Played with my new (to me) Burris thermal scope some

[The Heretic]

Traded a SIG Tango 6 for a Burris BTS 35 yesterday.

A few first impressions.

Seems to eat more battery power than advertised - but then the batteries may not have been fully charged? I charged up some overnight and will retry later.

I learned what is hot and what is not. LED lights are not very warm. My asphalt driveway retains a lot of heat. Interesting what parts of my house leak heat - I will learn more come winter. Glass reflects rather than allows one to see thru it - even in the dark I see reflections of trees. Trees are hot, more so during the day (of course). The camo net over my pickup does mask the heat - some - and/or reduces the heat it retains. The radiator on my car radiates heat for hours after being driven. My Starlink dish radiates significant heat.

Not easy to navigate around with just thermal - in fact, I would not want to rely on it alone altogether - at least not this thermal device. I think a thermal/NV hybrid would be a lot better - especially one that had 1X optical (this does not - it is nearer 2X). I had not planned on using thermal for navigation - just an observation. I do think it will be useful for night hunting (e.g., feral pigs). I did try it out at about 3 AM and did not see anything moving around outside - I often have deer/etc. wandering thru my property.

I have not tried the scope with any animals or humans yet - I will be interested to try that at different ranges.

Buildings are detectable - somewhat thru brush/trees - as are vehicles - although sometimes it takes some interpretation.

The moon itself seems to radiate/reflect infrared (I assume that is the spectrum) - some lights in the distance do also (e.g., Beaverton & Portland). Aircraft flying overhead stand out quite a bit - also clouds. Some stars - maybe (I forgot to try that at 3 AM). I think some flying insects or maybe bats do too - maybe the latter - it was just a speck, but was obviously not an aircraft as it moved erratically in a way and at speeds that is not possible with an aircraft - so I assume it was something close by.

I have not tried connecting a recording device to it yet. I would be interested in figuring out a way to connect an external power supply to make the power last longer.

Also, it is disconcerting how much night vision I lose in the eye I am using to view the scope display - makes me almost blind in that eye.

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[Knobgoblin]

Did it come with digital copies of " copperhead road" and " run through the jungle " ?

 

[Stomper]

Traded a SIG Tango 6 for a Burris BTS 35 yesterday.

A few first impressions.

Seems to eat more battery power than advertised - but then the batteries may not have been fully charged? I charged up some overnight and will retry later.

I learned what is hot and what is not. LED lights are not very warm. My asphalt driveway retains a lot of heat. Interesting what parts of my house leak heat - I will learn more come winter. Glass reflects rather than allows one to see thru it - even in the dark I see reflections of trees. Trees are hot, more so during the day (of course). The camo net over my pickup does mask the heat - some - and/or reduces the heat it retains. The radiator on my car radiates heat for hours after being driven. My Starlink dish radiates significant heat.

Not easy to navigate around with just thermal - in fact, I would not want to rely on it alone altogether - at least not this thermal device. I think a thermal/NV hybrid would be a lot better - especially one that had 1X optical (this does not - it is nearer 2X). I had not planned on using thermal for navigation - just an observation. I do think it will be useful for night hunting (e.g., feral pigs). I did try it out at about 3 AM and did not see anything moving around outside - I often have deer/etc. wandering thru my property.

I have not tried the scope with any animals or humans yet - I will be interested to try that at different ranges.

Buildings are detectable - somewhat thru brush/trees - as are vehicles - although sometimes it takes some interpretation.

The moon itself seems to radiate/reflect infrared (I assume that is the spectrum) - some lights in the distance do also (e.g., Beaverton & Portland). Aircraft flying overhead stand out quite a bit - also clouds. Some stars - maybe (I forgot to try that at 3 AM). I think some flying insects or maybe bats do too - maybe the latter - it was just a speck, but was obviously not an aircraft as it moved erratically in a way and at speeds that is not possible with an aircraft - so I assume it was something close by.

I have not tried connecting a recording device to it yet. I would be interested in figuring out a way to connect an external power supply to make the power last longer.

Also, it is disconcerting how much night vision I lose in the eye I am using to view the scope display - makes me almost blind in that eye.

Can it switch between white-hot and black-hot?

 

[The Heretic]

 

[The Heretic]

Can it switch between white-hot and black-hot?

White hot/black hot/red hot 1/red hot 2/red hot 3/green hot and blue hot.

https://www.burrisoptics.com/sites/default/files/content/files/2022-07/Burris%20Thermal%20Rifescope%20Manual.pdf

I use Red hot 3 - so far. This palette shows white/black and red.

I have noticed that the heat for any "scene" seems to be dependent on temp differences with surrounding objects, not absolute temps.

 

[American123]

Thermal is, more than anything, a detection device designed to notice things more easily that would otherwise be difficult to see. It can be defeated, with dense foliage or simply putting a physical barrier between the scope and the target, but they work well at noticing things in the dark that would be able to hide by it simply being dark, and yes, they eat batteries.

That thermal reflection off windows is why an officer fired into the window at Ruby Ridge, being a novice to the technology, he came up to a window, saw a guy with a gun pointed at him and fired, except that guy was him in the window's reflection.

Good night vision is still superior for general navigating at night, but thermal excels in target acquisition in absolute darkness without the need for An IR illuminator which could work both ways depending on what kind of target you are looking for.

 

[JustShoot]

A lot of guys have moved into Therm. for weapons mount scope now days, but i still only shoot with NV. ,also foot travel with NV . I only use Therm. for spotting/scanning.
Weapons sight, NV / Therm. Both have there Plus and Minus out in the field .
Image quality for a Clip-on, NV pulls ahead just on the fact using Analog instead of Pixel for magnification with a projected image. Can see/shoot with laser pointer also with NV sight . Thermal no see Laser for close quarter shots, or pointing out a target .
Also you get more a sense of shooting depth and distances with NV image on a Scope or Clip-on, over a Thermal scope . also superior with foot travel with pvs-14 over a Therm. NOD on the helmet.
Therm. is image hampered with heavy humidity, but NV is 'SUPER' handicapped with Fog, when at same time you can still pick-up a shootable hot image with Therm. scope . Therm can get a usable hot spot for a POI hit threw light brush also, NV can't .
Also thermal scopes are starting to offer integrated LFR's to the weapons sights, and that is a big necessity for night shooting.

also.--> You Can't 'amplify' Stargazing with catching a meteor showers, Comets, satellites ..etc. with Thermal . NV stargazing is pretty fun.

I prefer shooting with NV. but I not a Thermal hater, If I had extra 10-K to blow, I would get a Nvision 640 BAE Core with LFR, . I have had a raging hardon for one of those since day they came out.
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