Budget thermal on the way, may surprise some of you!

[Jem45472]

Been thinking about picking up some kind of thermal lately, just to play around with. I really don't get out to hunt anymore, and if anything, thinking of maybe getting into some kind of pcp airgun for pests.

From some quick research, I thought I was going to settle on either a 384 res monocular or scope. Then I ran into this. The t2 pro camera, and decided it'll fit my needs for both scanning, and use as a scope with the included rifle mount enclosure. Best part is its priced at an amazing $350. I know what you're thinking. It's shit for that price, and only 256 resolution.

Search some YouTube vids for reviews on this. It's actually pretty impressive at its price point, and out performs some products considerably more expensive.

Give it a look if you want to try out some thermal on the cheap.

 

[spat]

I have one of the little flir one phone dongles.

It works for scanning (we actually got it to be able to find our black dog in the dark, she's basically invisible).

I don't think it would be useful at all as a rifle scope though. You just can't do much with that resolution.

It's good enough for "there's something warm over there", but not enough to target unless the thing is 10 feet away.

It is handy for mechanical work though. It can spot a PEX hot water line through a wall like magic.

 

[JamieZ]

You will be fine using 256 resolution for critters 10-20yds away.

I can't say anything about the choice you made, but Iray (InfiRay) makes good products.

My scope is an Iray TH50c V2,,,, I paid a little more than 350 though. Warranty is 5 years on Iray products

 

[JamieZ]

I have one of the little flir one phone dongles.

It works for scanning (we actually got it to be able to find our black dog in the dark, she's basically invisible).

I don't think it would be useful at all as a rifle scope though. You just can't do much with that resolution.

It's good enough for "there's something warm over there", but not enough to target unless the thing is 10 feet away.

It is handy for mechanical work though. It can spot a PEX hot water line through a wall like magic.

I can see studs in the walls with my 640 res thermal.

256 resolution, if thats what the unit has,,,, he will be fine.
Cheaper AGM scopes are 256 resolution and people kill with them out to a distance of 100yds

 

[urjustamemory]

I've been considering ATN for a varmint setup when I go back home for the seasons. Just bloody expensive now, so this is interesting to me

 

[Jem45472]

I can see studs in the walls with my 640 res thermal.

256 resolution, if thats what the unit has,,,, he will be fine.
Cheaper AGM scopes are 256 resolution and people kill with them out to a distance of 100yds

It is 256 res, and from the videos I have been watching, seems to be a better performer than any of the agm offerings at that res, and I've seen a comparison of it alongside an agm 384 res scope seemingly outperforming that one also.

For the $350 , I figured why not give it a shot. Ive really had my eye on the new dnt optics "thermnight" scopes. (Check them out, getting rave reviews), but the price and performance this seems to be putting out will suit my needs for now.

 

[Jem45472]

I have one of the little flir one phone dongles.

It works for scanning (we actually got it to be able to find our black dog in the dark, she's basically invisible).

I don't think it would be useful at all as a rifle scope though. You just can't do much with that resolution.

It's good enough for "there's something warm over there", but not enough to target unless the thing is 10 feet away.

It is handy for mechanical work though. It can spot a PEX hot water line through a wall like magic.

The flir, and agm products in the 256 res range certainly did not impress me at all. Video linked above clearly shows them being easily out classed by the iray camera. I'd love a 640 unit, just don't have a need for that at this time. I'm only playing around, and this one seems to perform very well (especially for the price).

 

[Jem45472]

I've been considering ATN for a varmint setup when I go back home for the seasons. Just bloody expensive now, so this is interesting to me

Look at some YouTube reviews for infiray t2 pro. From what I've seen, it out performs the cheaper atn, agm, products that cost way more. Theres not alot of reviews of it mounted and shooting though, but i have seen a few.

 

[Jem45472]

I've been considering ATN for a varmint setup when I go back home for the seasons. Just bloody expensive now, so this is interesting to me

Here's what I was originally going to buy.

If I was going for a dedicated rifle scope now, it would definitely be one of these. They have also just released the v2's with 384 res, or 640 res.

