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Night Vision. What do you use?


100Acre

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I hope this is the right place for this topic. I've been searching the backwoods of North America for years and I am an avid traveler, camper and wilderness photographer. I also enjoy exploring must of our national forests while riding in my Honda Pioneer 1000. For many years I was employed in military surplus and that's where I picked up my 1st set of NODS or NVG's. The 1st set I found is a AN/PVS-5B very similar to this 5A http://www.prc68.com/I/PVS5NVG.shtml

Just recently I picked up a AN PVS-14 helmet mounted monoscope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/PVS-14 . I also picked up a FLIR Scout TK hand held forward looking infra red scope.https://www.flir.com/products/scout-tk/   I've not yet had any sightings but I'm planning a trip west in September and October to SW Colorado and Utah. Hopefully and with luck I'll be able to see some night time encounters. Do any of you guys use NVG's? Thanks

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I went with a Sionyx color night vision monocular.  I needed the ability to record video and sound along with still photos.

 

Once you get the settings dialed in, the refresh rate is pretty decent.  

 

Gen 3 night vision is better in complete darkness, but the color option appealed to me.

 

 

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I don't do much walking around at night so I went with thermal instead of night vision . I like thermal because I'm looking for a warm creature so it's easier for me to spot 

something like that with thermal instead of night vision . I also like using the thermal  looking at shorelines  in the summer time  on rivers and lakes .

You see so much game coming out to to take a drink or dip  from a quiet boat using a trolling motor . Just haven't seen a bigfoot yet. :D

 

I have a ATN Thermal OTS 640 1 - 10 HD

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I have a FLIR TK Ocean which is the affordable low end model just above their iPhone mounted thermal app. I also have a Gen1 Barska NVX100- also pretty low end. Both take photos or videos. A night like tonight is perfect to be able to use both: the passive thermal and the passive NV. On dark nights the options are passive thermal and the NV, too, but the NV would need to have its active IR illumination engaged to put it to good use. I shy away from using active IR which is why I supplemented the NV unit with the FLIR TK.

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I'm not convinced that refresh rate is that important with thermal imagers based on what we use them for. I can't speak to the refresh rate for night vision but wonder if it might also be the same. The refresh rate is simply the frames per second.  It would logically follow that the higher the frames per second (the refresh rate) the more fluid or smooth something would look as you viewed it.

 

In bigfooting, I think we're more likely to see something peeking from behind a tree than sprinting across a field. In such an instance, a lower refresh rate may not be even noticed. In the video below, there is an ever so slight difference between the 30hz and the 9hz but not enough to make a difference in my purchase decision. When I was first looking for a thermal, I was determined it had a high refresh rate until I saw the videos below. My Pulsar has a high refresh rate but I would be happy with anything 9mz and above.

 

If you are using NV to move around the woods, I suspect you are not running or moving quickly. My suspicion is the slower the movement, the less to be gained by a higher refresh rate. I'll take a look and see if that holds true with NV.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC_1WxF5RsQ

 

 

Edited by wiiawiwb
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Yes, my FLIR TK has the lower 9hz refresh rate. slow panning across a scene isn't an issue, but fast panning sees the image in the display slow to catch up and so a bit unsteady. But you're right, in most situations the refresh rate isn't an important drawback. Resolution can be though, although the FLIR is not bad in that regard.

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The FLIR TK is a game changer. Before it, success was measured by what you heard rather than what you saw. Now, we've equalized the playing field and can actually compete in the opponent's home field.

Edited by wiiawiwb
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