Which do you prefer and why?
Night Vision White hot or Black hot?
- Thread starter Millennium200
- Start date
I use white hot. It seems to preserve my night adapted vision better than black hot.
White hot for quickly picking up the critters, especially with any kind of vegetation. Black hot for more detail. If I have time and we are on open ground sometimes I switch to black hot for the shot.
This...especially since the thermal scope is my only night vision optic.
Black hot in the open woods.
White hot in the open terrain and in the thick woods.
With the pulsar therminon XP38, I have the ability to have the center dot the opposite color of the "hot" color.
Mostly I see whats working best and go with it, but as was posted above, I prefer white hot with a black cross hair.
SJC
White hot in the open terrain and in the thick woods.
With the pulsar therminon XP38, I have the ability to have the center dot the opposite color of the "hot" color.
Mostly I see whats working best and go with it, but as was posted above, I prefer white hot with a black cross hair.
SJC
I’ve actually tried running white hot over one eye and black hot over the other eye at the same time with my dual Skeets.
It didn’t work out so well.
It didn’t work out so well.
Black hot, apparently anything else is racist.
Thanks for the replies guys. I am new to the thermal game and like white hot, but I notice on a lot of videos most of them are black hot. I just wondered if the resolution was better with black hot?
On some of the higher end thermals the clarity and detail on black hot is noticeably better than on white hot, which makes for good video, particularly in open areas, fields, etc.
Good question, I have bounced back and forth and found black hot to be a better contrast in cooler temps with a white reticle. During the summer heat I go with white hot & a black reticle. I have yet to find any use for the psychedelic color palette selections.
Scan with thermal
Shoot with NV
What ever works best for your application.
The learning process never stops.
Enjoy
Scan with thermal
Shoot with NV
What ever works best for your application.
The learning process never stops.
Enjoy
For animal DRI I much prefer the Flir Arctic Palette over any black hot or white hot.
Depending on how a specific manufacturer writes their algorithms for their specific Palette's dictates a lot of the performance characteristics of that Palette.
I have found the Flir Arctic Palette to be pretty unique compared to most. This Flir Palette kind of mimics the Trijicon outline mode to a degree in that it outlines an animals form in a very crisp well defined "Orange Outer Outline" then fills in the rest of the form in a glowing iron hot white color. Meanwhile everything outside of that "Orange Outline" is a blueish color. This provides unparalleled contrast and crispness of an animals body form over anything I have seen. This palette also does very little pixelation when you zoom in digitally. Far less than any other palette's I have viewed.
The Arctic Palette does not provide much of a "normal scenery" view of trees and terrain that you would view in black hot or white hot and which reconciles better for most people looking for a "normal view".
However, for pure live animal detection, recognition and identification followed up by multiple running targets on hogs (combined with black cross hairs), this is an outstanding performer that provides extreme contrast and easy tracking without anything getting washed out.
Depending on how a specific manufacturer writes their algorithms for their specific Palette's dictates a lot of the performance characteristics of that Palette.
I have found the Flir Arctic Palette to be pretty unique compared to most. This Flir Palette kind of mimics the Trijicon outline mode to a degree in that it outlines an animals form in a very crisp well defined "Orange Outer Outline" then fills in the rest of the form in a glowing iron hot white color. Meanwhile everything outside of that "Orange Outline" is a blueish color. This provides unparalleled contrast and crispness of an animals body form over anything I have seen. This palette also does very little pixelation when you zoom in digitally. Far less than any other palette's I have viewed.
The Arctic Palette does not provide much of a "normal scenery" view of trees and terrain that you would view in black hot or white hot and which reconciles better for most people looking for a "normal view".
However, for pure live animal detection, recognition and identification followed up by multiple running targets on hogs (combined with black cross hairs), this is an outstanding performer that provides extreme contrast and easy tracking without anything getting washed out.
Any details on switching IR from white hot to black hot?
I use black by default, terrain looks more "natural" and reduces eye strain. I switch back and forth between white and black rarely, but when needed for PID of distant/small critters. In theory I will also switch to white when black reticle and black terrain "merge" ... this has never been needed in the field, but it has been needed a time or so when target shooting.
I was going to say white hot for the same reason a couple other people have stated- Most of my screen is dark and my night vision is preserved, so I kick fewer cacti. I’m going to have to spend some time studying the above post to decide which one I really like better.