 

[Tisto]

I've been considering ATN for a varmint setup when I go back home for the seasons. Just bloody expensive now, so this is interesting to me

Please, for the love of God, DO NOT PURCHASE ANY ATN PRODUCTS.


Read through the old threads concerning thermals and nightvision. Save your money and your sanity.

 

[FP1201]

I've got one of the older "Seek" Thermals that attached to the bottom of an I- Phone...haven't used it in years, was great for finding cylinders (engine) that weren't firing, insulation leaks, lots of applications.

 

[Acer-m14]

For another 1000.00 we can put cross hairs in it ..

at least ATN has cross hairs in it ..

 

[Jem45472]

I've got one of the older "Seek" Thermals that attached to the bottom of an I- Phone...haven't used it in years, was great for finding cylinders (engine) that weren't firing, insulation leaks, lots of applications.

This one's a bit different than most the ones you'd plug in the phone.

 

[Jem45472]

For another 1000.00 we can put cross hairs in it ..

at least ATN has cross hairs in it ..

Has an adjustable cross hair.

To be clear, I'm just picking this up as a multi function thermal. Seems to work incredibly well for its price point. If I wanted something dedicated to rifle use, I'd definitely pick something else, but believe this can be used for 150 yards and in, while also using it as a scanner.

 

[spat]

I've been considering ATN for a varmint setup when I go back home for the seasons. Just bloody expensive now, so this is interesting to me

I have an older ATN night vision scope (x-sight 2) and while it's technically a fine scope, the user interface is terrible.

It can do what I want it to do, but it's just not easy to tell it what that is.

Sort of the "why take 10 button presses when 20 will do" problem.

Not sure if their new scopes are better.

 

[RedBreast21]

With the purpose you proposed and of the ones in the video, the one you chose makes sense. The AGM micro 160 is about useless really other than a novelty thing. I got one early in the year as a package deal when I purchased an AGM Rattler V2 TS25-384. I like that scope. B&H photo threw it in for the same cost as the unit anywhere else online. lol

 

[Jem45472]

With the purpose you proposed and of the ones in the video, the one you chose makes sense. The AGM micro 160 is about useless really other than a novelty thing. I got one early in the year as a package deal when I purchased an AGM Rattler V2 TS25-384. I like that scope. B&H photo threw it in for the same cost as the unit anywhere else online. lol

The rattler was on my list while researching. I really wanted to settle on 384, just decided on this for price since I'm not predator hunting.

 

[RedBreast21]

The rattler was on my list while researching. I really wanted to settle on 384, just decided on this for price since I'm not predator hunting.

If you're not hunting, the size and portability of that unit makes a lot of sense really. As long as you're not try to resolve a mouse at 50 yards or small rabbit at 100, you're fine. I mean you can tell most animals by their movement anyway. lol

 

[urjustamemory]

I have an older ATN night vision scope (x-sight 2) and while it's technically a fine scope, the user interface is terrible.

It can do what I want it to do, but it's just not easy to tell it what that is.

Sort of the "why take 10 button presses when 20 will do" problem.

Not sure if their new scopes are better.

Ah yea okay.

 

[urjustamemory]

Look at some YouTube reviews for infiray t2 pro. From what I've seen, it out performs the cheaper atn, agm, products that cost way more. Theres not alot of reviews of it mounted and shooting though, but i have seen a few.

I'll have a look thanks

 

[JamieZ]

Whatever anyone does......

Stay away from ATN products. Some people have good luck with their products, but no one has good luck with their customer service when things go belly up. Which when it comes to any thermal product, it's not a rarity when something goes wrong with it.

Another product I would stay away from would be FLIR because last I knew they stopped making products for the civilian population and were only making stuff for the military. So what's out there on the market is old shit or shit you might have a hard time getting warranty repaired.

Products that I have, Iray scope and AGM monocular.

Products that I have had, Pulsar scope and monocular, plus a Bering Optics scope.

