NV vs. FLIR advise

Tom, that is a great night hog setup you've got there. You will appreciate the IR Illumination improvement with that scope for sure, a little more weight but a lot more light!

One of the FLIR handheld scanners would top it all off, allowing you to detect allot more to follow up with your D-740.

Thanks for the pics, we always enjoy photos!
 
Post your feedback on the improvement with the new IR illuminator vs no illuminator, whatever model you get they are all great choices.
 
It sounds like you've currently got a pretty functional NV system.

If you were running into those close range 50yd shots I'd be looking at a laser & monocular combo (repeating what others have said!)

But if you want to really change how you spot and stalk anything out there:

Get a thermal unit.

I had a PS32 and upgraded to an LS64. They're a stellar unit! Much better distance, much higher resolution.

 
Tom,

go FLIR 64 you already have a great scope, the IR will really help for looking into deep shadows, and if you are thinking monocular take a hard look at Kevin's MX160 I got one its bright, clear and sharp! picking up the helmet today and a jackrabbit mount
 
Thermal hand held unit and nothing will pass you by. I waited 6 months after I got a pvs14 to buy a FLIR, and man did I miss out. God only knows what walked by me in the brush. After I got my FLIR is when I started layin the smack down. I was disappointed I spent some good $ on a monocular but for some reason it wasn't paying off until the thermal. My prey was slippin through the brush and fence rows and I couldn't see them , but now I can.
 
Hi ,

Here is a fellow European hunter and I use the following setup

Thermal : Flir T360 Hand Held
N.V. : Dedal 490 Riflescope 4x
IR Laser : Laserluchs 808nm


My thermal is a regular Flir Hand Held Thermal cam and in my point of view it is much better than the LS and other models out there.

Let me explain you why, I always use the "IRON" color palette, many of you use the Black or White palettes but IRON is way better. The reason is, in Black or White there is only two colors and everything you see are tones of Black and/or white. Where as on IRON palette there are several colors like Dark Blue, Blue, Red, Yellow, Orange etc. and the tones of these colurs. On top of this on Flir T360, you can switch ofF the AUTO colour mode and switch to MANUAL mode where you can play around with the colours. In my own setup I always make the Forest, mountains, land in DARK BLUE color and the animals just pop up in ORANGE and it is impossible to miss them. Also Flir T360 has a nice 3.5" LCD screen and more than one people can see what I am viewing at that moment.

Currenty the Thermal imaging is not very advanced and the screens that you see the images are made of screens with small pixels which can not display the colors as good. So I think that a colorful palette is much easier to spot the animals than the black/white screens.

Finally , I generally go stalking on the mountains/forests on a tractor. Somebody drives the tractor and I scan the surroundings for animals and once spot the animal then I quickly look for it from my N.V. Dedal 490 riflescope. Sometimes it is possible that I can not find the animal out there with my N.V. then I shine the LASER POINTER of my Flir T360 to the target and I follow the Laser Pointer's DOT from my N.V. Dedal 490 riflescope. Laser Point can easily be seen with the N.V.

There has been numerous times I could spot an animal behind some trees/bushes with my Flir , but it was impossible to spot the animal with N.V. because it was behind some bushes or trees.

So I am thinking now, maybe I should also buy an Thermal Riflescope to eliminate this risk.

Here are some real images taken by my Flir T360, you can see how I see the wild thru the LCD screen of my Flir T360 (Temperatures are Celsius )


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Very nice! Thanks for the photos from your thermal.

What type of thermal rifle scopes are available in Europe? I have two FLIR riflescopes, but they are only black and white.
 
Hi Skypub

For scanning the surroundings a Thermal Imager and for shooting a NV rifle scope is a must !!!! This is how a night hunt should be . Two separate units !!!!!

There are a few producers in Europe. I am in contact with a Dutch company and he is developing a new model thermal rifle scope according to my advises. He already managed to add the IRON palette so that I can see the animals in color just like my Flir . But he can not put in the MANUAL mode on colours , this means I can not make the forest behind me Dark Blue as in my pictures. In this rifle scope the warmest thing will be orange color and the coldest thing will be dark blue automatically. The coloring logic will be same as your Flir riflescope but mine will be in colour and yours in Black/White.

I also suggested a laser pointer but he can not add a laser pointer to the rifle scope and the rest is quite OK , it has a 4X zoom with 640x512 pixels.

