I was just on the Sig website and they are advertising a new thermal image sight. Very small footprint. At $899, I am not ready to jump just yet.
I know there are others here who are using thermal sights during hog hunts.
Questions:
Have rifle mounted thermals reached a level of accuracy and reliability that makes buying one worthwhile?
Is anyone using one in cold conditions?
If I do get one it would be on a quick detach mount so I could switch from daylight sights to thermal quickly.

As far as I know, none of the ones under five grand are worth a damn.

Have looked through some of the cheaper offerings (including from Sig), and they didn't seem worth the coin. Awful resolution, and short range...

The Trijicon thermals are sweet, but a whole lotta money.

I thought it might be too good to be true. I did see that most went for way more $$$.

quote:

Originally posted by GySgt D:
As far as I know, none of the ones under five grand are worth a damn.

Not true over the past year or so.

Yooper, take a look at the FLIR PTS line. Their Boson core they are using is much more powerful and affordable than anything comparable on the market.

https://www.flir.com/products/pts233/

I've been using one on my Rattler at the family ranch and it has worked extremely well. So much so I bought a FLIR Breach monocular to helmet mount along with a PVS 14.

I waited to get in the thermal game for a quite a while and just recently has the value caught up with the cost IMO. Thermal has come a LONG way over the past few years. The stuff available now for 2k is the 10-15k thermal of several years ago and is much lighter. The Flir Breach I have weighs next to nothing. Not to mention they all have onboard recording and still photo ability along with several different thermal palettes and reticles.

Thermal can be used day or night, and the cold won't bother it. They do better in cold since anything giving off heat whether it's a person, animal, vehicle etc. will stand out even more so against the cool backdrop.

I would start doing some serious reading/youtubing and I imagine you will come to a similar opinion

Thanks! I will look at the FLIR stuff. I have used one of their monocular and thought it was pretty good. But expensive. And I was not concerned with the thermal performance in cold weather, but more with battery life.

we need to bring in Marzy to this thread. He uses a thermal for rat shootin.

I use the ATN THOR series.




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3n6KVvjQaQ&t=61s

Do thermal's still suffer from imaging sensor failure after time?

Here's the setup I have settled on.

The Ruger American Rimfire 22LR and ATN THOR 1.25-5 384 19mm with Kentli 3000 batteries.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
Do thermal's still suffer from imaging sensor failure after time?

No they do not. Totally different technology from IR image intensifier tubes and gallium arsenide amplifiers.

Thermal does not require an external illumination source. HUGE advantage here.

Some animals seem to be able to see/feel/sense the 850nm wavelength, so a less effective 950nm can be substituted.

However, thermal IS affected by heavy humidity and will not "see" through glass windows.

Yes you could hide from a thermal by standing behind a sheet of glass that effectively reflects your heat signature.

You can do a sensor reset on the thermal by holding your hand over the lens as a calibtarion set point and hit the NUC reset button if interference becomes too great.

Digital IR is completely different from image intensifier tubes also, it uses a full spectrum sensor chip that has a filter that flips out of the way for night use. They can be used day or night, but still requires an illumination source as do not naturally intensify available light.


I can not recommend the SIG thermal sight, it's just not ready for prime time. The ATN's feature set just is no comparison.

The anti rat rig is cool.

Looking more at the Sig sight it comes off as gimmicky to me. Small screen low resolution and low refresh rate. I would stick with the FLIR or ATN. The ATN uses the older FLIR core, not sure about the different palettes/features etc. between the two. Another company to look at is Pulsar.

What are you looking to get it for? Observation or hunting? Both?

As far as battery life if the onboard isn't enough TNVC makes an external battery rig that clips onto the side rail on the optic.

All of my shots are inside of 100yds at pigs so the setup with my .300 Rattler serves me well. I'm tempted to try out the scope on a .22 after seeing Mars setup. Another cool thing on the FLIR (maybe ATN?) is you can save different weapon profiles/zeros.

Hog Blaster:

Heres a good rundown of the features on the FLIR. He starts going through the thermal palettes about 3min in. Outdoor alert is another neat feature:




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/wgHgEHBSd1o

Since my kid is now living in NOLA, I thought I might try my hand at night hunting Nutria. Which is legal in certain areas of LA, although the requirements to do so legally are a little tricky.
As an LA resident the kid could use my rifle.
If I jump, It will be for the FLIR scope tested in the video.
Thanks for the info.

Nice setups, Marzy and Andy.

The ATN has the newer core, only the first model had the older core. Also it has all the pallet options plus a ballistic calculator that will move the reticle to the impact point. It has a level tape and compass plus GPS.

I only use the rangefinder for drop with low velocity ammo. It does pretty dang well with the 500fps 20 gr ammo. I can nail a rat at 50 yards with ease.

I have an armasight predator mounted to my Sig 551-a1. I love it! The quick release keeps it within 1 moa or so when i take it off and use it as a hand held viewer.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gw3971,

The Bosson core FLIR scope mentioned and Breach monocular interest me but I sm disappointed neither has a front lens focus, and it is fixed, from what I read. I obtained an inexpensive thermal monocular and recall it having an adjustible focus which I sold to a member.

At present my pvs14 white phosphor is a great advance over the pvs14s I have had and really like thermal too. I just hope it comes down in price more.
A picture of my PVS14 white phosphor tube: no moon or stars / and I turnrd down the gain to under halffway in brightness!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/83omrxaGt5TAMuuo6

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tschiemer,