and I see "fuzzies and lines" ... this is with the mk3 ... remedy there is power off and power back on ...
For me that happens maybe 1 out of 100 starts? Maybe 1 out of 200?
Yes, nuk and focus ... and brightness and contrast ... and change the "Pallets" ... you can also try "fog tech" on the lenses ... I've used them on both front and back lenses and it does help sometimes. Also in freezing but humid conditions I've put the gear in the garage (with the lens covers open) for 30m before I go out to get the gear more "acclimated" ... that might help in rare occasions. This applies to PVS-14s as well as thermal (i2 and thermal).
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I had one line in my mk3 for 6 months after I got it back after the factory upgraded it from mk2. It was annoying but not bad enough for me to off line the device and send it back for another month ... It was a horizontal line about 2/3rds of the way towards the top ... then one day it disappeared and ... several months later ... it has not returned ... don't ask me ... I just use the crap !!
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Good luck and keep us posted!
For me that happens maybe 1 out of 100 starts? Maybe 1 out of 200?
Yes, nuk and focus ... and brightness and contrast ... and change the "Pallets" ... you can also try "fog tech" on the lenses ... I've used them on both front and back lenses and it does help sometimes. Also in freezing but humid conditions I've put the gear in the garage (with the lens covers open) for 30m before I go out to get the gear more "acclimated" ... that might help in rare occasions. This applies to PVS-14s as well as thermal (i2 and thermal).
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I had one line in my mk3 for 6 months after I got it back after the factory upgraded it from mk2. It was annoying but not bad enough for me to off line the device and send it back for another month ... It was a horizontal line about 2/3rds of the way towards the top ... then one day it disappeared and ... several months later ... it has not returned ... don't ask me ... I just use the crap !!
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Good luck and keep us posted!
Fuzzies and lines ... hum ... every now and then I have what I call a "bad start up" ... and I see "fuzzies and lines" ... this is with the mk3 ... remedy there is power off and power back on ...
For me that happens maybe 1 out of 100 starts? Maybe 1 out of 200?
Yes, nuk and focus ... and brightness and contrast ... and change the "Pallets" ... you can also try "fog tech" on the lenses ... I've used them on both front and back lenses and it does help sometimes. Also in freezing but humid conditions I've put the gear in the garage (with the lens covers open) for 30m before I go out to get the gear more "acclimated" ... that might help in rare occasions. This applies to PVS-14s as well as thermal (i2 and thermal).
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I had one line in my mk3 for 6 months after I got it back after the factory upgraded it from mk2. It was annoying but not bad enough for me to off line the device and send it back for another month ... It was a horizontal line about 2/3rds of the way towards the top ... then one day it disappeared and ... several months later ... it has not returned ... don't ask me ... I just use the crap !!
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Good luck and keep us posted!
Headed out tonight. Is is spitting snow and 10 degrees
I'd bet a lot of money, it's not your unit, it's the humidity, I've had the same issue with lines in most most of the IR gear we've used, and it goes away after you nuc... I've found using the M250XR, MKIII, REAP IR, and Patrol, optimal humidity for viewing is less than 60%, when it gets above that mark, you lose contrast and clarity big time.
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I think you are onto something. There was a big storm moving in and it was foggy. I wonder if the Zeus pro 100 has the same problem. That was my other choice before I bought the reap.
I've run the ZP Pro 100, 640(60) side by side with the Mk2 for a year before I upgraded the mk2 to mk3 (which doesn't change the scope) and as thermal conditions degrade the images get closer and closer until they are about the same. I sold the ZP100.
At longer and longer distances, the ZP and mk2 also get closer and closer and somewhere around about 1200yds the images are about the same, this is with both on BH at 2x digital.
All thermals degrade as thermal conditions worsen, some appear to more than others and the BAE OASYS core devices (like the TEOs) might seem to degrade more because they have farther to go.
That said, last night we had partial wash out around here, but I could see deer at 600yds through about 70yds of trees, so I can still see the critters, it is just harder to see the terrain. I usually run on BH, but last night I think WH looked a little better. Switch the pallets around as well as the contrast and brightness and focus and nuk.
If you get a ZP 100 don't get the 60hz, get the 30hz. After I got mine, I wondered why the image wasn't as good as I expected and Armasight told me the 30hz had a better image than the 60hz, that was in a thread back on the new/hold hide (this is the old / old hide) so we can't get to that thread anymore. I was surprised, but that's what they said. If you are hunting from coppers, get the 60hz, otherwise get the 30hz.
