Hey all! What was your favorite part of this video? Did it open your eyes to anything? For subscribers: here’s a special promo for you. Now get to training. 💪🏻💪🏻 tatargets.com/product/reduced-c-zone-cardboard-package/

When you've spent 8k and finally acquired your night vision setup... only to get smoked by thermal.

It all comes bock to Garand Thumb. Don't have nods? Mega dead. Oh, you have nods but not thermal? Still ultra dead.

100% spot on, even 12 years ago in Afghanistan.... enemy combatant moving through a wadi stashing some stuff in the side of the wadi wall. I couldn't see him with my NODs 250/300 meters. How did I know he was there? One of my machine gunners running fusion nods/thermals had been watching him for several minutes....

I believe that the Predator movie showed us the advantages of thermal over night vision

It was over confidence in thermal imaging that got my friend James Johnston was killed in Afghanistan by some dude flossing a matrix of space blankets and wool plus a SKS. It always will go both ways.

It is literally having a superpower. An ability that lets you essentially detect life, power, mobility, past actions, and hidden trails. If you know how to interpret heat signatures and have reasonable powers of deduction that is.

0:44 most rewatched 3 seconds of this video. Epic hot water bottle idea.

As a homesteader, thermals are the best tool ever. No more wandering around with a flashlight trying to find why the dogs are barking. Currently rocking a PVS 14 and an Armasight sidekick helmet mounted thermal along with a suppressed 300 blackout SBR with thermal scope. Weather conditions do play a huge role in the efficiency of thermal. Sometimes you can see great contrast, other times it’s like wandering around in the dark.

For day to day tasks, night vision is great. But for detection, thermal is king. A couple months back I was walking in trails behind my home at night with my NODs as I do from time to time. Flipped up my nods and brought down my thermal and not more than 20 yards from me was a small herd of deer bedded down in tall grass. I couldn’t see them with my NODs I was shocked how close they were.

3 grand.....guess im just stayin in the house and takin it off the body that comes in

In the dark, I see mice between the fence posts. Animals inside trees. Dead rats and foxes that won't be eating my chickens. I've saved many lives of missing animals. I need thermal and can't live without it.

Currently the most underrated guntuber out right now. Producing videos better than channels with millions of subscribers.

I have worked with thermal cameras for water restoration and if you walk around in a tile floor with bare feet you can literally track someone like jackal from rainbow 6 seige and tell how fresh the print is

While thermal optics are incredible and the way forward, this is a huge overstatement of their power. You aren't a ninja with NOD's on, and you aren't predator with thermals.

Night vision is for land navigation first and foremost, surveying second, and combat in dead last. Can't stand seeing all these guys thinking nods make them invincible.

The only downfall I have found with using thermals is fog …. But damn thermals rock for night killing

holy shit that opening scene is intense

As a guy who has both and uses them for predator hunting I can tell you without a doubt, thermal has come a long way and having it on your head is a game changer. Night vision is great for moving and navigating, walking around, a back up for thermal, thermal is great for identification and recognition. I don’t even bother trying to use the night vision for anything other than walking or driving. Couple things if you’re thinking about thermal… don’t cheap out. 640 core is damn near a minimum for positive identification…. Yes lesser processor’s still can detect, but if you want certainty without a shadow of a doubt. Get a 640 core.

Only issues with thermal is battery life and you can't use laser aiming or see through an optic. Ofcourse this issue is only while it's Helmet mounted. Pvs-14 last 40 hours+ on a single AA. While thermal lasts 3 hours on a 18650 battery. Logistically, that's not very good. But thermal capabilities are amazing. If they can get the energy right, that would be awesome.

Randomly engaging unknown stranger is a quick way to have a group hunting you.

Dude. With cheap thermal, I mean relatively cheap for someone that works for a living, I can see the TRACKS of my dogs around the yard. Like tracker perk, COD style. It’s awesome.

Drones with thermal are cheap like 500$, so you standing with your fancy tripod and rifle and thermal scope is gonna get you clapped by 3 pounds of tannerite with a blasting cap from a nerd 2 miles away…

These videos have a lot more info than they appear to. Having over a decade of thermal and NVG experience watching the changes in both platforms has been amazing.

The one thing I remember from the military is that when a parachute parameter flare goes off, it won't matter what night vision you are wearing. There are many methods to blanket a guard post from being spotted by thermal and night vision. They are a good tool but not full proof.

