I have been predator hunting for awhile now and have gone thru the equipment evolution from shooting stick to lights and...still moving forward like so many have done, many are doing, and many who have yet to go through the process will do. In any event, my question concerns night hunting optics. Let me say as others before me have said - yea I'd like to get the best that's out there and would if I could but my circumstances which include cost, times available for hunting, # of times I can hunt, and available hunting areas prohibit such a financial outlay for such luxuries. I started with sportsman guide red lights and battery packs. Upgraded to brand name lights (not much better). Graduated to a lightforce 180 ([beeep] bright - good visibility - [beeep] heavy battery - good light)! - Did I mention I hunt alone? Next went with the sniper hog lights headlight(red light) and sniperhog gun mounted light (red) sitting on top of my day scope. Love these lights. Next - bought a photon xt 4.5 power and sniperhog IR modules. So my current rig brings me to the photon with the sniperhog light (IR module) sitting on top for ID and shooting (works well as long as I keep the sniperhog light toned down). I still used the sniperhog headlight (red light) for scanning eyes. Then I began to test my old old old Tasco Gen 1 (gotta be 20 years old) NV monocular with the sniperhog gun light (IR) mounted to it and put a t20 IR on the gun. My 20 year old Tasco NV w/ 3x takes a few to turn on, the fish-eye effect is really bad, the view is very grainy/distorted but does pick up eyes from the IR bounce back a couple hundred yards out. So now I would like to upgrade again and was looking for a "very use-able" scanning device that will pick up eyes a good 250/300 yards away (not ID) that won't break the bank. The scanning device must be able to accept an external IR source for my IR flashlight. Was thinking that a newer gen 1 monocular for $250 or so would be an improvement over my "old" one but not sure how much of an improvement there would be if any or if it would be a waste of money giving me nothing netter than what I already have. I could also get another digital day/night scope to scan with which could also act as a spare should i need it but to the tune of $500+. In that case, I'd seriously have to consider putting those $'s toward a thermal scanning unit (saw a pulsar thermal xq23v for as low as $1440 delivered on ebay black friday sale woodbury outfitters).So, For scanning, I have concluded from what i have read so far that thermal units as capable as the xq23v would be able to "detect" heat signatures of coyote size critters out to 300+ yards. I can not see getting a NV scope that would cost that much or more to "detect" critters while scanning. Would love to have a gen 2/3 on the gun for id/shooting but will have to settle for my photon for now. So my question comes down to this - Are there any low cost devices gen 1/digital that would allow decent scanning for eyes for $200-$300 (remember I just need it for scanning for eyes). Anything much more than that and I'd rather wait for the pulsar unit to go on sale or drop in price and put my hard earned $'s toward that. then maybe in a few years and some price drops (hopefully) will be able to upgrade my gun scope to a gen 2/3. So anyone have any experiences with the newer cheap NV monocular that will fit the bill for spotting eyes 250/300 yards out?
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