Thread: Handheld Thermal for the Bush

I can understand that thermal can be a crutch, but people rarely mention the skills and knowledge using thermal helps develop.

Thermal has been amazing at showing me what I was missing, and animal behavior when I couldn't see then. It has really helped me piece together their behavior and what I was doing wrong, and my spotting rate without thermal has gone way up. Thermal is kind of like having an experienced hunter teach you to spot animals.

As far as a bush monocular, if you know you won't go long distance, lowest resolution possible is the thing. I'd personally say that thermal in its current form isn't capable of multitasking well (ie being used for close and long range) so buy the optics suited for the main use and understand it'll have limitations for other use. Trying to get a generalist thermal optic when you know you're going to use it in the bush will just lead to frustration.

Do yourself a favor and try a bunch of them before buying. There is a lot of variety and their spec sheet only tells you half the story.

Originally Posted by canross

I can understand that thermal can be a crutch, but people rarely mention the skills and knowledge using thermal helps develop.

Thermal has been amazing at showing me what I was missing, and animal behavior when I couldn't see then. It has really helped me piece together their behavior and what I was doing wrong, and my spotting rate without thermal has gone way up. Thermal is kind of like having an experienced hunter teach you to spot animals.

As far as a bush monocular, if you know you won't go long distance, lowest resolution possible is the thing. I'd personally say that thermal in its current form isn't capable of multitasking well (ie being used for close and long range) so buy the optics suited for the main use and understand it'll have limitations for other use. Trying to get a generalist thermal optic when you know you're going to use it in the bush will just lead to frustration.

Do yourself a favor and try a bunch of them before buying. There is a lot of variety and their spec sheet only tells you half the story.

Well i think you are completely of the mark, my first hand held was a pulsar XP50, made for long range spotting , i was seeing deer up to 2 km away in tussock country. and when i was in the bush, down to about 15 yards,
all you had to do was alter your focus dial on thermal unit, easy peasy.
When i got my XP50, the shop owner got me to walk around the shop carpet with my shoes ON, He focused the thermal to 3-4 meters and i then had a squizz through the thermal and i could see my footprints on the carpet glowing bright as.
i now have a 35mm set of bino's just as good in the bush, but no where as much definition of target or vegetation once you are over 500 yards as the xp50.

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