Thermal has its use if
1) you don’t want others to “see” you (important if there are restrictions in nightvision/thermal scope usage in your state/country).
2) you are going to be hunting medium to large animals 100+ yards at night.
If these are not a concern for you, buy a thermal scope but it’ll cost you $3K+. Even for that amount of money, thermal has some restrictions
1) unless you go to a higher cost ($5K+), you are looking at a very low resolution (no, even 640 pixel is not impressive, when you zoom in even a bit)
2) you can’t use a thermal during the day (yes, you can see the same pixelated picture, but compare it with a high-end scope from Zeiss at the same price range, you’ll see what I mean)
3) zeroing a thermal is a little more difficult. To zero it, you have to target a heat source. You have to place the heat source behind a heat blocking target with only a small opening for heat. If you want it to be visible at 100 yards, you have to make the opening bigger, which makes your targeting less precise. And you can use that target only once. As soon as you take your first shot, it opens a new hole for the heat to be visible through your scope. After taking the first shot, center your reticle as best as you can (use binoculars to eyeball), replace your target with a new one, and do it again and again until you are satisfied.
I don’t think thermal is worth it if you are not shooting at 100+ yards using $5K+ scope. Me thinks…
1) you don’t want others to “see” you (important if there are restrictions in nightvision/thermal scope usage in your state/country).
2) you are going to be hunting medium to large animals 100+ yards at night.
If these are not a concern for you, buy a thermal scope but it’ll cost you $3K+. Even for that amount of money, thermal has some restrictions
1) unless you go to a higher cost ($5K+), you are looking at a very low resolution (no, even 640 pixel is not impressive, when you zoom in even a bit)
2) you can’t use a thermal during the day (yes, you can see the same pixelated picture, but compare it with a high-end scope from Zeiss at the same price range, you’ll see what I mean)
3) zeroing a thermal is a little more difficult. To zero it, you have to target a heat source. You have to place the heat source behind a heat blocking target with only a small opening for heat. If you want it to be visible at 100 yards, you have to make the opening bigger, which makes your targeting less precise. And you can use that target only once. As soon as you take your first shot, it opens a new hole for the heat to be visible through your scope. After taking the first shot, center your reticle as best as you can (use binoculars to eyeball), replace your target with a new one, and do it again and again until you are satisfied.
I don’t think thermal is worth it if you are not shooting at 100+ yards using $5K+ scope. Me thinks…
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