The 2020 Thermal & Night Vision Thread

[Fordnandez]

I have not had an issue with my Pulsar QD mount on my scopes. I was like you, I was very skeptical at first. I still find it completely amazing that I can transfer it from gun to gun and it holds zero every time.

[ken800]

Ok, so I made a mistake and sold my Sightmark RT in anticipation of the wraith 4K. I realized after I committed to selling it that the wraith 4K had been delayed but I'm a man of my word and sold it.

So now I find my dumb arse in need of something to hunt with and I don't want to go backward. My biggest need is multiple profiles for sub, super, and 2 different rifles. I will sorely miss the streamvision, but with the Wraith, will I be as good at least as my RT image-wise and be able to set a zero for my 300 BO in super, sub, and for my 6.5?

[Outdoor Legacy]

Ok, so I made a mistake and sold my Sightmark RT in anticipation of the wraith 4K. I realized after I committed to selling it that the wraith 4K had been delayed but I'm a man of my word and sold it.

So now I find my dumb arse in need of something to hunt with and I don't want to go backward. My biggest need is multiple profiles for sub, super, and 2 different rifles. I will sorely miss the streamvision, but with the Wraith, will I be as good at least as my RT image-wise and be able to set a zero for my 300 BO in super, sub, and for my 6.5?

The Photon RT's were great and I know many die hard Photon fans seem to slightly prefer it over the Wraith. But over all, the Wraith HD killed the Photon. I went from selling multiple Photons a week to selling one every 2 months and I was selling Wraiths every day. I sold more Wraith HD's in 9 months than I sold of Photon RT's in over 2 years and I was out of stock on Wraiths most of that time. Crazy.

The Photon RT is discontinued but you can pick one up somewhere used or you can pick up a Wraith HD while you wait on the 4K. I think I've actually got an open box Wraith HD that I'll be selling soon for a discount.

The only problem I see with the Wraith HD meeting your needs is the Sightmark QD mount (the only QD for it) is a decent but it's not perfect and if you're really switching it all the time it may or may not hold as well as you want. I've had some guys run some serious tests on it and it's been flawless for several, within 1" for some and a few had variations of almost 2". At least with the Photon you can get some really good QD rings or a good one piece mount and know you're good.

Other than that, I say go for the Wraith or buy a used RT.

Jason

[ken800]

The Photon RT's were great and I know many die hard Photon fans seem to slightly prefer it over the Wraith. But over all, the Wraith HD killed the Photon. I went from selling multiple Photons a week to selling one every 2 months and I was selling Wraiths every day. I sold more Wraith HD's in 9 months than I sold of Photon RT's in over 2 years and I was out of stock on Wraiths most of that time. Crazy.

The Photon RT is discontinued but you can pick one up somewhere used or you can pick up a Wraith HD while you wait on the 4K. I think I've actually got an open box Wraith HD that I'll be selling soon for a discount.

The only problem I see with the Wraith HD meeting your needs is the Sightmark QD mount (the only QD for it) is a decent but it's not perfect and if you're really switching it all the time it may or may not hold as well as you want. I've had some guys run some serious tests on it and it's been flawless for several, within 1" for some and a few had variations of almost 2". At least with the Photon you can get some really good QD rings or a good one piece mount and know you're good.

Other than that, I say go for the Wraith or buy a used RT.

Jason

Thanks! I'd say it wouldn't go back and forth more than 3 or 4 times a year so it would probably hold up. When the 4K comes, I could mount it full time to the rifle I use less and the 4K to the other, I guess.

[Jethro]

My son called me Friday and told me I needed to get out to one of his places where he was planting peanuts, that he had a problem. He said it looked like he had a big pig coming in every night and doing some serious damage, causing him to have to replant some areas.

Due to some technical difficulties I didn't have my XQ50 Trail mounted up to my rifle, but I took it to use as a scanner. I ended up have to use my old Photon 6.5x50 to shoot with since it was still zeroed on an older 6.5 Grendel upper of mine. The Photon sees good out to 200 or so and shoots fine, so that wasn't an issue. Mainly I needed the thermal to spot because it is a really big field and I wasn't sure what part of it the pig would show up in.

I got out there about 30 minutes after dark. The pivot was running, it was a nice cool night for this time of year, and I could see real good. About 2 hours later a good sized pig entered the field and started making a bee line over to the part of the field that had already been watered and was nice and soft.

