Which Thermal or Night vision Scope for under 1K??

Not a lot of expeience here but I bought the ANT 4K pro 5-20. And you can get it in the $700-800 range. It's not optic clear as its a TV screen but you can choose the retical and it has a balistic calculator in it that moves the retical for distance. And can add the range finder and it feeds the scope for distance to stay at the $1000 buget comes with mounts and light. Plus records your hunt. It's a dam computer LOL so it takes a little time to learn. In day light I shot at 40yards checking inpact(it was me) and shot 4 on top of each other and one 1/2 " to the right. It has ment the demise of over a 1000 collar doves 2 months ago. So it does work. One tip though watch your fingers, just loke any computer I can screw things up.

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Sightmark photon night vision. Don’t know if they have thermal. About 5 hundred give or take 50 depending on model 

Well lost my whole post Grr;^(

I have a Sightmark Photon it werqs well and other than the weight I have no complaints although it is only black and white even during the day. The others are color in the daytime if it makes any difference as we are mostly buying a night scope and all are black and white at night.

https://www.sightmark.com/product.php?item=1004







I also have an ATN 4K it has far more features than the others and the battery lasts far longer as well. I have one of the available rangefinders ABL1000, installed on my gun, the ABL will link to the scope and move your reticle around so you never miss. Together they weigh near 3LB so are a brick on your gun.

https://www.atncorp.com/x-sight4k-pro-day-night-rifle-scope-5-20x







I do not have a Pard008 although I have seen a number of videos from it and the unit seems to werq very well. It does not boast as many features as the ATN and does not look as durable but is half its weight.

http://pardtek.com/html_products/PARD-Night-Vision-Riflescope-NV008-for-Outdoor-Hunting-32.html



Battery life on the Photon and Pard is 3-4 hours so you will need another battery or set for the Photon and a charger for them.

Battery life for the ATN is listed as 18 hours Although with the blue tooth connected I doubt you will get near that.. The rechargeable battery is internal. It comes with an IR flashlight that takes batteries also. 



You can compare digital vs thermal in the video below. They both have their good and bad points. Remember with thermal you cannot see color changes so you won't be shooting any paper targets or anything else that does not support a temperature change ect.

The thermal scope wyshadow linked to is within your price point so you have another choice. I did not know there was a thermal that was so inexpensive out there at this time.







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hYJ9BRIvdU

This would be the best bang for your buck. Works really well

https://utahairguns.com/atn-thor-lt-thermal-hunting-scope/

For the newest Photon, you could also attach a longer usb cord to a rechargeable/portable battery pack (tuck the slim pack into a pocket) to extend time without have to futz around with AA batteries.

lenweber2 said:

Not a lot of expeience here but I bought the thermal scope under $1000. And you can get it in the $700-800 range. It's not optic clear as its a TV screen but you can choose the retical and it has a balistic calculator in it that moves the retical for distance. And can add the range finder and it feeds the scope for distance to stay at the $1000 buget comes with mounts and light. Plus records your hunt. It's a dam computer LOL so it takes a little time to learn. In day light I shot at 40yards checking inpact(it was me) and shot 4 on top of each other and one 1/2 " to the right. It has ment the demise of over a 1000 collar doves 2 months ago. So it does work. One tip though watch your fingers, just loke any computer I can screw things up.

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Hello. Looking at the ATN X-Sight 4K Pro Smart Day/Night Rifle Scope or the ATN X sight II. Can anyone provide advice on these or recommend something under $1,000?

markdonald said:

Hello. Looking at the ATN X-Sight 4K Pro Smart Day/Night Rifle Scope or the ATN X sight II. Can anyone provide advice on these or recommend something under $1,000?

Click to expand...

Check out the refurbished selection from the manufacturer.

My $.02 from someone who has been using an ATX X-Sight 4k for about 2 years and who just got an AGM Rattler TS19-256 Thermal optic.

Assuming this is for pesting/hunting: NV is cool, but Thermal is like a cheat code. With NV it's almost impossible to see past anything in the foreground because the foreground reflects IR which the exposure compensates for and then you can't see whatever is hiding in the background. Not a problem in a field, but it sucks in the woods or from cover. Especially at 3x or 5x mag. It's like looking through a keyhole. Adding to the difficulty, contrast with NV is also rather poor. A raccoon in a tree doesn't really stand out unless they happen to look at you and their eyes glow. Oh, rats and raccoons can definitely see an IR illuminator, so don't think you are going to be completely undetectable.

With Thermal... It is super easy to quickly scan your surroundings. You can find mice playing in a brush pile, or see deer 200yds in the distance standing out like sore thumbs. The thermal scope is also about 2lbs lighter than the ATN with illuminator.

A thermal monocular is a good way to augment an NV system if you want to go that way. Use the thermal for target acquisition, then when you know where to point, use the NV scope to take the shot.

Obviously, for target shooting go NV.
You can get it done with thermal, but it's a bit more of a challenge.
If there is heat to reflect, you can use a piece of foil to mark the bullseye.
If not you need something hot to aim at. I duct taped a hand warmer pack to the target to sight in at longer range.
It is fun watching your bullet holes disappear as the paper cools back down to ambient.

@Airgun-hobbyist - The information @denovich is very good and accurate, and his scope ~ $1K would work well in your price range.

Needless to say, the 384 or 640 will give a better image, but they are obviously more money.

Another item you need to consider is in what conditions you will be using the Thermal. If most things you plan on hunting are less than 50 yards and in thicker cover, definitely get a 25mm lens that will give you a wider field of view. The higher the lens number, the narrower the FOV. As most of my night hunting is in thick cover and mostly within 25 yards and often much less, I like the starting magnification to be 1X or 1.5X.

To sight in a thermal it is super easy and can usually be done in just a few shots. I use thick cardboard, cut to 2' X 2', and put a large thick nail in the center, but sticking out 2 to 3 inches. I then use a torch to heat up the nail head making sure that the flame is pointing away from the cardboard. I heat the nail for just a few seconds. I usually only have to heat the nail once to sight in the thermal and you're all done.

I usually buy my optics from www.opticsplanet.com Below is a link to the thermal mentioned by @denovich.


Hope this helps.

denovich said:

Obviously, for target shooting go NV.
You can get it done with thermal, but it's a bit more of a challenge.
If there is heat to reflect, you can use a piece of foil to mark the bullseye.
If not you need something hot to aim at. I duct taped a hand warmer pack to the target to sight in at longer range.
It is fun watching your bullet holes disappear as the paper cools back down to ambient.

Click to expand...

@denovich Hand warmers cost too much. One of the most cost effective targets for thermal are frozen items: frozen water bottles, bags of frozen water, frozen over ripened fruit, etc. Frozen items tend to stay cold for a decent amount of time, and contrast well through a thermal device as long as your environment is not close to freezing.

As for thermal and airguns, I’m of the opinion that a thermal rifle scope is of little use without some sort of range finding device. I prefer units with integrated laser rangefinders for night hunting animals at unknown distances.

To the OP, even though this is a 3 year old thread, I think which thermal or NV optic you’d buy depends heavily upon your intended range of use or applications.

Thanks for the tip on using cold instead of hot as a thermal target.

A range finder would be a really nice addition... it's a shame that it is not available at the poverty tier of thermal scopes. I am still able to get quite a bit of use from the thermal because my typical target engagements are at known/easy enough to estimate distances.

And I agree 100% that you need to understand what you want to accomplish and how whatever NV option you choose is going to enable that. It might take trying one out to understand. Amazon has a generous return policy... just sayin'. I didn't know what I didn't know until I tried one for myself.