Night Vision Thermal vs Night Vision Clip-On only. Pic request as well if you have them.

[5RWill]

Trying to get an idea of what kind of clarity a decent thermal clip-on gives. Also what distance are you limited to generally before the image becomes too grainy? I'm thinking of getting the IR hunter sometime down the road to use as a clip-on, as i really don't feel like replacing my day time optics. I keep going back and forth through it an NV. A decent Gen 3 day/night clip on is about the same price as the 320x240 35mm IR hunter. Res wise is the 640x480 worth another 3 grand?

I'm wanting to have roughly 300yd capability of shooting at night, if that's possible on a 5k budgeted clip-on. My line of thinking is a PVS-14 for navigation and then a clip-on thermal for shooting. I've gone back and forth because i feel like if clarity is what i'm going after a IR torch and a nice Gen3 clip-on are the answer.

Zooming in with a day time optic on a NV clip on should equate to less reduced clarity than a thermal clip on right? Also the delay in thermal between real time, is it that big of an issue?

I know pictures aren't at all representative of the quality of the product at hand, i'm mostly just wanting to see distance related pics. Can't ever find any still pics of someone spotting something at 300-500yds with thermal or NV.

Going to get to look through a TNVC PVS 14 in a couple of weeks when my buddy gets home, that should give me some more understanding.

 

[MBC223]

A 320 core ir hunter will give you 300 yard capability on decent sized targets. I bought the lwts and would do so again. The high resolution thermals just kick night visions ass up to its shoulders. I use a pvs14 for nav, thermal to shoot. You can't compensate for the detection level thermal provides compared to nvg. Some will wax on about target ID being impossible with thermal...I count points on deer at 200 with the lwts. Good enough for me.

 

[5RWill]

I see. See that's what i'm thinking. Do you think the 640 IR is worth 3000$ more? I mean is a bore at 300yds using it as a clip on going to look like a blob?

 

[gearjunkie]

You will be happy with the ir hunter. In ideal conditions you will be able to indentify a boar vrs deer. The hard part is when there is grass which blocks the animals lower half. A deer with its head down in grass looks alot like a pig at distance! But once you see a few and get used to looking at them you can tell from their movement, or just be patient and see if it lifts it head up and shows you it has a neck, thus not a pig. Terrain makes a difference.

 

[RobertB]

I only want the best if I go thermal. ,640 or at least big lens on a 320. I choose a thermal mono for scanning and nv to shoot. But I'm fixing to get a thermal scope too. Lwts or maybe ir hunter or rs flir.

 

[5RWill]

The more i read and watch the more i settle with a thermal clip-on and if this new MKII IR releases is as much of as surprise as the hunter was, i'm pretty sold. TNVC PVS-14, decent helmet setup, and a good thermal clip all for 9000$-10000$... that's hard to pass up, shit it's a full hunting setup.

 

[MBC223]

I would spend the extra money on the 640 everytime. The image quality is of max importance when talking animal id. Likely you'll have this unit a long time. ...buy once cry once applies.

 

[5RWill]

My line of thinking as well. The new IR hunter MkII is only 1000$ more than it's 320 counterpart and is a 640x480 35mm sight/clip. Also 60hz/30hz


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[jdbove]

Your original post questioned the ability to zoom using clip-on devices. Keep in mind that thermal devices display their information on a screen/monitor, and that when you use a clip-on you are not actually looking "through" the thermal device, but instead using your optic to view a magnified version of the thermal monitor mounted in front of it. Increasing the magnification of the optic simply zooms in on the center of the thermal monitor, enlarging the view, but simultaneously decreasing the resolution by magnifying the pixels and viewing fewer of them. Even 640 pixel clip-on thermals will generally suggest zooming no more than 4x to avoid overly degrading what you see. This is the inherent downside of all clip-ons, and the reason many will argue that for the $$ only dedicated thermal riflescopes with some degree of optical magnification are worth it. ("Digital Zoom" of a dedicated riflescope are doing the exact same thing as above, enlarging pixels and decreasing resolution, so even with a 640 dedicated riflescope don't count on zooming more than 2x without substantial loss of resolution).

 

[5RWill]

I was wondering about that as well. So a NV clip on actually works better as a day night system considering it's not just a screen your zooming in on?


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[jdr724]

Better in that in general, you can use more day optic magnification with an NV clip on vs thermal BUT you're detection is half at best depending on the conditions. The whole ID vs detection argument when hunting is simple. Animals can't shoot back so if you don't know what it is then wait and shoot when and if you can ID it. The more time you spend in the field observing wildlfe with thermal the easier it becomes to make positive ID's. The advantade you gain from a detection standpoint especially in the brush is monumental.

 

[5RWill]

I see. Thermal is likely still my choice considering the value of the mark II for the money. 2x magnification on my leupy mark 4 ought to be just right I imagine.


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[Hogstooth]

One of the biggest differences between night vision and thermal is weather conditions, with NV you can have some high humidity, fog, light rain that will limit your ability to see anything and especially target ID. A thermal you do not have these types of problems, and even with bad weather conditions that might affect your clarity but you should still be able to see potential targets and like someone already said you might have to be patient to determine what type of animal it is by its movements. The good things about the IR hunter is it looks like a great unit, gives excellent capabilities at a great price point, and you can use it as a stand alone or as a clip on unit. Sounds like a win/win to me!