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

Really to answer your question simply, you can spot a deer further away than you will ever desire to want to chase it.
But everything has it's up sides and down sides.

In general the higher the lens number the further you can spot deer, magnification plays a role too. 50 being the higher end with some 65s available. But the downside with these models is you have far less field of view.
So if all of your shooting was in the lower end distance wise a 25 will do the job and you will be able to scan close stuff, eg under 100 yards far more quickly than a 50 model.
The happy medium lies with the models around 35. Not too zoomed in but you can still spot animals significantly further than most people ever shoot.
As far as brands go, pulsars are good but I wouldn't get caught up on it. For half of the price you'll get something that will spot animals extremely easily, downside is you will be lacking a bit of definition so it will be a little harder to pinpoint animals as quickly. I have often used 3 different brands on any given night including some high end pulsar gear and if I was on a budget I definitely would not lose any sleep over not getting a pulsar.

As far as rocks etc go. Thermals do their best work first thing in the morning, cloudy days or a couple of hours after dark, in the summer sometimes even longer.
Dirt patches heat up extremely fast so if you are hunting rocky or clay pan type country in summer in the evening you will struggle unless it is south facing.

I have yet too see one of the new ones 55six has bought in and unfortunately there isn't much in the way of videos to get much of an idea. I'll probably purchase one anyhow and maybe make a video of it.

He's a review that gives you a side by side view on similar type models of different brands.
https://youtu.be/F_CHvO8C8YU

The conotech we sell uses the HIK sensor, netd >35mk

One thing I would suggest is, if you can , get one with a range finder built in . Not so bad during the day but unless you know the area you are in very well it can be difficult at night to judge distance . Being that you are looking through a TV screen there's zero depth perception . This has caught me out a few times .