night vision or thermal

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wileC

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I have read plenty but would still like some more direct advice. I am looking to hunt coyotes at night in the northeast hardwood forests. The shots wont be too long I would think 100 yards max. I don't need a ton of features, field of view is important. Under $800 would be nice. Thanks in advance
 
You only have one option in that price range and it will be NV. There are several NV scopes for less than 800, but not much less. If the woods are thick, you will suffer with NV as the IR light will give you "white out" as it reflects back to you off brush/trees. The more powerful IR you get, the worse it will be. Thermal is a much better choice for woods but you are looking at $2500.00 and up.
 
If you're stuck on that budget, the ATN 4K Pro has served and will continue to serve me well. Most shots are less than 100 and I have two lights on it so could shoot further if needed. Positive ID is critical for my hunting area and NV provides that whereas thermal maybe not. Like Weekender said, white out is an issue if you have a lot of trees in the way.
 
I bought the sightmark wraith digital night vision. The field of view absolutely sucks for close shots. It practically unusable in thick close in areas. The IR whites out pretty much everything in thickly covered areas. Its best used over open grassy areas with no trees or bushes. I would not buy it again. Going to sell it soon.
 
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I agree with what others have said about digital night vision. It whites out in vegetation like trees and tall grass. It works pretty good in open areas. Thermal is your friend in timber, but you need a wide field of view in close quarters. The Hogster 25 would probably serve you well. That’s well outside your price range though. I don’t know of any scope $800 or under that will work well in the terrain you hunt.
 

The Thor LT has a rather low resolution, but possibly could work OK on a budget and close range. What caught my attention more than anything is the base 3x magnification. I couldn’t find the degree of FOV but I imagine it is pretty narrow. Would be nice to examine one first hand, but that may be difficult to do.

Where I live we have wall to wall mountains, steep, timbered and thick. The couple of times I tried calling there with thermal, I found my Pulsar Apex XQ38 with the base magnification of 2.2x to be too narrow a FOV and not being able to see wide enough without having to pan back and forth to scan. It would be OK if I knew the direction a coyote or bobcat would approach from, which we know doesn’t work out. The scope works just fine in the open at my coyote bait site. Ideally a guy would have a wide angle thermal scanner in addition to a rifle scope. I have been wanting the Hogster 25 just for hunting the timbered areas here, but these toys don’t come cheap.

 
Originally Posted By: wileCOk well I guess I need to put in for an increase on the budget what about this. https://www.opticsplanet.com/atn-thor-lt-3-6x-thermal-rifle-scope.html

I read through the 40 or reveiws offered at the link you provided. One thing was consistant for those having the scope any lenght of time. They had issues with the screen getting scrambled from recoil. This required the scope to be powered off and back on to clear. Some were having the same issue with the scope on .22LR. I own and hunt with an ATN scope that had a lot of bad reveiws but has been excellent for me. The one time I needed customer service for a lost protector eye cup, (my fault), CS was excellent for me as well.
 
Originally Posted By: wileCOk well I guess I need to put in for an increase on the budget what about this. https://www.opticsplanet.com/atn-thor-lt-3-6x-thermal-rifle-scope.html In the world of thermal, the statement "You get, what you pay for" normally holds true. However, with the Hogster products from Bering, "You get more than you pay for."

The LT version on the ATN line I believe has the lowest quality specs of any thermal weapon's sight on that market at least for main brand name thermals. It is similar to the specs on the Flir Scout TK which is typically used for finding downed animals but I would not ever recommend for thermal coyote hunting.

In absolutely perfect conditions, something like this may work at close range. However, what happens if you have high humidity, etc. I am not trying to be a thermal "snob" but I don't want you to shoot something you were not intending to shoot.

I have used most of the low-mid range thermals on the market. The Hogster 25 is the lowest priced thermal I would recommend to be used and feel comfortable. This is about 2x the price of the LT, but it is so much more versatile.

In a similar price category to the Hogsters, I have also used the Flir PTS233 and Pulsar Core RXQ30. They really, really struggled in high humidity. They still would be a significant step up from the LT at 160x120 but after using these types of thermals over an extended period of time, I can not recommend them. I don't want to see anyone waste their money. Consider the Hogster 25 as the entry point to thermal if you wish to have a chance at some success.

On top of this, is the weapon sight. At these prices we are 2-3x over your original budget. Due to this, I am guessing you will be scanning with this scope as well. The 1.4x base mag of the Hogster 25 will work so much better for this than the 3x of the Thor LT you linked to.
 
Originally Posted By: Ernest49The Pulsar Axion xq38 could be a good thermal scanner. I think the images are great. But maybe for you American night hunters it has the 9.8 ° x7.4 ° FOV a little tight and the cost a little higher ($ 2499) than the Hogster R-25 (FOV 14.9 ° x11.2 ° $ 2295) Ernest, great info as usual. The original post was about thermal scopes and the Axion is a scanner only, so they would probably be better served with a Hogster.
 
In fact in the end you are right Korey, if I had to buy a single device, I myself would definitely choose the Hogster-R 25mm. It costs less and is more versatile because it can be used both as a scanner and as a thermal riflescope and is a great device.
 
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