The pig was about 350 yards from me but went behind a rise in the ground that was in between us. I got out of the back of the truck and grabbed the tripod to go stalk. I kept the rifle slung and used the thermal to spot an stalk. When I cleared the hump in the field the pig was about 150 out. I went ahead and stalked to about 100. It was feeding directly away from me and would not turn left or right. Had its nose down in a row and was just going down it. The shot angle was not that great but I tried to slip a bullet in the back of the ribs hoping it would range forward into the vitals. When I shot she took off running hard, the bullet went further back than I wanted. As she ran she turned broadside though, and I ended up catching her right behind the ear on a running shot. That one was lights out.

A tight tape right behind the front legs gave a hearth girth measurement of 44", the chart shows that is good for 240 lbs or so. Maybe more, she was fat as a tick. Probably pretty close to having a litter of pigs to be honest.

I can't get the picture to display in the thread, but here is a link to it.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/full/129683.jpg

[Pushbutton2]

My son called me Friday and told me I needed to get out to one of his places where he was planting peanuts, that he had a problem. He said it looked like he had a big pig coming in every night and doing some serious damage, causing him to have to replant some areas.

Due to some technical difficulties I didn't have my XQ50 Trail mounted up to my rifle, but I took it to use as a scanner. I ended up have to use my old Photon 6.5x50 to shoot with since it was still zeroed on an older 6.5 Grendel upper of mine. The Photon sees good out to 200 or so and shoots fine, so that wasn't an issue. Mainly I needed the thermal to spot because it is a really big field and I wasn't sure what part of it the pig would show up in.

I got out there about 30 minutes after dark. The pivot was running, it was a nice cool night for this time of year, and I could see real good. About 2 hours later a good sized pig entered the field and started making a bee line over to the part of the field that had already been watered and was nice and soft.

The pig was about 350 yards from me but went behind a rise in the ground that was in between us. I got out of the back of the truck and grabbed the tripod to go stalk. I kept the rifle slung and used the thermal to spot an stalk. When I cleared the hump in the field the pig was about 150 out. I went ahead and stalked to about 100. It was feeding directly away from me and would not turn left or right. Had its nose down in a row and was just going down it. The shot angle was not that great but I tried to slip a bullet in the back of the ribs hoping it would range forward into the vitals. When I shot she took off running hard, the bullet went further back than I wanted. As she ran she turned broadside though, and I ended up catching her right behind the ear on a running shot. That one was lights out.

A tight tape right behind the front legs gave a hearth girth measurement of 44", the chart shows that is good for 240 lbs or so. Maybe more, she was fat as a tick. Probably pretty close to having a litter of pigs to be honest.

I can't get the picture to display in the thread, but here is a link to it.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...ull/129683.jpg

Nice!!!!

[bowtecmike]

My son called me Friday and told me I needed to get out to one of his places where he was planting peanuts, that he had a problem. He said it looked like he had a big pig coming in every night and doing some serious damage, causing him to have to replant some areas.

Due to some technical difficulties I didn't have my XQ50 Trail mounted up to my rifle, but I took it to use as a scanner. I ended up have to use my old Photon 6.5x50 to shoot with since it was still zeroed on an older 6.5 Grendel upper of mine. The Photon sees good out to 200 or so and shoots fine, so that wasn't an issue. Mainly I needed the thermal to spot because it is a really big field and I wasn't sure what part of it the pig would show up in.

I got out there about 30 minutes after dark. The pivot was running, it was a nice cool night for this time of year, and I could see real good. About 2 hours later a good sized pig entered the field and started making a bee line over to the part of the field that had already been watered and was nice and soft.

The pig was about 350 yards from me but went behind a rise in the ground that was in between us. I got out of the back of the truck and grabbed the tripod to go stalk. I kept the rifle slung and used the thermal to spot an stalk. When I cleared the hump in the field the pig was about 150 out. I went ahead and stalked to about 100. It was feeding directly away from me and would not turn left or right. Had its nose down in a row and was just going down it. The shot angle was not that great but I tried to slip a bullet in the back of the ribs hoping it would range forward into the vitals. When I shot she took off running hard, the bullet went further back than I wanted. As she ran she turned broadside though, and I ended up catching her right behind the ear on a running shot. That one was lights out.

A tight tape right behind the front legs gave a hearth girth measurement of 44", the chart shows that is good for 240 lbs or so. Maybe more, she was fat as a tick. Probably pretty close to having a litter of pigs to be honest.

