Never thought I'd have an AR style rifle, but now I have two, a Ruger SFAR and a LF 10, both in .308 I've night hunted for coyotes at night with a call and lights but I'm thinking this night vision gear they have nowadays is the way to go. After looking at reviews I'm leaning towards a ATN THOR LTV Ultralight Thermal and a SightMark Wraith Digital Night Vision. Any one have any personal experiance with either? How about suppressors, thinking that a night vsion, quieted down rifle would be great for night hunting,coyotes and such here and If I get to make a pig hunting trip that would fill the bill. So any suppressor recomendations? as well as night vision

Never hunted with night vision. have friends with suppressed AR's. They are quieter but not as quiet as a bolt gun.

I am using an IRay Mk1 RICO 640 thermal. I like it, just don’t use it as much as I thought I would as our Thermal season doesn’t start until February.

I have two 30cal Dead Air Sandman Ti. I use them on my 300 RUM down to 5.56 in my AR’s. My favorite platform is on a bolting in 300 BO running subsonic.

Wanna be, airport trapper and swamp wolf are the guys you need to talk to

Go to Predatormaster.

Good advice. I had a RIX Tourer T20 night vision scope and I loved it but then I had an opportunity get a good deal on the RIX Storm 6 and it was a great upgrade. Having a Thermal scanner helps alot also. They are a great combo and there are a ton of options out there. All depends on works for you and what you want to spend.

If I had the $$ opportunity to go back and purchase night optics again....I'd likely go with a tube shaped (common rifle scope shaped) digital night vision scope mounted on the rifle and then purchase a good IR light (850 nm) and mount on scope.

I currently have the AGM Rattler V2-384 thermal scope on my AR .223 Wylde.

AGM Spectrum with laser range finder would be my 1st choice for a digital NV scope.

Then, I'd acquire a good handheld thermal scanner to wear on a lanyard around my neck.

I recently bought the Rix K3 handheld scanner...and am impressed with it ($899). It's the size of a typical handheld rangefinder and is 384 resolution. They also make a K2 256 resolution ($499) that would work about as well for heat signature scanning.

The scanner is used only to find a heat signature...then go to the DNV scope with IR light to ID and shoot. DNVs with a good IR light is much better to 100% ID your target.

I've sighted in 2 ATN Thor thermal scopes for a friend.....they were OK....but other brands are better quality.

Rix thermals are pretty good and priced lower than others. I'd take a serious look at those.

I’ll add to what Swamp said. Historically ATN didn’t have best reputation. I think it’s gotten a touch better these days. To answer your Sightmark Wraith question specifically—-id say they are pretty solid. I’ve got one that’s been used a fair amount when I’m not running thermal. Friend has a slightly older version. It’s not quite as nice image quality. Neither one have experienced issues

I've also sighted in a Sightmark Wraith on a Tikka .22 LR. I liked that DNV scope. Very clear HD digital screen....day & night. It had a Sightmark IR light that wasn't the best, but I believe that scope would pair well with a better IR.

Yea the factory supplied IR sucks. I’ve got a pretty good aftermarket one on. Reality is the IR has huge impact on performance as far as viewing distance. I can see out to 700+ yards but most cases I can’t even see that far and when can there’s likely a house in line of fire. And often you’ll be turning light down to minimal amount to just clearly see what you need. Otherwise most critters that have been pressured will pick up the light. Even noticed that spookiness with the hogs in Swamps neck of woods

Avoid anything with ATN in it.
Personally I’d go with thermal over NV. Things can hide from NV in the wide open, they aren’t hiding from thermal.
I’d go with the best thermal you can buy and an even better scanner. I have 640 thermals and went with 384 scanner. If I could do it over again, I’d probably still go with 640 thermals, but I’d definitely have a 640 scanner. My 384 is great, but a 640 would give you a lot more detail. I spend 95% of my hunts on the scanner and only a very short time on the gun.
I have a SFAR 16” with a Banish 30 suppressor. Nothing is movie quiet unless you’re using subsonics which you won’t in either AR you have, but it’s quiet enough for multiple shots. My AR platform is primarily used for hogs, but I have taken a pile of coyotes with it as well. I primarily use a bolt gun for coyotes

https://youtu.be/Ut01hwZP80g?si=YQuaMJmKD_kLpc_Z

https://youtu.be/s4amlIYdb-A?si=Ln3q2DiAwAIqwC1z

I'd still want a handheld thermal scanner to pick up a heat source, but it'll be hard to beat the DNV scope on the rifle with good IR.

Thermal as stated nothing . can move or hide, Pulsar LRF XP 50 Pro with Pulsar hand held XQ 30. Scan with hand held then switch to rscope on rifle. Your wanting to buy at the right time, season about over and will see sales

It’s that IR that critters can see is the issue. And yes, they can see IR light. Read up or talk to folks with it and if they’re honest, they’ll tell you it does. Also, most everyone I’ve talked to with NV has to spend extra money for “better” IR. Why not just buy a thermal and be done with it? Plus what’s NV weigh vs thermal? I can’t drive up on my hogs or my coyotes, it involves a lot of walking.

It basically all comes down to what you’re going to be using it for and how much you’ll use it? I’m a go all in and save my money for the best “I” can afford. I’d rather buy once, cry once, than buy cheap and wish I’d gotten something much better down the road.

Be careful with thermal because a man was shot for a hog a few years ago and this year in Va for a bobcat cat. I have a dog if not put up during the night someone would think she was a coyote. Lot of thermal hunter around here.

