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So, with the new clarification about crown land and hand held thermals - what's currently recommended and more importantly available locally for this purpose? Just having the conversation with a mate and he's looking seriously into it, where I'm not really up with whats out there now. Plenty on here with more recent experience than mine (circa four years ago pre-injury now!).
I think theres a forum supporter or two stocking them?
Rabbit hole.
Well, more correctly he can't be arsed trying to retrain the misbehaving deer dog again. It's still young, but has more designs on being a house pet than doing the hunting thing. Just doesn't seem to have the required go forwards for the role, which is a shame as it shows flashes of promise but can't keep focus. Training is going ok - just struggling to keep the mind on the job and wants pats and hugs and a bit of a chat right at the wrong moment or just doing dumb things like trying to climb stuff or rolling in things and making a crap load of noise, plus the good old look look look it's a dead possum carcass... He figures a thermal will be cheaper to feed, won't cock the job up, won't crap everywhere, wont need to be walked and won't make everything stink like wet dog.
Yeah but where's the fun in that?
I picking a thermal will find WAY less deer than a well trained dog !!!
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NopeQuote:
Originally Posted by kukuwai
Thermal in open country will show you 20 deer before the dog can empty its bladder
WRONGQuote:
Originally Posted by kukuwai
Jeepers that got you fellas excited [emoji3]
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It's sad...but it's true
I've had both a world class thermal and world class deer dog.
Put the two together and even better
But both have different strengths
Yep that's true and 100%. In this case I think the dog is for a rehoming - showed a lot of promise and holds the training but it just has too much of a focus issue or and inability to keep it's focus for long enough. Not had this problem with other dogs, so I don't think it's the training - that is working it's just the animal doesn't appear to be growing out of the issue. How much do you invest or when do you pull the pin on it, it's kind of put him off hunting dogs I think. Just a pain in the arse really more so than an asset on the ground.
Anywho, back onto original question, whats good and available at the moment?
Frequently sit and watch on neighbour's farm with a thermal. Rarely ever seen deer during the day and soon as shooting light has passed. The LED lights appear on the bush edge.
Most of our neighbours didn't realise there were deer so close. The farmer thought they were there but didn't realise there were so many. All this 300m from State highway 2, 2 km from Hokitika. Only 15km away, I have thermal video of 130 deer less than 150m from the road. The mind boggles. Spot lighters are all so surprised. No wonder no one down here walks too far to hunt. Personally, I prefer a bit of effort
@No.3 have a look at the pard range pretty sure sale is still going
Looks like they're all $1000+. Is there a SNDWAY range finder equivalent hand held thermal?
We have the infiray cellphone thermal plugins that are well under $1k. Surprising effective and very compact.Quote:
Originally Posted by uk_exile
Fieldays next week is also a good opportunity to compare thermals from a few brands. We will be there as Night Vision NZ with our brand - Sytong. Pulsar are there and Owl Optics will be there with Pard. Infiray usually have a handful of products in a corner of the Spika tent too.
I have an Infiray cell phone one from the nightvision website. Works really well. Picks up deer about 1km, away pretty easy. Works well on cold mornings and overcast days too. Less than $1000 and also very lightweight which would be a big advantage if lugging deep into public land. Comments from a couple of friends is the image quality is not significantly worse that the 2.5-3k monoculars.
Juicy do you have the T2 or xh15 version? Was talking about them with a mate saying they look like a decent option. Is it something you would risk in wetter conditions or fair weather only?
The Sytong LRF models are excellent.. have compared it to comparable pulsar and Pard models.. and all the lads picked the Sytong for best picture/identification, over multiple distances.
Having the 1x base magnification means scanning areas can be done much quicker than a 4x base mag, handy!
LRF is a game changer with thermal, as distances can be difficult to ascertain in the dark.
I use one for pest control (XS03-35LRF) and it's a game changer when coupled with a NV scope on the 22LR.
I can't recommend NVNZ enough - Ken was brilliant to deal with and provides excellent after sale service (if required).
Definitely a rabbit hole.. from memory, NETD, Taille pixels and Resolution pixels are key factors.. but talk to Ken and other in the know about it... or spend a couple of nights on youtube ;)
I have taken it out in relatively light rain and its always been fine. You do have to use it on your cell phone so that will get wet too. I wouldn’t want it getting too wet mind you. Yes its the T2.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake77
And to Jukes post, yes range finding abilities would be very handy on a thermal at night. Very hard to tell how far you are from a deer or whatever when you are trying to sneak up on them. Quite frustrating not being able to tell to get set up for a shot etc. Not such a problem if you use it during daylight hours though.
+1 for the Sytong XS03-35LRF & Ken and team at NVNZ. Brilliant piece of kit
Love my Pulsar XM-30