Thermals work by utilizing a difference in temperature. If there's little to no difference or its beyond what the detector and processor can process, it'll show up uniform. Both the head mounted, and weapon mounted versions in this video show little to no terrain contrast. THAT'S what they mean when they say thermals are for spotting and NVGs are for fighting. When you're fighting, you're moving and maneuvering. Thermals can have a very distinct lack of detail and contrast with terrain as it can mostly all be at ambient and most details end up washed out or not showing up. The military prototyped several thermal sights for drivers of armored vehicles but ultimately gave up on it. In testing, drivers ended up hitting more things or getting stuck because they couldn't see the subtle gradients and terrain features that were prevalent under regular light or light amplification. Yes, you can use thermals in that pitch black warehouse and your target will stand out like a sore thumb. The issue though is that all of the other crap inside of that warehouse that's been sitting at ambient temperature for hours will not be visible to you until your or their body heat has heated them up enough to generate contrast to see said objects. And only then, you'd only see fairly close objects as the stuff further away than a handful of feet wouldn't have heated up enough to be rendered. You'd still have to move slowly and carefully to give your body heat enough time to heat things up around you to just above ambient and the material properties and different rates of heating/cooling to take effect to create a gradient and contrast. The primary purpose for NVGs in night fighting has always been for navigation and safety first, spotting and engaging an ill-prepared enemy second. It's also one of the primary reasons people bridge their sights if using a combo system. They move under the NVGs and spot with the thermals. I've tried moving with thermals and it's still a relatively clumsy affair, especially with areas of relatively high ambient temperatures. The other issue with thermals is their digital nature. You're initially limited by framerate and resolution on cheaper models and soon, thermals are going to be hitting a thermal barrier that'll stop the tech dead in its tracks. Thermals need a processor to convert the data taken in by the detector into a visual image. The biggest thing that's put a damper on consumer thermals hasn't been contrast but processing power. It was evident in the scoped version presented in this very video. Every time the rifle fired, the scope dropped frames as the processor had to catch up to render the vastly different image from what it just had less than a second ago. These processors save resources by rendering only what's different or changes between previous frames. When most of what a frame changes, the processor consumes more resources/power in order to render the next frame as well as the next frame after that which goes back to a more normal state. So you end up with a stuttering image and lag which can really mess with a person's situational awareness. To combat this, thermals will need more powerful processors and memory to process more data in as short amount of time as possible. The issue we're running into now is that we're hitting the thermal limit as to what these processors can handle on passive cooling in the size that we're forcing them to be in. If individual use thermals want to get better and more powerful, they're going to be needing active cooling for the electronics. If they stay passive, ironically, those with lower gen thermals will be better able to detect those with newer gen thermals easier as the newer gen stuff will be venting more heat into the environment to cool the electronics off through passive means. This is still then, the crux of the issue with thermals at the levels of a person. The thermals used on the large, aircraft sized drones utilize active cooling of the electronics and detector to skyrocket the temperature differential that they're able to detect. A drone in the sky with thermals would be able to detect the heat signature given off by the thermals you wear from a distance beyond which you could see that drone. Something like a Predator drone has the sensitivity to already do such things and it's been around for over a decade. The reason why you don't see as much movement in Ukraine at night is that both sides of the conflict are using much more powerful thermals in flying platforms that go beyond the visual range of what's available to infantryman. Targeting pods from the 80s and 90s can differentiate man-sized targets from 20-30 miles away easily using their thermal modes. This is one of the reasons why it's always been thought of that SOF becomes far less effective against near-peer adversaries.

I watched a video of an isis sniper equiped with a thermal scope and a suppressor. They were shooting another rebel post at dawn while people were waking up. Truely scary stuff. He could see everyone and no one knew he was there.

Next phase: FPV drones with thermal and grenade dropper. Save your money. Just avoid war.

“If you’re enemy has thermal and you do not, you will die” -GT Flannel Daddy. The day after that vid I ordered my first thermal scope. I am not regretful in the least. Amazing toy if nothing else.

NVGs for the head, thermal for the rifle

You should own both capabilities. The only downside to Thermal is how fast it eats up batteries. Even with a Battery Pack, NV will last longer than Thermals for continuous prolonged usage. You should honestly be walking around with NV but periodically scan with Thermals and also every time you transition terrain.

Excellent knowledge exchange - thank you! Love that you're also a Pennsylvanian! After 13yrs abroad, I was proud to recently repatriate and come back here to PA.

I feel bad for the guy who spilled his beer and fell down in the opening scene. I hope he has a spare beer in his kit.

Just be aware of thermal battery runtime. It’s lower than what manufacturers list. Even if it meets manufacturer specs, many units battery runtime will not last the night

No doubt . Have a backup though . Microcircuits hate recoil , heat , water , dust , temp changes , barking dogs …

I had PSQ-20s in Afghanistan. Ill tell you i felt like the preditor while I was there at night. You know you have become the monster in the story when you pray for the night.

What Garand Thumb said is that for sneaking,creeping, and stalking, you need NVG because you see terrain features/issues better. For targeting, you need thermal so you can see the targets before you accidentally trip over them.

