I have used digital NV scopes (atn 4K, wraith 4K and wraith mini). Watch the field of view on NV and thermal, a 5x minimum is not equal FOV to a regular 5x scope. Honestly inside 50 yards the mini would be my choice. I have not tried any hand helds past gen 1+. One major advantage of NV is it can see through glass. I did levee watch night shift when the Mississippi River was up. I was able to check things(if enough moon light) without the illuminator so I didn’t have to roll down the windows. My thermal cannot do this, you also cannot see whirlpools with the thermal. We were watching for lock blow outs, a 60in pipe collapsed and it took a ton of semi loads of rock to stop it.
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@lhandy I’m not sure how you’d incorporate a red dot with night vision. The best combo that I’ve found is to use a night vision scope with a laser rangefinder on it coupled with a thermal handheld scanner. The reason being is that f animals are behind plant cover (shrubs, brush, branches/leaves, or grass) the thermal will pick up the animal and depending upon the unit, you may not see the plant matter. So with that in mind thermal is good to locate an animal. With the low velocities and projectile weights that we use, it’s best to avoid shooting through plants. A night vision scope will show you just about everything that the IR light reaches. You can add additional IR lights for better illumination, too much will make your picture too bright which can wash out some details. The laser rangefinder (LRF) on the night vision scope is important when shooting at animals at night because it’s tough to obtain the changing range(s) on moving animals. Unless you will always be shooting at animals from a fixed location to a bait station or another location with a known distance, I suggest getting a NV scope with a laser rangefinder. I use the Pard NV008s. I had an AGM Rattler thermal scope and sent it back because it lacks an LRF. The AGN Varminter is the scope to get if you go the AGM route. Personally I’d look for a Pulsar thermal scope with a LRF if you can afford one.
Maybe a wraith 4K mini, 2x base mag. I love my hand held scanner is use it almost every night. This is a pic from my shop over the roof of my house. I kept hearing something, it’s much easier to pick out critters with thermal. You get better detail with NV but harder to find.