Never had problems with any of the 4 companies above. All 4 of these companies make some good products. All 4 of these companies make some low end, low priced products for the people that want to get into night hunting, but can't afford to.

 

[JamieZ]

It is 256 res, and from the videos I have been watching, seems to be a better performer than any of the agm offerings at that res, and I've seen a comparison of it alongside an agm 384 res scope seemingly outperforming that one also.

For the $350 , I figured why not give it a shot. Ive really had my eye on the new dnt optics "thermnight" scopes. (Check them out, getting rave reviews), but the price and performance this seems to be putting out will suit my needs for now.

Res isnt everything. A 256 resolution scope with a 17um detector is going to have less clarity than a 256 resolution scope with a 12um detector.

Thats why AGM's Rattler V2's came out because the old Rattler which my buddy has is 384 resolution with a 17um detector. The V2 model is 12um.

 

[Jem45472]

Res isnt everything. A 256 resolution scope with a 17um detector is going to have less clarity than a 256 resolution scope with a 12um detector.

Thats why AGM's Rattler V2's came out because the old Rattler which my buddy has is 384 resolution with a 17um detector. The V2 model is 12um.

Good to know.
For anyone looking into this camera, it is 256 at 12um with a base mag of 2x zoom able to 15x. Im assuming digital zoom would turn to a complete mess past 4 or 5x. Possibly why this was looking better than other 256, and even 384 products I was looking at.

 

[Jem45472]

I'll have a look thanks

This guy put it up against his $2000 higher resolution atn thor 4 for comparison.

People at 40 yards



People at 100 yds, with the road in back at 600 yds.


He does go on to say the atn does better in the dark than these photos look. This is daytime.

 

[Jem45472]

And here's a great video showing different animals at different distances comparing against a sight mark wraith NV scope.

Also shows how he side mounted it on his ar, and uses it for scanning.

 

[JamieZ]

Every time you increase your digital zoom it cuts the resolution in half. Not optical zoom but digital.

 

[spat]

Every time you increase your digital zoom it cuts the resolution in half. Not optical zoom but digital.

Digital zoom is just like zooming in on a digital picture *after* you've taken it.

All the pixels are already there in the original, you're just making them bigger.

And when you're original image is low resolution (anything under say HD quality i.e. 1024) then your eyes were probably seeing them all before the zoom anyway. High resolution displays are dirt cheap, so all the detail the image sensor was able to capture is already on the screen before the digital zoom.

Optical zoom OTOH, doesn't have that problem at all. What it has is that the image gets darker the more you zoom (same amount of light entering the lens, spread across more area). And *eventually* you get diffraction limited for resolution on the size of your lens, but you're not going to run into that on anything short of a full blown telescope.

That's all assuming quality optics. Cheap ass lenses can fuck up any image.

 

[Shoots100]

Here's some basic thermal info.
Thermal info
The most costly and critical part of a consumer thermal optic is the germanium objective lens.
All parts are critical, but the internals won't matter without a good lens that'll let unaltered IR transmissions through in a certain waveband.
The newest thing in thermals is Ocular zoom that magnifies the digital screen.
You don't have any pixelation, but lose FOV.
When combined with digital zoom taking longer range shots is a piece of cake.
As with everything, you get what you pay for.
The cheaper thermal offerings are ripped off China toy's that work and don't work.
My backup thermals are all made overseas and tested thoroughly before going into the field.
ATN is just barely above garbage and nothing to compare against.
Any thermal is better than no thermal when using it for what it's good at, which is letting you know something is out there in the dark.
The bad part about the cell phone units is that the screen lights up your face when viewing it and makes it necessary for both eyes to have to adjust to the darkness when using it.
SJC

 

[Jem45472]

Well the new toy came in today. It's raining out, so just futzing around inside.

Mounted in the picatinny mount


The included holder, and phone mount for just scanning.


And just some test pictures. Forgot to focus on a couple, but it's close enough.
I also forgot to shut the logo off in settings.



Daughter getting ready to feed baby.

 

[Tisto]

How many color palettes does it have ? Obviously white hot and rainbow, but are there more ?