Night Vision Helmet mounted vs hand held thermal for coyote?

[TacosGigante]

I have some coyotes in my land and they need to go. I’ve never hunted coyotes at night before and am wondering if I should go with a helmet mounted or handheld thermal scanner. I would imagine helmet mounted is more convenient but handheld is far cheaper. However, I do believe in buy once cry once.

Edit: I’m in West Virginia and the terrain is mostly mountainous forest but I have a couple of good sized fields I would hunt that are about 300 yards long.

Experienced night hunters, which do you prefer and why?

 

[Longshot231]

I have some coyotes in my land and they need to go. I’ve never hunted coyotes at night before and am wondering if I should go with a helmet mounted or handheld thermal scanner. I would imagine helmet mounted is more convenient but handheld is far cheaper. However, I do believe in buy once cry once.

Experienced night hunters, which do you prefer and why?

I have not had any experience with helmet mounted thermal vision but have a Burris Thermal monocular in 35mm. For the price, it's been really good for me. Optics planet has it on sale right now at a deeply discounted price.

Burris BTH 35 2.3-9.2x35mm Thermal Hand-held Monocular 300631-DEMO, Color: Black, Matte Black, Includes Blazin' Deal w/ Free S&H

Shop Burris BTH 35 2.3-9.2x35mm Thermal Hand-held Monocular | 4.8 Star Rating on 4 Reviews for Burris BTH 35 2.3-9.2x35mm Thermal Hand-held Monocular Blazin' Deal + Free Shipping over $49.

www.opticsplanet.com

The 35mm has a wider field of view than the 50mm. Which is why I prefer the 35mm for scanning. Nevertheless, Optics Planet also has the 50mm on sale with a deeply discounted price.

Burris BTH 50 3.3-13.2x50mm Thermal Hand-held Monocular 300630, Color: Black, 58% Off w/ Free S&H

Shop Burris BTH 50 3.3-13.2x50mm Thermal Hand-held Monocular | 58% Off 4 Star Rating on 1 Review for Burris BTH 50 3.3-13.2x50mm Thermal Hand-held Monocular + Free Shipping over $49.

www.opticsplanet.com

 

[orkan]

Helmet mounted. It's not even debatable. The freedom of using your head to look around, free of your hands, is an obvious benefit.

 

[Evolution 9]

That will depend on your terrain and hunting style.

For me, helmet mounted thermal is not usually desirable.

1. When I see a coyote with helmet mounted thermal, I have to swing it out of the way, and then keep it and my helmet from bumping my rifle mounted thermal as I get ready to shoot. This isn’t terribly difficult, but especially prone or in unusual shooting positions it’s not something I’d prefer to deal with.

2. Spotting from a vehicle. If you check fields with as you drive, or after stopping the vehicle, the extra height of the helmet and mount may not play well with the vehicle. If you spot something and have to get out because of the angle of the critter in relation to your vehicle, you have to be careful not to impact anything on your way out of or back into the vehicle. Again, not difficult, but you WILL fail at least a few times early on.

I’m sure different hunting styles make head mounted an obvious choice for some. I’ve just gone away from it for my personal circumstances.

 

[GreenMushroom]

If you're in open terrain you'll probably want some base magnification which doesn't lend itself to helmet mounting with I2.

 

[Burdy]

That will depend on your terrain and hunting style.

For me, helmet mounted thermal is not usually desirable.

1. When I see a coyote with helmet mounted thermal, I have to swing it out of the way, and then keep it and my helmet from bumping my rifle mounted thermal as I get ready to shoot. This isn’t terribly difficult, but especially prone or in unusual shooting positions it’s not something I’d prefer to deal with.

2. Spotting from a vehicle. If you check fields with as you drive, or after stopping the vehicle, the extra height of the helmet and mount may not play well with the vehicle. If you spot something and have to get out because of the angle of the critter in relation to your vehicle, you have to be careful not to impact anything on your way out of or back into the vehicle. Again, not difficult, but you WILL fail at least a few times early on.

