Best value night vision scope deals

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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by xDom » 15 Aug 2019, 12:06 pm

If you’re only going to be shooting out to 150m, I wouldn’t worry about any of those magnification comments.
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Re: Best value thermal scope deals

Post by xDom » 17 Aug 2019, 9:52 am

Blr243 wrote:Pulsar accolade xp50 are my binos. I have heard before that nv is better for identification but I just can’t get any use out of mine ......it’s a pulsar 355 with after market wolf eyes Ir torch ...at what distance can u identity and take a clear shot with your nv clip on ?

I’ve been watching some YouTube video of the Accolade. Impressive.
What model is your thermal scope?
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 17 Aug 2019, 12:41 pm

Scope is an xp50 pulsar. I think it has the same specs as the binos I bought the scope first and I scanned for game with it too but it was too uncomfortable raising the rifle and swinging it. I found that I would miss opportunities because I was not scanning enough. I had planned to keep the binos in a proper pouch on my chest to protect them but when walking at night it’s too hard taking them out of the pouch all the time so now they just hang on my neck and it’s easy to scan whenever I want. Daytime walking you are always looking 100 per cent of the time but walking in the dark you are really only effectively scanning when your binos are up in front of your eyes. Otherwise you are not seeing jack all. So u really gotta be scanning with those binos all the time to ensure your not missing opportunities
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 17 Aug 2019, 12:44 pm

The pulsar nv 355 riflescope and the thermal binos and the thermal scope all take exactly the same battery and that is an absolute godsend. I carry spare batts just in case. And I leave all units turned on all the time. They give very good battery life and I have never ran out on a walk
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 17 Aug 2019, 12:46 pm

I’ll be taking this gear back to my favourite spot roughly one week from now. Can’t wait. Going nuts. Nothing else matters
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by xDom » 17 Aug 2019, 1:05 pm

Blr243 wrote: Can’t wait. Going nuts. Nothing else matters



LOL.. good onya.

Did you do much research before buying the binoculars? Did you try out the Pulsar xp38’s at all?
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by olly_2001 » 18 Aug 2019, 4:33 pm

Enjoying the chat folks
Another factor worth mentioning perhaps is the falling Aussie dollar. All this tech is generally from the USA. It could all be going up 10% at this rate. I’m heading there ina couple of months and fancied bringing me back a Gen 3 ..... er no .. import license required which is sad as it’s about 1/3 of the price.
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by olly_2001 » 18 Aug 2019, 4:46 pm

[quote="Blr243"]Scope is an xp50 pulsar. I think it has the same specs as the binos

This scope has great reviews , can you please give me your thoughts? Am close to getting one
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by bigpete » 18 Aug 2019, 7:09 pm

Took the pard nv007 out again last night for another 7 bunnies. Excellent attachment
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by ramshackle » 18 Aug 2019, 8:51 pm

On my wishlist right now
Pard NV007 ($550)
OR
Pard NV008 ($850-$950)

Thermal Tracking scope (Leupold Tracker or Quest $1500 - $1950)
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 18 Aug 2019, 10:02 pm

Olly . My thoughts are make sure u spend up big no matter how much it hurts ..... because taking a cheapie in the paddock won’t work
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 18 Aug 2019, 10:08 pm

Xdom. I got a bit confused when I had to choose between an xp50 scope and the xp 38 version. ( if I remember correctly the former was a couple of grand dearer ) So I just asked the salesman “ if your boss was going to give u one for a present which one would u want ? “ immediately he said the xp 50 so that’s what I bought ....next week when I’m back in the paddocks I will post some thermal pics of pig mobs
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by xDom » 18 Sep 2019, 7:08 pm

BLR, how do you find your thermal binoculars in the day and the warmer weather.?

On my last trip, I was scanning for rabbits on a rocky hill in the afternoon. The sun had been hitting the rocks all day and there was a lot of warmth in them. In these conditions the thermal was near on useless.
In other conditions it’s simply outstanding, just not in the situation before.
Is this a characteristic of thermals in general or is it a limitation of my entry level model?
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 18 Sep 2019, 8:46 pm

