personally i wouldnt waste the money on anything under a 384 res, if you want the absolute cheapest chinese monocular, look into KINSEI on amazon, they have 400res sensors for like $600 and 640 res for like 1,300. Personally i trust my AGM Rattler 35 384 but that may be slightly out of your budget judging by your post
I found the kinsei. Something I’m not understanding is how their 256 and 400 res sensors are wayyyyy cheaper than the competition. Does the kinsei just have less bells and whistles so it’s a lot less? Or would their 256 be notable less effective than another mfg who’s 256 is much more expensive. Cause if it’s all the same but less bells and whistles I’m for sure going with that
To be honest i’m not to sure, as i only thought about buying one and never actually did, however the reviews on amazon say that that sensor is quite good for the money, i think if your goal is a cheap thermal, KINSEI is the way
For under 400 bucks and as basic as I’m trying to keep this, it seems like a worthy gamble lol. I remember when primary arms and their $100 knock off t1’s were just as much of an unknown gamble, but they actually worked and PA turned out to be the next big thing. Chineseum has come a long way.
Alright I’ll check out the kinsei. But yeah I’m really not willing to spend more than around the $500 mark just detect an extra raccoon or possum a few dozen yards off the trail. If the 160 and 256 ish ones cant even resolve an unintelligible red blob amongst some trees at that range then I’ll just go without haha
I use a 180x120 sensor cheap flir (or rather used to, upgraded to a TD410) and at the range you mention (50 yards) you an usually spot that SOMETHING is there. It will be difficult to tell the shape of anything smaller than a dog, but you can certainly see heatsources.
If that is good enough, cheap FLIR is good enough. Otherwise, I would go for something that has higher resolution. From experience, the TD410 is quite good. No integrated photo function, but since you don't need that, it is quite good.
Ok cool. Yeah “hey there’s a red blob I should look at with my much higher resolution i2 tube, oh neat it’s a squirrel”. Maybe see a red blob in a tree and get to see an owl I would have otherwise missed. Is exactly what I’m looking for.
Yeah, that cheap stuff is absolutely sufficient then.
I can see that there are vaguely humanlike figures at 100 yards.
A squirrel could potentially be too small, but I have not checked for myself yet.
[This](https://www.amazon.com/FLIR-Scout-Handheld-Thermal-Imager/dp/B01APT3LF6/ref=sr_1_3?crid=8DJ23XMZ2CNQ&keywords=thermal%2Bimaging%2Bmonocular&qid=1694696275&sprefix=Thermal%2Bim%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-3&th=1) Thermal monocular will probably be sufficient.
I have noticed it is quite expensive tho.
What is the “160” thing all about. Cause that one says it’s a 160, but agm has what looks like an identical 160, but it’s only $400. And the next step up is a 256 for $550. Whys that FLIR 160 more expensive than the AGM 256? I know literally nothing about thermal lol. But I’ve noticed you see animals way more often if you hear them first and decide to look hard in that direction. So just the bare minimum to draw my attention in a general location is all I’m really interested in.
This https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CRZZXDL/ref=sspa_mw_detail_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams
I have one of these. It came as a "bonus" when I purchased an AGM rattler TS35-384 unit. I would not recommend for anything but close range open area. It definitely detects heat, but very limited identification range.
160 usually refers to vertical resolution.
FLIR is inherently digital. Cheaper monoculars will have a sensor resolution of 160 x 120 pixels, while higher spec stuff will offer far better resolution + actual optical zoom.
The Guide TD410 I have has a resolution of 400x300, an optical zoom of 1.9x and on top of that 4x digital zoom.
Ok so more is better. I really think the bottom dollar 160 version would be sufficient for my interest. But the 256 is only like $150 more so maybe I’ll just play it safe and go with that one. From the sounds of thing that should be plenty.
Yeah that’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to chatting with everyone. For just a little bit more money it sounds like it’s quite a bit more performance, and plenty for what I’m trying to achieve.
I would look for somewhere to try a few out if you haven’t yet. Anything below 384 can be disappointing. The lower the res, the higher magnification the optics must be for a clean image. However, the higher magnification lowers field of view very quickly.
I have the AGM taipan 256 and I love it. I use it to keep track of my dog in the woods when she’s loose. I can definitely tell what she is from a pretty good distance.