In short we are still developing the product and hopefully in a few months time it will be ready . But everything in Europe is much expensive than the U.S. the estimated buying price will be around 15.000 Euro which is like 19.500 $

So I still am not sure if I should buy one or hang on to my Flir T360
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Apart from these I also have a Flir PathfindIR mounted on my 4x4 and I can see the images thru my Navi Screen.
 
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Wow , very nice and interesting .

I understand you have a clip on Thermal Imager infront of your Acog, I also have an Trijicon Acog 4x32 TA31RCO-A4CP on another rifle of mine .... and now after seeing this video, I can think of buying a Clip On Flir too . Because with Clip ons, you don't need to take off your riflescope am I right ? The your zero stays the same all the time and you can use the zoom range of your day scope right ?

However on my regular rifle I use a Swarovski Z6i 2,5-15x56 and I don't know if Flir Clip on will fit onto that
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And it is very difficult to get a Flir Riflescope out of USA , I think Flir does not sell riflescopes out of USA
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The FLIR Clip-Ons will work in front of any rifle scope up to about 8X power, and yes they do NOT affect the POI of your day scope at all. You could contact the FLIR European office to find out about them.
 
I checked,unfortunately Flir riflescopes are sold only to military or govt special forces, etc here in Europe. In other words a çivil person can not buy it unless he has some pretty good contacts.

You guys are lucky to live in the States
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I will have to live with my Dutch Thermal producer
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This friday I went out for a night wild boar hunt , I shot a young boar, I took some thermal pictures of him, I will post later on.

EDIT: HERE IS THE THERMAL PHOTOS of the Wild Boar I shot

It's the one in the middle, this picture was taken by my trail cam just 2 minutes before I shot him down.
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I shot him and I walk towards him
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I am getting closer
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I am next to him
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Too bad you cannot setup that FLIR handlheld as a rifle mount!

Here in the USA, it is legal for US Citizens to own both NV & Thermal, although each of the 50 states have different regulations as to how you can utilize these for night hunting.

We cannot take our GEN III or Thermal Weapon Scopes out of the country though.
 
Well too bad for us
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Anyway as a summary of this topic, I strongly suggest the following for best night hunt

1) a Thermal Cam (For scanning the surroundings for animals)
2) a N.V. Riflescope for the shooting purposes
3) IR Laser preferable 808nm for the NV riflescope .

It is almost impossible to look thru the scope of your N.V. and hold your rifle at the same time for scanning purposes as it becomes too heavy while holding the rifle's weight in your arms. Therefore two separate units is much more ideal .

Your shooting device is better of if it is a N.V , because with N.V you can clearly see what you are shooting at, with a Thermal imager, you can not be 100% if you're shooting at Coyote or a Wolf or a Dog and you might end up shooting something else unintentionally.

I know this, because I almost shot a farmer's sheep as I thought it was a wild boar from far away with the Thermal cam, once I looked through the NV scope, I realized I was just about to make a mistake.

 
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I shot this tasty porker with my FLIR Thermal last night, but you are right, be sure to ID prior to putting your finger on the trigger....

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Great Picture
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I really love the way you guys use your AR's to hunt
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We are NOT allowed to use Semi/Full automatic at hunts
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This Friday till next Tuesday (May 3-7) I will be at Fethiye, Turkey attending a special Wild Boar night hunt. Fethiye is famous for crystal clear ocean and huge Wild Boars with great tusks .

It looks like I will be having good fun during day at the sea and in the nights chasing the boars
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These are paid professional night hunts and the success is 100% , I hope to shot a few 450-500lbs boars with huge tusks
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WaHoo! You have got to post some pics of those wild boars that you shoot.

I bet they are feeding on the sea oats on the shoreline!!

We are going out on a major hunt tonight, so may have some more pics tomorrow, it is supposed to be 80% rain, but we go anyhow...
 
After much contemplation I pulled the trigger on a lightly used PS32 listed in the classifieds(thanks FamilyGuy). I figure worst case scenario I hate it and have to sell it to upgrade to LS64. A rental for the weekend would cost me $150 so if I have to take a bit of a loss on resale i'll just consider it an extended rental fee...lol. Hope I love it as much as most seem to. From your collective input I have garnered that it should fit the bill for me. Taking your advice I also ordered an IR illuminator. I will post an after action report...am planning a pig assasination trip to the ranch for memorial day weekend....full moon+D740 and FLIR should be recipe for multiple dead hogs.

Thanks again for all your input!

Tom
 
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