The 2021 Thermal and Night Vision Thread

[MadHatter]

Appreciate the feedback .
The three he has are all 4x.

If you want a good scope.....run

Yeah, I've read good and bad.
Either they really really hate it, or it's not bad at all .
What were your issues with it?
Most likely not going to buy it anyway, just getting impatient waiting on the W-4K.
IMO the cost of the W-4K seems pretty cheap, if it's as good as people say...

[muzzlebrake]

I wonder how many W-4k max have been produced so far? Seems there might be just one laying around somewhere and that's all I need

[muzzlebrake]

Found a site that says it will be in stock Feb 1st, 2021.

[GregO]

Agree except I had the 4x and was very happy with it. I've never looked thru the 2x. Now I have the 4k and love it as well. I do mainly hunt feeders and open fields. I added the Sniper Hog light with the 4k. I've shot numerous pigs out to 125 yds at night and my kids have shot a few deer (in the day time). No complaints here.

There's nothing wrong with the 4X if that fits your hunting style. Like I said, I hunt thick cover, all shots have been less than 100 yards, and actually, most less than 50 yards. The 2x version is just better for me. I still have the 4x version as well, not ready to let it go yet, still a good scope for the longer range hunting. I was on the wait list for a Wraith 4k Max, it took so long that I just used that money for a Thermion XP50. I still like hunting with NV, but thermal is amazing. So now I have 2 NV scopes, 1 thermal, and on the list for another thermal, it is an addiction. (fair warning to everyone) ,

[Fordnandez]

Appreciate the feedback .
The three he has are all 4x.



Yeah, I've read good and bad.
Either they really really hate it, or it's not bad at all .
What were your issues with it?
Most likely not going to buy it anyway, just getting impatient waiting on the W-4K.
IMO the cost of the W-4K seems pretty cheap, if it's as good as people say...

For $400 I dont think there is a better valued scope. The only thing I dont like on the one I have acccess to is the 4x base mag. It is just too much for the distances I hunt. We run an external battery pack to take care of the battery issue. We od have an aftermarket IR light but the one that comes with it is pretty good. Thermal is a better option but you will be spending $2k plus.

[TX03RUBI]

IMO the 4X SUCKS. I much prefer the 2X. If I hunted from a blind over a feeder I think the 4X would be ok, but not for my style.

[kruppa24]

Tagged

[RMW]

Shot this one last night between the eyes at 75 yds with Halo LR .300 blackout it’s a deadly combination.

[muzzlebrake]

OK, so I went and pulled the trigger on the W-4K max today. Supposed to be here Wed. Feb 3rd. Probably mount it on .308 a-bolt rifle that already has a picatinny on it. What else do I need besides some spare lithium batteries?
I also can mount it on my M4 flat top but really want to be able to switch it back and forth on different guns.

[imyomama]

this was my wraith hd 4x ... unfortunately a couple weeks after taking this video it started shooting 6" groups at 100 .. sent it for repair , they couldn't fix it so I paid extra and they are supposed to ship me a 4k ... been waiting over a month, but they said they now have one allocated .. they received 400 of them ... hopefully in a few weeks it will show up on my door ... i really liked the hd, but i agree , the field of view is small ... as you can see in the video , i didn't even zoom in for these kills ..
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1y8Gil-_j0&ab_channel=standbackitsgonnablo"]Sightmark Wraith pig hunt first test ... - YouTube[/ame]

[imyomama]

trijicon reap-ir is still my favorite .. i just got a cable to add a dvr to it .. video quality sucks , it doesn't give it justice , this was last night .. didn't realize i turned off the gas on my gun (war receiver) so it didn't cycle ... only got one shot, and cable came unplugged ..
friend of mine just got the new ATN and he likes it .. looks great but he keeps having to send it back due to glitches ... i think for the money, the thermion are hard to beat .. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEfY1XYjc5s&ab_channel=standbackitsgonnabl o"]TRIJICON REAP-IR VIDEO OUT FIRST TEST - YouTube[/ame]

[Outdoor Legacy]

Hey guys I've been getting a lot of questions about the soon to be released iRay Rico 640 MK1 for $5,999. Hans and I did a full field review of it last week on The Late Night Vision Show and you can check it out below.

Warning: there have been a couple guys here who have complained that our reviews are 45 mins long. This is a weekly podcast and our reviews are IN DEPTH. If you want a quick 5 minute run down of just the specs, someone else will do that. If you want a 10-15 minute review with a lot of video from the scope in the field and a shorter condensed review, Hans will have that soon on his Youtube Channel, HansETX. But if you're considering a $6,000 scope and want to know everything about it.....check out the video below. After 143 weeks straight, we've found what works for us and our listeners, so we're sticking to it for now. Thanks guys.

