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Are Budget Thermal Monoculars Any Good?

C

Chorleyboy

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Hi folks,
I've 2 ratting perms. I use an NV add on for my shooting which works great but am finding it a bit of a ball ache having to scan around to locate the rats with my rifle.
A mate does a fair bit of deer stalking & foxing & lent me his thermal monocular last time out.
Wow! What a game changer being able to see them with the thermal which made locating them & shooting them a relative doddle.
His thermal is a 2 & a half grand piece of kit so way out of my budget so-
As i only need a thermal spotter for closish range ratting (25yds max & usually a lot less) would something sub £500 like the GTguard Ai15 or Hikmicro Lynx Le10s be upto the job or are cheaper thermal spotters a waste of time?
Any suggestions & input much appreciated.
Rick😜
 
I used an LE10 very successfully for rabbits and rats. The resolution is low-ish but it certainly finds targets for you, even if you sometimes have to get a bit closer to work out what they are :D

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The biggest issue for me was the low screen refresh rate (25 Hz) - this meant that the image blurred if you were (say) scanning along a hedgeline - something I do a lot. Basically you had to pan a bit - stop for the image to sharpen - then pan again. Otherwise you could easily miss something. Much less of an issue with rats though.

Eventually I upgraded to an LH15 which has higher resolution and double the refresh rate (50 Hz). My LE10 sold very quickly & easily to help pay for it. A key thing for me is being able to use a spotter single-handed (I hold the rifle in one hand and spotter in the other) - that ruled out the 19mm and above ones which have to be focused.
 
As far as thermals go, a budget thermal is still way better than no thermal. But a slightly higher end one does make the world of difference.

Plenty to choose from and don't forget the second hand market, they can be picked up for good prices. I'm a hikmicro and pixfra fan myself. Good solid units at respectable prices, decent "bang for your buck" if you will.
 
Infiray t2pro cheap and excellent bit of kit will wipe the floor with anything in the same price range 👍, sharp clear image not blobs, detect heat sources couple hundred yards away and its on a screen not peeping through a monocular so you can tripod mount it and not have to keep it to your eye, believe it has a 13mm lens so its nearer 15mm lens quality than 10mm and it shows 😁... Below horse circa 70 yards away and the houses about 500-600 yards away... didn't adjust focus for either views so would be sharper again if i actually focused it
 

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Welcome to the Dark World!

It truly is a case of try it once and it's instant addiction and after you purchase your only regret will be why didn't you do it sooner.

As many have already said these days there is plenty of choice for anyone with a budget of £500 or less, personally I would say you could probably pick up a very good condition second or third hand unit for less than that. Most people that buy thermal units tend to look after them very well and only sell to upgrade.

Ian from Blackwood or Bruce/Mealie Jimmy an independent expert are the two people I would trust 100% to recommend a particular unit.
 
I use a Lynx 6mm and yes I suppose the performance is quite limited compared to some of the more expensive models. Bearing in mind I shoot rats close range ( less than.30 yards ) all things considered its adequate for my needs. I wouldn't be without it now, have spotted some objects on my NV and without the thermal I would have dismissed them as static shapes the thermal confirmed they were rats. If I was out looking for a new thermal I would buy the best I could afford at the time, I kind of dipped my toes in with the Lynx 6mm. Believe everything people say about thermal spotters they are a game changer.
 
I recently bought a thermnight 225 .
What a game changer !
For Airgun ranges it’s more than adequate.
Thermal , day vision, night vision, laser range finder , ballistic reticle the list goes on .
 
I had an LE10 and at 12m that wasn't detecting rats that my £60 trail camera was showing clear as day
 
Lynx 6mm, wouldn't bother with
Lynx 10mm, if only wanted for your distances but you never know when something comes up that bigger is needed.
Lynx 15mm definitely worth saving a few more penny's for, l had the Lynx 10mm found it to small not enough detail or distance sold it and bought a Lynx19mm, found the fov on that to small for close up ratting so sold that and bought a 15mm that my friend is the best of both worlds, and if l got to a permission and found l had left it at home l wouldn't even take my rifle out, l would just go home.
👍
 
Stafkoi said:
Lynx 6mm, wouldn't bother with
Lynx 10mm, if only wanted for your distances but you never know when something comes up that bigger is needed.
Lynx 15mm definitely worth saving a few more penny's for, l had the Lynx 10mm found it to small not enough detail or distance sold it and bought a Lynx19mm, found the fov on that to small for close up ratting so sold that and bought a 15mm that my friend is the best of both worlds, and if l got to a permission and found l had left it at home l wouldn't even take my rifle out, l would just go home.
👍
Click to expand...
Cheers for that info regarding lens size & fov mate.
Rick😜
 
To mirror most of the comments.
The E sensors on the Hik range are lower resolution and slower refresh rate, H is the next one up and well worth it if you can.
Don't go too high on the lens, narrow on the field of view, having a great sharp, fast spotter is less useful if you are pointing beside the quarry.
15, although I've not had one, seems about right for rats.
The 19 does need focusing, but remember an out of focus 384 pix image (within reason), is probably no worse than a lower resolution device, but you still have the higher frame rate.
I've got a 19mm Early Lynx, and used it extensively for rats, it does need a bit of panning around, where the 15 would be slightly less movement.

Thermal has extra information NV cannot show, rats hidden under metal will heat the area, rats droppings glow for a while, event small holes allow the heat signature to escape.
Heat will also reflect off surfaces you may not expect, once we have got used to looking in the thermal realm, seeing round corners, and under surfaces, is common.

I've also got a Hik Gryphon GQ50L (secondhand, off here)
Drawbacks, higher battery use, narrow field of view, (relatively) big cumbersome thing, compared to the Lynx, but still good for spotting squirrels at 100m+
So I've done the "Just a bit too much for rats" 19mm and the "90's camcorder" lump.
Both are great for some uses, but would probably be less use than a LH15 for rats.

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