Skip Night Vision and Go Thermal?

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FukoChan

FukoChan

Member
Jun 14, 2015
798
27
Georgia, United States
I'm thinking about getting a thermal sight for hog hunting and just think it's best to just bite the bullet and get a nice thermal scope. A really budget priced one is catching my eye: the atn thor 4 thermal scope has insane features for the price. The owner seems to be well versed in technology and thus has all of the thor 4 line with a 60 hertz refresh rate! I'd imagine a buttery smooth image as a result compared to higher priced scopes that only have 50 refresh rate. So far on Amazon, it as 5 stars! A really huge improvement to their day night scope I looked at half a year ago. It has ballistics and an 200$ rangefinder add on with ballistic compensation. Insanely awesome eye relief @3 inches. 

Their 2016-2017(atnx) day/night vision scope had terrible reviews. I think their new thermal scopes will be a huge turnaround for their company. 

Pros of thermal compared to Night vision:

  • No need for ir light
  • Better detection range(500-600 yards for the cheapest thermal)
  • Color gradient/pallet selection
  • Heat tracks footprints and handprints, bedding areas so you can follow a animal's trail
  • Easy identification in cover/bush that night vision would just blur animals together with trees/bush
  • Night vision amplifies light where thermal requires no light!
  • I heard using night vision during the day could damage it while thermal you can use in the day and night!
  • High refresh rate compared to thermal monoculars.
  • People who get night vision end up upgrading to thermal

Cons:

  • Price- although the atn4 is priced competitively under 2k$ and Gen 3-4 night vision is priced similarly.
  • Image quality- let's face it, both night vision and thermal don't have the best image in the world, even the highest quality ones. It makes sense though since we aren't exactly looking at light but converting heat to images. I'm sure technology will improve with time.

So based on this I really think it's worth to save your/my money and skip the night vision route. If anyone here is having a pest problem(at night), you may really benefit on purchasing a thermal scope. Especially those that have farms. Also I believe that these electronic sights will have a good chance at replacing traditional scopes. Just the ballistic correction alone is enough of an incentive alongside reticle selection. Next is hopefully optical zoom instead of a digital zoom. Not sure if they use that or not but that preserves quality better.

Just imagine an integrated range finder on the scope that automatically changes the zero for you and makes all necessary adjustments for long range shots. Just point. Range. And fire. :)

Thoughts suggestions? I recommend anyone looking at night vision to perhaps aim higher and go for thermal. I'll probably get the scope and review it for you guys.
 
Some limitations I've noticed with my thermal:



- depending on the thickness of the brush, it can still very effectively hide animals' heat signature. It's one thing picking out vague heat signatures in the bushes for example in some reviews where you know the guy is there. It's quite another to confidently pick out a rabbit or something from scratch in some conditions. Bigger stuff is obviously less of a problem. I've had a bush hide an elephant from me though. No I was not hunting it.

- don't forget in pitch blackness with a completely passive imaging device you're going to have trouble navigating/stalking closer to your target. Night vision doubles as a near invisible torch. Thermal doesn't really.

- thermal colour pallettes are relative rather than quantitative. So if you get something hot or cold in the picture everything else can appear relatively cold/hot. Space is cold, so I've found that if you get the sky in the picture sometimes everything on the ground flares hot. Same if you have your hunting buddy's face or head in the periphery of the picture, that bird or squirrel 50m out is going to vanish.

- in a similar vein to the above, where I live the days are generally hot, so the rocks get warm and tend to retain that heat a few hours into the evening/night. That completely buggers up the thermals efficacy in those areas. Probably less of an issue in colder areas.



Anyways none of these issues are really major. They just introduce a bit of a learning curve in dealing with/avoiding some of those things that can affect it.

Thermal is really awesome and I much prefer it to night vision, but like all other shooting equipment, it's not a magic bullet. 
 
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His. Companies do make thermals with ballistics & rangefinders. Off hand The Cheytect computer system is totally cheating but it works.

Common people may like Burris Eliminator III with add one.

I saw that Thor you're looking at & you answered my question. 500-600 yards? Way more than enough for most folks. 

If I had the money, I'd go thermal if night hunting Hogs, Coons & you never know in this world. That scope is a huge advantage. Can it see through walls under 50 yards? I know military & leo have special Scopes that can tell them everything. I don't know how but tis real. 
 
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NO ATN! I own 2 of their day/night jobs. X-sight ll works OK, their new 4K is a piece of junk, as it stands. ATN came out with an updated firmware, then pulled it from the update site, no explanation ??? VERY POOR customer support. Check out the official ATN web site. It's about as poor as their products. Almost seems as if ATN is just a name, selling scopes that they contract or bid on from some unknown manufacturer, and hope that they sell enough to make a profit. Then they go looking somewhere else for something else. Kinda like a "close-out" market place, selling items that flopped, and didn't sell well, so were offered CHEAP, to whomever buys the whole lot. Just sayin.

http://atnsmarthd.proboards.com/

http://atnsmarthd.proboards.com/board/102/customer-service
 
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Check you tube. Bad problems with ATN. Even threatened 1 reviewer that I viewed. Out if box problems and frequent function loss and failure. I've been wanting 1 ,BUT!
Click to expand...

I understand there have been bad reviews on the gun. Not sure about their support but I'll give their support line a call when I have time. They have terrible reviews on Amazon and lots have to do with the malfunction of their day night sight. Their stars are right around 3 in fact.

However, I think these new thor 4 thermals might be a whole new ballgame. It's worth to purchase in my opinion because Amazon's return policy is really lenient in case it is a pile of crap. The item has 5 reviews or so on Amazon and they are all 5 stars. It's tempting me lol, especially since their sights have. 60 hertz refresh rate and 18 hr battery life.
 
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