But the discussion was definitely which you would get first. I havent seen anyone suggest to only get one.

And "porch snipers" are 99% more likely to do just that than going out on patrol. I believe in prepping for everything, but if funds are limited like they are for most folks then you prep as best you can in an order based on likelyhood of scenarios. Which is of course, also subjective. Assuming you have prepped with food, water, medical and etc and you are to the point you are getting the cool stuff then I personally believe it far, far more likely I am shooting coyotes or other predators after livestock than serving as a grunt again as I slide firmly into middle age. But I suppose if the Russians land I can do that as well, if a bit slower. I have been blessed to be able to have both Thermal and NV and as I have said repeatedly they both fill quite different roles despite the seeming overlap.

I have also spent a ridiculous amount of time patrolling, walking around, and working in the dark with no augmentation at all so having NV is just icing on the cake

At the ATFs current processing times, dear god order the suppressor first.

Then pick up your thermal.

Unless your hot to trot getting into the field, and even then I'd say get your suppressor, pick up a sight mark Wrath, when you have the $$ to get the Thermal you want sell the Wraith and get it.

Funny, I was going to say exactly the same thing!

You can prep for the absolute worst case scenario all at once but I imagine anyone that says they did are most likely laying, or you can prioritize!  I may look at NVs after I get other holes like rain water collection system, install my solar panels, etc.

This thread seem to have transitioned from “thermal or suppressor first” to “NV or Thermal first” but either way it’s very informative, keep them coming.

I think that is beacause many of us would consider them both more useful than a suppressor if put to it. Obviously we tend to disagree on which is more useful to an average fellow. But that disagreement and thread wandering is what brings up a lot of good points.

But the supressor is also very useful and of course the wait times is what throws a wrench in the works when trying to debate their priority to be sure. Plus they are a fraction of the price of thermal or NV. I recently got a .30 cal and a .22 can and the wait was 100 days. I am waiting on a 9mm can which will likely be a dedicated .300 subsonic can and I am past 120 days now I believe. The wait times are extending again despite efile.

I am thinking on getting another .22 can pretty much immediately though so I can leave them on a few different firarms. Just a convenience thing. I am also thinking a K can for one the "goto" rifles.

My little AGM ASP thermal is very useful for the $350-$400 price point they will work well for a SHTF or hunting and anything in between.

^^^this

I bought a surfire 556 and a sandman k 30 cal can

The gas block came loose on a BCM upper, i believe due to suppressor use. My DD with sandman k wont cycle well despite having a bootleg BCG. They make the gun run dirty as hell. Blows shit in my eyes too. And if for some reason you need to take the suppressor off your gas block adjustment or adjustable BCG setting probably wont be right for unsuppressed. And they also add length and weight.



They require a level of monitoring and dialing in that a non-suppressed gun doesn’t.

I guess im glad I have them, but my non suppresses guns work perfectly and never have hiccups.

If i had to bug out and could only grab one gun, it wouldn’t be a suppressed.

There is also a cost factor too.

For a center fire rifle suppressor the cost is about 1/3 the cost of thermal. Is a thermal 3-times the usefulness of a suppressor? I think that's where it gets down to each individual's use type, environment, etc. For some the suppressor is going to hold more value but for others the thermal will.



I guess that depends on your perspective and use. I have a can on my 22 pistol, that's my "critter gitter" because if there's a coon getting in the chicken coops I just grab it and run, no need to grab ear pro at the same time. Suppressed vs unsuppressed doesn't change anything on the 22 pistol. It runs the same.

My center fire can lives 100% of the time in my long range bolt action gun. I use it for deer, coyotes, groundhogs, or anything else. It's always on the rifle (I can't even remember the last time I took it off) and bolt guns don't suffer from the maladies you mentioned. Same as the 22, no need for ear pro, on a bolt action 308 it puts the sound down to the level of a 22 rifle w/o a suppressor. It is tolerable, no ringing afterwards, and minimal hearing damage. To me, suppressors have a high value.

Just for perspective, I only recently got a thermal, i never felt the value vs cost was there until recently. But I have had NV for a while now so that probably helped keep me from placing such a high value on thermal. And yes, I am aware of the capabilities of thermal, I work with high end thermal devices at my day job. I just never saw the value when 640 devices were $4k+. Now that the Steiner 640 scopes are under $2500 the value reached the threshold at which I could justify it.

You’re in a suburban area. Discretion after SHTF is probably more important than thermals or NV.

Frankly, as affordable as a rimfire can is, anyone in the market for thermal could stroke the check on one and not even blink.

absolutely thermals first. I went suppressors first, pvs 14 second, and thermals first. Like, others, I should have swapped that purchase plan.

First suppressor is ordered and is in jail.  The thermal arrived and I’m very happy with it but I’ll have to order another adapter $$$ for my 30-44mm scopes.

Right now sitting on my Get Home Gun.

I went nvg suppressors thermal.

My school of thought for others is you might as well get the wait started on suppressors. It’s what puts most people off from buying them but waiting to buy them makes the wait even longer.

In a true shtf scenario thermals would be more useful. But as thermals aren’t legal to hunt with here mine get almost no use.

My suppressors get way more use than my nvgs.

Make sure you have batteries for your NV and thermals.

Suppressor, thermal, night vision, IR laser designator  

Get a suppressor started because of the wait time (I’d advise 22lr or 30 cal for 300blk/5.56 use). Get weapons mounted thermal for maximum tactical advantage. Then get helmet mounted night vision. Then IR laser designator.

I like the idea of having a thermal scanner for when I'm walking my dog at night.   Scan the park, or the fairgrounds, and know what's out there.  Beats using my big ass flashlight.

Anybody know if any of our vendors will have awesome Black Friday deals this year?

Was scanning the woodline last night like most nights and spotted a big fat rabbit just in the trees in some light brush. Switched to NV and couldnt see it. Switched to a big powerful flashlight beam and couldnt see it. But in thermal it blazed.

We talk about thermal a lot for security against predators but in really hard times it could most definitely help provide food as well, though currrently that would be ilegal and I am not one to believe that a hunting gathering lifestyle is viable in a shtf situation. But had I wanted I certainly could have had a fat rabbit last night.

I got suppressors first, then a cheap/crappy thermal, then a PVS-14, then a better thermal and more suppressors...if I could do it all over again, I'd get a good mid-range weapon-mounted thermal first, then can(s), then a PVS, then a head-mounted thermal. That seems to be the general "descending order of usefulness" from my experience.

I like a lot of what has been said.  In a survival scenario, Thermal reigns.  Due to wait times, I'd go suppressor first.  Then thermal QD scope.  Then NODs with a thermal head mounted bridged option with the NODs.