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Good basic thermal or night vision scope
#6994276
12/13/17 04:29 AM
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 38
djdoubl3j
OP
Light Foot
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OP
Light Foot
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 38 |
Looking for a good thermal or night vision scope for my AR I知 looking to stay under $1000 any suggestions?
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: djdoubl3j]
#6994295
12/13/17 05:07 AM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 8,238
Double Naught Spy
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 8,238 |
No thermal under $1K unless used and low end.
Most NV will be very low end and would suggest you go with digital NV which will allow for day use as well.
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: djdoubl3j]
#6994480
12/13/17 01:39 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 460
VAFish
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 460 |
Cheapest thermal mounted sight I know of is the Sig Echo-1. It's about $1,300.
My son has one, it works pretty well. Resolution is nothing like what you see in the video's but you can easily identify pigs out to 200 yards. Beyond that it's just a hot blob and tough to tell if it's a deer, cow or pig.
In our pig hunting family we also have ATN X-sights in 3-12x and 5-20x, X-Sight II in 3-12X and a Photon XT 4.6X.
X-Sight II's run $600-$700 the Photon XT's are around $500. X-Sight is color and has a bunch of features like color viewfinder, video recording, GPS, Ballistics Calculator, and a bunch of other stuff I never use. They eat AA batteries for breakfast lunch and dinner and while I haven't had to use it, ATN has a terrible customer service reputation and they tend to spam forums like this with fake accounts saying how great ATN is. The Photon's are B&W only, have a little better night vision capability and are much easier to use, just push a button to turn them on, they boot up faster than the ATN and shoot.
If you don't need the video capability I'd go with the Photon XT.
Sometime early in 2018 Sightmark is supposed to have an new version of the Photon with all the features (and price) of the ATN. If you really want the video capability I'd wait a few months, even if you still want to go with ATN I'll bet their price comes down with the competition.
If you do go with the X-Sight II get the 3-12X. The 5x doesn't have a wide enough field of view in my opinion.
Last edited by VAFish; 12/13/17 01:40 PM.
"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children." -- Confucius
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: djdoubl3j]
#6995511
12/14/17 03:09 AM
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,303
Bearclaw
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,303 |
Save your money and get to a $1,900 RXQ30V, $2200 PTS233, or $2500 APEX XQ38. You will be glad that the thermal you own isn't almost good enough to hunt with. Instead, you will own something you will own something you can effectively night hunt with.
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: Bearclaw]
#6995756
12/14/17 01:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,929
Lance Vick
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,929 |
Save your money and get to a $1,900 RXQ30V, $2200 PTS233, or $2500 APEX XQ38. You will be glad that the thermal you own isn't almost good enough to hunt with. Instead, you will own something you will own something you can effectively night hunt with. This Get the photon if you can not get thermal it works and will be a good unit to lend to friend when you get your thermal
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: djdoubl3j]
#6996796
12/15/17 01:06 AM
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 7,937
bigjoe8565
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 7,937 |
Easy answer. Sightmark Photon.
Best bang for your buck.
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: bigjoe8565]
#6996891
12/15/17 02:07 AM
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 641
DWADR
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 641 |
Probably a dumb question but I知 a lifetime waterfowl hunter just now getting into hunting the fur bearing animals. Can night vision scopes be used during the day?
Deep Water Decoy Retriever
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: djdoubl3j]
#6996896
12/15/17 02:15 AM
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 7,047
mikei
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 7,047 |
My ATN night vision scope performs very well during the day, and the pictures and videos I take with it are first class.
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: DWADR]
#6996914
12/15/17 02:22 AM
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,303
Bearclaw
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,303 |
Probably a dumb question but I知 a lifetime waterfowl hunter just now getting into hunting the fur bearing animals. Can night vision scopes be used during the day? Yes they can no problem.
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Re: Good basic thermal or night vision scope
[Re: DWADR]
#6999234
12/17/17 03:22 AM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 460
VAFish
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 460 |
Probably a dumb question but I知 a lifetime waterfowl hunter just now getting into hunting the fur bearing animals. Can night vision scopes be used during the day? Depends upon the Night Vision device. Thermal and Digital Night Vision can be used in the daytime. The light amplification scopes often referred to by their "Generation" (ie Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen3) cannot or should not be used in daytime.
"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children." -- Confucius
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