I remember one arvo in real rocky country ( Carnarvon gorge type thingy ) in warmer weather. After the sun had set I could see about a million white rocks so it would have been near impossible to see a pig unless it was moving and big. Then someone from this site recommended I look into the settings / modes. I think mine has a rocks mode so that helps a lot .....if I’m correct , in normal mode it reads heat from the lowest to the highest and the highest is usually a red blooded active animal. in rocks mode the unit tends to display only the heat sources that are way above and beyond most of the surrounding lifeless heat sources , so that’s when it helps to identify a pig amongst a million warm rocks ,,,,,,, something like that , I’m pretty big on practising and adjusting my gear all the time on things I don’t shoot like Roos in actual hunting situations. Eg contrast and brightness settings....inside 200 metres a pig is a pig and a roo is a roo but at 1500 metres I don’t want to do a big walk when I’m tired only to find out that heat source was a roo.....so after many months I’m still constantly learning how to use this new gear and attempting to get the best out of it eg due to good insulating fur Roos in winter at night look off white but a pig in winter covered with sparse hairs looks glowing white because u really can see it’s heat well. These things I notice beyond 1000 metres but between 500 and 1000 metres I’m looking for thin vertical shapes as Roos And horizontal rectangular blobs I think will probably be pigs. There different behaviour / movements I study very closely too. It helps me determine if I need to do that long walk across the paddock. The numbers eg 1 4 A dozen , thirty animals It all tells me stuff ,,,,Roos and pigs all behave diffently depending on how many are in their group at the time. After a while I see, nervousness, relaxation, hesitation, erratic behaviour too. I’m always on foot i the middle of the paddock in the dark but there are people shooting these paddocks that just spotlight from the perimeter. Because the paddocks are so big some of the pigs have worked out that the parts of the paddocks that are most dangerous are the edges. They feel safe in the middle because they are nearly 2 k from the spotlighters They also see lots of dead pigs around the edges within rifle range of the perimeter......I know this because sometimes I see big old boars as they enter the paddock after dark they are running flat out till they hit the middle of the paddock then they slow down , relax and start feeding. Then I go get them. Seven more days before I get back out there. I’m counting down ,
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Stix » 19 Sep 2019, 6:11 am

xDom wrote:BLR, how do you find your thermal binoculars in the day and the warmer weather.?

On my last trip, I was scanning for rabbits on a rocky hill in the afternoon. The sun had been hitting the rocks all day and there was a lot of warmth in them. In these conditions the thermal was near on useless.
In other conditions it’s simply outstanding, just not in the situation before.
Is this a characteristic of thermals in general or is it a limitation of my entry level model?

Gees xDom...
Seeing this thread rise to the top again, i had to look & see if our mate had returned for another bout of telling you how good your Pard is at sending you blind... :shock:

I was reaching into my pockets ready to shell out for gold seats, but it seems i get to put that cash towards something else... :clap:
:drinks:
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by bigpete » 19 Sep 2019, 10:42 am

Lol, you and me both Stix
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by xDom » 19 Sep 2019, 11:52 am

Thanks BLR. I don't have any modes that can be changed with varying conditions but there is a "gain" setting. I think this is typical in electronics, its an amplification of the signal. Im gonna try stuffing around with that.

I don't know if you guys have seen the UK Night Vision forum.? A sleepy little forum where I doubt the mods had ever had to step in at all... Until Ram cam along! Ha! didn't make too many friends over there!
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 19 Sep 2019, 3:36 pm

I don’t read much into the forum arguments , I just work , hunt , play guitar and piano and take Deisel to the dog park .....I would like to have a good thermal drone within 6 months
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by xDom » 19 Sep 2019, 7:22 pm

Blr243 wrote:I don’t read much into the forum arguments , I just work , hunt , play guitar and piano and take Deisel to the dog park .....I would like to have a good thermal drone within 6 months


What sort of piano do you play?
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Blr243 » 19 Sep 2019, 9:12 pm

I have an old beat up European walnut thing that weighs about fifteen tons but it’s out of tune now for a long time and is more of a piece of furniture now .....so I just use a cheap electric keyboard. Ballads , mucking around for myself , terrible technique , no lessons , I just play because I get real good floods of dopamine , I’ll never need drugs because I can get so high naturally just with musical notes , and it’s free !
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Elite_Sniper » 07 Oct 2019, 1:23 pm

I know you just mentioned thermal but do you already have any night vision gear?

If not, I would highly recommend you get a combination of gear instead of one piece that takes your full budget.

For $8k you could get a decent setup that’s more well rounded for the full hunting trip, not just the shooting. Something like a pvs14 for navigation ($3k), a handheld thermal for spotting ($2k) and a rifle mounted thermal for shooting ($3k).