CONSOOM. YOU NEED TO CONSOOM OR YOURE NOT READY. CONSOOM.

there are some downsides to thermal as well, its misleading that you didnt mention them. Thermal can not see through glass and water. it also requires NUC every minute or so which can leave you vulnerable. and there is also a delay caused by the time it takes to process the information the sensor receives. There is also a learning curve involved to actually using them properly and making sense of what you are seeing. Considering the price of thermal is 10x what NV costs, it would be best to have NV in addition to thermal since you can obviously afford both if you have thermal.

You see me with your thermal and say you know me. What’s my favorite ice cream?

Just remember, EVERY GUN TUBER says your all screwed. AND uncle Joe says that fighter jet will blow your lungs out jack !!!

The biggest and most considerable improvement has to be affordability and accessibility.....otherwise you're dumbing thousands on gear and no money to buy ammo to train.

Fellow PA Patriot here. New subscriber. 100% on board with your 7 Fs

What we really need is a company who makes it their business to make this stuff affordable to normal peeps.

This felt like the equivalent of a car dealership trying to tell me i NEED a Ferrari

You need thermal... And I'm selling thermal... WHAT A COINCIDENCE😂😂😂

The thing about thermal is that you can hide your thermal signature significant with just a space blanket from Walmart for like 5 bucks…seen it first hand the afghans used it against us in 2012

Even a thin plexi-glass can shield a thermal signature but not night vision light intensified unit like a PVS-14. Thermals still have a glitch in heavy rain and high temperature/humidity environment. In the right conditions (rain, snow, high wind/sand storm) is when you operate unless your in a defensive posture.

The IR from "Night Vision" will get you killed quicker than thermal. Just sayin'. For the NVG bois.

Thermal does not see through glass, I was outside one night at my house looking through my thermal. After I quit looking through it I noticed my neighbor was sitting in her car right next to me. She must think I'm crazy.

First 40 seconds sounds like my wife when I get home from a late night run to the store

In a real SHTF scenario, night vision is just a tool to help you defend yourself IF you get caught at night. I wouldn’t rely on it.

during my training as a firefighter I used a thermal vision camera to search a body in a room with fog thick to the point where you don’t see shit even with a lamp. When looking through the camera you not only see heat sources but every object in the room with crystal clear edges 👌🏼

If I were actually doing night operations, I would spend a few thousand dollars for equipment. But since I just like to shoot guns at a range during the day, I'd rather pay the mortgage and be able to buy groceries.

PVS-14 on articulating J-arm and a rifle mounted thermal, sound like my ideal setup. I imagine trying to walk under just a thermal would suck.

dude that opening kill was better than a lot of movies I've seen. epic film making

Saving money now for the L6. $500 a month, I’ll have it in 6 months or so.

Maybe just me, but I prefer my advertisements with less fear mongering and more merit based points.

Been effectively used by the US military for decades. NV is better close up, but for medium - long range thermal is superior in almost every scenario.

showing the different thermal models views/resolutions was exactly what I was looking for!

What a coincidence you sell these products.

A perfect example of why you should have your hot water heater serviced by a professional...

I have a buddy who finally convinced me to add thermal to my gear. He had it and showed me just how useful it can be. Now that I have thermal scope, it has been amazing to see what it can do. It is so effective, I can see what tree my dog marks when he goes out at night to do his business. Thermal tech trumps night vision by such a huge margin it isn't even a contest. People don't realize how effective it is until you see it first hand. It is expensive... no debating that but it highly effective.

Thermal for spotting Night vision for navigation

Lots of people have a different opinion of what “affordable “ is

Too bad thermal is infinitely past my budget capability, just cause I'm disabled don't mean I have any less a right to be prepared than the rest a y'all. Stay safe, stay alert, stay alive, and stay armed.

This is literally one of the most amazing videos pertaining to thermal I ever seen

one thing NVG has over thermal is the fact its not digital BC digital has DELAY. milliseconds count in combat.

Great video. Very well articulated. And your points were spot on. Keep them coming

The floating jellyfish and the predator agree.

Been a long time since I’ve watched a video on KZfaq that has been this influential. Real Talk.

*Pertentous violin music continues* "My confidence in thermal then gets me killed by someone casually sitting behind a thin piece of glass ."

Night vision is just a tool, to the person who is experience using them. Anyone can buy Nods and have them but its the person who is using them.

am i the only one who is not happy with blatantly click-baity, and misleading title?

I love that thermals are 1/6th the price of night vision yet 10x more powerful.

