:..Thermal/Night Scopes - which is better?..:

[hANNAbONE]

Flir : Pro-PTS223

https://www.opticsplanet.com/flir-s...1-5-6x19-30hz-thermal-imaging-weapon-sig.html


Pulsar : Trail XQ38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECb4RuMWE78


seems both are at the same price point.


Who has been using these examples and why/why not would you buy it again.

I await choo...

 

[T.Lex]

First, someone will be along shortly who you should listen to. You'll know when they post.

Second, a buddy of mine had an earlier system in the Pulsar line. I've helped him set it up and hunt with it. I'm a pretty techy kinda guy and it wasn't - at the time - very intuitive to use. Yeah, the aiming was the same, but the electronic stuff was... harder than it needed to be, or at least seemed that way. His first one also seemed to burn through batteries really quickly, but he sent it back and they sent another one that didn't seem to have that problem. Not sure to what extent they've figured out how to make the controls/setup easier, and it may not be an issue for other users.

Third, that stuff is like magic.

Good luck!

 

[phylodog]

It largely depends on what you plan to do with it. In a nutshell, thermal is great for detection and night vision is great for identification. By that I mean that a thermal will tell you there is something out there at 200yds, night vision will tell you if it's a coyote or the neighbor's dog.

I bought a thermal last year. I loved the thing, it was cool as could be until I took it to the farm. I bought thermal because I figured I could use it day or night so I only needed one scope. The problem is that thermals aren't really scopes but cameras and monitors contained within a scope like housing and those things take time to boot up. I found that when I did see a coyote on our farm it would be long gone by the time the thermal booted up. This can be overcome on some models with extended battery packs but the thermals go through juice like mad so leaving it on all the time isn't an option.

I traded the thermal for a decent night vision clip on which is positioned in front of my Trijicon Accupower 1-8x. I now have a great day/night setup for killing coyotes but I'm now considering something like the FLIR Breach just for target detection. I think thermal for detection and a NV scope is a perfect combo.

 

[Ggreen]

It largely depends on what you plan to do with it. In a nutshell, thermal is great for detection and night vision is great for identification. By that I mean that a thermal will tell you there is something out there at 200yds, night vision will tell you if it's a coyote or the neighbor's dog.

I bought a thermal last year. I loved the thing, it was cool as could be until I took it to the farm. I bought thermal because I figured I could use it day or night so I only needed one scope. The problem is that thermals aren't really scopes but cameras and monitors contained within a scope like housing and those things take time to boot up. I found that when I did see a coyote on our farm it would be long gone by the time the thermal booted up. This can be overcome on some models with extended battery packs but the thermals go through juice like mad so leaving it on all the time isn't an option.

I traded the thermal for a decent night vision clip on which is positioned in front of my Trijicon Accupower 1-8x. I now have a great day/night setup for killing coyotes but I'm now considering something like the FLIR Breach just for target detection. I think thermal for detection and a NV scope is a perfect combo.

You just saved people a lot of money.

 

[42769vette]

It largely depends on what you plan to do with it. In a nutshell, thermal is great for detection and night vision is great for identification. By that I mean that a thermal will tell you there is something out there at 200yds, night vision will tell you if it's a coyote or the neighbor's dog.

I bought a thermal last year. I loved the thing, it was cool as could be until I took it to the farm. I bought thermal because I figured I could use it day or night so I only needed one scope. The problem is that thermals aren't really scopes but cameras and monitors contained within a scope like housing and those things take time to boot up. I found that when I did see a coyote on our farm it would be long gone by the time the thermal booted up. This can be overcome on some models with extended battery packs but the thermals go through juice like mad so leaving it on all the time isn't an option.

I traded the thermal for a decent night vision clip on which is positioned in front of my Trijicon Accupower 1-8x. I now have a great day/night setup for killing coyotes but I'm now considering something like the FLIR Breach just for target detection. I think thermal for detection and a NV scope is a perfect combo.

Exactly what I would have typed. Neither is better, they are different.

 

[Rookie]

Between the two, I would suggest the Pulsar for two reasons. 1. The native magnification on the FLIR is 1.6 while the XQ38 is 2.1. 2. FLIR recently bought Armasight, and the only real change has been that their customer service has gone downhill. I would suggest the Pulsar Apex XQ50 since it has 2.8 native magnification. My hunting partner just ordered one and I'm pretty impressed with it. Of course, you could get an IR Hunter. I own one and hunt with it, and I love the thing. If you want the best, then get an IR Hunter. While it's the best out there, I can't say it's $5,000 better than the Pulsar brand.

Another option is the Pulsar Digisight N550. This is a digital night vision scope instead of thermal. I have one, and I've shot a few coyotes with it. I haven't taken it out in the field, but, around the house, it's been fine.

Battery life does suck with thermals. I was going through three CR123 batteries every three hours. Fortunately, there's a battery pack that lasts 16+ hours. If you were looking at Pulsar, then I would suggest looking at the Trail line since they have rechargeable battery packs.

I'm going to slightly disagree with Phylodog. Identification can be difficult with thermal if you don't have decent native magnification. My scope has 2.5 native magnification, and I can positively identify animals within shooting distance. With lower magnification, it gets more difficult. At 800 yards, I can see a coyote sized animal. At 200 yards, I know it's a coyote.

 

[phylodog]

I'm going to slightly disagree with Phylodog. Identification can be difficult with thermal if you don't have decent native magnification. My scope has 2.5 native magnification, and I can positively identify animals within shooting distance. With lower magnification, it gets more difficult. At 800 yards, I can see a coyote sized animal. At 200 yards, I know it's a coyote.

There is definitely a wide range of quality/clarity in commercial thermals and I know your Hunter is about as good as it gets until you start spending 5 figures. I should have been more specific rather than broad brushing it. The more you spend the better you'll both detect and identify. I couldn't afford a Hunter so my Armasight didn't allow me to positively ID as well as the same price point NV I have now.

 

[Rookie]

Yours was 1.3 or 1.6 on the native magnification, wasn't it? Lower magnification really hurts a thermal because you're looking at a "tv picture" instead of looking through a traditional scope. Also, lower resolution (320 vs 640) affects picture quality. There is a point of diminishing returns with native magnification, too much and it's even more difficult to judge distance. Judging distance is the biggest negative to a thermal. You're looking at a two dimensional picture and trying to estimate how far it is. Last season, after every shot, we would walk off or laser the distance so we able to get a better idea of how far the shots were in relation to what we were seeing through the thermal. With night vision, it is a lot easier. With my PVS-14, I get a more accurate estimated distance.

Here's a video of night vision vs thermal...

https://youtu.be/092gOL-bLBM

https://youtu.be/EIhFupwqOU4

 

[Rookie]

Also, I would look at the FLIR scout 3 instead of the breach. People don't seem to be that impressed with the breach.

 

[Traav]

Pulsar customer service is great.