I have been browsing through thermal monocular models and have a few questions, as I have never even looked through one or any other night vision, for that matter.

Not sure I am really interested, but if I was, it would be in the cheaper models. I have seen ones from Leupold and Flir for under $1k. I currently use one of the green lights for hog hunting at night occasionally. I am pretty happy with this for shooting but I would be interested in leaving the light off and be able to spot them with the thermal. It would also be useful in seeing what was around without using a light when going to the deer stand, or just walking around. Finally, I wondered if this device would be useful in finding down game animals.

What is the effective range? Are they helpful at all if the animal is in brush? Would these be good for my intended purpose, or would some kind of night vision at the same price point be better for my use?

Thanks for the feedback. I value a lot of the opinions on this forum.

I like thermal for looking around. I got to use one of the Flir Scouts and it was really only good for about 50 yards. I could see things at 100 but not anywhere good enough to identify. As for seeing stuff in brush, it depends on how thick. Night vision is what I prefer to shoot with since it is a lot more clear cut as to what I'm shooting at but don't really prefer it over thermal for scanning. Maybe skelso will chime in since he's more experienced with night scopes.

BCStalk said:

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I like thermal for looking around. I got to use one of the Flir Scouts and it was really only good for about 50 yards. I could see things at 100 but not anywhere good enough to identify. As for seeing stuff in brush, it depends on how thick. Night vision is what I prefer to shoot with since it is a lot more clear cut as to what I'm shooting at but don't really prefer it over thermal for scanning. Maybe skelso will chime in since he's more experienced with night scopes.

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I would venture that you are talking about the Scout TK there and not like the Scout II or Scout III? The TK is a great unit for the price, but definitely lacking the resolution/lens to ID stuff out there a good ways. The II and III and pretty damned good though, but both are over the $1000 price point.

steve84 said:

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I have been browsing through thermal monocular models and have a few questions, as I have never even looked through one or any other night vision, for that matter.

Not sure I am really interested, but if I was, it would be in the cheaper models. I have seen ones from Leupold and Flir for under $1k. I currently use one of the green lights for hog hunting at night occasionally. I am pretty happy with this for shooting but I would be interested in leaving the light off and be able to spot them with the thermal. It would also be useful in seeing what was around without using a light when going to the deer stand, or just walking around. Finally, I wondered if this device would be useful in finding down game animals.

What is the effective range? Are they helpful at all if the animal is in brush? Would these be good for my intended purpose, or would some kind of night vision at the same price point be better for my use?

Thanks for the feedback. I value a lot of the opinions on this forum.

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Depends on how much money you want to put into it. If you want to keep it under $1000, about the only one that I can say that I'm genuinely happy with would be there Flir Scout TK, but as previously mentioned, it does have limitations. If you can go over that, you'll get much better range. As to animals in the brush, there are a quite a few factors here, but the short answer is yes, they are helpful. I actually take my nicer unit with me out to the stand deer hunting and can see stuff in the tree lines easier than if I were just using binos, but it depends on the density of the brush, temperature, etc. A NV unit under $1000 would be harder to use around the brush as you'll be looking at digital that needs an external IR. The extra light from these will cause some backsplash reflections that will make it harder to see things into brush, but those out in the open will be very easy to ID, depending on range.

It was the TK. Sorry should have mentioned that.

Inexpensive....thermal....does not compute

Capt. Augustus McCrae said:

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Inexpensive....thermal....does not compute

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Inexpensive, no. But I did qualify my statement by saying I was looking at the cheaper models. I thought the implied comparative context would have made my question clear. Maybe not.

Thanks to others for the information. I am now thinking that to be truly useful for what I was wanting, the stated price point is just not high enough to get the performance I was interested in. It doesn't look like night vision is something that would touch all of the bases either. Your comments were most helpful. The green led hunting light I have is looking like a huge bargain to me now,I don't think I have a long enough lifetime to make a real thermal unit pay off with a good enough return.