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Posted: 6/4/2026 8:00:39 AM EDT
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Want to buy a thermal for hunting. Budget is ~4k. I’m looking at either AGM 640 or iray. Open to other options. Do I want the clip on option? Scope for clip on is Leupold Mk5 3-18x. I also have a helmet that I could mount to. I have kids so being able to clip to their gun would be nice. But I also am not sure if I should just build a dedicated thermal gun and buy a scanner later with the money saved. What is y’all’s experiences and recommendations? |
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AL, USA
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I am a novice with NODs, but I have an iRay RH25V2 (640 resolution) that I am very happy with. I think it can do all of the things you mention. Bought mine from site sponsor JRH Enterprises, which was a good experience. I would keep an eye out for when they go on sale, as sometimes there can be substantial savings. FWIW, iRayUSA customer service is very good, in my experience. I clumsily munged up a couple of screw heads because I didn't have my reading glasses on when I selected the bit to unscrew them, and when I contacted iRayUSA to buy some replacements, they sent them to me gratis. A small thing, but nice. |
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Clip ons in that price range are going to be more appropriate for a 1-6 or a 2-10. That mk5 is going to be overkill and the 3x bottom end might not see all the screen icons depending on the layout. Whether to go clip on or dedicated scope depends a lot on how you have your rifles set up. If you have a lot of flat top AR patterns with your day optics on quick disconnect mounts a dedicated thermal scope is probably the way. Most come on a qd mount and you digitally zero them. They have a number of different profiles usually 4 or more so you zero the profiles to the individual rifles and you can switch the scope between hosts. Keep in mind that lense size plays a large role in addition to the resolution in resolving targets at distance so a 50mm is going to be significantly better than a 25mm or 35mm on a given sensor resolution. The smaller lenses will have a wider fov though which keeps you from getting jammed up close in so it all depends what you're doing. |
| A stand alone TWS with a QD that rezeros, your MPVO on a QD mount that rezero, a fixed a side mounted RDS is the way to go. Switching between both optics is a lighter better option than a clipon setup and you maintain your fixed RDS for quick shots if needed. |
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Dedicated all day every day for a hunting rig, especially at that price range. Less weight overall, less weight out front, easier controls, fewer things to mess with, fewer things to go wrong, better image. They may be all gone now, but recently everyone was clearing out the Nocpix Rico2 H50R. I picked one up for $3999 sales tax included. Other than me wishing it took 18650s, it's really awesome. There may still be a few out there. Looks like the place I grabbed mine from still has some. https://predatorhunteroutdoors.com/product/nocpix-rico-2-h50r-lrf-thermal-weapon-sight-3x-640x512-50mm/ |
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Originally Posted By LeadBreakfast: I'm in the dedicated thermal with a thermal scanner camp. A cheaper way is digital NV and thermal scanner. All of my buddies that have tried clip ons, some multiple times, have gone back to dedicates thermal. I've gone the clip on route a couple of times. Most recently a Super Yoter C (seriouisly awesome unit, just wasn't worth the weight) and an RH25. I don't own either anymore. Regrets were had. Lesson finally learned (maybe  ). |
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Thermal scanner with LRF is hands down the best way to look for targets. Wether you are walking, driving or sitting in a spot. Once you figure out where there is game you can transition to the rifle. At that point a decent 640 scope on a dedicated rig is the easiest, cheapest and lightest way to go. The down side is if you want top be the guy with one rifle to do it all. Then a clip on makes sense. But if you are going to own a quiver of rifles like many of us do, a dedicated night hunting rifle is a sweet set up. I don't know your budget but the cold reality is the chinese stuff is evolving so fast that it's really changed the ball game. And the pictures are no slouch. I would go Guide for the handheld: Guide scanners Or look for a deal On the nocpix for the larger screen: Nocpix scanner Pay attention to lowest end magnification. The lower themag the wider field of view but if you scanning large fields you'll want some mag. 2-3x bottom is good with 2.5 being a sweet spot for many. 35mm or 50mm is fine. There are tons of scopes but it's really budget depending. Trijicon and NVision are American but older designs and expensive. I use a Reap 35 gen 2. State of the art 6 or 7 years ago that still works great. Pulsars are also in the non chinese group. AGM, Nocpix, Iray for the chinese. Just a few I pulled: Solid AGM for $2,400 or the 50mm 50mm agm |
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IMO to comfortably thermal hunt you need two thermals. One scope, dedicated to the rifle. One scanner, handheld or helmet mounted. I use the Iray RH25V2, helmet mounted and an Iray RH50R on my AR, which is arca mounted on a tall RRS tripod. I thermal hunt a lot and have tried a lot of combinations. Having only one clip on thermal makes for a lot of fumbling around if you are swapping it on and off a rifle during a hunt. Using only one dedicated thermal that is kept mounted on a rifle is awful, tiresome in many ways, and generally unsafe as you are pointing a rifle at everything you are looking at. |
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Originally Posted By smarcus: Thermal scanner with LRF is hands down the best way to look for targets. Wether you are walking, driving or sitting in a spot. Once you figure out where there is game you can transition to the rifle. At that point a decent 640 scope on a dedicated rig is the easiest, cheapest and lightest way to go. The down side is if you want top be the guy with one rifle to do it all. Then a clip on makes sense. But if you are going to own a quiver of rifles like many of us do, a dedicated night hunting rifle is a sweet set up. Agree, with the exception of one rifle doing it all. I'd argue an even better option would be a QD mount with solid return to zero on your optics, then configure them as necessary. Originally Posted By boomfab: IMO to comfortably thermal hunt you need two thermals. One scope, dedicated to the rifle. One scanner, handheld or helmet mounted. |
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