Night vision for driving

JTPinTX

JTPinTX

Custom Call Maker
I call coyotes and stalk pigs using thermal. I have no reason to change that as far as scanning and shooting on stand. However, thermal does not see through glass and is very difficult to drive with, handheld in a vehicle. Many times I am needing to cut the distance on pigs or creep up to a parking place to call without using lights. My old ford hunting truck is easily blacked out. I turn the lights off, have a brake light cutoff switch, and the door switches for interior lights are disabled. Plus it is very quiet.

I need a way to drive using NV where I can see through the windshield. It does not have to be super fancy long distance vision. Realistically 100-150 yards would be more than enough. I won't be driving fast. I will just be using it creeping down county roads and through pastures. I know there is nothing cheap about thermal and/or NV. But, what would be a fairly simple and economical way to do what I need? With pigs especially this would save me a whole lot of walking. Would be cool to use it either driving or walking, but driving is for sure is the priority.

EDIT to add: I could put some IR lights on the truck if needed to increase vision range. I have no issue with that.
 
I use a pair of PVS14’s mounted to a helmet and you can see fine. IR lighting would even be better but I never needed it.
 
Looking around at what is for sale, the SIONYX Nightwave looks interesting. It caught my eye as far as driving. I have a roof mag mount I could put it on, and a set of RCA cords plus backup camera screen I used to stream my Hogster to sometimes. On occasion I would I would use the Hogster to drive, but it was pretty tough with the 2x base mag and a narrow FOV. Driving straight was ok, but turning was sketchy.
 
I'll probably get bashed here but here I go.
Last year I bought an AGM 160 just for scanning. For $300 it is hard to beat. I link it to my phone, put on a tripod on the back deck and can watch rabbits at 100 yards. I also considered getting a remote controlled pan tilt and a magnet to set it on the roof of my car. The setup would be a phone or tablet linked to the unit on the roof. I was holding it out the unit out the window scanning fields while watching the phone going slow, I could defiantly pick up a heat signature,but my hand got really cold lol.

I found remote pan tilt units on ebay for around $100. You could point it forward for driving stop scan right left or both For around $500 pretty cheap IMO.
 
I recently got an AGM 19x256 scope with qd mount that is 2x better. Considering the pan tilt with a pic rail just clip the scope on and go.
 
I actually have a pan/tilt rotator on the mag mount, with a pic rail. That is what I used for mounting the Hogster on the roof.
 
JTPinTX said:
I call coyotes and stalk pigs using thermal. I have no reason to change that as far as scanning and shooting on stand. However, thermal does not see through glass and is very difficult to drive with, handheld in a vehicle. Many times I am needing to cut the distance on pigs or creep up to a parking place to call without using lights. My old ford hunting truck is easily blacked out. I turn the lights off, have a brake light cutoff switch, and the door switches for interior lights are disabled. Plus it is very quiet.

I need a way to drive using NV where I can see through the windshield. It does not have to be super fancy long distance vision. Realistically 100-150 yards would be more than enough. I won't be driving fast. I will just be using it creeping down county roads and through pastures. I know there is nothing cheap about thermal and/or NV. But, what would be a fairly simple and economical way to do what I need? With pigs especially this would save me a whole lot of walking. Would be cool to use it either driving or walking, but driving is for sure is the priority.

EDIT to add: I could put some IR lights on the truck if needed to increase vision range. I have no issue with that.
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I use a pvs14 helmet mounted R-eye, and use handheld Therm, scan on L-eye . I drive all the time hunting for years with just using single pvs14. it works very well even in zero Moon on dirt road, farm field navigation . also PVS14 is hard to beat for stealth safe foot travel. A single PVS14 is a investment that will add to better hunting for you, for MANY years.

The slant of different windshields of vehicles makes big difference in 'looking threw' for NV visibility. My little car has more slant than my bigger truck windshield. The flatter truck windshield is much better driving NV image, but the little car is still GTG NV driving .
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Honestly I would love to go the PVS-14 route. If I remember, it seems like you used to could pick up something pretty decent for around $3k. Just glancing around yesterday I did not see anything close to that. Appeared to me like everything started around $4500. Am I not looking in the right places? Seems odd to me that thermal has been coming down, and NV going up?
 

Dome Thermal Camera M6 Series Manufacturer

Searching for Dome Thermal Camera M6 Series? InfiRay Technologies offers wide range of thermal night vision for you choose.
www.infirayoutdoor.com

This device, with a magnetic base, is placed on the roof of your pick-up. With the wi-fi connection you can view the images on a tablet while staying warm inside the driver's cab of the vehicle. With this device, in high definition, you can see even with high relative humidity, haze and fog. I remind you that with any NV with IR light, in these weather conditions, you are forced to stay at home and sleep with your wife (lol!).
 
JTPinTX said:
Honestly I would love to go the PVS-14 route. If I remember, it seems like you used to could pick up something pretty decent for around $3k. Just glancing around yesterday I did not see anything close to that. Appeared to me like everything started around $4500. Am I not looking in the right places? Seems odd to me that thermal has been coming down, and NV going up?
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You know I think that that just the way all electronics market goes for pricing . Therm. is starting to get pretty competitive and coming down in pricing last few years, and 640 units will even get even more affordable every year. Been Lot of new hunters jumping on the Thermal band wagon for night hunting last few years and not even looking at PVS14's or NV rifle mount scope. Which is a shame as a NV Monoc. is a pretty valuable tool to have. pvs14 has multiple uses.

You can find New pvs14's starting in at 3-K . Start looking for used pvs14's. , I see them popup now and then for 2-K . they pop up for sale regularly if you take time to look. And you don't need to be chasing Spec's. like a lot of guys are into. There not a damn thing wrong with just a mil.spec Green tube. for Pvs14 for field use.
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IndexFinger said:
You know I think that that just the way all electronics market goes for pricing . Therm. is starting to get pretty competitive and coming down in pricing last few years, and 640 units will even get even more affordable every year. Been Lot of new hunters jumping on the Thermal band wagon for night hunting last few years and not even looking at PVS14's or NV rifle mount scope. Which is a shame as a NV Monoc. is a pretty valuable tool to have. pvs14 has multiple uses.

You can find New pvs14's starting in at 3-K . Start looking for used pvs14's. , I see them popup now and then for 2-K . they pop up for sale regularly if you take time to look. And you don't need to be chasing Spec's. like a lot of guys are into. There not a damn thing wrong with just a mil.spec Green tube. for Pvs14 for field use.
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Yeah I think this is the route I will probably go. A lot of that has to do with chasing pigs. That is not just a hobby for me. My family farms peanuts and they cause lots of crop damage. When we hunt them it is seriously about stacking bodies, inflicting maximum casualties. Several times this last season we could have done a much better job of that using NV to drive with. Made a few mistakes that cost us some prime opportunities because we did not have a good option there.
 


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