- Jason

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTEnD2f1vU"]Ep. 143 | IRAY Infiray Rico MK1 **REVIEW** - YouTube[/ame]

[duckmanep]

Dang!
Found a Wraith HD bnib for $400 earlier today.
Guy has 3 of them.
Anyone have an opinion on them...?
Seems they are kinda basic and eat up cr123 like nobodies business from I've been reading.

Great price and great scopes for the money. It's not thermal, but it doesn't come with the thermal price tag either. I would recommend getting a handheld thermal scanner though as it makes finding the critters 100x easier and you will find other uses for it as well (animal recovery, scanning before daylight when bowhunting, neighborhood watching, etc..). But for shooting, the Wraith does just fine.

[Fordnandez]

Wanted to give you guys some first hand experience on battery life on my Thermion XP50 and Axion XM30. I have been reading a whole lot of conflicting stories on forums and FB groups saying how terrible the battery life is. I went coyote hunting Saturday evening into Sunday morning and I wanted to get some real first hand data on the battery life more to prove to myself I wasn't crazy or delisiounal.

We hunted for about 6.5 hours. I timed our stands which is how long my devices were running. We hunted for just over 3 hours out of the 6.5 hours. I was turing the unit on and off during driving, stalking and setting up at a stand. At the end of our hunt my thermion went through the APS2 removable battery (smaller battery that comes with it) completely and the internal battery had 85% left. On my Axion XM30 which only has the removable APS3 had 17% battery left. We were NOT recording video or had the wifi activiated for streaming. I also have both of them set on the semi auto setting for the NUC. I do not get carried away with the amount of times I NUC it but I have no information of how much this helps with battery life if any.

Are there scopes out there that have better battery life? Of course. It would be foolish to say that it has better battery life than say the Trail XP50. With that said I was slap wore out by the end of our hunt and I couldnt have imagined of staying up long enough to run the battery dead in the Thermion.

What I will suggest is to get a spare APS3 battery. This is a no brainer for someone like me who has a Thermion and Axion so the APS3 battery works in both. I was running dangerously close to the Axion running out of juice so having the spare APS3 battery kept me from worrying I was going to run it dead.

Long story short I think there is nothing wrong with the battery life and what it provides is very respectable and more than sufficient for the average thermal hunter. As mentioned before I have seen a bunch of what I think is bad information posted in the internet and I had a dealer say he had a guy that said the APS2 battery would last 30 mins and the APS3 last 45 mins and I just think these are folks that are trying to stir up mess or they have a defective battery and/or device because everyone that I know that actually has one of these devices have experienced what I have.

[TX03RUBI]

Wanted to give you guys some first hand experience on battery life on my Thermion XP50 and Axion XM30. I have been reading a whole lot of conflicting stories on forums and FB groups saying how terrible the battery life is. I went coyote hunting Saturday evening into Sunday morning and I wanted to get some real first hand data on the battery life more to prove to myself I wasn't crazy or delisiounal.

We hunted for about 6.5 hours. I timed our stands which is how long my devices were running. We hunted for just over 3 hours out of the 6.5 hours. I was turing the unit on and off during driving, stalking and setting up at a stand. At the end of our hunt my thermion went through the APS2 removable battery (smaller battery that comes with it) completely and the internal battery had 85% left. On my Axion XM30 which only has the removable APS3 had 17% battery left. We were NOT recording video or had the wifi activiated for streaming. I also have both of them set on the semi auto setting for the NUC. I do not get carried away with the amount of times I NUC it but I have no information of how much this helps with battery life if any.

Are there scopes out there that have better battery life? Of course. It would be foolish to say that it has better battery life than say the Trail XP50. With that said I was slap wore out by the end of our hunt and I couldnt have imagined of staying up long enough to run the battery dead in the Thermion.

What I will suggest is to get a spare APS3 battery. This is a no brainer for someone like me who has a Thermion and Axion so the APS3 battery works in both. I was running dangerously close to the Axion running out of juice so having the spare APS3 battery kept me from worrying I was going to run it dead.

Long story short I think there is nothing wrong with the battery life and what it provides is very respectable and more than sufficient for the average thermal hunter. As mentioned before I have seen a bunch of what I think is bad information posted in the internet and I had a dealer say he had a guy that said the APS2 battery would last 30 mins and the APS3 last 45 mins and I just think these are folks that are trying to stir up mess or they have a defective battery and/or device because everyone that I know that actually has one of these devices have experienced what I have.

I’ve timed my XG50 a few times to see what it’s capable of. Some nights are horrible, and some don’t seem as bad. I’ve got 2 APS2, 1 APS3, and the internal battery. Most nights I hunt I need all of them. Other nights I can run just the APS3 and internal battery. So far I’ve only really used it in cold weather, so that’s not even a major factor. Most nights between 25-40*.

For reference I’ve had a couple Trails and normally carry a Helion XP50. The Helion is usually around 50% after a FULL night hunting with the smaller IPC7 battery. My XP50LRF would start on its second IPC7 around 4:30-5am and we usually hunt to 6ish. The XP38 would just barely make it a full night.