Night Vision - IR, Thermal or Digital

What are most folks using for NV today. Seems like most of the talk here is on thermal or digital NV. I know I'm old, but I've been using IR and have two PVS-4's with 3rd gen tubes and one PVS-14 3rd gen. Then again with so much money invested in IR tech, kind of hard to go to something new.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr. PoppadopalisDave,
If it isn’t broke? Don’t fix it!

Dave, just because it's not broken, certainly doesn't mean you can't make it better
wink.gif
 
I have an old TNVC torch that I will occasionally pull out, but honestly since I went to thermal I very seldom touch my PVS-14.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful
 
If he does any walking to get to his hunting spot, the PVS14 will still serve a purpose. Thermal isn't the best for navigating.
 
I've been looking into night vision for a little while. I'm leaning towards a Pvs 14 but I have no hands on experience with one, I can't use it for hunting in MN yet but if the laws change I certainly want to use it.

For the most part it will be used for traveling around as a head mount but I want to be able to shoot with it also, ether scope mounted or lazer on the gun.

For night hunting, just how good is night vision? I have some experience scanning and shooting with an old warn out gen 3 rifle scope my buddy had but it wasn't impressive, an old military buddy said that unit wasnt even close to the military ones he used.

So, for night hunting and scanning does a decent IR light help light up eyeballs enough to be any where near comparable to thermals?
 

I have been down this road. Gen 1 NV......Digital NV.... Gen 3 NV (PVS14)..... and now I own 3 thermal units.

I did the PVS14 gun mounted with a 3x magnifier and also the helmet mount configuration with an IR laser.

Thermal is the way to go. If it has a heartbeat you will see it.

The only time I would recommend Gen 3 NV is for positive ID if you are coyote hunting in an area with a lot of domestic dogs around. Even then you would still be more successful with a thermal scanner for detection.

PVS14 behind a scope.
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PVS14 with a 3x magnifier behind an Eotech with IR laser.
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I've had no problem identifying differences with IR nv between coyotes and fox up to 180 plus yards, or watching a buck feed at night through the woods at 600 yards. Up to 100 140 yards I can count points on a buck's rack.
 
Originally Posted By: wachtelhund1I've had no problem identifying differences with IR nv between coyotes and fox up to 180 plus yards, or watching a buck feed at night through the woods at 600 yards. Up to 100 140 yards I can count points on a buck's rack.

My point exactly Dave.

If you need absolute positive ID then Gen 3 NV is your choice. If you want to see EVERYTHING that has a pulse in the woods at night go with thermal. There is a bit of an art to learning go differentiate different critters with thermal. Experience plays a big role as does the quality of the thermal you use. A 640 core with a 12 micron pitch is the top of the heap right now.
 
How is it shooting with head mounted NV and an IR laser on the gun?... and speaking of IR lasers I see you can spend between $500 and $5000 at least. What are the differences between to cheap units and spendy?
 
Hi folks,

I'm an amateur hunter and i have no experience in night hunting, unfortunately. Next month we are going to hunt with my wife's family, and i want you to recommend me good thermal monocular. I feel great potential in night hunting, so i'd like to have a good device. I tend to choose pulsar, because i reckon that it's a cross between quality and price. Am i right? ATN is quiet expensive brand.

I like Pulsar Helion, what do would you say about this one? It's expensive too, but i consider this option. There is little info about it, i'll be grateful for comments.
Any suggestions? All feedbacks are welcome!

This forum was advised me by one guy from wapititalk.com, so i'm here. If we compare Pulsar Axion and Pulsar Helion, we can see that Helion
has better resolution, twice-better zoom, and capacity of batteries.
On the other hand, Helion costs about $4000 and Axion costs $1500-2000 at the same time. Does Helion worth it in my case? I'm just amateur, maybe Axion will be able to satisfy all my demand?
 
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