Thermal is the new black!

[Tinbum]

Last week I got my first thermal scope, I was amazed how good it was! On Monday my unboxing and first look video aired, and it got a higher than usual response.
As a result I had zoom meeting (another first) with the manufacturer today and the are also sending me a day/night vision scope as well as a day/night/ir/thermal/lrf/teasmade!
After the call I had received an email from a company called oneleaf who are also sending me a thermal scope to test?
I haven’t had the heart to tell them I’m scared of the dark!

Until last week this wasn’t just a closed book to me, I didn’t even have a library card.

So here is what I want to know before I start making videos faster than a German couple with a glass-topped coffee table:

Do you use night vision? If so, are you thinking of swapping to thermal?
Do you use thermal? What do you like and dislike about it?
Do you use neither, but are tempted to take the plunge? What are your hopes and fears?

Thankyou

 

[OldStock]

I use NV and Thermal, sub 12 airgun.
I stockpiled various second hand night vision scopes.
Some of the good earlier ones weigh more than some guns.

The drawback of thermal for hunting (this could get awkward outside the hunting section) is lack of eyeshine, and harder identification.
If the subject is against a contrasting (temperature) background, and is fully visible, then it is fine, where thermal on its own falls down is an obscured subject, that does not show a full outline.
I've had to not take shots that would be fine on NV, when all I can see is part of a rat, where there could also be other animals.

The combined thermal / NV scopes are a great idea, and I even made a lash up of that before they came out.
Thermal, as it increases sensor resolution will help identification, but for many places, it cannot be the sole identification yet.
I can see them adding AI to fill in eyeshine or other details.

I've said this a few times, electronic scopes are made to mirror optical (eyepiece in line with objective) this is an unnecessary restriction, and limits design choices.
For example if you want a low scope height on a bullpup that is simple with an electronic image chain, but is not yet available.

 

[Tinbum]

I use NV and Thermal, sub 12 airgun.
I stockpiled various second hand night vision scopes.
Some of the good earlier ones weigh more than some guns.

The drawback of thermal for hunting (this could get awkward outside the hunting section) is lack of eyeshine, and harder identification.
If the subject is against a contrasting (temperature) background, and is fully visible, then it is fine, where thermal on its own falls down is an obscured subject, that does not show a full outline.
I've had to not take shots that would be fine on NV, when all I can see is part of a rat, where there could also be other animals.

The combined thermal / NV scopes are a great idea, and I even made a lash up of that before they came out.
Thermal, as it increases sensor resolution will help identification, but for many places, it cannot be the sole identification yet.
I can see them adding AI to fill in eyeshine or other details.

I've said this a few times, electronic scopes are made to mirror optical (eyepiece in line with objective) this is an unnecessary restriction, and limits design choices.
For example if you want a low scope height on a bullpup that is simple with an electronic image chain, but is not yet available.

Thankyou, some very good points there. I was watching three hares @120m a couple of nights ago. I could only ID them as I already knew they lived there, and by their behaviour. The giraffe was a whole lot easier!

 

[OldStock]

Yes I think giraffes would be fairly easy to distinguish from rats, mind you they did also have running ducks, and if the the duck was close and giraffe far away, then it could get awkward.

Being serious, some NV used in the day also falls down on colours, if we are using a subtle tone difference they might not have the pallet.

Electronic scopes could offer modular builds, for example if someone upgrades their thermal sensor (keeping the current display), then should be able to repurpose the lower resolution sensor on to a pan and tilt head that sits on top of the car (mag mount).

Or NV scopes should have the possibility to put a decent lens on for day use E.G. micro 4/3rds or micro mirrorless

 

[Sparkshot]

Last week I got my first thermal scope, I was amazed how good it was! On Monday my unboxing and first look video aired, and it got a higher than usual response.
As a result I had zoom meeting (another first) with the manufacturer today and the are also sending me a day/night vision scope as well as a day/night/ir/thermal/lrf/teasmade!
After the call I had received an email from a company called oneleaf who are also sending me a thermal scope to test?
I haven’t had the heart to tell them I’m scared of the dark!

Until last week this wasn’t just a closed book to me, I didn’t even have a library card.

So here is what I want to know before I start making videos faster than a German couple with a glass-topped coffee table:

Do you use night vision? If so, are you thinking of swapping to thermal?
Do you use thermal? What do you like and dislike about it?
Do you use neither, but are tempted to take the plunge? What are your hopes and fears?

Thankyou

Was it you getting hypotermia in Whitby?

I could never have envisaged a situation where I'd spend more money on a scope than the rifle cost but then I ended up blowing more than double my budget on a rifle only for the present-all-through-the-daytime rats to go solely nocturnal on me. So I bought a Zulus after reading loads about them and watching god knows how many YouTube videos, some much better than others. I don't regret doing so; not only has it enabled me to be 'active' when they are I've found it much easier to use than a traditional scope.

