With the help of @Double Naught Spy I finally took the leap and got a thermal sight. Really appreciate his help in deciding if thermal was something that would fit my needs and budget.
I settled on the Storm S3 since it should do a little more than what I expect to need. Ordered Monday and got it yesterday after chasing the mailman down the road. Got an alert on my phone saying nobody was home, pick it up Monday at the post office. Ran out the door and got it from them around the corner. Didn’t realize it needed a signature and the gate was closed. But I got it.
Not gonna get in to what’s in the box. That’s everywhere.
Coming from an X-Sight Pro 4K it was pretty easy to figure out the buttons and menus. There were a couple things I had to look up but pretty straight forward. If you haven’t used a digital sight it might help to keep the manual around, but won’t take long to learn.
Sighting in: Seeing temps instead of color makes this a little more challenging than a typical scope of digits NV, but not much. Comes with 10 thermal targets. Basically round, sticky backed HotHands. I marked my first shot with a small piece of black electric tape and the temp difference on the paper target was enough to stand out. Then I just aimed at the center of the target again, hit the screen freeze button, and moved the reticle to the POI. Unfreeze and save. It’s also got a readout on screen telling you how far you’ve moved the poi at 100 yards. So you could just measure the distance and adjust that way if needed.
Went straight from the range to a blind set up 50 near a feeder that’s been getting hammered by raccoons. I was surprised to find I could see turtles heads sticking out of the water. Spotted a rabbit about 100 yards out and watched him for a little bit. I settled in to scanning the area about every 5 minutes.
A Possum came in for a late dinner just after 10pm. Followed him along until he reached the feeder. My neighbor was with me and watching everything I saw using the Rix app on my phone. Neither of us noticed the trash panda in the tree as the possum went by. I think a combination of target fixation and him accidentally locking my phone at the same time.
Decided on a body shot since I wasn’t all that sure about the zero. Hit a little further back than I intended. On the follow up I had a little lead and the possum slowed down just as I was commuting to shoot and took one in the nose. Last shot I didn’t lead enough and hit near the hind quarters as he went behind a wood pile. Only made it another 10’ or so.
After that we scanned the area and caught the trash panda in the tree. Put a round through his neck as he was coming down but I’d forgot to restart the recording.
Sight worked perfectly. I’m going to play with the contrast settings and color patterns. Seeing things in temps instead of colors takes a little getting used to. But overall I couldn’t be happier. Have a hog hunt planned in a couple weeks so hopefully I can give another update. Gonna try to get some shots of different animals and distances when I can and will update with screenshots.
I settled on the Storm S3 since it should do a little more than what I expect to need. Ordered Monday and got it yesterday after chasing the mailman down the road. Got an alert on my phone saying nobody was home, pick it up Monday at the post office. Ran out the door and got it from them around the corner. Didn’t realize it needed a signature and the gate was closed. But I got it.
Not gonna get in to what’s in the box. That’s everywhere.
Coming from an X-Sight Pro 4K it was pretty easy to figure out the buttons and menus. There were a couple things I had to look up but pretty straight forward. If you haven’t used a digital sight it might help to keep the manual around, but won’t take long to learn.
Sighting in: Seeing temps instead of color makes this a little more challenging than a typical scope of digits NV, but not much. Comes with 10 thermal targets. Basically round, sticky backed HotHands. I marked my first shot with a small piece of black electric tape and the temp difference on the paper target was enough to stand out. Then I just aimed at the center of the target again, hit the screen freeze button, and moved the reticle to the POI. Unfreeze and save. It’s also got a readout on screen telling you how far you’ve moved the poi at 100 yards. So you could just measure the distance and adjust that way if needed.
Went straight from the range to a blind set up 50 near a feeder that’s been getting hammered by raccoons. I was surprised to find I could see turtles heads sticking out of the water. Spotted a rabbit about 100 yards out and watched him for a little bit. I settled in to scanning the area about every 5 minutes.
A Possum came in for a late dinner just after 10pm. Followed him along until he reached the feeder. My neighbor was with me and watching everything I saw using the Rix app on my phone. Neither of us noticed the trash panda in the tree as the possum went by. I think a combination of target fixation and him accidentally locking my phone at the same time.
Decided on a body shot since I wasn’t all that sure about the zero. Hit a little further back than I intended. On the follow up I had a little lead and the possum slowed down just as I was commuting to shoot and took one in the nose. Last shot I didn’t lead enough and hit near the hind quarters as he went behind a wood pile. Only made it another 10’ or so.
After that we scanned the area and caught the trash panda in the tree. Put a round through his neck as he was coming down but I’d forgot to restart the recording.
Sight worked perfectly. I’m going to play with the contrast settings and color patterns. Seeing things in temps instead of colors takes a little getting used to. But overall I couldn’t be happier. Have a hog hunt planned in a couple weeks so hopefully I can give another update. Gonna try to get some shots of different animals and distances when I can and will update with screenshots.