Also depends on laws and your use. In Indiana you can't use any artificial light to hunt rabbits so IR with night vision is out but thermal is legal to shoot rabbits with at night from what the possum cops confirmed whan I asked. I didn't believe my younger cousin when he told me that.

From videos I have see I ray has the most impressive thermals. But that's just wanting videos not personal experience.

I would never suppress an AR10 or AR15 rifle. After a few shots it needs cleaning. I would also never go with night vision unless you spend a lot of money.

Thermal rules the night and NEVER shoot if your not 100% on what it is. I often light it if I'm not sure. My odds go way down but I've never shot the wrong creature.

Everything needs cleaning when shooting suppressed, especially barrels. I run a bore snake down my barrels after every hunt.

As far as ID’ing targets, accidents even happen during the daylight with traditional scopes. Get out with your thermal and just look at critters. You can even take a thermal out during the day where you can see the critter then look through the thermal. You can ID dogs from coyotes just by characteristics, dogs and coyotes don’t even move the same. If all you’re seeing is a blob or heat signature, then you went way too cheap and/or shooting way too far. You can see details with thermal. I can ID sows from boars when shooting pigs. If there are multiple pigs, I want the sows gone first. And if you’re unsure, just like during daylight, don’t pull the trigger!

I say no on id'ing dogs at 250 yds with thermal just me. Now at fifty sure. Just like calling turkey see the beard then shoot.

Dogs and coyotes don’t even move the same. The issue is most people hunting don’t have a clue what predators even look like during the day time, much less at night time. I guess they see a heat signature and go to shooting. I’ve watched coyotes and bobcats come in from hundreds of yards away and knew exactly what they were when spotted. Called in a pair of Pits one night that at first glance, have the same “outline” of a bobcat, I thought was a pair of cats, but could tell from their gait they weren’t cats.

Red, I’d be more upset someone thermal hunting in my yard. I don’t know if anyone that’s gonna shoot a dog in someone’s yard next to a house.

If only everyone had a 640 or 1280 thermal...both scope and a scanner....and hunted only on large properties far away from residences...and learned what their targets look and act like beforehand....and made sure of their targets b4 pulling the trigger.....

If you're trying to the make the arguement that a thermal image is as safe, or safer, than a night vision image with respect to identifying the target, you are wrong. Maybe you get it right 99 out of 100 times with a thermal. But you can't mistake a target with night vision when you can see it in real time and in color.

I know a guy who's been hunting with thermals since they were available to the public. Has won many Midwest predator tournaments. He shot a racoon by mistake a few years ago. He thought it was a bobcat. It stepped out of some brush, came in facing him, and then sat down and raised up on its haunches. He said under thermal it looked like a bobcat sitting down and facing him. This was with an agm Adder 384. Target was about 150 yrds away. Not a big mistake as they were both legal to shoot, but nonetheless and misidentified target.

ol' dad

Thanks for the replies, looks like I have some scopes to check I hadn't before, again thanks

One of those big ole owls looks like a bobcat too when sitting beside your caller…until it moved its head, lol.

Same as daytime hunting…the OP is from Montana I’m guessing and can see coyotes farther than we can hear them down here. So yeah, he really needs something “better” for his area. If he’s in a part of Montana where on flat ground he can see 100yds max like us, then go with something “cheaper”. They hunt a lot of public ground out there. Seeing something in the scanner then checking it with the rifle could have you putting crosshairs on another hunter. Think that’s frowned upon in every State.

I've been lurking again for a while. I have been pretty intently in the thermals for a few years and seen a bunch of other scopes. Some mornings I think about hitting those crisp trap lines. I started with NV to begin with and would never go back. I would also still avoid any ATN. I know this post was a while back but I've had the AGM 35-384 for a number of years and it's done the job without issue. Still runs like when I bought it I believe about five years ago. There's been crazy improvement in thermal since that time but I never really needed to upgrade. I recently purchased the Rix Storm 6 while on sale. For $2400 its one of the only 640's below that 3k mark on the market. I don't hit them hard enough to justify a whole lot more. I believe I paid $2500 for my AGM back in the day, crazy how time flies. I do have a scanner which makes life much easier on the joints and I feel like I don't miss much with a handheld scanner. I'll see if I can dig up a few recent videos of us out and post them. I'm running suppressed on everything and day/night doesn't matter suppression is a game changer. 640 is also a game changer in clarity alone but the ol 384 will get the job done. I've only taken the 640 out one night and have one coyote on video with it but it's really pretty neat. We've put down 24 coyotes already this month. We've only been out around 4-5 times.

Hard to beat a rix in my opinion.

Let us know how that Rix works out. There was a reason I didn’t go with one and can’t remember why.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/yvYfv_47gYM?si=aq38sBjEw9gTkX59[/video]

Iray in 384. One of the better 384’s out there in my opinion.

Here’s the only video on the Rix so far. He was about 75 on impact. I don’t know how to upload without going through my YouTube.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/4dIPg5LEJBY?si=yui5Aks62kaS5DTl[/video]

I didn’t read all the comments… but will say I am a fan of Rix. I run there stride as a head unit and the leap 6 on the rifles. Now I’m looking at buying the storm 6 just to be lighter… not that it matters cause it’s on a tripod.

If you are ganna buy thermal… buy a scanner.
I’ve shot a lot of critters I wouldn’t have seen if I was in the scope.

Nocpix, iray and rix are the only thermals I recommend. Stay FAR away from atn.

I only have experience with Pulsar thermal scanners..they have been rock solid.