Texas Hunting Forum

Night vision scanning idea..

Posted By: Hogz

Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/06/17 11:10 PM

I head to Texas once/twice a year to hunt pigs. I recently purchased the Sightmark Photon with an Evola external IR and love it so far. But I was trying to think of a way to scan the areas with out having to keep turning on the scope to scan. I was considering buying a nv monocular to do this for about $200. I also wanted to buy a mini DVR recorder for the photon ($200 more). Then while searching "night vision"on Amazon I found a palm sized camcorder with night vision for $68. I'm sure the Ir on this thing is only good for close range .. I could use my external IR to help reach out and scan areas with the camcorder. It even has digital zoom. I could scan with it and then have it set on a tripod and possibly record the shot. The external IR would already be lighting up the area I would be aiming at.
So, has anyone ever used this sort of thing. Do you think it would work?
I don't want to put out a bunch of money for a thermal or anything like that since I only go down there maybe twice a year.

Just seeing if anyone has ever tried this? Or maybe I'm just crazy and should just spend the money on a monocular..lol

Thanks in advance
Posted By: Espy

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/07/17 02:47 AM

Have you thought about renting a thermal monocular for the weekend.I have a photon and it works great I also have a thermal and its a different world. You can rent them in the trading post.
Posted By: VAFish

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/07/17 01:33 PM

I tried using an old Sony Night Shot camcorder with an external IR illuminator. I tested it out in the basement before heading to the field. It was not very productive. Worked to about 75 feet.

Sig Echo 1 Thermal sight is only $1,300.
Posted By: Outdoor Legacy

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/07/17 05:01 PM

You could try this but I don't think you are going to be very happy with the results. VAFish is right, 75ft is about all I'd expect you to get. Those cameras (usually) just don't have the quality infrared image sensors required to use the IR light and give you a usable image at those distances.

I think you'd be better off going with a dedicated handheld. One thing to remember is, you've got the external IR on the Photon so you aren't going to find a very affordable handheld unit that is going to see as far as the Photon can, unless you add an external IR to it as well. You'd just be asking way more of it than you would be the Photon and trying to do it for less money than the Photon. I hope that makes sense.

Something like the Pulsar Digiforce 860VS is a nice unit and you'll see as far as the Photon if you have the external IR. The ATN Bino-X are really cool and there is an active thread on here now about them. They have a giant built in IR and you can see further than you do with the Photon, even with the IR on it. They are a little pricier at about $450ish but they are really nice for an ATN product.

Really your next stop is going to be something like thermal if you want to do better than a digital NV unit. The Sig Echo is ok for closer stuff but if I was going to spend that much money I'd stick with something a little more substantial like the Pulsar Quantum Lite XQ23V for $1,699 and it is an absolute legit handheld thermal spotter. Or the Pulsar RXQ30V thermal rifle scope for $1,899 that can double as a spotter. Nothing against Sig but if you are going to spend that much, I just feel like you are better off going with the real deal from a thermal manufacturer. No offense to anyone who owns the Sig. Just my 2 cents from my experience.

- Jason
Posted By: Hogz

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/08/17 04:15 PM

Awesome advice guys! Thank you for your input!! Much appreciated.
Posted By: maxhunter262

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/09/17 12:51 PM

Being an avid hunter, I have tried many different optics. From my own experience, there is nothing better on the market with these multiple options at this price for daytime and nighttime hunting than ATN X-SIGHT II HD 5-20x
day & night rifle scope ( https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-weapon-sight ). I take it out for hog hunting
Posted By: Outdoor Legacy

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/11/17 05:22 AM

Originally Posted By: maxhunter262
Being an avid hunter, I have tried many different optics. From my own experience, there is nothing better on the market with these multiple options at this price for daytime and nighttime hunting than ATN X-SIGHT II HD 5-20x
day & night rifle scope ( https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-weapon-sight ). I take it out for hog hunting


Originally Posted By: maxhunter262
Personally, I'm a happy owner of the ATN smart hd binocular (you can look at it on https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-binocular. It's the best set of binoculars I've ever had. It has 4× Optical + 16× Digital Zoom and night vision optics are very good! Built-in wi-fi allows me to share immediately cute photos and videos with my friends.


