5 Best Night Vision Scopes for Hunting: Target Your Prey Day and Night (Summer 2022)

Hunting doesn’t need to stop when it gets dark. In fact, there’s a whole host of targets that only come out at night, so what do you need to get shooting after dark?

We’re going to try to help you find the best night vision scope for hunting in this article, and we’re going to take a look at the best five options that we could find.

There’s a whole bunch of things that you might want to go after once the sun is down and night descends, and a whole bunch of reasons you might want to do that. Be it purely for fun, or you could even just be trying to get rid of some pests or to protect a valuable crop, night vision equipment can be a great investment. What’s more, these days, you don’t necessarily have to empty your wallet completely to get out and be having a great experience hunting after night falls.

This guide and reviews are all about looking at what’s on offer out there. Sure, we’ll be trying to find the best night visions scope for hunting, but while we’re doing that, we’ll also look to see what sort of features that each different scope for night hunting offers. We’ll also talk about identifying what to look out for when you’re choosing a scope in the buying guide, and we may even be touching here and there on how these things work. So, stick around and let’s get looking.

Top 5 Night Vision Scopes for Hunting Review 2022

Reasons to get a top-quality night vision scope for hunting

Apart from the obvious reason, being that having a night vision scope enables you to carry on shooting after dark, gives you a great advantage of having the cover of night during your hunt, and meaning that you’ll be able to go for prey that just doesn’t stick its head up during the day. It’s worth remembering that night vision scopes are pretty darn complicated pieces of kit. Technologically, they need to do a lot of stuff, and as with most technology, your user experience will improve markedly as you rise up the price range. Durability and capability will both be influenced by the quality of build, and whilst it’s fine to be on a budget, you should stretch your budget as far as you can when buying a piece of equipment like a night vision scope.

Features to consider when choosing a night vision scope for hunting

There are a few things to consider here, and some of it is going to come down to the exact type of shooting or hunting that you do. Range is a big factor, and field of vision is kind of related to that too. Don’t go buying a scope where 50% of the cost is down to the fact that it’s engineered to have excellent clarity and field at 250 yards, if you only ever shoot up to fifty.

Durability is another factor you need to consider. If you shoot in heavy rain or snow a lot, or you splash about in rivers and creeks regularly, then how waterproof is it?

If you tend to run around a lot, and you’re up and down and thrashing around all the time, consider shock-proofing as a major factor. If you don’t, and you tend to do a lot of prone shooting, then don’t worry about it too much, because it’ll cost extra dollars.

If you spend a lot of time shooting with no moon, or in bad weather, then gain is going to be a massive issue for you and you really should be trying to find a scope that incorporates that. Unless of course, you go for a thermal scope, because it removes the gain factor completely.

If your scope comes with a mount, then make sure it fits your weapon.

Another thing to consider will be battery life and types, which we’ll discuss a little further down the line.

Type of night vision scope

Scopes are generally broken up in terms of their generation. Gen 1 scopes being the least sophisticated and expensive. As the number rises, so does the price, but so does the capabilities of the scope. Older scopes tend to be lower generation scopes, and it works like that. The latest and greatest scopes, featuring the newest technologies and innovations are at the upper end of the generation scale. Then there’s digital scopes, which are a whole different ball game, and my personal favorite type of scope. They offer more versatility and you’re more likely to get a scope that can be used in daylight too effectively, when you opt for digital – without having a great deal more cost attached to it.

The other factor to consider here is Thermal Vs Night Vision. Thermal uses thermal imagery to produce a picture.

Magnification

Magnification is what is going to get you a nice clear image at more yards. It’s obviously a very important point to consider when buying a scope for hunting.

One of the biggest needs for magnification with good clarity when hunting at night is obviously going to be safety. If you’re taking out targets at long range, at night, then do look at good magnification. You want to know that what you’re shooting is your prey.

If a scope’s range is rated at 200 yards, that’s just giving you the ability to detect movement at that range, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to tell a pig from a person – so safety, range and magnification are all tied in together under certain hunting conditions. Be aware and be safe.

Night & day modes

If you already own a top-notch daytime scope, then this isn’t going to be quite as relevant for you. That’s to say that if you’re solely looking for a scope to use at night, it won’t matter. However, there are advantages of being able to carry on shooting as dusk falls, without having to mess around changing out scopes – and there might even be times where to do so would mean missing a target. It’s great to have both capabilities in a scope, and you’ll have to decide how much weight you need to put on that factor.

So, keep digital firmly in mind if you need a scope for all lighting conditions.

Aperture

The aperture size is a big factor in determining how well the scope will gather and use the ambient light that’s available from the moon or the stars, or even from nearby street lights when you’re closer to more urban areas. It’ll also deem the scope more useful at dusk and dawn. The size of the lens improves how much available light is reused by the scope. A scope with good gain – which is that ability to use ambient light, will be great for hunting at the beginning and end of the night. You’ll also use less of any built in IR illumination that a scope may have, and therefore drain batteries slower – if you have good gain from the aperture.

Eye relief

With eye relief, it’s important to assess the position of your eye when using the scope on your particular rifle. It’ll affect your field of view if it doesn’t all fit together well. It can be hard to work out without physically having a scope and your gun at hand – so it is advisable to ask the manufacturer whether the specs all suit.

Wi-Fi connectivity, streaming and recording

This is going to be an important consideration if you like showing off your shooting successes to your friends and family. If that’s not something you want to do, then these features probably aren’t a big deal because they can cost a lot extra. If just hitting targets more often and in the dark is what you want to do, then you’re better off going for quality in gain and magnification and ignoring the streaming and Wi-Fi stuff.

Durable construction and build

We touched on this before, and different scopes will have different levels of shock-proofing built in – same with waterproofing. It comes down again to what sort of shooting you do, in what conditions. And how active you are while you’re doing it. Keep all that in mind and choose the scope that’s right for you.

Batteries and battery lifespan

This is a bigger factor if you’re going to be using a lot of IR, because that will drain batteries.

Options-wise, you’re looking at a few different types. First, and probably cheapest is using standard batteries and changing them a bit. This will cost over time but get you a cheaper scope, or a scope with better features, but it can lead to inconvenient situations and lost opportunities when they fail at the wrong moment. Secondly, you can get the same scope and invest in a couple of packs of rechargeable batteries. That’s a good middle option. Or thirdly, some scopes come with the ability to plug in an external battery pack. And probably the best option is the scopes that use lithium ion batteries, because they last longer, and you can recharge them. Some of the lithium ion scopes last up to 22 hours. Use what you plan on doing with the scope, your budget, and any weight concerns to decide.

FAQ

Our Verdict

So, there we have it. We’ve looked at the five best night vision scopes available and the Pulsar Trail XQ50 Thermal Riflescope came out on top. It’s a great scope, well-engineered and durable – and it does all the things that a night vision scope should do. You will particularly like the Picture-in-Picture feature, which coupled with its range, makes it the best night vision scope for coyote hunting. It’s going to be hard to find a tougher and more usable scope anywhere.

Next up came the ATN Thor HD 384 4.5-18X, which is also a very nice and usable scope, but it fell slightly short of our top pick here because although it boasted a far superior battery life to our number one pick, and was still a scope that operates at the very top end of the market, it suffers reportedly from picture interference when you’re using the Wi-Fi option.

At number three in our list was little brother ATN Thor HD 384 1.25-5X, and although being basically the same unit as our number two pick, fell short on magnification. A great scope for close range shooting, though. It’s the best night vision scope for hog hunting on this list.

There’s something for every hunter on this list, and all of these scopes will get you out shooting at night, no matter what your budget. I don’t even know why you’re still here – just go hunt!