Night vision and Thermal scopes

shadowfox853 · July 1, 2013, 11:35 PM

I'm really new to all of this. I'm looking at getting a red dot scope (haven't decided on which one yet) but I've heard of thermal and night vision attachments or at least just viewers to put behind the scope. Again I have no clue about any of this, any help would be greatly appreciated

allaroundhunter · July 2, 2013, 12:46 AM

What exactly are you wanting to so with it?

There are red dot sights that are night vision compatible, they usually start at the $600 range and go on up from there. The night vision that you have to buy to use with then is considerably more expensive.

Thermal imaging devices do not work the same way. You can buy a thermal optic, but I have never seem one that could be mounted behind a red dot sight. I have also never seen a thermal gun sight that was any less than $2500.

UtopiaTexasG19 · July 2, 2013, 06:13 AM

There are Gen 1, Gen 2,and Gen 3 night scopes/optics available and you get what you pay for. I have a decent Gen 1 scope on my .22 rifle that I use around the house at night for raccoons and armadillos and I have become proficient with it's use to 50 yards on small targets but once you get past 100 yards it's a pretty poor optic even for a large objects. Some of the gen 3 units are like looking through a scope in daylight but can be pretty expensive. If you look through all the night vision forums you will generally get the recommendation to save up and eventually get a gen 3 unit rather than spend money on lesser units along the way. Once you look through a gen 3 unit all the others appear pretty grainy and much darker. Read up a lot before you buy and find as many reviews as you can on the unit you decide to buy. Even a tier 1 Gen 1 with a good tube and secondary infra-red light can run near 1k. I am lusting after a Gen 3 scope right now that costs 6k but will eventually settle for less. I do not hunt enough or have many places at night to shoot without the neighbors calling the authorities. It would sit 99.9% of the time and get little to no use. My Gen 1 gets used all the time in the smaller area around my house out here in the country.

July 1, 2013, 11:35 PM	#1
shadowfox853 Junior Member Join Date: March 19, 2013 Posts: 2	Night vision and Thermal scopes I'm really new to all of this. I'm looking at getting a red dot scope (haven't decided on which one yet) but I've heard of thermal and night vision attachments or at least just viewers to put behind the scope. Again I have no clue about any of this, any help would be greatly appreciated

July 2, 2013, 12:46 AM	#2
allaroundhunter Senior Member Join Date: May 6, 2012 Location: Southeast Texas Posts: 1,670	Re: Night vision and Thermal scopes What exactly are you wanting to so with it? There are red dot sights that are night vision compatible, they usually start at the $600 range and go on up from there. The night vision that you have to buy to use with then is considerably more expensive. Thermal imaging devices do not work the same way. You can buy a thermal optic, but I have never seem one that could be mounted behind a red dot sight. I have also never seen a thermal gun sight that was any less than $2500.

July 2, 2013, 06:13 AM	#3
UtopiaTexasG19 Senior Member Join Date: July 3, 2011 Location: S.E. Texas Gulf Coast Posts: 743	There are Gen 1, Gen 2,and Gen 3 night scopes/optics available and you get what you pay for. I have a decent Gen 1 scope on my .22 rifle that I use around the house at night for raccoons and armadillos and I have become proficient with it's use to 50 yards on small targets but once you get past 100 yards it's a pretty poor optic even for a large objects. Some of the gen 3 units are like looking through a scope in daylight but can be pretty expensive. If you look through all the night vision forums you will generally get the recommendation to save up and eventually get a gen 3 unit rather than spend money on lesser units along the way. Once you look through a gen 3 unit all the others appear pretty grainy and much darker. Read up a lot before you buy and find as many reviews as you can on the unit you decide to buy. Even a tier 1 Gen 1 with a good tube and secondary infra-red light can run near 1k. I am lusting after a Gen 3 scope right now that costs 6k but will eventually settle for less. I do not hunt enough or have many places at night to shoot without the neighbors calling the authorities. It would sit 99.9% of the time and get little to no use. My Gen 1 gets used all the time in the smaller area around my house out here in the country.