PVS 14 or Thermal

[EZToForget]

Hi guys,

New member here. I'm looking for a little advice.

My buddy and I have taken a liking to hunting coyote. We are in Ohio, we typically hunt fields, less than 200yds. I also hunt deer and I like to hike/camp/boat.

Up until last night we had only hunted morning/evening due to not having any type of night equipment. We aren't super successful with this. Recently I picked up a Photon RT 4.6s based on TexasLawman's recommendation from his video, just to try out what we were able to do at night. Last night was our first night and we had 4 coyote in the field in a very short time.

I don't have the settings worked out just right on my Photon just yet so I was only really able to see the eyes of the coyote's at 75 yds. This was due to the IR reflection. I am using a UNV 20ir illuminator, I think it was probably on low or medium, and I had the brightness on the scope set on 5. It was this way because my buddy was complaining it was blowing his eye out. Anyways I need to play with the settings and I'm sure I'd have a much better view. Aside from this and onto my questions.

I've been bitten by the night vision bug for sure. I am trying to decide if my first high dollar purchase should be a PVS 14 (probably mounted to a crye precision nightcap) or a thermal scope (currently looking at the flir pts536).

On one had the PVS 14 would be very versatile for me, meaning I can use it while hunting, while navigating to and from tree stands, while hiking, camping and boating.... etc...

On the other hand the PVS 14 isn't a scope and the thermal would be much better in this aspect. I've seen the general consensus is to try to not mount your PVS 14 on your rifle.

I'm just looking for some help in thinking through this. I'd love to buy these 3 things, a pvs 14 (probably a L3 filmless wp), a mawl c1, and a thermal scope (probably pts536). But the reality is I can only afford to get 1 of the three for right now (this stuff is expensive!!). I shouldn't say that, I can afford it, my wife won't allow it... unfortunately. So I'm stuck with 1 for now.

Which do I buy first?? Not having experience with any of this equipment makes the decision very hard and I will probably be 6 months or more between convincing my wife I need the next item. I'm sure those of you with experience using these things can help me out.

Thanks.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Thermal is better for shooting and spotting, especially camouflaged targets like coyotes. A pvs14 is better for navigating to the set, but if I could only have one at this point it would be a thermal scope.

 

[EZToForget]

Thanks for the reply. Have you had any hands on time with the pts536 yet? I have been seeing that they are supposed to start shipping this month but I have yet to see any reviews or videos on this unit. I am very curious to find out if I would like this unit better than the pulsar xq38 or the armasight 336. I like the 4x optical mag as I would probably be able to leave it there 99% of the time. I also like the color pallets. I had a pulsar xp50 on backorder for about 3 months locally and cancelled it because I got tired of waiting. At this point I'm not sure I want to cut my resolution in half to get to 5x so I'm kind of glad I cancelled it. Do you have any thoughts on what other thermals you would look at if the pts536 is heavy on my mind?

Thanks.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Pts536 is on backorder as well. The xq50 is a better scope the only area the pts beats it is magnification I prefer the 4x myself as well. Other than that the trail wins in image, battery pack, one shot zero and customer service. If you are going to be limited to using one optic for scanning and shooting the xp50's less magnification would be better it's a pain to scan at 4x I think the pts536 is more like 5.5x personally.

 

[Rookie]

Where at in Ohio?

 

[EZToForget]

Thanks again. I think I will probably look back to the pulsar units.

Rookie, I am between Dayton and Cincinnati. Are you in Ohio?

 

[Rookie]

No, but my parents live in Columbus. Next time I'm heading that way, I could swing by and let you check out my IR Hunter MK3. I know it's not what you're looking at, but on 2x you would get a general idea what the picture would look like on a Pulsar.

 

[witch's wail]

just y 2 cents worth as I purchased both up front. Traditionally I am a bow hunter from SC. We have very liberal limits either sex, quit rifle hunting till recent due to RCS repair and surgery. ( Shoulder surgery). I am a one shot wait for the right angle shot or pass guy because I do NOT like to hear pain, as a MD it is the one thing I try and avoid. My last hog took eight .308 rounds to ground , why , I was using a new Copper only in CA round, not mentioned rather than a TAP or BT that I usually use. My point is this, I have not achieved accuracy that is reproducible with My Top of the line thermal since purchased , thus I will not hut with it. A DBL -3 from Steiner and a PVS-14 mono is dead one. No need to say more, But I will, I HATE squealing, that means pain, a bow shot well placed doe's not do that, nor should a well placed rifle round.

 

[EZToForget]

Thanks Rookie, next time you swing by let me know via p.m. on here, I would love to look through your Trijicon if I don’t have anything by then. Would take me a few more months to save up for one of the Trijicon’s, but I have been debating in my head if it would be worth it over the pulsar. What do you think? Have you looked through both of them? I am assuming you have the 2.5x, 35mm model? How is the fov?

Witch’s wail, just out of curiosity what thermal do you have? And have you spoken with the manufacturer about it? I haven’t heard anything like this about the thermals. Interestingly enough I have heard the opposite that the IR lasers have difficulty maintaining their zero over time. Just out of curiosity what pvs 14 do you have and what range can you comfortably ID and shoot with this setup?

