Thread: Thermal handhelds - how far can you really spot an animal?

For any thermal users out there, how far away can you really see an animal?

Could you advise of what model you are using, and how far away can you tell its a deer and not a warm rock?

Building up the coin towards buying a handheld.
The idea is to be able to know if I'm going to elminating sitting and watching a bit of barren hillside with the binos, or there are animals way over there on the next valley and its worth tramping round to use the binos.
And I shoot a place in Southland that has thick bush hiding four-legged pests, so need to know if they are there or not when we glass to last light.

Thanks

I am probably the least experieneced thermal user here, having only used one twice. But I can say the 3-4 year old pulsar a good bloke on the forum lent me allowed me to easily identify cattle at about 3km in the dark and I could distinguish rocks and deer easily, while a mates brand new Guide made it difficult to see any detail on red deer at more than about 600m. The difference in quality between them was impressive.

The new lieca handheld is even better than the top of the range pulsar as it isn't as flarey

Even a bottom of the range one I can make out deer at 200easy enough and tell between possum and kiwi at 100

Originally Posted by Phil_H

What model Pulsar Ben?

Cheers
Phil

Pulsar Quantum XD38s.

Depends on how far you can push your bank balance
Like ALL Optics
More you pay - more you get

Originally Posted by scottrods

For any thermal users out there, how far away can you really see an animal?

Could you advise of what model you are using, and how far away can you tell its a deer and not a warm rock?

Building up the coin towards buying a handheld.
The idea is to be able to know if I'm going to elminating sitting and watching a bit of barren hillside with the binos, or there are animals way over there on the next valley and its worth tramping round to use the binos.
And I shoot a place in Southland that has thick bush hiding four-legged pests, so need to know if they are there or not when we glass to last light.

Thanks

I use a relatively inexpensive thermal. A HIK Micro Lynx Pro 25mm Lens. It will locate animals over a Kilometer away easy. However the further away the animal the harder its to identify. Experience eventually helps you figure out what the signal is likely to be. For example there is no mistaking cattle they show up as a bloody great hot blob. I reckon that inside of about 600m I could tell you whether the signal was a deer or a sheep, or a hot rock. Some of this has to do with how the animal moves and the general shape of the signal, for example deer have longer necks and legs. Where I hunt there are quite a number of sheep and cattle present and these days I don't get fooled by a false signal too often. The other biggie which you have touched on is false signals from rocks etc, This can be difficult in summer months particularly at and just after sunset. Tree stumps, bare patches of ground and even Toitoi bushes will put off a real glow. You can't do anything about this except wait a while until things cool down. In these situations there can end up being so many false signals it is hard to find deer, the only tell tale is that Rocks and stump don't tend to walk around . Even in daylight if the area you are scanning has not been warmed up too much by sunlight the thermal is way ahead of the Bino's. I only grab them out if there are too many false signals. Its an interesting learning curve but without doubt the thermal is a very efficient way to find game, I doubt you would be disappointing.

2 - 3000m is achievable now
Identification = 1200m (is it a Deer or Cattle beast etc)
Positive identification = 800 (is it a Hind or Stag or yearling etc)

Originally Posted by Sarvo

Depends on how far you can push your bank balance
Like ALL Optics
More you pay - more you get

Yeah well not necessarily. conotech.co.nz have a range of thermals that beat many of the others on specs for price. The Polaris and Tracer range use an HIK processor with a Netd of <35MK. 35mm and 50mm F1.1 objectives ensure a decent thermal range. I imagine other thermal importers will start to drop their prices with competition.

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

I am probably the least experieneced thermal user here, having only used one twice. But I can say the 3-4 year old pulsar a good bloke on the forum lent me allowed me to easily identify cattle at about 3km in the dark and I could distinguish rocks and deer easily, while a mates brand new Guide made it difficult to see any detail on red deer at more than about 600m. The difference in quality between them was impressive.

Guide / Burris don't disclose their Netd figure which is always a sign that its not the flash. The worst in the industry is the Dali's. Netd is essentially the ability to resolve differences in heat. The lower the figure the better.

Even with my relatively budget model, I can see a heat source as far as anyone would want to shoot at night.
Animal vs warm rock. Rocks don't tend to move

XP 50 and plenty of experience over 4 years

3km in ideal conditions
2km relatively often
1km even in sub optimal conditions
1km in good condition and you can tell the deer species and sex
Fallow have a different edge texture to reds
Stags show a different body profile
Velvet stags look like neon
Hard stags you can count the points in good conditions at 300 to 500m

BUT it takes a while to master them and if you only hunt a few times a year you will miss a lot of them
Once you get your eye in they are a very good tool

Originally Posted by 55six

Yeah well not necessarily. conotech.co.nz have a range of thermals that beat many of the others on specs for price. The Polaris and Tracer range use an HIK processor with a Netd of <35MK. 35mm and 50mm F1.1 objectives ensure a decent thermal range. I imagine other thermal importers will start to drop their prices with competition.

Attachment 180245

12μm 40mK iRay (infiRay) betters all above
By far the best Bang 4 Buck

Which you appeared to miss out in your promo

Originally Posted by Sarvo

12μm 40mK iRay (infiRay) betters all above
By far the best Bang 4 Buck

Ok So pixel pitch enables smaller lense size. It doesnt have too much to do with ability to resolve. Germanium objective lense being the most expensive part of a thermal, manufacturers are heading that way but cost is still a factor. And a Netd sub 40mk is pretty meh.

Originally Posted by 55six

Ok So pixel pitch enables smaller lense size. It doesnt have too much to do with ability to resolve. Germanium objective lense being the most expensive part of a thermal, manufacturers are heading that way but cost is still a factor. And a Netd sub 40mk is pretty meh.

Have you tried 12μm in 50mm ??
Diff between 35 and 40 is negligible

PS
What does "meh" mean