Hey everyone, I'm curious which thermal or night vision weapon sight do y'all recommend for hunting farms with on an AR15? I am in Florida and mostly on tomato farms. We also still hunt them in trees stands in the thick woods also. I was looking at the FLIR RS series for thermal... and not sure on which night vision scopes...I am trying to keep a 4k budget. Max. I know those flirs came out a couple years ago... Is there something better now? Or something that's fixing to come out here in the next 6 months that I need to wait on? What do y'all think? I had liked the idea of thermal at first, just with the white hot glow and identifying the pigs quickly at distance and also picking up coyotes in grass... and then honing in on them... but maybe night vision would work too? maybe not as good on the yotes.  Please give me your opinion. Thanks!

I am in Florida too and have killed hundreds of hogs with my FLIR RS scopes, the RS32-35mm would suit you fine out 250 yards on the cheap, the RS64-35mm would be somewhat better but more expensive. FLIR is having a rebate on their scopes until the end of this year too.

Florida Flir RS hogs;





























Here is a video of me shooting a hog @ 175 yards with the FLIR RS64-35mm:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpH6W8RjyYo



And another FLIR RS64-35mm kill:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1VG4n-2eDk



Big Savings on Flir RS scopes now:


http://www.flir.com/hunting-outdoor/display/?id=69672

Very relevant to my interests!

Hey thanks a lot for the help guys! I would think that most of my shooting will be 20-200 yards...Yall think its really worth getting the high end RS64 model vs the others?

Oh and skypup, awesome post!!

FLIR has photos of the same image with at different distances with the different scopes.

http://flir.com/thermoSightR-Series/rangeTest.html

Hey yall what about nigth vision scopes too? You think that could work pretty good? We do some yoter hunting also and I think thermal might be best for being able to see them standing in the grass at distance... but maybe on hogs night vision would work pretty good too? They are a good bit cheaper than thermal. Let me know what  yall think. thanks.

Which Gen 3 night vision scope would you recommend around the 3-4k price point? One that is weapon dedicated... I need something robust that can bounce around in the truck and keep zero. Should I maybe do one of those and then use a flir thermal handheld for ID purposes? would that be a good combo?

It has been said many times - NV excels at navigation, Thermal undeniably kicks ass with detection.  I do hear that NV scopes are the winner with identification, but honestly wonder how they compare to the latest batch of Thermal.  Understand that NV is mature tech.  It may still be developing, but slowly.  Thermal is relatively new, and will only be getting better.  640x480 Thermal does not have the resolution of NV, but it is still pretty sweet.
In many cases I have looked at something with NV - not to see anything, then switched to thermal to see an obvious animal immediately.  Switching back to thermal still would take a second to figure out where it was in the sea of green.
My perfect world would be a NV and Thermal monocular for navigation and detection, with a Thermal scope for taking the shot.  But that is a 20k rig.

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good point made above however.  Terran might favor NV over Thermal at times.  I have not used Thermal on rocky terrain yet.  Even bare dirt patches in a grassy area end up making me stare for a bit (grass turns ambient quickly, dirt holds heat - just after dark they are hot black - just like critters).



 

Since getting my IRHunter a year ago I do not use my FLIR anymore.

YMMV.

Hog Porn?

What model flir ?

Yup, FLIR Makin' Bacon Hog Porn!


The Graded Fire color pallette is simply awesome on the RS32-35mm mixing the fire with black hot, totally shootable too!

Here are some representative pics through the IRD MKII-35mm and FLIR RS32-35mm that we made shooting a 586 pound and a 420 pound hog @100 yards at night in 80+F temp and saturated 100% humidity.

It just goes to show that at the most common 100 or so yard shooting range at night, you can do allot with a little.....
































Did not have NV with us this night, but if we did and were using civvy IR lasers the results would have been the same.

I'm not a very mobile Hunter at night so what works best for me is typically thermal.  If I can only have one device, it would be a thermal rifle scope.  If I could afford two devices, I'd have a thermal to detect, and then would be much less picky as to what mounts to the rifle.  If I could afford 3 devices, I'd have NV for navigation, thermal for detection, and then again either mounted on the rifle.

If you're hunting at a stationary feeder that the animals come to regularly, then I may skip thermal first and start with NV.  Thermal's big edge is detection but if your hunting style makes it so you don't need that extra detection, starting with a NV setup first seems logical.

It really does come down to how you plan to use the device.

To the OP:  I also live and hunt hogs in Florida, Santa Rosa County to be specific.    I have the FLIR RS 32 35mm 2.25-9x model, as recommended by another Florida night hunter on the forum.  It has been great for me.  With that $1000 rebate, that's what I'd recommend.  Just a few nights ago I was hunting with a friend who was using his digital NV scope.  A coyote came out about 40yd away and sat looking towards us in the virtually zero moonlight.  My friend had a hard time seeing the coyote, and it got away.  It was bright white through the thermal.  I so wanted my friend to take the shot, so I didn't shoot.  I've used my FLIR for kills from feet away to about 120yd.  Although I can certainly see hogs further, I like to stalk closer.  Bonus:  I record my kills (and misses) so as to better analyze what happened.  If a friend is going to shoot, I record what happens when he shoots too (No, you didn't see a spray of blood, you saw a spray of dirt as you shot under the hog).  You detect SO MUCH more animals with thermal than with night vision, and I have a PVS14, so I know.  I'm only a beginner compared to some long time night hunters, but I'm now up to 19 hogs and 6 coyotes in Florida.

