Has anyone seen the 6X monocular with thermal imaging being offered by Leupold? I am seeing ads offering it for $700. I've wanted one but have been too cheap to pay the going rate for the Flir.

I've heard about it but yet to see one for sale. Around here, it would make life easier in some respects. Once in a while, we take a hog on the edge of some horrible thickets, and occasionally, they make a short dash into that tangle of vines, thorns, low shrubs, etc. Knowing exactly where they are positioned would make retrieval MUCH easier.

I just saw Flir is offering a model for $599 also.

I guess stuff like this could be justified for pest destruction and finding wounded game.

I handled one last month. Very cool and I was using it indoors. I'm sure it would be even more effective outside. It was showing the footprint heat signature from people stepping on the carpet as they walked by.

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Originally posted by deadibob:
I handled one last month. Very cool and I was using it indoors. I'm sure it would be even more effective outside. It was showing the footprint heat signature from people stepping on the carpet as they walked by.

Not as good as the thermal imaging system on the Apache helicopter, which can not only identify humans from distances that are unreal, but discern their sex based on the fact males and females have different hotspots.

I wonder how long these kinds of devices will be legal - after all, you should be able to use it to identify bedded deer without actually seeing them. The military has devices that can tell you where humans are located behind walls...

can't help but wondeer how they work on women

They had samples at DSC. Said mainstream delivery is 60-90 days out. I was impressed with it.

They were selling them at DSC.
Standing next to guy that bought one $699.
Rep said all it needs is software upgrade to become a thermal scope with wind and elevation adjustments.
It didn't pass their tough recall testing but could still stand up to 223 with a can recoil.

He said they have more thermal products in the pipeline

I agree they would be useful for pest control or tracking wounded game, but the question of ethics comes into play if using it to hunt non-pest big game. It would also be a fun tool for scouting and even using it in your home to find spots where you need better insulation.

Thermal imaging can be very useful for finding efficiency issues or even hot spots on electrical systems where you can predict failure or fix it before it fails.

The American hunter is quickly becoming OCD on tech, done got et up with tech., too many gimmicks and they still can't shoot as good as they used too, when a rifle was as much a part of them as their hat. The thing I like about battery powered gimmicks is its usually lights out at the most inopertune time, like when Timbo is tickling your chin with his trunk..