For me ... I live in rural ... along the 2nd and 3rd mile of a major creek system with hilly cattle pastures on both sides ... and feeder creeks and streams coming in from both sides. So in summer the trees are "hot" ... these are limestone hills ... so the ground is very rocky (hence this is pasture ground not crop ground) ... and the rocks are hot also. So given that terrain ... there is a lot of "white" in the warm half of the year (like now) ... very bright white if I go to white hot ... almost blindingly white to my eyes ... but on black hot .. much calmer, less busy scene ... now in the cool half of the year ... the situation is somewhat, but not always totally reversed. If we've been sub-20F for 2 weeks ... as has happened some years ... then pretty much totally reversed ... and in that case ... it would make logical sense to switch to white hot as a base line ... because then the scene is getting bright white again if on black. I will try to remember to try that this winter!! But it could also be that it is best to stay on black hot almost all the time, so my brain doesn't get confused about what MIGHT be alive but not moving. As is, when I'm running dual band ... the 14 might see a black object ... and for thermal its white (not alive) ... and sometimes that confused my brain, but I've gotten used to it finally (after 4 years !)
For the first year I had thermal, 2014, it defaulted to white hot out of the box and I left it there ... until an Afghanistan vet who used thermal over there told me to switch to black so I did ...and I felt like it gave a MUCH better rendition of the terrain if nothing else. My original fear that I would have a harder time seeing the critters didn't pan out ... I see the critters just fine ... So at least for now ... I'm in the "black hot" camp ... though apparently fairly alone in that camp ... but I'm ok with that ... we should each do what works for us !!
For the first year I had thermal, 2014, it defaulted to white hot out of the box and I left it there ... until an Afghanistan vet who used thermal over there told me to switch to black so I did ...and I felt like it gave a MUCH better rendition of the terrain if nothing else. My original fear that I would have a harder time seeing the critters didn't pan out ... I see the critters just fine ... So at least for now ... I'm in the "black hot" camp ... though apparently fairly alone in that camp ... but I'm ok with that ... we should each do what works for us !!
Will now have to do more testing. Many thanks guys
??????????. What gives. Does he come over and pull the trigger on your setup?
You should shoot what works for you best. Not what works for others.
He uses my rifle on nights I can’t go, he prefers I make the adjustments before he leaves so it’s simply on and off the rest of the night.
Gotcha, that makes sense now.
Um... Yes...!?!
Y'all better quit viewing that. Ya gonna get a bad case of eye strain and the drool is liable to fry ur thermals electronics.
Permanent image burn in is a thing.
Permanent image burn in is a thing.
Hunting open fields from the edges I like black hot, but for some reason I like white better when I'm hunting in woods or big timber. it seems to me like the trees hold some heat, and on black everything seems darker, but on white things just seem better. So I use both depending where I'm hunting.
Literally every FLIR and similar product in the market works in black or white hot??
Like this??
Attachments
Yeah, bu.....t some of em have some Psychedelic Palettes. If you know how to harness some of those, they can afford some pretty unique features that cant be had with Black or White Hot.
The Flir Arctic is one very special Palette compared to all the rest. It is a live Critter Gitter that will perform way better than any Black or White Hot I have seen.
However, if you in to wanting to see "normal" type scenes that your normal vision is used to looking at that includes normal looking trees etc, well the Arctic Palette is not for you. But if you want to have the best advantage on live game, well it is a game changer if you know how to harness it correctly.
I agree. All of the options have their uses.
He was being a dick bag and attempting to use semantics. Apparently because I said “IR” instead of “thermal” he got all typery snipery and decided to make an issue of it.
Everyone knows the difference. It’s still very common to refer to thermal as “IR” by anyone who works with it daily.
Well, Thermal is measuring IR. Just a different wavelength than what he was thinking.
"A thermal imager is a non-contact temperature measurement device. Thermal Imagers detect the infrared energy emitted, transmitted or reflected by all materials -- at temperatures above absolute zero, (0°Kelvin)-- and converts the energy factor into a temperature reading or thermogram."
I actually do most of my scanning and shooting in black hot. I don't see white hot as preserving my night vision better because either way, once compromised, I am using my other eye for night vision anyway. Sometimes, in certain conditions, white hot works better, especially for picking up difficult to see targets. As TheHorta noted, black hot looks more natural. It looks more like B&W TV used to look. When it comes to hog hunting, I see a lot more black hogs than white hogs, so black hot looks much more realistic.
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