Texaslawman, is pulsar still heavily backordered or are the units able to be gotten easily now?

Thanks everybody.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

No, but my parents live in Columbus. Next time I'm heading that way, I could swing by and let you check out my IR Hunter MK3. I know it's not what you're looking at, but on 2x you would get a general idea what the picture would look like on a Pulsar.

Ummm at 2x you loose 50% not 10%.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Texaslawman, is pulsar still heavily backordered or are the units able to be gotten easily now?

Thanks everybody.

Trijicon and Pulsar are both backordered. I am supposed to get my first shipment of Pulsars this week, Trijicons are 15-20 days out.

 

[Rookie]

Ummm at 2x you loose 50% not 10%.

I didn't give a percentage...

I said the IR Hunter on 2x would be comparable to the Pulsar (but I meant to add on 1x). Am I wrong or would the Pulsar be somewhere between IR Hunter 1x and 2x as far as picture quality?

 

[Rookie]

Thanks Rookie, next time you swing by let me know via p.m. on here, I would love to look through your Trijicon if I don’t have anything by then. Would take me a few more months to save up for one of the Trijicon’s, but I have been debating in my head if it would be worth it over the pulsar. What do you think? Have you looked through both of them? I am assuming you have the 2.5x, 35mm model? How is the fov?

Witch’s wail, just out of curiosity what thermal do you have? And have you spoken with the manufacturer about it? I haven’t heard anything like this about the thermals. Interestingly enough I have heard the opposite that the IR lasers have difficulty maintaining their zero over time. Just out of curiosity what pvs 14 do you have and what range can you comfortably ID and shoot with this setup?

Texaslawman, is pulsar still heavily backordered or are the units able to be gotten easily now?

Thanks everybody.

I have not looked through both. I figured buy once, cry once. Yes, I have the 35mm.

 

[witch's wail]

Thanks Rookie, next time you swing by let me know via p.m. on here, I would love to look through your Trijicon if I don’t have anything by then. Would take me a few more months to save up for one of the Trijicon’s, but I have been debating in my head if it would be worth it over the pulsar. What do you think? Have you looked through both of them? I am assuming you have the 2.5x, 35mm model? How is the fov?

Witch’s wail, just out of curiosity what thermal do you have? And have you spoken with the manufacturer about it? I haven’t heard anything like this about the thermals. Interestingly enough I have heard the opposite that the IR lasers have difficulty maintaining their zero over time. Just out of curiosity what pvs 14 do you have and what range can you comfortably ID and shoot with this setup?

Texaslawman, is pulsar still heavily backordered or are the units able to be gotten easily now?

Thanks everybody.

I use an Apollo pro 30 hrtz, 50mm, thermal, will not hold zero in front of scope, minimal with termal as primary optics, sorry for delay , studying for a board exam renewal.

 

[EZToForget]

I use an Apollo pro 30 hrtz, 50mm, thermal, will not hold zero in front of scope, minimal with termal as primary optics, sorry for delay , studying for a board exam renewal.

No problem. Thanks for the update. I'm assuming you mean you are using a clip on. The clip on units seem appealing to me due to not needing to remove day optics from my guns, but QD return to zero mounts solve that problem pretty well. In any case I intentionally avoided clip on units for a few reasons. From what I read they are more effective in front of REALLY good glass. My most expensive glass (with the exception of what I bought yesterday) is a vortex viper pst and an hst. Also, I have read of issues like you are having. Hopefully you get that figured out, or you can sell it and pick up a nice dedicated optic.

On to my update. I ended up purchasing a a pulsar trail xp50 yesterday. After searching high and low I finally found a company that had some in stock. It will be here on thursday. I'm pretty excited about it. After bugging my wife enough I was given permission to spend 9K so I pretty much had my pick as far as consumer grade units are concerned. I was between the xp50, xq50, and the IR hunter mk2 19 and 35 or mk3 35. First I decided on the pulsar units for a couple reasons. One was money, because if I have some left over I can pick up a thermal scanner or a pvs 14 to accompany my thermal scope. Next was the overall package of features available on the pulsars there is a lot there that is useful to me, and the battery life straight up rocks. Next I decided on the xp50 vs the xq for a few reasons. The main reason is that while I will be mainly hunting 200-300 yd deep fields; I will also venture into the honeysuckle infested woods of ohio from time to time as well, so I feel the lower native mag will help me out in that situation greatly. I might be tempted to throw this on my crossbow for the fun of it too. Can't shoot deer in the dark in ohio, but if a coyote strolls by I can take them, and why the heck wouldn't I record a daytime deer if I have the ability? Lastly I felt like if I got this one and ended up liking it zoomed in most of the time I could move it faster than the xq model and for less of a loss to pick up the xq instead. Personally though I think I'm going to be extremely happy with it. Now I just have one more problem...... I have 4K left, oh the options (helion, pvs 14, 6.5 creedmore, don't spend it and wait a year)..... who knows....

Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions, both public and via pm.