Thermals and LRF

[Hal4son]

@OutdoorEDventure
Who is using night vision during the day? Why would one do this?

I use thermal day and night. It is mounted on the rifle that is primarily at hand when something needs killing. Thermal works both day and night. I also use a thermal scaner day and night also. It is a fantastic aid for picking predators out brush and branches and has been very effective for me.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I use thermal day and night. It is mounted on the rifle that is primarily at hand when something needs killing. Thermal works both day and night. I also use a thermal scaner day and night also. It is a fantastic aid for picking predators out brush and branches and has been very effective for me.

@Hal4son I was asking about night vision because Edventure mentioned night vision and thermal.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

@OutdoorEDventure
Who is using night vision during the day? Why would one do this?

I do, even on cloudy days where it would be very hard to spot iguanas (cold blooded) I can make them out pretty good most time with my sightmark wraith 2-14x

 

[JaceSpace1369]

For an airgun you’ll never shoot at high end thermal distance. You’ll be fine with an entry level. I’d honestly stick to NV for varmint size critters. At least with NV you can clearly ID target during the day. Yes you can use a thermal during the day but small varmints will blend into environment pretty quickly And can be hard to ID during hot days.

I personally want one for both airgunning and hogs/yotes. Every once in a while get a contract for yotes in an HOA/golf course community and although I can spot them with the NV and my sniper hog IR light, I can't guess the distance or get the full picture.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I do, even on cloudy days where it would be very hard to spot iguanas (cold blooded) I can make them out pretty good most time with my sightmark wraith 2-14x

Are you using actual night vision (the black and white imagery) or a daytime option that displays a picture in color as you see it using ambient light? I’m asking because on one of my NV scopes with enough ambient light, I can still see things in night vision mode but is very grainy and can be dim without the use of an infrared light. Because you can still see things with the naked eye during daylight hours and the poor image quality using ambient light coupled with night vision, I cannot understand why one would use night vision during the day time. If you have a day/night digital scope like an Arken Zulus then I think that’s a bit different.

Thermal is entirely different. I’ve used it during the daytime, but prefer it for use at night. It really does poorly at detecting heat signatures of animals through dense brush. Especially since the stalks of plants and tree trunks hold heat. I was viewing deer the other night and they came close within the treeline maybe 40 yards from me and I could hear them plain as day, but could not see exactly where they were. Not a warm patch showed up. That sucks for them to be such large animals. And no I wasn’t hunting them. I was scouting for armadillos and the deer just happened along.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

This is right on. The tech is so cheap to add range finding and mark the BDC for you that it is bizarre not to have it.
I have 2 over bore heights with my Thermnight, it would be so asinine to ask me to hold under on the DAY/Night and hold over on the thermal.

I thought about the thermnight, but I need more clarity in the thermal than what it offers. The 384 version of it is supposed to.be coming out this month from what I've heard/read.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

Are you using actual night vision (the black and white imagery) or a daytime option that displays a picture in color as you see it using ambient light? I’m asking because on one of my NV scopes with enough ambient light, I can still see things in night vision mode but is very grainy and can be dim without the use of an infrared light. Because you can still see things with the naked eye during daylight hours and the poor image quality using ambient light coupled with night vision, I cannot understand why one would use night vision during the day time.

Thermal is entirely different. I’ve used it during the daytime, but prefer it for use at night. It really does poorly at detecting heat signatures of animals through dense brush. Especially since the stalks of plants and tree trunks hold heat.

Night mode, Black and white imagery. The resolution on both the sightmarks I have are great, while the 4k version is much better, it's not as good using Night mode during the day, strangely enough. A lot of my use with the stern was going to be mainly during dusk and cloudy days. Iguanas retain a lot of heat even though they are cold-blooded so you can still spot them very quickly at night and in shaded areas during the day.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Night mode, Black and white imagery. The resolution on both the sightmarks I have are great, while the 4k version is much better, it's not as good using Night mode during the day, strangely enough. A lot of my use with the stern was going to be mainly during dusk and cloudy days. Iguanas retain a lot of heat even though they are cold-blooded so you can still spot them very quickly at night and in shaded areas during the day.