I’m sure different hunting styles make head mounted an obvious choice for some. I’ve just gone away from it for my personal circumstances.

This.

 

[RobertB]

I’ve got both. I rarely use any helmet mount now. I pretty much only use handheld and a dedicated thermal on my gun. I want to be light and efficient.

If I’m driving something at night I like wearing head mounted i2 but when on foot I like a handheld on a lanyard, a dedicated thermal, and an Arca tripod.

 

[Burdy]

I’ve got both. I rarely use any helmet mount now. I pretty much only use handheld and a dedicated thermal on my gun. I want to be light and efficient.

If I’m driving something at night I like wearing head mounted i2 but when on foot I like a handheld on a lanyard, a dedicated thermal, and an Arca tripod.

I put my NV goggles in a bino harness worn on my chest. I found this to be the best experience. This way I can scan, then put them down and get on a rifle with no noise and no chance of losing/breaking the binos. When I am done with the shot, they are right there on my chest.

 

[JGRJR]

I would go hand held and scope. Instead of helmet mount and scope. Also depending on your budget you can buy a nice used 320 res handheld scanner for a very good price. Then spend your money on a quality 640 res scope like an N-Vision Halo to confirm what you are looking at before shooting.
I have both setups and find I rely on the scope the most.
Where you hunt is important. In my area in PA the distances are fairly short. Maybe provide some more info on where you hunt?

 

[TacosGigante]

I would go hand held and scope. Instead of helmet mount and scope. Also depending on your budget you can buy a nice used 320 res handheld scanner for a very good price. Then spend your money on a quality 640 res scope like an N-Vision Halo to confirm what you are looking at before shooting.
I have both setups and find I rely on the scope the most.
Where you hunt is important. In my area in PA the distances are fairly short. Maybe provide some more info on where you hunt?

Fair enough: I’m in West Virginia and the terrain is mostly mountainous forest but I have a couple of good sized fields I would hunt that are about 300 yards long.

 

[Squibbler]

However, I do believe in buy once cry once.

Psssh ... Easy answer.... Both. WP PVS 14 dominant eye for nav. Non-dom eye skeet IR-X hands free detection in field. Rico RS75 as handheld spotter for vehicle and field PID when helmet is awkward. --- if we are really going with buy once, cry once

 

[TacosGigante]

Psssh ... Easy answer.... Both. WP PVS 14 dominant eye for nav. Non-dom eye skeet IR-X hands free detection in field. Rico RS75 as handheld spotter for vehicle and field PID when helmet is awkward. --- if we are really going with buy once, cry once

Touché, but there is crying and there is crying.

 

[Squibbler]

Touché, but there is crying and there is crying.

Next best solution IMO would be nox 18 on head and nox 35 utilized as handheld with lanyard. Otherwise most economical buy once cry once solution would be one nox 18 for both roles. Dove tail attached for head mounting and small loop Paracord for quick detach lanyard when utilizing as handheld.

 

[upSLIDEdown]

Nox18 on helmet has been awesome. I walk in scanning, and definitely see things I’d have missed otherwise. (Used to run a Helion on a lanyard)

 

[Rerun7]

I’ve tried several combinations and currently run i2 + nox18 on a helmet and a dedicated thermal on the gun.

Scanning with helmet mounted lets you scan constantly. I don’t care how macho you are, your shoulders are gonna burn after a while holding up a scanner and you’re gonna put it down. You also have to stop to scan when moving if you have any base magnification. With 1x I just walk while scanning and the wide FOV lets me scan large areas at a time. The Nox works great for the distances you are talking about.

If you get it set up correctly it’s very fast to just roll them out of the way and onto the gun when you see something. Since moving away from a scanner and onto a helmet mounted I’ve seen and killed a lot more stuff at night.

Get something like the Nox and you can always just use it handheld if you end up not liking it mounted. Or throw it on the gun when needed. It’s nice for any device you get to have multiple capabilities.