I can't get the picture to display in the thread, but here is a link to it.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...ull/129683.jpg

Outstanding. Nothing better than a plan coming together and a good shot to end the story.

pray for rain

[cehorn]

Ok, so I made a mistake and sold my Sightmark RT in anticipation of the wraith 4K. I realized after I committed to selling it that the wraith 4K had been delayed but I'm a man of my word and sold it.

So now I find my dumb arse in need of something to hunt with and I don't want to go backward. My biggest need is multiple profiles for sub, super, and 2 different rifles. I will sorely miss the streamvision, but with the Wraith, will I be as good at least as my RT image-wise and be able to set a zero for my 300 BO in super, sub, and for my 6.5?

Ken, thanks again for being a man of your word. As I said I had a wraith prior to the Photon I got from you. I will say that i have used the Photon 3 of the past 4 weekends so I have some experience with it now. With that said, and this is just my opinion, if the wraith and photon were on a table in front of me and I could only chose 1 I would chose the wraith every time. I personally think the image is a lot better all around and day time and zoom are no comparison. The menu and button set up are better on the wraith in my opinion as well.

And yes, you can set multiple profiles. When I first got mine I didn't have my 6.5 yet so I set it up on a 300 BO and sighted it in at 75 yards and killed a pig or 2. Then when I got my 6.5 I transferred it. I kept my 300 BO profile but never used it again (never switched back and forth). I also set a 20 yard profile and 75 yard profile on my 6.5. I switched back and forth between profiles regularly based on where I was sitting and it was always on. So what Jason said may be true as far as switching from gun to gun but I wouldn't hesitate to switch ammo, distance, etc on the same gun/mount using the different profiles.

I hope that helps and if you have any other questions let me know.

[chrisk]

I have mine sighted in with .223 53 grain max. Now I hope some coyotes show up.

[Outdoor Legacy]

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...ull/129683.jpg

That's a big hog for sure! Glad it worked out for you.

[Jethro]

Just got the call from my son. He says I gotta go back to the peanut field tonight, any way possible, as long as I don't get rained out. Looks like a big sounder has found the field. They flat tore it up last night. He says they wiped out most of the NW corner of that circle. Says I need to kill as many as I can before he replants it. Looks like I need to call a friend or two to get some extra guns on it.

[Jethro]

He says the damage gets worse than this further north.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/full/129721.jpg

[Russ81]

Just got the call from my son. He says I gotta go back to the peanut field tonight, any way possible, as long as I don't get rained out. Looks like a big sounder has found the field. They flat tore it up last night. He says they wiped out most of the NW corner of that circle. Says I need to kill as many as I can before he replants it. Looks like I need to call a friend or two to get some extra guns on it.

Man if I wasn’t out of town I’d come to yalls aid!!! Just need a hole to dump the hogs in!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ken800]

Ken, thanks again for being a man of your word. As I said I had a wraith prior to the Photon I got from you. I will say that i have used the Photon 3 of the past 4 weekends so I have some experience with it now. With that said, and this is just my opinion, if the wraith and photon were on a table in front of me and I could only chose 1 I would chose the wraith every time. I personally think the image is a lot better all around and day time and zoom are no comparison. The menu and button set up are better on the wraith in my opinion as well.

And yes, you can set multiple profiles. When I first got mine I didn't have my 6.5 yet so I set it up on a 300 BO and sighted it in at 75 yards and killed a pig or 2. Then when I got my 6.5 I transferred it. I kept my 300 BO profile but never used it again (never switched back and forth). I also set a 20 yard profile and 75 yard profile on my 6.5. I switched back and forth between profiles regularly based on where I was sitting and it was always on. So what Jason said may be true as far as switching from gun to gun but I wouldn't hesitate to switch ammo, distance, etc on the same gun/mount using the different profiles.

I hope that helps and if you have any other questions let me know.

thanks for the feedback! I'll probably wait until I can get a great deal on a wraith and just bite the bullet. I would strongly prefer to support TBH vendors but i have a 10% military discount and $50 gift card from an online vendor that is hard to pass up. I'd be all in on a wraith for about $432 shipped with tax.

[chrisk]

Definitely get the Wraith and add the 66lrx IR light kit from Outdoor Legacy. The upgrade if light will make it like a unit that cost several hundred dollars more.