@JaceSpace1369 Interesting. The older NV unit I was using didn’t have high resolution and isn’t something I’d have used for a day scope. Thanks for sharing your experiences there.

Back to this termal topic. Are you implying that you can spot iguanas through dense foliage using thermal scopes/scanners? Or are you simply saying they aren’t difficult to spot because they hold heat for a while?

 

[JaceSpace1369]

@JaceSpace1369 Interesting. The older NV unit I was using didn’t have high resolution and isn’t something I’d have used for a day scope. Thanks for sharing your experiences there.

Back to this termal topic. Are you implying that you can spot iguanas through dense foliage using thermal scopes/scanners? Or are you simply saying they aren’t difficult to spot because they hold heat for a while?

From what I have seen other guys using the same or similar set ups as what I will be receiving iguanas show up very well in the day light and because of well they retain their heat at night they can also be easily spotted.

 

[Hal4son]

@Hal4son I was asking about night vision because Edventure mentioned night vision and thermal.

Sorry. I use one of my NV scopes primarily during the day. The Pulsar C50 is on my most used airgun and it's normal day is shooting starlings out to 40 yards and crows out to about 75. When I set up I use a handheld rangefinder to mark the likely perches. The sight in on the Maverick allows for no holdover/under at starling distances and the long crows just get the X at the top of the head with the body inside the 30 MOA reticle.

At those airgun distances the C50 doesn't give up anything to a normal day optic and I feel the PIP feature is a big plus. It allows a large FOV for quick target acquisition with good magnification for shot placement (PIP). The other perk is ease of recording video. I will readily admit that once shots get out past 100 the digital scopes are lacking compared to a decent glass optic. That Pulsar C50/Maverick combo accounted for a dozen crows Sunday morning before switching over to the shotgun. Ended the morning with 52 on the ground.

The PARD NightStalker 4k lives on a 223. It is mostly used for positive i.d. at night of possum/raccoon/cat sized critters but it sees semi regular use during the day. Admittedly I prefer a 22-250 with a Bushnell 4200 6-24 for day use. That Bushnell was my primary night scope with a Sniper Hog Light for years before turning to digital NV and then thermal.

ETA @Ezana4CE which old NV scope are you using that doesn't have a day or low light mode?

 

[Ezana4CE]

Sorry. I use one of my NV scopes primarily during the day. The Pulsar C50 is on my most used airgun and it's normal day is shooting starlings out to 40 yards and crows out to about 75...
At those airgun distances the C50 doesn't give up anything to a normal day optic and I feel the PIP feature is a big plus. It allows a large FOV for quick target acquisition with good magnification for shot placement (PIP). The other perk is ease of recording video. I will readily admit that once shots get out past 100 the digital scopes are lacking compared to a decent glass optic. That Pulsar C50/Maverick combo accounted for a dozen crows Sunday morning before switching over to the shotgun. Ended the morning with 52 on the ground…

ETA @Ezana4CE which old NV scope are you using that doesn't have a day or low light mode?

@Hal4son I was referring to a Pard NV007a.

 

[Hal4son]

@JaceSpace1369 You are going to love thermal. I've grown to prefer the sight picture of thermal over glass optics or NV. When it's a business expense it doesn't make sense to not have a thermal or three in the arsenal.

@Ezana4CE That 007 makes sense since it's normal use is in conjunction with a glass optic. I have no experience with the 007 models. In PARD I jumped right into the 008 line (both with LRF) and then waited for the 4k Nightstalker to be released. I would buy a second NightStalker if they came out with a low magnification/high FOV model. It's a fantastic scope that easily outperforms the C50 at longer distances and at night.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Hal4son I just caught this. The NV007a has day and night mode (color and black and white). However, the resolution on day or night mode is very grainy in low ambient light. When it’s dark and using an IR torch or the integrated IR the picture is pretty good.