One drawback I have is peering through the scope, late at night takes a toll on my eyes, they close and I have nodded off, slumped over the rifle. I thought about the Thermnight but figured I'd still have to peer through that . Therefore. after loads more reading, video watching and asking loads of questions, I decided I was better off keeping the Zulus and getting a separate thermal spotter, the HikMicro Lynx 10mm version. It's one step up from their entry level model and I read all the arguments re: bigger sensors giving a clear image, something that ordinarily would be a key consideration for me. But then so is my budget constraints which have been seriously stretched already. Besides, plan was to link it to a tablet to serve as an early warning to them making an appearance, after which I could revert to the scope for target acquisition. The spotter arrived a few hours ago and in no time I had it hooked up to the tablet and lawn-tested. Yes, image quality isn't fantastic but perfectly adequate to detect any sign of life, in this instance sparrows and blackbirds. If it can pick out a sparrow in daytime then I'm sure it will see a rat in the night. It costs almost as much as the now reduced Zulus but I can't put a price on eyesight, especially my own! It's solidly constructed without weighing a ton, comes fitted with a handstrap and thread for tripod mounting and the most sensibly sized USB-C cable I've seen; can see that getting far more use than the functional rather than fancy pouch that's also supplied. Probably works out cheaper than selling the Zulus and buying a Thermnight - I don't get them sent to me!

 

[JoeHeugh]

Do you use night vision? If so, are you thinking of swapping to thermal?
Do you use thermal? What do you like and dislike about it?

We are in a kind of transitional phase at the moment so I think many of us use NV scopes complemented with a thermal spotter but I guess that really counts as using NV. So I use a very old school NV scope and a Hikmicro spotter which gives me this:

One of the advantages of using both is the extra information for identifying targets and showing whether you have a clear shot / backstop, the disadvantage is that what stands out immediately in thermal can actually be quite hard to find through NV. As to whether I would change from an NV to a thermal scope that's a different question and frankly I am torn between the two. I think once you get to 640 resolution thermal is pretty hard to beat in the field and will be even more so as higher resolutions become "affordable". Next year I'll probably be in the market for something but will it be a £4k thermal scope or Gen 3 NV for the same cost? I really don't know. That said, I love the old school stuff, if I used digital NV it would be a no brainer.

Apart from the cost, what's not to like about thermal? Well lack of eyeshine perhaps and difficulty making out obstructions under poor thermal conditions, FCC shuttering but that's improving with shutterless types, drag and stutter although that happens with digital NV as well and lastly I'm not a fan of the inevitable march of image processing range finding movie making AI at your shoulder that does everything except pull the trigger! Oh, and you can't see through glass either although why anyone would want to do that I don't know...

Bet you enjoyed Whitby

 

[Varminter]

In my opinion thermal is best for spotting with a handheld monocular; it saves waving the gun around, NV better for shooting with.

 

[Tinbum]

In my opinion thermal is best for spotting with a handheld monocular; it saves waving the gun around, NV better for shooting with.

I am using this for spotting more than anything else. I have a Thermnight and Zulus on the way, and already think you are right!

 

[Sparkshot]

Past few nights, my trail cams have caught rats coming and going between 11pm and 4.30am, various cats and even a hedgehog. Knowing the thermal spotter was coming, the rats were granted an amnesty so there'd be some to field test the spotter with. Set everything up around 10pm and two hours the tablet run out of juice having seen nothing. Did pick out a couple flying insects. Was a wee bit breezy last night and rats don't appear to like windy weather. Also hammered down; I heard a comment in a pest controllers video saying he'd had a poor night which he attributed to the rain although his reasoning behind that was unclear. Could also have been the presence of cats, I suppose; they did appear to be paying particular attention to the areas the rats enter.

Oh well, everything (bar me!) fully recharged, try again tonight.

 

[Lon'gun]

Last week I got my first thermal scope, I was amazed how good it was! On Monday my unboxing and first look video aired, and it got a higher than usual response.
As a result I had zoom meeting (another first) with the manufacturer today and the are also sending me a day/night vision scope as well as a day/night/ir/thermal/lrf/teasmade!
After the call I had received an email from a company called oneleaf who are also sending me a thermal scope to test?
I haven’t had the heart to tell them I’m scared of the dark!

Until last week this wasn’t just a closed book to me, I didn’t even have a library card.

So here is what I want to know before I start making videos faster than a German couple with a glass-topped coffee table:

Do you use night vision? If so, are you thinking of swapping to thermal?
Do you use thermal? What do you like and dislike about it?
Do you use neither, but are tempted to take the plunge? What are your hopes and fears?

Thankyou

..faster than a German couple with a glass-topped coffee table

Quality!