Thermals and wet warm weather

Cyres

Well-Known Member
Earlier I made a post on the thermal thread that is running in the stalking section: I then read Paddy's comments on my "Paired up foxs" thread and the problems he was facing with this mild damp weather.

So some more comments. I have been fortunate to have on loan for a month a new xt 38 and had a chance to compare it with a HD38s but the main problem has been so warm and everything including trees has some degree of heat signature. Also with night teperatures of 10-15 c its not given me a real oppourtunity to see how good the new unit is. One thing we have found out that in warm misly damp evenings in both units cases viewing was poor, lack of range and clarrity. Contrary to what you have been told light rain/mist make life v difficult even with a thermal. I don't think i have been out on a night which was sub 10c but on a few nights vissibility has been better. The new unit is a bit sharper than the original and the image focus appears more precise, but as in both cases quite narrow. I find best to focus on top most branches of a tree at 100-200yds. Also image quality is quite dependant on the contrast setting I found 6-8 being best for me.

I found that when using red heat there was unacceptable image flare out so reverted to white hot which worked well. Rangefinder option is ok but as we have Geovids we can use them for precise ranging and generally are aware of the likely ranges on our ground. Then again with a DP on a .204 no issues with bullet drop under 99% of situations.

Overall some what improved site picture but questionable gizzomos of limited use.

Just hope it gets cold and mate comes down so we can see what they are both like in cold conditions.

Update to follow

D
 
just a thought but if your saying that your finding that basicaly the foxes temperature that its admidting isnt that much higher than the surounding ground on which its standing so its harder to spot so your hoping that when the colder weather comes the ground temperature will drop and make a fox stand out more but wont the foxes winter coat counteract this with it not giving out as much heat?
 
just a thought but if your saying that your finding that basicaly the foxes temperature that its admidting isnt that much higher than the surounding ground on which its standing so its harder to spot so your hoping that when the colder weather comes the ground temperature will drop and make a fox stand out more but wont the foxes winter coat counteract this with it not giving out as much heat?

No, when the air and ground are cold, the foxes stand out really well.
 
agree there, when you look at a sheep for the first time you see a head feet and an indistinct mass, foxs don't have a tail when in winter coat look more like a lynx.

In warm conditions everything merges into a white haze but when you get a period of cold the background heat reduces and mammals realy stand out. Of late things like rats on stubble stand out very clearly, ground birds eg partridges and woodcock all you see is the white glow of the head. I never had a chance to use a thermal in the snow but I bet you would see deer and foxs at silly ranges. Whilst the coat does insulate them the head is what really gives it away. Roll on winter.

D
 
fair enough chaps it was just somthing that got me wondering when you put it up, maybe one day when the sprog has grown up and buggered off to his own place i might be able to afford to get into the night vision world :)
 
So on a warm summers night are thermals useless? Or just range drops drastically?

Never be a problem is scotland as we don't get warm summers nights or even summer:D
 
So on a warm summers night are thermals useless? Or just range drops drastically?

Never be a problem is scotland as we don't get warm summers nights or even summer:D

So long as the quarry is a different temperature from the background, it will show up. I've had the odd summer's night where bunnies have been difficult to see, but fortunately problems like this are quite rare unless there's a lot of moisture in the air, such as when it's raining. Since that robs all the heat out of the equation, a thermal can really struggle to see anything.
 
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