And with a combination of tools like that you get a lot more options on how to hunt particular games and conditions.
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Re: Best value thermal scope deals

Post by markdonald » 08 Nov 2023, 7:51 pm

ramshackle wrote:My impression is that the cheapest way of getting into thermal is to combine a thermal monocular (such as the $1000 Flir or $1200 Leupold below), which is much cheaper than a thermal rifle scope, and a Gen 2 or Gen 3 IR scope. Correct me if I am wrong.
Image
Image

Note: bear in mind I am a max. 150 metres rimfire shooter.

Also, is there such a thing as an entry level thermal scope? I'm seeing a lot of scopes that do everything for you except pull the trigger. I don't want to take pictures or movies, have a GPS reading, a wifi, a rangefinder, a picture-in-picture, etc. :wtf:

Hello.I am looking to acquire a good but not bank smashing scope for night work in the not to distant future. Or is there an add on available that is workable I guess is the other logical question ? I’ve heard some suggest thermal over night vision but I have very little experience with either (in scope form). In an ideal world it would be something I could potentially swap across rifles as I’m looking to do my fac and get some higher powered units to play with down the line. Currently using a bsa r10se carbine. Any suggestions ? Pro’s / con’s etc etc ? Any features to particularly look for? I understand some have built in range finders ? If so that would be a great thing to have imo.. Thanks in advance,
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Shannon » 16 Nov 2023, 8:28 pm

I've been looking at the Pard DS35. Its a day/night (NV) scope. has laser rangefinder and a ballistic calculator. from memory you can save 4 different bullets, so in theory you could swap it between 4 different rifles as long as you always use the same bullet in each rifle. or 1 rifle, 4 different bullets. after you rangefind, it will show you where to aim based off the bullet you are using. it will record to SD card, even has setting for auto record when it feels recoil it record a few seconds before and after the shot. looks good for around $1800-$1900. from what I understand (limited) thermal is AWESOME for finding target, night vision is better for identifying target. maybe a cheap thermal monocular for finding and NV for shooting.
Oh, the Pard also has the screen as a circle so its more like a traditional scope rather than looking at a square/rectangle screen.

hope this helps
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Re: Best value thermal scope deals

Post by Larry » 18 Nov 2023, 7:31 am

Stix wrote:
Blr243 wrote:Snakes are another problem walking in the dark. Die to the lack of colour in my thermal scope a fox at a distance is close to the same shape as a kelpie I deal with that by ensuring working dogs are kept strictly close to home base and I only shoot a hell of a long way from home base


Yep...
Every farm i shoot on i ask the farmer--"what about dogs...?..."

I dont shoot on land where dogs arent either locked up, or around the house...

I dont want to shoot anyones dog, but all farmers want me to shoot foxes if i see them around the house &/or yard...

We come to an agreement that i take all care & no responsibility, but i always back out of it...during summer through to Easter earlier in the year ive come accross 3 fox looking creatures close or close-ish to houses & backed out of the shot every time only to have the farmer tell me next day that it had to be a fox as they locked dogs up just in case...ah well... :unknown:

I rather take the thought "ill get him next time" than have what id imagine to be god awful feeling of having to pick up the farmers dog...

Better to be safe than sorry & always have that discussion.
:drinks:


Thats a good policy Stix even though farmers can be very detached and pragmatic towards their animals. Dogs are different they are part of the family and loosing one can be devastating. I would just about bet my life that someone else has taken their own life because of the loss of a dog. They really cant be replaced. But there is always tomorrow. /next time when you can be sure.
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Larry » 18 Nov 2023, 7:35 am

To the OP if you are willing to take a chance once you pick a model have a look on Aliexpress for one that looks identical to the one you chose or a higher spec unit they are so much cheaper there I have always had good experiences dont think I have had anything that has been such poor quality that I have regretted spending the money even if I latter purchased a better unit. The first one was always worth getting its a step on the journey worth taking.
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by niteowl » 18 Nov 2023, 9:39 am

Interesting subject. I / we use nothing but GSCI thermal scopes and binos as well as monoculars. Yes, they are a bit expensive but they are genuine professional products.
Due to the fact that we are doing contract work for the Govt. we need to have reliable gear that really works, not some Chinese consumer product.
It is easy to ID a fox at over 400 m compared to a dog. OK at that end of the range you can see the difference in the way it moves. Back at 300 no question, fox.
Even with a 3 X scope you can see cows at 2000 m across a valley, and tell they are cows not horses.

