In another section, Drift requested night hunters post on their gear, suggesting that his experience with dealers, ads, and demonstrations has been less than enlightening. http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showt...mark-Photon-XT
So I thought I would start here with some overview thoughts and as time permits, ad experiences with my gear. Hopefully, others will add their experiences.
First, there is night vision and there is thermal vision. Night vision amplifies light whereas thermal "sees" heat energy emitted from a source (such as a hog). With night vision, you have traditional NV and you have digital NV. Traditional NV is light sensitive and cannot be used in daylight without a pin hole lens cover and some companies even suggest that is a bad idea. You have Generations I, II, III and some companies claim a IV, but others refute IV is just a variation of III. Suffice it to say, that anything less than a Gen III scope will require supplement IR illumination at least half the time, if not all the time (Gen I). Even Gen III will require supplemental illumination on the very darkest of nights, heavy cloud cover, etc., but this tend to be more limited.
Digital night vision allows for use during the day and you won't ruin the unit by using it during the day. While the technology exists for digital night vision to work without supplemental illumination (much like high end Gen III), I have yet to see the technology put into weapon sights. Most of the digital night vision is really comparable to Gen I or low end Gen II scopes. The big benefit of digital is the day use capability without switching rifles or scopes and without ruining the sensor.
Contrary to popular belief, NV does not overcome camo. A brown deer in brown grass that might be hard to see during the day because it blends so well will also blend very well at night. Dark animals moving in the shadows at night are very tough to see as well. The exception here is that if you are using supplemental illumination and are able to spot eye shine. I see this frequently with deer and rabbits, especially rabbits. I may not see the rabbit...at first, but will see a bright glowing spot that undoubtedly belongs to an animal and it is then for me to try to discern what the animal is.
Thermal vision sees heat energy radiated from an object. So instead of need light reflected off an object to be seen, it sees what the object radiates. Most of the time, this results in things such as birds and mammals standing with with stark contrast to their surroundings. Aside from cost, there are a couple significant downsides to thermal use. First is that any surface heated to body temperature will radiate heat energy comparable to that of most mammals. So afternoon/evening hunting in the summer can be challenging because a surface glow white will effectively camo a deer that is also glowing with...until that surface cools down a bit.
The second problem is that while NV is good for navigation (walking around or even driving), thermal can be problematic. First is that it cannot see through glass. So you can't use it to drive around your vehicle like you can NV. Second, when the environment has been the same temp for prolonged periods, EVERYTHING gets to be the same temperature. After days of clouds and rain, the trees, ground, fence posts, wire, blinds, feeders, etc. all get to be the same temp and your field of view is nearly uniformly gray. Warm animals will stand out great, but everything else is more difficult to see.
As with other optics, magnification and lens size are very salient issues. Generally speaking, the bigger the lens, the better. Magnification will depend on needs, but you don't want high magnification with a small lens, though small magnification with a big lens is fine.
With NV, the higher the generation, the better the light gathering capability. With thermal, the issues aren't in generations, but in resolution and distances between pixels. The larger the numbers in resolution, the better. The smaller the distances (microns) between pixels, the better.
Some people will tell you that if you don't use X, then don't waste your money. For example, if you don't buy Gen III, then don't buy anything. That is a bit overstated. The better your gear, the easier it will be able to use effectively, but the greater the expense. I killed a bunch of hogs with a Gen I NV scope and a whole lot more with a digital NV scope. So if you don't have a big budget or don't have a big need does not mean you should avoid buying night gear.
People often ask how far you can see with Gen I, II, III, digital, or thermal gear and that is a bit of a loaded question. For NV, that is often determined by the amount of ambient light, capability of the illuminator, and how well the animal stands out from its surroundings. You can spot a black hog in a cut, light tan, hay field much further and easier than you can spot a tan hog in the same field.
With a good illuminator, you can get out to 150 and maybe even 200 yards with Gen I and with digital night vision. Gen II will take you further if the illuminator you are using has the additional reach. Gen III will take you out several hundred yards on a good night or when using a laser illuminator and then the issue may be one of not enough magnification to shoot more so than ability to see.
For thermal vision, the general rule of thumb is a resolution of no less than 320x240, but some people do use the 160x120 resolution, but it can be very problematic due to pixelation of the image, even at cloth range. Micron distances are now usually in the teens and some are even single digit. Thermal vision where the micron distance is over 25 (I have seen scopes with 40) will result in a distinct fuzziness to the image.