How does the IR Hunter compare to the FLIR RS in terms of durability? The FLIR makes note of the systems water resistant rating, it's rubber 'armored', would seem to be a more durable unit for hunting.

Battery is my concern, seems short on the FLIR vs the IR hunter 123 batteries.

Yeah, I do really like the ability to change out batteries... but if the FLIR can last a night of hunting thats all I care about... will they go go 4-5 hours worth in the real world? Also, are you saying that they have the ability to record the shot? Is it on an SD card? thats awesome if so!

Also, yes a lot of my hunting will be mobile and wanting to detect where the hogs are at. So thermal might be best for me...

Sorry, I did not mean to imply the FLIR has built-in ability to record.  I mean compared to my first thermal, the FLIR makes it real easy to plug in a Mini DVR and record the shots.  The mini DVR is attached to the rifle stock.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyS4NzbCfAY  "Small" refers to the video resolution I used...I now shoot videos at a higher resolution.  The mic picks up the sounds of me lifting the rifle as it rubs against my clothing.  A person standing to the side doesn't hear all that misc noise.

FWIW  The breeze was blowing directly from me to the boar.  My partner had sprayed "sow in heat" scent a few feet in back of where I was sitting.  The boar was walking at an angle to me when he suddenly stopped and started walking at me when he got in the scent cone.  I had seen him via a hand held thermal (my old rifle thermal that I now use as hand held), put down the hand held, and the video starts as I pick up my rifle with the FLIR mounted on it.  I had mere seconds to get the rifle, turn on the FLIR and then turn on the DVR...I was not expecting a hog to walk towards me like he did...there was a wallow further down I expected the hog to go to.  There was low height cotton plants between him and me.

Help me understand what is going on in these pics.  The RS32 in the first series (seems to) have the same magnification at 4X as the RS64 at 8X.  Is this an illusion?  I'm in a similar situation to the OP.  If I could ID and take targets out to 250 yds, I think that would work.  

NV was an easier thing to figure out.  TNVC helped me out years ago on that one.  Now I'd like to take advantage of these rebates and add some thermal to the toolbox.

Thanks!

320 core has twice the magnification of a 640

320 core has twice the magnification of a 640

How does the range of magnification correlate to a larger image when both units are set to the same magnification?  

Also where would the IR patrol 300 fit for a comparison?  

I'm looking at that (IR Patrol300), the IR MKII or MKIII hunter and one of these FLIR units say the RS32 60mm 4x16 or the RS64 60mm 2x16.  If shops are closed black friday, I may have to take some time from hunting to get a last minute order in monday--after calling for some advice.

I own both. My place is in the woods of Oregon.
There are no hogs here, and hunting with either type during day or night is generally illegal.

I'll tell you what. I have about 100-120 yards of shooting distance in safe directions from a chair on the deck. I use an IR Patrol (1X magnification) on a 22LR rifle to shoot voles ( large mice) dang near every night with that thermal. I see deer, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes all the time. With my PVS-14, they are very hard to even detect, as often as not, if they are 50 yards away and not moving much. With thermal they stand out like a sore thumb.
Granted, nothing looks remotely like a vole in the thermal except real mice, and either are the enemy. Hence, there is no worry over proper ID. Since all of the similar critters inside that 100 yards look like hot, stretched out golf balls who run and hop like hell out of sheer terror of being killed. I kill them all with ease with the IR Patrol.

1X devices are the best available for scanning. Scanning is the first and the most common use of the devices ordinarily. If I had my druthers for snap-on lenses, it would be for wide angle lenses (say 1/2 power) and NOT for magnifying lenses which seem to be the only available lenses (I have a TPL 3X and it is great).
Someone else here said it best when he said there is a different need between the scope for the hunter and for the hunted. For hunting or for defense, just knowing first where the living beings ARE is very important, even if the initial glance tells you nothing more than where to look harder, where to go, or where NOT to go, so the 1X may be your best bet for general use.

If you are setting up in open territory and calling in the dogs from far away, especially if you have a narrow safe alley to shoot down, if you can swing freely and have plenty of time, or if the approach path is predictable, I'd say get a magnified optic. But if your situation is more like mine, I'd use a unity magnification device and get the critters to come closer.

Its hard to beat the IRD hunter for image quality...

I am thinking of getting the higher magnification FLIR but the blowout price has me waiting for what they are probably coming out with soon (new sensor, user replaceable batteries)

Big fat gravid sow on the 18 hole golf course fairway right below the Club House.

Took a 150 grain SMK .308 from a SIG 716 with a FLIR RS32-35mm and a 70 grain Barnes TSX from a HK 556 with Flir T-70 at 175 yards with both slugs hitting simultaneously.

Air temp 55*F, clear sky, low humidity, the RS32-35mm was right on the money as was the T-70.

Hog shuddered and dropped in its tracks, video to come later on.....

If you are hunting tree stands, then 1x 640 thermal.
You need the fov at close ranges, the 640 will allow you to use the digital zoom at 2x good quality, and 4x ok quality, the 8x gets too pixelized for me.
Ir hunter best contrast I have seen, the flir units are solid and I have not had any issued with internal battery, armasight units need external battery pack unless you don't mind spending $$ on batts.
The IR hunter mv300 ( 640 1.25x) can be helmet mounted, add a 2x or 3x zoom lens, can be weapon mounted as well, not the lowest price unit but it's nice.

Thanks for taking the time to explain!