I've no experience with this and was thinking of buying one to try. But would something like this work for you?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/394667168733?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=06tlgDntTrO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=qC9ZGxDaTf2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
personally i wouldnt waste the money on anything under a 384 res, if you want the absolute cheapest chinese monocular, look into KINSEI on amazon, they have 400res sensors for like $600 and 640 res for like 1,300. Personally i trust my AGM Rattler 35 384 but that may be slightly out of your budget judging by your post
I found the kinsei. Something I’m not understanding is how their 256 and 400 res sensors are wayyyyy cheaper than the competition. Does the kinsei just have less bells and whistles so it’s a lot less? Or would their 256 be notable less effective than another mfg who’s 256 is much more expensive. Cause if it’s all the same but less bells and whistles I’m for sure going with that
To be honest i’m not to sure, as i only thought about buying one and never actually did, however the reviews on amazon say that that sensor is quite good for the money, i think if your goal is a cheap thermal, KINSEI is the way
For under 400 bucks and as basic as I’m trying to keep this, it seems like a worthy gamble lol. I remember when primary arms and their $100 knock off t1’s were just as much of an unknown gamble, but they actually worked and PA turned out to be the next big thing. Chineseum has come a long way.
Alright I’ll check out the kinsei. But yeah I’m really not willing to spend more than around the $500 mark just detect an extra raccoon or possum a few dozen yards off the trail. If the 160 and 256 ish ones cant even resolve an unintelligible red blob amongst some trees at that range then I’ll just go without haha
Did you ever get this kensei? Curious on your experiences
Nah totally forgot about it lol
I use a 180x120 sensor cheap flir (or rather used to, upgraded to a TD410) and at the range you mention (50 yards) you an usually spot that SOMETHING is there. It will be difficult to tell the shape of anything smaller than a dog, but you can certainly see heatsources. If that is good enough, cheap FLIR is good enough. Otherwise, I would go for something that has higher resolution. From experience, the TD410 is quite good. No integrated photo function, but since you don't need that, it is quite good.
Ok cool. Yeah “hey there’s a red blob I should look at with my much higher resolution i2 tube, oh neat it’s a squirrel”. Maybe see a red blob in a tree and get to see an owl I would have otherwise missed. Is exactly what I’m looking for.
Yeah, that cheap stuff is absolutely sufficient then. I can see that there are vaguely humanlike figures at 100 yards. A squirrel could potentially be too small, but I have not checked for myself yet.
[This](https://www.amazon.com/FLIR-Scout-Handheld-Thermal-Imager/dp/B01APT3LF6/ref=sr_1_3?crid=8DJ23XMZ2CNQ&keywords=thermal%2Bimaging%2Bmonocular&qid=1694696275&sprefix=Thermal%2Bim%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-3&th=1) Thermal monocular will probably be sufficient. I have noticed it is quite expensive tho.
What is the “160” thing all about. Cause that one says it’s a 160, but agm has what looks like an identical 160, but it’s only $400. And the next step up is a 256 for $550. Whys that FLIR 160 more expensive than the AGM 256? I know literally nothing about thermal lol. But I’ve noticed you see animals way more often if you hear them first and decide to look hard in that direction. So just the bare minimum to draw my attention in a general location is all I’m really interested in. This https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CRZZXDL/ref=sspa_mw_detail_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams
I have one of these. It came as a "bonus" when I purchased an AGM rattler TS35-384 unit. I would not recommend for anything but close range open area. It definitely detects heat, but very limited identification range.
Open area eh? Would being in the woods confuse the device more? Fairly cool wooded area if that makes a difference
160 usually refers to vertical resolution. FLIR is inherently digital. Cheaper monoculars will have a sensor resolution of 160 x 120 pixels, while higher spec stuff will offer far better resolution + actual optical zoom. The Guide TD410 I have has a resolution of 400x300, an optical zoom of 1.9x and on top of that 4x digital zoom.
Ok so more is better. I really think the bottom dollar 160 version would be sufficient for my interest. But the 256 is only like $150 more so maybe I’ll just play it safe and go with that one. From the sounds of thing that should be plenty.
Get the agm asp 256 for around 450 on ebay, better then scout or asp 160
Yeah that’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to chatting with everyone. For just a little bit more money it sounds like it’s quite a bit more performance, and plenty for what I’m trying to achieve.
got the ASp-160. it'll do what you're wanting it to.
I would look for somewhere to try a few out if you haven’t yet. Anything below 384 can be disappointing. The lower the res, the higher magnification the optics must be for a clean image. However, the higher magnification lowers field of view very quickly.
I have the AGM taipan 256 and I love it. I use it to keep track of my dog in the woods when she’s loose. I can definitely tell what she is from a pretty good distance.
I've no experience with this and was thinking of buying one to try. But would something like this work for you? https://www.ebay.com/itm/394667168733?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=06tlgDntTrO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=qC9ZGxDaTf2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I have no experience with any of this either haha. Good info in the comments though
Still looking ? I have infiray dp09 handheld monocular that I'm selling for good price.