NEW member/predator hunting - Advice for Night Vision Monocular

Haha, I have a day job that pays the bills and for food!
The killing part pays for my fun and other play toys.
I can understand the wanting to “see” the coyote vs the “outline”.
I’d have to try NV down here before buying. We don’t have the open areas where I hunt. We have some fields and burned areas at certain times of the year where it would work, but for the majority of the year I’d probably end up missing (not seeing) a lot of critters without thermal. But as stated, maybe with a thermal scanner spotting them first, then going to an NV scope it might work.
My issue is some of the “better” NV is as much $$$ as a decent thermal.
 
Spurchaser said:
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My issue is some of the “better” NV is as much $$$ as a decent thermal.
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I don't know. The stuff that they were referring me to is all less than $1k and the thermals we have at the rifle shop are $3-6k. The dealer cost on the thermal stuff isn't much better for me personally so I'm far more inclined to go for the PARD or similar as aforementioned. We are an AGM dealer though so I'll check to see what my cost is on the Seeker monocular and that'd probably be my first buy followed by one of these less expensive NV scopes.

Thanks guys for the input and help!
 
Spurchaser said:
Haha, I have a day job that pays the bills and for food!
The killing part pays for my fun and other play toys.
I can understand the wanting to “see” the coyote vs the “outline”.
I’d have to try NV down here before buying. We don’t have the open areas where I hunt. We have some fields and burned areas at certain times of the year where it would work, but for the majority of the year I’d probably end up missing (not seeing) a lot of critters without thermal. But as stated, maybe with a thermal scanner spotting them first, then going to an NV scope it might work.
My issue is some of the “better” NV is as much $$$ as a decent thermal.
Click to expand...

But that's where you are trying to compare apples to oranges again. LoL The price difference really shouldn't matter because they are totally different things. Here in SC my hunting is probably very close to yours. I have fields to hunt, but they aren't huge as the fields in the midwest. I also hunt a lot of loblolly stands. I have to hunt the roads inside them or even the thinned rows. Or the firebreaks.

Rix T20 - $500
PARD DS35 - $649 (I don't know why these went back up in price I paid like $400 or so for mine)
DNT Zulus - $394
PARD NightStalker - $900 (Includes LRF)
AGM Spectrum 4k LRF - $1,095 (this includes a LRF)


NocPix Ace L35 - $2,800 (just used this one b/c it's what I have)


So quiet a bit difference in price.



I forgot to add. Add $125-150 to these prices to make the scopes a LOT better by upgrading the IR light.
 
davidheart said:
I don't know. The stuff that they were referring me to is all less than $1k and the thermals we have at the rifle shop are $3-6k. The dealer cost on the thermal stuff isn't much better for me personally so I'm far more inclined to go for the PARD or similar as aforementioned. We are an AGM dealer though so I'll check to see what my cost is on the Seeker monocular and that'd probably be my first buy followed by one of these less expensive NV scopes.

Thanks guys for the input and help!
Click to expand...

The SEEKER is the Taipan V2. They had to change the name after it came out.
 
DoubleLungRage said:
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PARD DS35 - $649 (I don't know why these went back up in price I paid like $400 or so for mine)
......
Click to expand...

I could actually speak to this. The owner of the shop was notified by AGM that all their prices were going to increase by a minimum of $100 because of the tariffs. I would bet dollars to donuts that's why the price went up here too.

Thank you! I'll look out for the Seeker/Taipan V2. I'm going into the shop later today and I'll be able to check prices.
 
The reason I suggest a mono first and a scope second is so you can familiarize yourself with identifying targets before running out into the woods with a weapon mounted thermal wanting to make it earn it's keep.

To each his own, but to me thermal is worth every penny spent.
I use night vision for navigation and thermal for observation + killing.
I don't play fair and use every advantage I can.
Thermal is a big advantage.

SJC
 
shoots100 said:
The reason I suggest a mono first and a scope second is so you can familiarize yourself with identifying targets before running out into the woods with a weapon mounted thermal wanting to make it earn it's keep.

To each his own, but to me thermal is worth every penny spent.
I use night vision for navigation and thermal for observation + killing.
I don't play fair and use every advantage I can.
Thermal is a big advantage.

SJC
Click to expand...

I agree with scanning. IMO the ONLY way to go with scanning is thermal.
 
I picked up a Taipan v2 19-384 yesterday and went hunting last night. We didn't see a single coyote, which was wild, but I definitely had a much better time hunting than I normally do. We saw fox, skunk, a house cat, and tons and tons of deer.

I even got to see one of the fox chasing what appeared to be a mouse in the corn field and a doe jumping around the foxpro while we were playing fawn in distress looking for "her baby." Those were experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Past about 150-200 yards it was difficult to distinguish at times what I was looking at but this thing is the top end of what I would be able to pay so a 640 resolution is out of range.

Below you could see video of the doe looking for her fawn as well as what other deer look like ~150 yards away.

 
Spurchaser said:
I have that exact scanner and after you use it more you’ll be able to tell critters on out past 200yds. Everything moves different. My only “problem” critters are possums and armadillos…they look the same on out there, lol.
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Thanks. That's what my hunting buddy was telling me last night. He said just watch how they move so I could distinguish what I'm looking at.

In the realm of nightvision, the AGM Spectrum is the most expensive of the above options provided and the heaviest and I need to add an IR light. The Pard Nightstalker is 735g (25oz) and the AGM Spectrum is 1190g (42oz). Both are 4K. The PARD has an integrated 850 or 940 light which is included in the weight of the scope.

How much better is the AGM than the PARD? The expense and weight seem to be some pretty hard knocks against it... unless there's a reason we don't want to use the integrated light on the PARD? I already have a light with an IR lens but my current scope is 22oz so I'm adding little more than a pound to my rifle. However, with the PARD I'd effectively be losing weight on the rifle since I won't need to use my light on it.

Again, if the quality of the PARD is an issue, then clearly I'll just have to deal with the weight of the AGM but I'm not sure which direction is the clear winner in functionality. Opinions? Thank you!

Edit: I also found the PARD and the AGM are two different scopes. The AGM SPECTRUM 4k and the HIKMICRO ALPEX 4K are the same scope. AGM is the North America counterpart to HIKMICRO.
 
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