Affordable night vision / thermal....does it exhist

[jrebel]

Say 150 yards or closer shots....don't want to break the bank, but would like to consider predator hunting at night to bring down yote numbers at the property.  It's in the NE and it is super brushy country, furthest shot would be 150 yards...ish.  Thermals really intrigue me but my goodness are they stupid expensive.  It's also my understanding they have a shelf life.....not sure that is true, just what I've been told. 

People that have some of the more affordable models....what do you think?  Would you buy them again?  Which model do you have and how long have you had it? Any other info would be awesome.   

[KFhunter]

Brush and IR don't mix well. (Bloom)

You'll be wanting thermal, I *think* you can rent?

Rental might be good in a baiting situation

[KFhunter]

Ok, nevermind they want way too much for a 3 day rental 

[LongBomb]

What is your range?

[KFhunter]

I run a cheap ATN and it's OK for bait piles and coons getting into the chicken house, but wouldn't be good at all for calling setups where yotes are moving fast and coming in from unknown directions, and it's worthless in brush so you need open areas. 


It's put quite a few yotes in the dirt

[KFhunter]

I read somewhere, perhaps on predator masters:
"friends don't let friends buy ATN"

Lots of truth to that!

[jrebel]

What is your range?

Well, haven’t really considered a range yet.  If it cost as much as a moose hunt, I’ll hunt them in the daylight.  I don’t know….is 2k ish reasonable?  Quick search on the web showed 8-10k.   

[KFhunter]

2k will get you a decent thermal

[Magnum_Willys]

Buddy had a $3k Zeiss Thermal we used last week.  Unreal, Elk at 1000 yards an hour before shooting time.  Works out to 2000 yards.   Kinda hate to see these be legal.  Most of the "hunting" can be done at night then shoot when just legal. 

I had an old cabelas night vision mono that was good for 150 yards.

[KFhunter]

You might check out AGM rattler series, starts about a grand then goes up from there.

Here's a $2k option
https://nightvisionguys.com/home-nvg/agm-rattler-ts25-384-compact-short-medium-range-thermal-imaging-rifle-scope-384x288-50-hz-25-mm-lens

I can't personally vouch for AGM, but there's ton of youtube reviews on them.   I like to shop these night vision stores, find the price point, then search individual units on youtube by model #

[Bushcraft]

I have one of the best available scopes for civilians and when tuned correctly it can "see" the eyelashes on my dog at 100 yards, day or night depending on environmental temperature differentials, but even it is no match for thick brush.  You really need a clear line of sight.

In my opinion, you might be better off in thick brush with a good set of NVGs and a weapon mounted laser.

And yep...that's not going to be cheap either.

[getreal711]

I just picked up the agm rattler ts35-384 on Amazon for $2500. Haven't got a chance to play with it yet but hope to take a few Predators with it soon.

[jrebel]

I just picked up the agm rattler ts35-384 on Amazon for $2500. Haven't got a chance to play with it yet but hope to take a few Predators with it soon.

Would love to hear your review after you get it running.   

[KFhunter]

X2 

[GWP]

I have played with thermal’s, but knew I would not use it much so went with an inexpensive IR set up. Don’t care for the ‘video game’ screen style, but it works well once you are used to it. Your eyeball night vision is compromised as well, which may or may not be an issue. Took out a fair number of rats with it. Pretty happy with the IR out to 100 yds or so.
It attaches to the back of the scope and can be removed/installed in minutes once the initial set up is done.
If you were closer I would let you play with it if you wanted to see how it would work for you. 

Lots of vids using thermal. If I still did yotes I would consider a thermal for the longer ranges it works for, but they can be expensive!