PS DO NOT RELY ON QUOTED SPECS. In a LARGE number of brands they are complete and utter BS.
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Billo » 18 Nov 2023, 7:24 pm

niteowl do you know who's lenses and sensors GSCI use ? I also noticed they don't share much of the sensors specs, whats that about ?

Some of the lens sizes are huge, would certainly help with ID'ing critters
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by niteowl » 19 Nov 2023, 11:31 am

Billo wrote:niteowl do you know who's lenses and sensors GSCI use ? I also noticed they don't share much of the sensors specs, whats that about ?

Some of the lens sizes are huge, would certainly help with ID'ing critters


BE AWARE THIS WILL BE LONG AND BORING

A huge lens is not completely necessary for good ID.

A couple of things here, lenses and sensors are European as GSCI has Govt regulations governing as to where their parts may come from. ( Not Chinese )
Now you mention not much info, have you looked at the "Australian" site? GSCI do not put a lot of detail on their site as they want their distributors to pass on the info and brochures. These have a lot of detail in them.

Re the big lenses, the focal length governs the magnification, whereas the f Number governs the lens speed and overall system sensitivity.
With the older TWS series the lenses were all f1.0 up to 100 mm focal length then f1.1. this means that a TWS 675 has a 75 mm long and 75 mm diameter lens. Yes they are bulky devices, the 6100 has obviously a 100 mm long lens and 90.9 mm diameter. Very big.
But now things need to be considered here, the 75 has 3 X magnification regardless of lens speed the ID is very good. Lens speed will make virtually no noticeable difference to the user (If any at all). Lens diameter (f No) does NOT alter the Field of View, only the focal length / magnification changes that.

Now the Ti series and the new TWS series use an f1.3 lens that is a good compromise of sensitivity and physical size. (Except the 50 mm model with an f1.0 lens). A problem with the faster lens is cost, as the lens is a MAJOR cost of the device and speed (f No) does not provide any noticeable benefit within reason, don't expect an f4.0 to be unnoticeable. Another point is that a faster lens becomes more susceptible to recoil !! GSCI will withstand up to 50 Cal. and machine guns.

When you get to say 12 micron sensors, be wary as they are physically smaller even with the same number of pixels and therefore will provide a magnification increase of 1.4 X with any lens length, and the image viewed will be exactly the same as on at the same magnification with the next longer lens at a higher price. When you have large 12 micron sensors that are the same physical size as an equivalent 17 micron one, the magnification will be the same, but at a substantially higher price. They do have the magnification benefit with the shorter and therefore cheaper length lens though.

Now this is where the "advertised" sensitivity of dodgy manufacturers mislead the user with ridiculous figures ! All tests should be carried out on a heated target of 30 degrees C with an f1.0 lens. This is because you are looking at the temp. difference between the target and the sensor. So, if you use a target of 40, 50 or even 60 degrees you get a lower and "better" figure with the same sensor.
This is where cryogenically cooled sensors come up with such low figures.
Some just give figure as they know it will impress the punters and they also know the punter will not see the difference anyway and have no way of actually testing it.
There is so many variables in the atmosphere that alter the users results. Even on the same night when looking in various directions, especially in hilly country that has "dry" areas and "wet' areas with differing humidity where ever you turn.

Now there are things like gain control if fitted in the device. This will enhance the image to a degree until you get to an image that will give you a headache from the stark image and no actual improvement. At the same time you enhance the all atmospheric crap in the air.
Brightness is often used to try to make the image look like day time but does not help with detection or image quality. Lower brightness settings are more beneficial.

At the end of all this, if anyone is still reading (Oh get a life) I / we almost exclusively use 75 mm 640 x 480 17 micron devices and can ID cattle at 2000 metres from horses at 3 X magnification.
I have a 100 mm 640x 480 17 micron Ti that I used a couple of times to show people, but have never used it on a firearm.
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by Billo » 19 Nov 2023, 2:42 pm

Thanks for taking the time explaining, and yes I didn't check the Aussie sight first, will do that now.

I do get what you saying about IDing animals at a great distances, a property I've been hunting is wombat city and its easy to look at something 4-500m away and struggle to see if it has a snout.
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Re: Best value night vision scope deals

Post by wanneroo » 20 Nov 2023, 2:17 am

There are a lot of advances being made in night optic technology.

The US military is moving to blended analog/thermal scopes and optics.

Holosun apparently is coming out with an "affordable" thermal and analog scope here soon.

I think you will see some changes and upgrades in technology coming down the pike.

A lot of potential with digital night vision but it's a battery hog and that is the big issue with it.
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