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Posted: 4/10/2012 10:58:55 AM EDT
Anyone here have one?
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 1:07:52 PM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 1:22:22 PM EDT
[#2]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Anyone here have one?


Many.  


Are you guys ever going to do a review of the MTM/StalkIR?

Any chance you'll be carrying/could special order the SkeetIR?

Link Posted: 4/10/2012 2:19:39 PM EDT
[#3]
question on thermal VS regular NV:
is there a life expectancy on a thermal sight?  And is there a way to hurt a thermal sight like you would by exposing NV to bright light?

impending purchase from TVNC for a PVS14 so it doesn't really matter.  well that, and 5 figures would be a painful cut into the budget.

Just trying to educate myself
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 3:36:57 PM EDT
[#4]



Quoted:


question on thermal VS regular NV:

is there a life expectancy on a thermal sight?  And is there a way to hurt a thermal sight like you would by exposing NV to bright light?



impending purchase from TVNC for a PVS14 so it doesn't really matter.  well that, and 5 figures would be a painful cut into the budget.



Just trying to educate myself


yes and yes. Sort of.

 



Everything has a life expectancy. Just light light bulbs do.  Thermal can suffer electronic failure, or mechanical failure ( chopper wheels, heat pumps etc ) or damage, but it does last a long time.




And you can damage some of them by looking directly at the sun, while others are designed to be able to look directly at the sun indefinitely and without any lasting effects ( especially in the case of fixed cameras )




But generally you can use thermals day or night and for most purposes without worrying about them too much - just like camcorders for example.




But they only see heat, so if the background is the same temperature as your target, you won't see it. This happens about twice a day in some environments.




Regards

David.
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 3:53:38 PM EDT
[#5]
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 4:09:05 PM EDT
[#6]
I have one.  It is night and day difference for finding animals at night versus just night vision.

Link Posted: 4/10/2012 4:54:02 PM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
I have one.  It is night and day difference for finding animals at night versus just night vision.



ehh, which one?  this is a main intended use
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 5:23:36 PM EDT
[#8]
I've had a few.  My first was the TAM-14, and it was great for the time period in which it was released.  The core was 2005 technology so I eventually upgraded, but I found that sweeping a weapon around to spot is not safe, and that thermal is not optimal for sighting anyway.  It does not replace I^2, nor vice versa.   The thermal is the king for spotting and initial detection whereas I^2 is superior for final ID, and for targeting, IMO.  IOW, get both

I tried 3 or 4 devices and eventually switched to FLIR's M24.  It is alot like a PVS-14.  Built like a tank, versatile, light weight, and you can mount it on a helmet or a HELGA to get a poor man's fusion device





Link Posted: 4/10/2012 5:34:29 PM EDT
[#9]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I have one.  It is night and day difference for finding animals at night versus just night vision.



ehh, which one?  this is a main intended use


A GSCI TWS 37.i I haven't used it much, but it works great.
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 6:59:39 PM EDT
[#10]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I have one.  It is night and day difference for finding animals at night versus just night vision.



ehh, which one?  this is a main intended use



For finding critters in the dark NOTHING beats thermal.  For identifying and shooting what you just found.... well that's a different story.  Keep in mind that mid range thermal scopes have a 320x240 pixel detector.  With no magnification, each pixel is around 2 inches wide at 100 yards!!!  Imagine trying to use a crappy webcam for a scope and you get the idea.

But this same crappy web cam makes living things glow in the dark.  So that little rabbit at 100 yards might not be very well defined on the screen but holy cow HE'S GLOWING!

My buddy and I have done lots of comparisons with his PVS-14 and my thermal gear.  It generally holds true  that I will detect most animals before him and will be able to see them in light cover, but he has a much better idea of what kind of animal we detected (other than the light cover case where he can't see them at all).
Link Posted: 4/10/2012 7:10:06 PM EDT
[#11]
Here's an example I posted someplace earlier.

A handful of deer at about 50 yards distant inside moderate cover of the forest edge (25 yards or so of forest).
This was taken with a 160 x 120 imager (total crap)
You would never have seen these with night vision.  Maybe you would have seen reflecting eyes if you had an illuminator, but the brush closest to you would have bloomed the heck out of everything.



Here's another, I mistook this pig for a deer and buzzed him.  The image was taken about 200 feet up and probably 300 feet away from the pig.  There is no way you would have seen this guy using night vision, heck you may not have made him out in broad daylight.
This was taken with a 320 imager, but there is some loss in quality because it is being converted to NTSC for video then captured to an SD card etc.
Link Posted: 4/11/2012 3:17:30 AM EDT
[#12]
I think the ideal set up would be 2 people, one with a thermal with IR laser and the other with a rifle and good nightvision scope.
Link Posted: 4/11/2012 3:47:42 AM EDT
[#13]
Ahhhh. I just love seeing uav's with thermal for hunting hogs!  I agree with what everyone here has been saying. I love my flir 307 for spotting pigs then going to my 24 or 760 for the shot. I still use my 14 more than any other piece of equipment navigating around hunting like I would in the day time.

It's just like anything else. There's no one tool thats great at doing everything. Certain tools do certain things better than others. At least that's what I keep telling my wife. :)
Link Posted: 4/11/2012 6:49:40 AM EDT
[#14]
My hunting buddy and I have used NV for over 15++ years plus just started using thermal gear in our hunting late last summer and have spend hunderds of hours in the field with the thermal last several months. I bought a FLIR PS32 he bought the FLIR 307 to start out and around a month ago he bought a used Scorpion Thermal Scope 320x240 imager model. I only have used the Scorpion maybe a half dozen nights its cool for sure but I have mixed feelings on if a good I2 scope may be better in most conditions. The strong points for the thermal scope is darkness doesn't matter it produces a nice bright image even right now under heavy tree cover moonless night rural area. It will also allow you to shot in foggy conditions that KO our I2 night vision gear to useless.And did I add the thermal scope is just badass gear no way around that coolness factor is 10++++. That said some drawbacks I have seen is the 30hz imager is fast but on running game it tends to lag behind alittle you have to lead your target a few inches for correct POI. Second the 320x240 core isn't the best clarity for detail it allows you to spot and tell a hog from a deer at normall shotting ranges but I2 is just way ahead in clarity. Last week we stalked within 100 yards for a group of pigs wihich had 3 good boar hogs and 1 gaint boar hog which we were targeting.As the grouped moved feeding I was waiting for a good shoot with the thermal scope and would loose which hog I was trying to target as they all looked about the same size in the thermal image. I would ended up peaking with the PVS-14 3X lens to find the correct hog and then back to the thermal hopeing for a quick shot. With a good gen 3 NV scope I wouldn't have had that issue.I guess nothings perfect all the time but I do aggree with several post above in the fact nothing beats a thermal for spotting/detecting it kicks the butt of I2 for that task, but for me I2 vs Thermal scope for shooting i am still not sure which I perfer.
Link Posted: 4/11/2012 8:54:47 AM EDT
[#15]
What we need is a good 4x fusion rifle scope with gen III and 60Hz for less than $10K.

Link Posted: 4/11/2012 9:17:38 AM EDT
[#16]
Quoted:
What we need is a good 4x fusion rifle scope with gen III and 60Hz for less than $10K.





Also 1024x768 resolution thermal  

Really wish I could get my hands on some 640x480 gear to do a comparison but I just can't afford it.
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