Thermal Optics for Hunting
- Thread starter Ezana4CE
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I have used both Night Vision and Thermal scopes in hunting hogs and armadillos, and I definitely prefer the thermal.
As mentioned, one downside is having some night-blindness in the eye used due to the viewing screen. I have mine on the absolute lowest setting both in illumination and contrast and I still experience night-blindness. I view this as a minor inconvenience compared to the awesome job the thermal does in 'seeing' things when hunting at night in very low light conditions.
Others have mentioned the AGM TS-25 384 and I will attest that this scope far outperforms others that I have tried in the same price range and above. I usually purchase my optic at Optics Planet and have experienced great customer service from them. AGM TS-25 384 link below.
www.opticsplanet.com
As mentioned, one downside is having some night-blindness in the eye used due to the viewing screen. I have mine on the absolute lowest setting both in illumination and contrast and I still experience night-blindness. I view this as a minor inconvenience compared to the awesome job the thermal does in 'seeing' things when hunting at night in very low light conditions.
Others have mentioned the AGM TS-25 384 and I will attest that this scope far outperforms others that I have tried in the same price range and above. I usually purchase my optic at Optics Planet and have experienced great customer service from them. AGM TS-25 384 link below.
AGM Global Vision Rattler TS25-384 1.5x25mm Compact Short/Medium Range Thermal Imaging Rifle Scope 3092455004TH21, Color: Black, 10% Off w/ Free Shipping
Shop AGM Global Vision Rattler TS25-384 1.5x25mm Compact Short/Medium Range Thermal Imaging Rifle Scope | 10% Off 4.3 Star Rating on 4 Reviews for AGM Global Vision Rattler TS25-384 1.5x25mm Compact Short/Medium Range...
www.opticsplanet.com Upvote 0
The thing about the RICO series is finding compatible LRF units to complement the scopes. By themselves the LRF units are expensive. I see one for some of the MKI (older units) on clearance for $725-$750.
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When I bought my RH50 (in Canada) the rangefinder came bundled with it, no charge. But perhaps that's more indicative of the store I purchased from than RICO as a brand. I bought from Brandon Optics, it's in the Vancouver area.
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It could be the store or a specific promotion from the manufacturer. I also saw some RICO bundles (640 units) for Black Friday that have the LRF included, but several do not. In my opinion, for airgunners it really doesn’t make sense not to have a laser range finder on an optic.
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For what it's worth, usually I have the LRF off my RICO. My targets are basically always between 20 and 30 yards, and at those distances my eyes are about as good a rangefinder as the RICO, considering there's basically zero pellet drop at those ranges.
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@delooper I guess I have to try to think more in terms of the applications of others. I have pretty specific use cases for thermal. I think in terms of coyote and hog hunting at night, but it would come in handy for beavers, raccoons, and armadillos as well. I don't typically use bait so animals show up where they show up and I have to determine the range.
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For me I just pest in my yard and there's only so many places that make good hunting. They're basically all in the 20-30 yard range.
I could probably hunt almost as effectively with a red dot, but the thermal is so much fun. It does give me a few extra "in the bushes" kills, that I wouldn't be able to spot with a red dot.
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@Cranky1 I've noticed. Infiray RICO units also seem to support 18650 batteries which is a plus. Conversely, Pulsar has proprietary batteries and Pulsar's internals seem to produce an overall better image quality from what I've read. Since I shoot using holds more often than not, using holds on thermal devices isn't so foreign. My Pard NV008s LRF has some sort of ballistic software incorporated into the unit, but I've never used it.
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My bolt runs an an internal then an add on under one of the caps, I can remember the size but an 18650 adapter is available. Image quality is really a toss up, especially with the tube style scopes and newer rico. My bolt has the round screen, and it is really clear. Ive just started playing with the telos lrf( i hated factory brightness/contrast) I have it finally set and it’s also really good. So far I really like both units. the iray app is the best I’ve used and the stream vision2 is right there with it now. I got to play with some thermtec cyclops units, I loved all the user settings and there app was really good for the short time I played.
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I recently got a Pard SA-62 LRF. It uses the 18650 battery and was easy for me to use because I have the NV008 LRF and NV008S LRF. I run Eagle Vision fully adjustable mounts and Shader 8 iris aperture front caps on all of them.
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I use the Rico RH50 in high humidity all the time, both in the cool (few degrees above freezing) and 30-35c days and nights. Works great. It's noticably a little crisper in the cold, but works great in the warm, as well.
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@delooper I'm checking it out on a Late Night Vision Show podcast and they are taking out in 90% humidity. It's the Rico RH50P (640) and it looks like it's a beast!!! It has optical zoom.
I'd read that the Iray RICO has good image quality in regards to the subject, but the IQ of things in the backdrop aren't as sharp compared to the Pulsar. I'm not sure if that was concerning the MKI units or the MKIIs, but I like what I'm hearing about this RH50P so far and it looks great.
I'd read that the Iray RICO has good image quality in regards to the subject, but the IQ of things in the backdrop aren't as sharp compared to the Pulsar. I'm not sure if that was concerning the MKI units or the MKIIs, but I like what I'm hearing about this RH50P so far and it looks great.
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@Ezana4CE -
As Christmas is coming up and I am sure you would like to get me a little something, can I charge this to your account?
I promise not to open the box until Christmas morning !
www.dronefly.com
As Christmas is coming up and I am sure you would like to get me a little something, can I charge this to your account?
I promise not to open the box until Christmas morning !
Buy Parrot ANAFI USA GOV | Dronefly
Buy Parrot Anafi USA GOV for secure, government use, offering advanced thermal and optical zoom imaging. Buy $199+ and enjoy free delivery!
www.dronefly.com Upvote 0
The image quality is quite good. I haven't compared it to any other 640x480 thermal scopes, but for all my hunting needs it does great. If I were to fault it, I'd like it to do a better job of focusing at targets that are closer than 10 yards.
In the winter I'm usually pesting at around 99% humidity (or higher), in the rain, at a few degrees above freezing. In the summer I'm hunting between 50 and 80 percent humidity. I live across the street from the ocean (Pacific). Most days are around 18-25c, which is in the low 70's F. Hot days get into the mid 30's C, which is around 90f.
I think like most thermal scopes it gives you contrast sensitive to whatever range of temperatures are in your field of vision. So if there's nothing strange on the walls of my house, it shows teensy fractions of a degree, so that I can see the thermal outline of the framing in my house walls, including where the insulation is (and is not).
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@MAUMAU Damn!! And I thought the DJI Enterprise editions were expensive thermal setups.@Ezana4CE -
As Christmas is coming up and I am sure you would like to get me a little something, can I charge this to your account?
I promise not to open the box until Christmas morning !
Buy Parrot ANAFI USA GOV | Dronefly
Buy Parrot Anafi USA GOV for secure, government use, offering advanced thermal and optical zoom imaging. Buy $199+ and enjoy free delivery!
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Humidity is a pointless measure when talking about thermal scopes, without the temperature included that is. Dew point tells you what is what with thermal scopes and degradation of image. You can calculate exactly how much water is in a volume of air with dew point, or just use the web. With a decent thermal, any dewpoint around 50F and less won't degrade your image that much unless you are looking really long range(>200 yards). I just ran a quick example with humidity at 80% for both 80 degrees F temp and 50 degrees F temp. There is just about 2.7 times the water your scope is looking through at 80F vs 50F when the humidity is identical.... Humidity without temp is meaningless.
Absolute humidity is defined as the mass of water in a given volume, there is no percentage, just mass contained in a specific volume of air.
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