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Thermal

Yes. Good thermal. 100% Chinese. Their US office is down in the DFW area. They have better ones but higher cost. Look at Pulsars as well, but that’s a pretty decent deal. If it was a lower resolution I’d say save your money but 384 would be my minimum recommendation. It will have a nice image, the Chinese ones always do

The Sightmark wraith thermal is a 384 made in TX and uses a non Chinese sensor. It’s a great entry thermal as well. Cheaper than the Rico but the Rico is a better sight, and getting a blem price is always good.
 
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Yes. Good thermal. 100% Chinese. Their US office is down in the DFW area. They have better ones but higher cost. Look at Pulsars as well, but that’s a pretty decent deal. If it was a lower resolution I’d say save your money but 384 would be my minimum recommendation. It will have a nice image, the Chinese ones always do

The Sightmark wraith thermal is a 384 made in TX and uses a non Chinese sensor. It’s a great entry thermal as well. Cheaper than the Rico but the Rico is a better sight, and getting a blem price is always good.
Thanks, I’ll check out the Pulsars too. The Rico comes with a 5 year warranty and a one week turnaround guarantee if something needs to be fixed
 
That deal there is pretty good. Better than most. It has good specs and performance. The nearest Pulsar is gonna be $4k ish. That's one of those if you wait, it'll be gone.
 
I've had a chance to play around with the Burris BCT35 V3 I got a few weeks ago. Not nearly in the same league as the stuff you guys are talking about but it seems pretty good for a basic, entry level thermal. It picks up stuff a lot further away than I thought it would. I need to figure out how to record images on it.
 
Just about the time I talk my cheap ass into the TNC225, they pulled off an Olympic level broad jump. I think I’m going to be selling some stuff….

So I was looking at this picture of the Hydra and I can't get my brain to understand how this setup could work. It looks to be mounted ahead of a LPVO. Even at 1x it's not the same as looking through a red dot sight. The scope would have to be able to focus on the display screen in the thermal which no scope could do unless there is some sort of corrector lens mounted on the rear of the unit. What am I missing here?

Hydra.JPG
 
So I was looking at this picture of the Hydra and I can't get my brain to understand how this setup could work. It looks to be mounted ahead of a LPVO. Even at 1x it's not the same as looking through a red dot sight. The scope would have to be able to focus on the display screen in the thermal which no scope could do unless there is some sort of corrector lens mounted on the rear of the unit. What am I missing here?

View attachment 10022
He’s using it as a clip-on, vs a standalone. We (in my old occupation) have been using Clip-on NV since 2002ish and many a terrorist has met his fate at the end of a Clip-on thermal or tube in pitch black hundreds of meters away. It allows to to use your day optic without changing the zero. A well made LVPO will be able to see the display at 1X without issue. The problem arises when you zoom. A side focus scope doesn’t have this issue so you can focus on the display without issue as long as you have a good scope. Cheap scope??? Not so much. The focus on a scope is not on the eyepiece, it’s on the front or in the center. The diopter allows you to focus the reticle. Whole other topic.

The problem with that setup in the picture, is that the device has an adjustable diopter vs a fixed focus eyepiece, therefore inducing POA/POI shift. Bad. A lot of idiots think this is alright but when the shift is severe, and at 100m you miss, things can go south real quick. If your shooting hogs and there’s live stock nearby, it can mean you miss the hog and hit the cow. Bad.
A good clip-on will have a fixed diopter adjusted as close to 0 as possible.

Personally, WRT DNT, I wouldn’t waste 5 seconds on their “multispectral” magical buttplug. The hydra might be worth looking at but them advertising it as a clip-on, not so much.
 
He’s using it as a clip-on, vs a standalone. We (in my old occupation) have been using Clip-on NV since 2002ish and many a terrorist has met his fate at the end of a Clip-on thermal or tube in pitch black hundreds of meters away. It allows to to use your day optic without changing the zero. A well made LVPO will be able to see the display at 1X without issue. The problem arises when you zoom. A side focus scope doesn’t have this issue so you can focus on the display without issue as long as you have a good scope. Cheap scope??? Not so much. The focus on a scope is not on the eyepiece, it’s on the front or in the center. The diopter allows you to focus the reticle. Whole other topic.

The problem with that setup in the picture, is that the device has an adjustable diopter vs a fixed focus eyepiece, therefore inducing POA/POI shift. Bad. A lot of idiots think this is alright but when the shift is severe, and at 100m you miss, things can go south real quick. If your shooting hogs and there’s live stock nearby, it can mean you miss the hog and hit the cow. Bad.
A good clip-on will have a fixed diopter adjusted as close to 0 as possible.

Personally, WRT DNT, I wouldn’t waste 5 seconds on their “multispectral” magical buttplug. The hydra might be worth looking at but them advertising it as a clip-on, not so much.
Is there a thermal that works as a clip-on better than the rest?
 
The thing that kind of bites is any autistic kid with a gaming computer can put together a flashy online media blitz for a half dried turd. That’s where JEVapa has the knowledge to point out the stinkers from hands on experience. Depending on what your considerations are, the Chicom stuff could fit the bill for straight up night hunting but be heavily compromised for tactical considerations. If a fella was possibly going into harms way then it would be in his interest to spend as much as he can for solid domestic hardware. Online reviews are as reliable as ouija boards with no letters.
 
The one to rule them all is the DRS INOD BLK III with the Flir HISS (now HD) running along side it.

This good lookin MF on their first datasheet 2014
inod-01.jpg

Don't know who this is but this is the Flir HISS HD
teledyne-flir-s-hiss-hd-lets-shooters-track-regular-rifle-rounds-like-tracers.jpg
 
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