Out of time for now. When I next post, I will add in my experiences with various scopes and ask others to include theirs as well.
So I thought I would start here with some overview thoughts and as time permits, ad experiences with my gear. Hopefully, others will add their experiences.
First, there is night vision and there is thermal vision. Night vision amplifies light whereas thermal "sees" heat energy emitted from a source (such as a hog). With night vision, you have traditional NV and you have digital NV. Traditional NV is light sensitive and cannot be used in daylight without a pin hole lens cover and some companies even suggest that is a bad idea. You have Generations I, II, III and some companies claim a IV, but others refute IV is just a variation of III. Suffice it to say, that anything less than a Gen III scope will require supplement IR illumination at least half the time, if not all the time (Gen I). Even Gen III will require supplemental illumination on the very darkest of nights, heavy cloud cover, etc., but this tend to be more limited.
Digital night vision allows for use during the day and you won't ruin the unit by using it during the day. While the technology exists for digital night vision to work without supplemental illumination (much like high end Gen III), I have yet to see the technology put into weapon sights. Most of the digital night vision is really comparable to Gen I or low end Gen II scopes. The big benefit of digital is the day use capability without switching rifles or scopes and without ruining the sensor.
Contrary to popular belief, NV does not overcome camo. A brown deer in brown grass that might be hard to see during the day because it blends so well will also blend very well at night. Dark animals moving in the shadows at night are very tough to see as well. The exception here is that if you are using supplemental illumination and are able to spot eye shine. I see this frequently with deer and rabbits, especially rabbits. I may not see the rabbit...at first, but will see a bright glowing spot that undoubtedly belongs to an animal and it is then for me to try to discern what the animal is.
Thermal vision sees heat energy radiated from an object. So instead of need light reflected off an object to be seen, it sees what the object radiates. Most of the time, this results in things such as birds and mammals standing with with stark contrast to their surroundings. Aside from cost, there are a couple significant downsides to thermal use. First is that any surface heated to body temperature will radiate heat energy comparable to that of most mammals. So afternoon/evening hunting in the summer can be challenging because a surface glow white will effectively camo a deer that is also glowing with...until that surface cools down a bit.
The second problem is that while NV is good for navigation (walking around or even driving), thermal can be problematic. First is that it cannot see through glass. So you can't use it to drive around your vehicle like you can NV. Second, when the environment has been the same temp for prolonged periods, EVERYTHING gets to be the same temperature. After days of clouds and rain, the trees, ground, fence posts, wire, blinds, feeders, etc. all get to be the same temp and your field of view is nearly uniformly gray. Warm animals will stand out great, but everything else is more difficult to see.
As with other optics, magnification and lens size are very salient issues. Generally speaking, the bigger the lens, the better. Magnification will depend on needs, but you don't want high magnification with a small lens, though small magnification with a big lens is fine.
With NV, the higher the generation, the better the light gathering capability. With thermal, the issues aren't in generations, but in resolution and distances between pixels. The larger the numbers in resolution, the better. The smaller the distances (microns) between pixels, the better.
Some people will tell you that if you don't use X, then don't waste your money. For example, if you don't buy Gen III, then don't buy anything. That is a bit overstated. The better your gear, the easier it will be able to use effectively, but the greater the expense. I killed a bunch of hogs with a Gen I NV scope and a whole lot more with a digital NV scope. So if you don't have a big budget or don't have a big need does not mean you should avoid buying night gear.
People often ask how far you can see with Gen I, II, III, digital, or thermal gear and that is a bit of a loaded question. For NV, that is often determined by the amount of ambient light, capability of the illuminator, and how well the animal stands out from its surroundings. You can spot a black hog in a cut, light tan, hay field much further and easier than you can spot a tan hog in the same field.
With a good illuminator, you can get out to 150 and maybe even 200 yards with Gen I and with digital night vision. Gen II will take you further if the illuminator you are using has the additional reach. Gen III will take you out several hundred yards on a good night or when using a laser illuminator and then the issue may be one of not enough magnification to shoot more so than ability to see.
For thermal vision, the general rule of thumb is a resolution of no less than 320x240, but some people do use the 160x120 resolution, but it can be very problematic due to pixelation of the image, even at cloth range. Micron distances are now usually in the teens and some are even single digit. Thermal vision where the micron distance is over 25 (I have seen scopes with 40) will result in a distinct fuzziness to the image.
Out of time for now. When I next post, I will add in my experiences with various scopes and ask others to include theirs as well.
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