hey guys

My hunting scope for my AR is heading back to the factory. This leaves me with 3 choices. My old vortex strike eagle 1-6, my trijicon 3-9 and my wraith mini 2x. This is a spot and stalk type hunt.

I dont like the strike eagle at all. It is big and heavy. So it really isnt an option. The triji isnt bad but the lowest power is 3 and I am not sure how the wraith will do in this type of hunt.

Do I hunt with the triji or the wraith? I am thinking the wraith because I can take video but just a little concerned about it since I am not sure what to expect from it on an all day spot and stalk hunt.

what say the ever resourceful THFers??

I have a Wraith Mini 2-16X32 and the field of view on 2X is certainly larger than my previous Wraith 4-32X50 but still seems to be smaller than traditional optical scopes with a similar magnification range.

Also, battery life could be a consideration, when I'm hunting over a feeder I just turn my Wraith off to conserve battery life. I use a thermal monocular to scan with so I have no need to leave the Wraith powered on. It boots up very quickly so I just turn it on when I'm ready to shoot. For a stalk hunt you'd want to leave it powered on. As long as you use fresh batteries it shouldn't be a problem.

I would say give it a try and let us know how it works for you.

Also, I assume your talking about the Wraith digital Night vision not thermal. If hunting at night, one more thing to consider is the landscape and vegetation. If you're walking through vegetation the IR will bloom and impair your view.

Ive run a wraith mini for about a year now. Originally on a 300blk pistol and now on an AR-12.5.

What are the details of the hunt, all daylight? Are you going to be doing much glassing, or just see animal and shoot? Pigs or Deer?

As far as weight it should weigh a fair bit more than the strike eagle so that’s not a real good reason to choose the wraith. The trijicon should be the clearest, if you are having to look through it much that would be my choice. If you are doing dusk or night, the wraith wins but then you need an illuminator as well.

Videos are nice and the 4k during the daylight works amazingly.

I run a battery pack so I don’t have to worry about battery life but it does add even more weight.

The comment about boot time to me is a big strike against the wraith. It takes way too long to get the scope to come up, in a quick pop and shoot situation waiting three minutes to get the scope to load could be a problem. Also with manual focus depending on the range of the shot, getting on target will be much slower than with the other two options.

If you already have a bullet profile for the current AR that is a win for the wraith. Lots to think about about.

Scot, it's strange that your Wraith Mini takes 3 minutes to boot up, that would be a deal killer for me. I would contact Sitemark about that. Mine takes 2 seconds, see the video link below. But as I said for stalking I would just leave it on.

https://youtu.be/fVWHTdZEGl0?si=V3a7NGvCLq3rdyaL

This is a spot and stalk for pigs. If I see deer they get a pass with me unless of course the legend of muy grande pops his head out. I wont even bring binoculars on this hunt. No need really just extra weight. We wont walk that much maybe a mile or 2 after we get in to the area. All day time except the walk out and yes I will tote along my IR light.

My wraith boots up in 3 seconds so that isnt an issue. Typically my night hunts I am shooting at pigs that are feeding and not moving around too much. I have never hunted with the Wraith during daytime so just feel a little anxious about it. I am sure it will do fine. I have a few extra batteries so I am sure it will do well and give me some more practice for night time hunts. Definitely a big difference between a 1-8 scope and the mini. The difference is night and day really . NO PUN INTENDED. LOL On these hunts I am typically shooting pigs on the move and I definitely prefer the 1-8 for that type of hunting. But I do need to get better with the wraith and I think this will give me some extra time with it to get better.

Using the 16 inch 6.8 upper since my SBR is on day 64 now and still no stamp. AAArrrrrghh~!!!

Work great during the day!

I think the obvious answer is that you hunt with the Wraith. Why? Because hogs are often crepuscular or nocturnal, but the Wraith will also handle daytime needs.



I learned recently that in the tactical world, what you call IR bloom, I have been calling IR reflectivity and "white out" goes by the name of "photonic barriers," meaning the light particles are getting in the way of you seeing. In will happen with vegetation or anything else in the foreground FOV that the light can reflect off of, such as the smoke from your rifle after a shot on a calm evening.

Photonic barriers can be any light source that hinders your view, whether it be direct light or reflected light.