I want a thermal scope

[dbelcher269]

White hot and black hot preference changes with me depending on conditions, same as reticle colors but usually I shoot with red or blue. Some of the other color palettes get used occasionally but locations and conditions have to be just right for them. If you're in thick territory I would stick with a lower base magnification scope. Even on bigger fields the vast majority of the time I spot them a ways off and move within 30-50 yards. I second the handheld scanner if you can get one, or a good quick detach for the scope so you can use it as a scanner and get a very close return to zero when reattached. Trying to scan and walk with a rifle isn't all that fun! Its a game changer for sure. Good luck.

[txoutdoorsman24]

I vote for the Pulsar Thermion and/or Trail XP50 units. I’ve hunted with both units and it’s fantastic at all times. One buddy has the trail and and Armasight Zeus which isn’t bad but he and we all like the Pulsar over the armasight. Unfortunately 2500 won’t get you either of those units but double your money and you can get one of either. I ordered thru Jason and was just over 5600 for Thermion XP50, AMD quick zero mount, and two extra batteries.

Batteries are rechargeable by the way. Don’t have to go buy batteries off the shelf for either unit.

[Balcones_Walker]

Waiting for the Pulsar Thermion xq38 here too

[Fordnandez]

Our lease is very thick. So from what I’ve seen, I would need white got for spotting and black hot for shooting

If your lease is thick then I assume you are not shooting at long ranges? I bet I am going to get flamed for this but this is my experience in thick, short range hunting. I bought three scopes (two digital and one thermal) before I got my thermal handheld. If I could do it all over again I would have bought nothing but thermal handhelds with a low base magnification and just put a green or red light on my regular hunting rifle or shotgun. The cedars are so thick in the area that I hunt, I have to wait till they come out in the open or in a small clearing anyway. You are going to be able to cover a ton of more ground with that handheld as opposed to swinging the gun around all the time. The way that I have described the handheld is that I can cover twice the amount of ground in half the amount of time for twice as long.

I know the handheld isn't as cool as the scope but I think it is more effective tool in dense close hunting.

[Daddypants]

Went out last night hog hunting. My buddy had some new Pulsar thermal binoculars with range finding capabilities. Let me tell ya, that was awesome. The one thing with thermal or night vision is it is hard to judge distances sometimes. We were 167 yards to this hog and it looked like we were about 80 through my thermal. If it was just me, I would say that is inexperience talking but my friend hog hunts ALL THE TIME and even he was fooled.

He also told me Pulsar has come out with a new thermal scope with range finding capabilities. I have the Core and after last night, really wish I had held out and got one with range finding. It is really nice.

[Fordnandez]

Judging distance is something that even experienced night vision and thermal hunters struggle with. I have been doing it for 5 years now and sometimes I am way off base. I chose a flat shooting round out to 300 yards to help my misjudgements.

[Fordnandez]

For the record I do not consider myself one of the experienced night vision or thermal hunters I mentioned in my post above.

[duckmanep]

Waiting for the Pulsar Thermion xq38 here too

anyone know when they will be out?

[RMW]

If you can’t spend more than 2500 I would go with the pulsar rxq30v, I’ve got one and it kills hogs just as good as my 8000 dollar nvision lr.

[reddogdan]

Thanks for all the information. I think the Core will work for me for now. With QD mounts it can be used as a handheld also. So maybe in a few years, as prices get a little lower, I can invest in a better scope.

[gonehuntin68]

Do yourself a favor and talk to Jason at Outdoor legacy. Ask him about night vision also because I can Identify animals farther away with the Sightmark Wraith and Our Coyote Canon IR light then I can with any thermal and that would cost you less then $800.00. Maybe get a handheld thermal for scanning and then the Wraith for shooting. I can't tell you how many times we have been out with guys with high dollar thermal units that are asking us to identify the animal heat signature they see in their thermal. Most guys that say thermal is way better then Digital night vision say this because they haven't seen Digital Night vision with the top IR LED light(Coyote Cannon) on the Market. For example, if you have a wraith and your using the stock IR light that comes with it, you will be lucky to identify at 200 yards, with our Coyote Canon Ir light I can identify a coyote out to about 700 yards and big hog out to 900 yards.

[wade _s]

I would go for the thermal. I’ve had 3 of the digital NV scopes over the years and still have one that I use often. I agree that the sniper lights drastically improve the performance of digital NV units and own two of them. The down side is you have a very large flashlight hanging off of your rifle. The light adds significant weight to your setup and depending on where you mount it can adversely affect the balance of your rifle. You also have to adjust the light for brightness and focus the beam depending on the hunting situation to get the best performance so in addition to dealing with scope adjustments you now have to deal with flashlight adjustment. Doing all of this in the dark, quickly and quietly can be challenging. Also, I hunt in the woods and have no need to ID an animal at 700 yards and if I did, I would not use a rifle mounted optic for that purpose since you are not supposed to point a rifle at anything that you don’t intend to kill. These big IR units do give off a significant red glow that is visible to me at 100 yards if I put the light on top of my feeder and look at it from my stand. Animals appear to be able to see it too although some of them it doesn’t seem to bother. You can also get significant “white out” with digital NV and IR depending on the hunting situation which makes follow up shots difficult at times.

Most of my night shots are 100 yards or less. If I had it to do all over again I would have spent the extra money and purchased a thermal scope and scanner.

[Pushbutton2]

Do yourself a favor and talk to Jason at Outdoor legacy. Ask him about night vision also because I can Identify animals farther away with the Sightmark Wraith and Our Coyote Canon IR light then I can with any thermal and that would cost you less then $800.00. Maybe get a handheld thermal for scanning and then the Wraith for shooting. I can't tell you how many times we have been out with guys with high dollar thermal units that are asking us to identify the animal heat signature they see in their thermal. Most guys that say thermal is way better then Digital night vision say this because they haven't seen Digital Night vision with the top IR LED light(Coyote Cannon) on the Market. For example, if you have a wraith and your using the stock IR light that comes with it, you will be lucky to identify at 200 yards, with our Coyote Canon Ir light I can identify a coyote out to about 700 yards and big hog out to 900 yards.

I agree with this.


I sold my Wraith. wishing I hadn't.


I have/had a video somewhere of me calling hogs one night and coyotes coming in. I was my first hunt using my Coyote Cannon.


I first saw them @ 700 yds, Theirs eyes is what I saw. They was across an open field SE of me. They followed the southern tree line and came into 300 yds.
I could see their eyes with the Stock IR and see them with the Coyote Cannon. My scope Batteries was dying and the scope kept washing out. Not sure why. I'm guessing the light was reflecting off of my rifle cause I had the beam too wide or too bright. Possibly the batteries being way low was the issue. I hunted with the Wraith and Coyote Cannon 2 or 3 more times before I sent it in for Repair. I broke the USB Port. Sightmark replaced the scope. I sold it when I got it back.

[wade _s]

Also, I found it helpful to actually go and look at/handle the scopes prior to the purchase to see how the adjustments work, weight, view (although inside performance is not as good as outside IMO). I know our local Academy stores have several of the Wraiths in stock and some of the LGS have thermals, so regardless of where you decide to purchase the unit you can at least see up close what you'll be getting.

[TX03RUBI]

Thanks for all the information. I think the Core will work for me for now. With QD mounts it can be used as a handheld also. So maybe in a few years, as prices get a little lower, I can invest in a better scope.

Spend the money on the Zero Delta QD Mount over the Pulsar QD Mount. The Pulsar is anything but quick.