 

[Hal4son]

@JaceSpace1369 When looking up into trees with thermal it helps if you don't get a bunch of sky in the frame. The thermal is averaging the heat and it'll wash out the image.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

@JaceSpace1369 When looking up into trees with thermal it helps if you don't get a bunch of sky in the frame. The thermal is averaging the heat and it'll wash out the image.

Thanks for the tip. I've actually experienced this with night vision in the daylight, do you know why this would be? Mostly with the 4k sightmark

@JaceSpace1369 You are going to love thermal. I've grown to prefer the sight picture of thermal over glass optics or NV. When it's a business expense it doesn't make sense to not have a thermal or three in the arsenal.

@Ezana4CE That 007 makes sense since it's normal use is in conjunction with a glass optic. I have no experience with the 007 models. In PARD I jumped right into the 008 line (both with LRF) and then waited for the 4k Nightstalker to be released. I would buy a second NightStalker if they came out with a low magnification/high FOV model. It's a fantastic scope that easily outperforms the C50 at longer distances and at night.

I am very much positive that I will be loving it as well! I've only been bringing up this idea for the past year and a half lol.

 

[Hal4son]

Thanks for the tip. I've actually experienced this with night vision in the daylight, do you know why this would be? Mostly with the 4k sightmark

Thermal is showing the difference between the average temperatures in the frame. When looking into the sky it's showing a greater temperature difference which mutes the hard surfaces in the frame as they are more similar in heat than the sky background. You'll see it to a lesser extent when large animals come into the frame your background will adjust.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

Thermal is showing the difference between the average temperatures in the frame. When looking into the sky it's showing a greater temperature difference which mutes the hard surfaces in the frame as they are more similar in heat than the sky background. You'll see it to a lesser extent when large animals come into the frame your background will adjust.

Oh I get that with thermal, that makes sense. I just don't understand why it does it in Night mode. But I take it that it works almost the same way

 

[Hal4son]

@JaceSpace1369 Your digital NV is sensing the available light and making internal adjustments. The NV scope/camera is making adjustments based on what it perceives it needs in available light. If these devices were more similar to an old manual film camera you'd be making those adjustments manually by opening and closing the aperature (F-stop). That is why it's tough to compare different ir lightsources. The software in the scope adjusts according to it's perceived needs.

Looking through the Nightstalker, it has a slight change when running up the tree line into the sky but it is minimal. IMO the PARD Nightstalker would be the perfect NV airgun scope if it came in a 2x base magnification with maximum FOV. It's light weight, has a ballistic calculator and the image is crisp even at higher digital magnification. What it really lacks is FOV at close range.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

@JaceSpace1369 Your digital NV is sensing the available light and making internal adjustments. The NV scope/camera is making adjustments based on what it perceives it needs in available light. If these devices were more similar to an old manual film camera you'd be making those adjustments manually by opening and closing the aperature (F-stop). That is why it's tough to compare different ir lightsources. The software in the scope adjusts according to it's perceived needs.

Looking through the Nightstalker, it has a slight change when running up the tree line into the sky but it is minimal. IMO the PARD Nightstalker would be the perfect NV airgun scope if it came in a 2x base magnification with maximum FOV. It's light weight, has a ballistic calculator and the image is crisp even at higher digital magnification. What it really lacks is FOV at close range.

That's one of the other things that put me off on the thermnight. I don't mind 3-12 on the thermal, but 5x starting on the day and night, is too narrow for me.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

@JaceSpace1369 Your digital NV is sensing the available light and making internal adjustments. The NV scope/camera is making adjustments based on what it perceives it needs in available light. If these devices were more similar to an old manual film camera you'd be making those adjustments manually by opening and closing the aperature (F-stop). That is why it's tough to compare different ir lightsources. The software in the scope adjusts according to it's perceived needs.

Looking through the Nightstalker, it has a slight change when running up the tree line into the sky but it is minimal. IMO the PARD Nightstalker would be the perfect NV airgun scope if it came in a 2x base magnification with maximum FOV. It's light weight, has a ballistic calculator and the image is crisp even at higher digital magnification. What it really lacks is FOV at close range.

Yeah I definitely love this little monocular! I will hopefully get it figured all out (pictures/videos) by tomorrow and post some content.