Originally Posted By: maxhunter262
I have Vortex Viper HS 6-24x50mm scope. Sent it back to Votex for repair.
The scope does not hold zero in-between the last three trips to the field and range. Recently I have ordered a new scope by ATN https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-weapon-sight. Works fine for me!


This is mind numbing to me. I'm not sure how many times I've seen ATN create these obvious shill accounts by people who don't even have English as their first language or understand the topic they are replying to. The links always go directly back to ATN with no affiliate data in the URL etc. It's happened so many times now that there is absolutely no question what's going on, ATN is behind this. This is very sad.
Posted By: patriot07

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/11/17 05:56 AM

Originally Posted By: Outdoor Legacy Gear
Originally Posted By: maxhunter262
Being an avid hunter, I have tried many different optics. From my own experience, there is nothing better on the market with these multiple options at this price for daytime and nighttime hunting than ATN X-SIGHT II HD 5-20x
day & night rifle scope ( https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-weapon-sight ). I take it out for hog hunting


Originally Posted By: maxhunter262
Personally, I'm a happy owner of the ATN smart hd binocular (you can look at it on https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-binocular. It's the best set of binoculars I've ever had. It has 4× Optical + 16× Digital Zoom and night vision optics are very good! Built-in wi-fi allows me to share immediately cute photos and videos with my friends.


Originally Posted By: maxhunter262
I have Vortex Viper HS 6-24x50mm scope. Sent it back to Votex for repair.
The scope does not hold zero in-between the last three trips to the field and range. Recently I have ordered a new scope by ATN https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-weapon-sight. Works fine for me!


This is mind numbing to me. I'm not sure how many times I've seen ATN create these obvious shill accounts by people who don't even have English as their first language or understand the topic they are replying to. The links always go directly back to ATN with no affiliate data in the URL etc. It's happened so many times now that there is absolutely no question what's going on, ATN is behind this. This is very sad.

That stinks. Thanks for pointing it out.
Posted By: Hogz

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/11/17 05:23 PM

Very interesting indeed.
Especially Since I already have the photon and love it!!
Troll
Posted By: VAFish

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/12/17 03:10 PM

Originally Posted By: Hogz
Very interesting indeed.
Especially Since I already have the photon and love it!!
Troll


I have the original ATN X-Sights 5-20 and 3-12, my nephew has the ATN X-Sight II 3-12, and my son has the Photon XT.

If you really want or need all the features on the ATN and if you use it as the daytime scope the color is nice to have, an if you can put up with ATN's poor customer service an software updates it's not a bad scope. But if all you need is simple effective night vision, that can be used in the daytime and is at least $100 cheaper, the Photon XT is the way to go.

When we put my 84 year old dad in the blind over looking the feeder at night we give him my sons rifle with the Photon XT on it.

I heard that Photon is coming out with a new digital night vision scope with most of the features of the ATN. I really hope they don't get rid of the XT because it is a nice simple effective sight at a decent price.

If ATN took the manpower they use for creating shill accounts and worked that hard on customer service it would be much better.

And to reiterate the original question, you are better off using the Photon XT to scan for pigs than trying to use an old camcorder even with a separate IR light source.
Posted By: Outdoor Legacy

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/12/17 05:42 PM

Originally Posted By: VAFish

I heard that Photon is coming out with a new digital night vision scope with most of the features of the ATN. I really hope they don't get rid of the XT because it is a nice simple effective sight at a decent price.


The bad news is the Photon XT's are being closed out and have already been discontinued. But, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments and for that reason I stocked up very heavy on the Photon XT's. Normally when something is discontinued I'd try to dump it as quickly as possible but because the XT's are such a darn good product and they have a great price, I believe they will remain very popular. The other factor is that the new Photon RT's will start at $649 and range up to $799, so they are much more expensive than the XT's and that makes something like the 4.6x XT even more attractive at $499. When the XT's are gone, they are gone for good, so if someone wants one, they need to find one now.

On the RT news I should have a demo unit in my hands very soon so I'll hopefully be reporting back with more info on them ASAP.

- Jason
Posted By: Midwaytmm

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/12/17 06:50 PM

Yes I too have had many trips to the field and range with the ATN and vortex........ I’d still pick the vortex over the ATN , especially at night.....
Posted By: Tmacked

Re: Night vision scanning idea.. - 12/13/17 07:52 PM

agreed
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