Night Vision Scopes For ARs

Author: Nicholas C

Seeing in the dark and hunting have become increasingly popular. Coyotes and especially hogs have become a problem for many as their numbers continue to increase. Add to that other pests and invasive species, such as nutria, more and more people are looking for a way to augment their vision at night. Let’s take a look at some options so see in the dark for your AR style rifles.

Traditional Analog Night Vision: The Golden Benchmark

Traditional analog night vision is the golden benchmark for seeing in the dark. They are extremely battery efficient, many of them running for 40 hours on a single CR123 or two AA batteries. However the further you want to see the more expensive it becomes. Night vision goggles can cost anywhere from $2,000 for a monocular all the way to $12,000 for top of the line binoculars. And yet those night vision goggles are only 1x and require additional accessories for use with an AR rifle. You need a night vision compatible optic or a laser and illuminator. Even after you get the necessary equipment, your ability to see far at night is severely limited. 

Seeing far at night with analog night vision requires a clip-on night vision device (CNVD). While dedicated night vision scopes do exist, they do not see very far. Usually within 200 yards with a little bit of magnification. Real night CNVDs like a PVS-30, PVS-24-LR or PVS-27 are anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000. And while you can see far with high magnification scopes, as high as 12x, you might need illumination to combat shadows and photonic barriers. With such a setup you can see out to 1,000 yards depending on ambient lighting and the environment. You can actually see farther than that but can you recognize and identify what you are looking at if you are hunting an animal? Resolution for analog night vision is very high however camouflage can still defeat such a system. Like animals hiding in or around vegetation. The color of an animal can help it blend into its environment as well. So what can you do to defeat camouflage? Get thermal.

Thermal Scopes: A Modern Alternative

Unlike analog night vision, thermal scopes for ARs have become more affordable as the technology advances. But just like analog night vision scopes, the further they see the more expensive they are. Stand-alone thermal scopes can be purchased for under $4,000. Some as low as $1,000 and under. These have low magnification and low resolution. While 640 resolution thermal scopes can be purchased for less than analog night vision goggles, they have their limitations as well. While you can detect a heat source a good distance away, some can detect past 1,000 yards but all you see is a blob of heat. You have to get closer to recognize if what you are looking at is an animal or hot rock. In some cases vegetation, like cacti, can retain heat at night giving you a false positive. Some thermal scopes can be used as clip-ons but the type that can see far with high magnification day optics are expensive. Thermal clip-ons like the Eotech ClipIR ELR was $16,000 when it came out. While expensive, it was cheaper than the Trijicon BAE UTC XII which had a $26,000 price tag. I was able to recognize the shape of a 700 yard coyote at night. But I could not positively identify it was a coyote based on its shape in the thermal clip-on. Only when it lifted its head followed by the howl (sound is slower than light) could I tell it was a coyote. Even with all that money into one optic, your capabilities are limited. 
 
If you are shooting far, you need to take ballistic drop into consideration. You also need to range to target so you can calculate what the drop is. Weapon mounted range finders with ballistic calculators used to be exorbitantly expensive. Wilcox RAPTAR costs around $10,000. That has changed with the Vortex Impact 4000. You can get one of those for around $2,000. Using that with thermal is a bit tricky. You would need to zero the Vortex range finder to your day scope. But since thermal scopes and clip-ons cannot see light or lasers, you would have to hope the laser pulse is hitting the object you see in your thermal image.

ZULUS HD Series: Affordable Digital Night Vision and Range-Finding

What if you could have both digital and night vision in one device? Fusion goggles have thermal with night vision but they are expensive. Fusion systems overlay the thermal image directly over the night vision image. The entry level version is a COTI but those inject the thermal image into the objective of the night vision goggle. There is no COTI style device for weapon mounted night vision. If you want fusion goggles then the L3 fusion PSQ-20 monocular starts at $7,000 for 20 year old technology. The new fusion binos like the ENVG-B cost $40,000 brand new. FLIR makes a fusion clip-on called ADUNS however it is so expensive, there is no price listed online. 

Even if you could afford it, you might need an illuminator and range finder on top of it all. Plus you need a day optic since clip-ons do not have reticles. 

However there is an alternative to these expensive military optics, our ZULUS HD line of digital scopes have a built-in IR illuminator and if you get the versions with onboard laser range finder, they have ballistic calculators inside. With the ballistics properly programmed via our app or manually inputed directly into the scope, you simply range to target and press the LRF button a second time to accept the distance. Then the ZULUS will automatically calculate the ballistic drop for that distance and show you where to aim. We just released our new ZULUS HD V2 that has all the same features as the popular ZULUS scopes but with an improved eyepiece, magnification ring with throw lever for faster manipulation as well as an improved operating system with intuitive menu. We also upgraded the ZULUS HD V2 to use a 21700 li-ion rechargeable battery for 25% longer run time.  All of this technology comes in at just over $700. Yes, $700. Not $7,000.

ThermNight Series: Night Vision and Thermal Imaging Combined

Want to step up your game? Our flagship ThermNight line of scopes has all the features of our ZULUS scopes with the added super power of thermal. Unlike fusion systems, the ThermNight uses a picture-in-picture (PIP) to display both the digital and thermal images. The PIP feature is an advantage over fusion systems due to the different FOV magnification between the digital versus the thermal in the ThermNight. ThermNight digital have a base magnification of 5x and can zoom up to 20x. The thermal sensors have a base mag as low as 1.5x such as the TNC635R. This dual FOV allows you to scan an area with thermal in the PIP window, and you simply glance down to the digital image which would be zoomed in. This allows you to capitalize on the benefits of thermal and digital. Thermal offers lower resolution but is perfect for detecting potential game. Then utilize the higher resolution and higher magnification of the digital to help positively identify what you are looking at. Our ThermNight scopes start at just $1,329.99 for the TNC225R or you can upgrade to the 640 resolution TNC635R for just $3,159.99.
 
The future is now. You can get an affordable optic that can see at night as well as see and detect heat at the same time. Add the benefit of a built-in laser range finder combined with an onboard ballistic calculator. Not only can you see far at night, you can more accurately shoot far as well. You can even upgrade the IR illuminator for 940nm and your beam will be invisible to analog night vision.