That warm water bottle the dude is holding 0:45 😂looks good

First of all it's situational. Reflex optics will not work with thermals, but you can bet most companies have NV modes on their reflex optics. If you are engaging targets located in a building you're better off with both options as many things like windows become opaque to thermals but can be seen through with nightvision. There are also a few other scenarios in which thermals cannot be easily seen through like certain fogs and smokes, any surface that reflects IR but not other wavelengths can become confusing to look at and make identification difficult, and using solely thermals can play with your depth perception. Second of all with the widespread adoption of thermals there are significant advances being made in thermal camouflage, especially in places like Ukraine. This is like the NV-compliance gear that's becoming widespread because NV is now well within the price range of consumers. Lastly NV vs thermal glass at any real magnification is nowhere close in price so weapon mounted options are cheaper for NV. I don't have any evidence off-hand but I'm wiling to bet battery life significantly tips in favor of NV over thermals as well, someone else will have to chime in. Accelerating photons to light up a phosphor is probably a lot less battery intensive than running a thermal camera which is probably more like a mini-computer. Thermals are a great capability but they require some thought. The "thermals are the best and you'll get un-alived by them" thought process is exactly the same process everyone went through when NV hit the market, they thought using it meant you were untouchable; we have practical examples of certain ongoing conflicts where that isn't true. But hey, seeing where your buddy recently took a piss at night is pretty neat.

This perfectly encapsulates what Sun Tzu meant when he said "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." The thermal user here knows his capabilities and those of his enemy. The NOD user knows his capabilities but has become overconfident and doesn't know his enemy. Because the thermal users knows both, he can choose the hundred battles he need not fear.

Guns. Night vision. Thermal. ....and ethics and values. I subscribed. Respect from Australia.

Thank you thank you thank you. I’m rocking a Trijicon IR patrol electro-optic on my scar 20. 🇺🇸 forever 💯

Once again, great video!!!

Have a somewhat new 640T autel enterprise thermal drone, it is definitely a game changer, but it and all other thermals have some serious drawbacks when you have mother nature against you. Fog, mirage, rain, snow, etc can play hell on what you are looking at. I often find myself needing to go back to visible just to navigate through it and spotting prey is definitely iffy at best in bad conditions. I've messed with the cotis and some older PAS-13s and they are nice as-well. But like you said, technology is advancing at an exponential rate and the prices are inverse that and I'm all for it. Love seeing 16k usd units 5 years ago be worth half that now.

Forgot one thing, the IR light used with nightvision can give away your position before the enemy can even see you. Just like if someone walks around with a very bright flashlight at night or a car's headlights in the distance, seeing the light shine over a hill or around a corner. That's how it looks through someone else's nightvision. And if they try looking with their naked eye and don't see any light from the same spot then they know for 100% you are using nightvision and could possibly still shoot/watch you after they turn their IR light off.

They finally back engineered Predator helmet vision.

The intro reminded me of the netflix show “You” 😂😂

Is thermal still unable to see through glass (car/home windows, office buildings, etc.)? Last I heard that was the primary advantage to NV over thermal. Urban environments advantage nods, rural advantage thermal. Either way, we should have both. Been looking to add a thermal monocular to my pvs14 that can clip in front of the LPVO. RH25 is the goal.

I'm running a thermal unit bridged with a PVS-14. Thermals have absolutely increased my kill rate on hogs and coyotes. A thermal clipon that doubles as a monocular would be ideal, but I only have so much of a budget lol.

The problem with thermal rn is battery life. Cheap night vision can last days, where as cheap thermals can only last a few hours, not even a whole night. It's hard to get let's say a platoon to train with thermals if they ALL have to change/recharge the battery every night.

Dude is really trying to sell thermals lol

That intro was pure cringe, like a sequel to the Navy SEAL copypasta.

I have never been a fan of night vision, thermal has always been my thing!

Thermal has it's benefits and it's downsides. Low light has it's own benefits and downside. They are two tools that compliment each other. Thermal tends to see shorter distance and fails under higher heats. Night vision tends to see further but is vulnerable to light flash and too little light.

Jesus Loves You

buy anti thermal suits from pro apto camoflauge

Thermal is amazing and is by far better than any kind of NV, but dont forget that you CANNOT see through windows with thermal, and the material that dry-erase boards is made out of will reflect your own thermal signal back to you, acting like a mirror. These are some lessons learned while I was an 11b.

Obviously ranged vs close will always result in ranged winning. This lesson only further proves that tech/tools are situation specific and certain tech in the arena of war should not be considered as one size fits all.

Man the reduction in size from the first thermals that I used to the ones today are just mind blowing. From the big bulky unit that you carried in a backpack and weighed about 30 pounds to the hand held palm sized devices and scopes is an advantage that our forces really appreciate.

Can thermal see the same flying demons that gunners in airplanes can see with their night vision?

Corridor Digital did a thing, testing if you can hide from thermal optics. In short Jake, one of their members, decided to put the mudbath scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator to the test. And the results from that test showed it was possible to hide from thermal under certain conditions. It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for thermal optics and counter-thermal products.

Thermal has come a long way and improving every year at the rate it is improving it won't be long till it is perfectly clear, and in full color! Can't wait till I can afford a set of thermal nods