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As to focus, sometimes it might be difficult to tell if you are in focus. So crank it until it is bad. Look at something with sharp definition as possible like a tree trunk. Crank until bad, then crank slowly the other way until bad. That tells you good is somewhere in between ... and then try to find the mid-point between bad and bad. Sometimes it is easy to tell, sometimes not so easy to tell. At least for me. Now this is where the REAP beats the MK3 at longer distances, because with the mk3 I have to reply on the digital focus adjustment, whereas you have a focus ring so can be more precise.
Have you ever cleaned your lenses? Ought to do that now and then. Clean them just like glasses, like any topics. Front and back.
At longer and longer distances, the ZP and mk2 also get closer and closer and somewhere around about 1200yds the images are about the same, this is with both on BH at 2x digital.
All thermals degrade as thermal conditions worsen, some appear to more than others and the BAE OASYS core devices (like the TEOs) might seem to degrade more because they have farther to go
.That said, last night we had partial wash out around here, but I could see deer at 600yds through about 70yds of trees, so I can still see the critters, it is just harder to see the terrain. I usually run on BH, but last night I think WH looked a little better. Switch the pallets around as well as the contrast and brightness and focus and nuk.
If you get a ZP 100 don't get the 60hz, get the 30hz. After I got mine, I wondered why the image wasn't as good as I expected and Armasight told me the 30hz had a better image than the 60hz, that was in a thread back on the new/hold hide (this is the old / old hide) so we can't get to that thread anymore. I was surprised, but that's what they said. If you are hunting from coppers, get the 60hz, otherwise get the 30hz.
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As to focus, sometimes it might be difficult to tell if you are in focus. So crank it until it is bad. Look at something with sharp definition as possible like a tree trunk. Crank until bad, then crank slowly the other way until bad. That tells you good is somewhere in between ... and then try to find the mid-point between bad and bad. Sometimes it is easy to tell, sometimes not so easy to tell. At least for me. Now this is where the REAP beats the MK3 at longer distances, because with the mk3 I have to reply on the digital focus adjustment, whereas you have a focus ring so can be more precise.
Have you ever cleaned your lenses? Ought to do that now and then. Clean them just like glasses, like any topics. Front and back.
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Your frequency of "fuzzies" sounds suspicious ... if you get lucky enough having a pic of this "fuzzy" condition that would be good ... and try to keep at least mental track of the frequency. Mine does "fuzzies" now and then but maybe once every 3 months.
And this time of year I go out 2-3 times per night ...
Good deal ...
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Yes that aligns with my experience ... sustained rain tends to wash out the image, since everything is wet ... hence less differentiation in apparently temps of the objects in view.
Also wind ... especially higher sustained winds ... causes wash out ... wind and rain together more wash out etc.
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So you loose the terrain .. the critters still stand out ... but approach what I call "floating in a sea of grey" ... and the issue then is lack of reference points to determine distance. So more practice on estimating distance using the reticles. The Trijicon reticles are useful for rapid ranging out to say 300yds ... just drive yourself to practice it every time you are looking through it ... whether you need to our not ... so it becomes more automatic. I range my cattle for example .. as right now they are in afalfa patch most nights where we still have a useful amount of hay on the ground for them.
So like with the TCR reticle we have combinations of 72 and 36 inch (at 100yds) subtensions and gaps ... so with a 72 inch horizontal subtension and an 36 inch gap (there are 2 of these to choose from one to the left and one to the right of the center) we have 108 inches which is a little long ,but close to an adult cow. So also there can be picked out a 54 inch as well an 18 side of the center subtension group and a 36 in gap ... so a cow should fill that at 200yds. at 400yds a cow should fill half of that ... and so on. Practicing this a lot will help us use it faster when needed. WIth a 50yds zero and most cartridges we will be double zeroed at around 200yds and max verticle variation of the bullet path will be under 2 inches between 50 and 200 ... so if we are inside about 225 yds we will hit about where we aim. Beyond that we need to start holding up ... so first need to know if we are inside about 225yds or not. We should be able to do that. Then are we around 300yds (might be a 7 inch up hold for my 6.5G(18) 123SST) ... or we are farther out, in which case, maybe we move instead of shoot. So really not too many decisions to make and the ranging accuracy doesn't need to be as accurate as if we are shooting 900yds. We are either inside 225 yds or we are around 300yds or we are farther away ... that might be enough for night hunting and the reticle (and if stadiametric range finder if you want to be fancier) can probably help enough. The issue for me is that the critters of interest are not always broadside to us, so another adjustment needs to be made unless we think we can wait a while. Height is tougher because our pastures have a lot of grass, even dead grass in them and even with cattle often we only see the top half ... with yotes ... maybe only the head ...
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