Recommendations for the Best Thermal Vision Scope for Night Hunting?

[Wesseljs]

Hello everyone,

After taking a break from hunting for about two years, I've decided to get back into it. I've noticed that the market for thermal vision scopes has changed a lot during my absence. I'm now looking for a new thermal vision scope to improve my night hunting experience and would greatly appreciate your recommendations and insights.


Thank you in advance for your assistance!

 

[Daisy]

Hello everyone,

After taking a break from hunting for about two years, I've decided to get back into it. I've noticed that the market for thermal vision scopes has changed a lot during my absence. I'm now looking for a new thermal vision scope to improve my night hunting experience and would greatly appreciate your recommendations and insights.


Thank you in advance for your assistance!

I love night hunting. It is probably my favorite hunting these days.

1. You will want a handheld spotter as well as a rifle scope. There is no way around it. You use a scanning scope 99 percent of the time, and the rifle scope 1 percent to take the shot. You can scan with your rifle, but that gets old and as much less enjoyable.

2. There are tons of good scopes these days. I’ve owned and used many of them. Pulsar has the slickest interface and ecosystem. They are a pleasure to use. You pay for that up front. Thermion 2 lrf is great thermal only model. You will want at least one of your scopes to have laser range finding. I have the duo dxp 50 which has a daytime camera also. I love it and use it for lots of daytime activities also. I also have the merger dx50 binos. It is an awesome setup.

3. Pard is a good brand making a move in the market. You can get a lot of scope for the money. I have their new multi spectral scope and it has day and night vision as well as thermal.

4. Get the highest resolution thermal sensor you can afford. No one has ever said I wish I had a less sensitive scope. Pay once cry once.

Good luck. DM me with anymore questions.

 

[WAB]

A break from hunting? I don’t recognize those words, what does that mean?

Seriously, I got a pulsar trail from my buddy. It is a very good unit.

 

[TTundra]

@Angelo_orygun , one in your arena.

Hopefully Angelo is around and can chime in. Thermal is quite literally his world.

 

[uplander01]

FUSION THERMAL. Best Value for the money right now.

 

[Berettaco]

I have had a handheld Leupold tracker for a while and it’s “ok” I’m sure there are much better options, I just haven’t bought one yet. As @Daisy pointed out, they are very handy when doing a quick scan - plus saves the batteries on your scope. I just bought the Pulsar Thermion XM30 - on sale from palmetto for $1699 - excellent scope and a great value. We went on a recent hog hunt in Oklahoma and I got to see several scopes side by side and this pulsar was stellar in comparison to the Burris options. For under $2K I think the XM30 is a deal and meets my needs for sure.
I would like to see some of the more expensive options next to the XM30 to see how what $5K, $6K etc gets you in comparison.
As I am new to the thermal scope game I wanted to get a dedicated thermal scope - simplest setup I could find. I don’t record videos or link to other devises - I just wanted a simple thermal I could turn on, take a couple shots and done. The functionality of the pulsar is good and it’s not terribly complicated or confusing, but I would have been nice to have someone who is familiar with them to help get it set up and dialed in. That process took me about 30-45 mins but I got it.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Shortly begore I became ill I fecifed we needed a dedicated night vision for leopard and hyena. I had to choose from a rifle that I already had.

Now for the thermal night vision I realized i had the following requirement.

1. Quality since it is how we make a living it had to wiork 100% of the time.

2, User friendly,

3. Range finder a must

4. Both a scanning device and a scope would be required.

I am unable to get out of bed to look at the model #s. I went with the Pulser Binoculars and Pulser scope. In both cases the scope and Binocs were one under their most expensive model. Those models were even bigger and heavier for more distance that we do not require.

Lon

 

[Tra3]

I am also a pulsar fan. I also agree that a scope and a handheld are a must. I bought 2 handhelds because night hunting is more fun with a partner.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

I need the client ready with the rifle PH is judging trophy in the case of leopard. I do have a Leica monocular that does not have a range finder that they can use.

Lon

 

[Wesseljs]

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your responses. Your insights and experiences have been incredibly helpful and have provided me with a lot of valuable information to consider. I look forward to sharing my experiences and continuing to learn from all of you.

 

[Frederik]

Have a look at ATN Mars as well.
I can put you in contact with an person who uses them for a living culling and varminting in RSA.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

If you don't want to have a dedicated rifle with thermal on their, possibly look at a clip-on option. I make use of a Clip On Thermal that can be used as a handheld, and clip onto the front of your scope.

 

[TXhunter65]

Check out iRayUSA. American company 5 year warranty 5 day guarantee they either fix it or replace it in 5 days if something goes wrong.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I have a pulsar and really like it. I also don’t have anything to compare it to so take it as you will.

 

[samson7x]

Do you have a budget in mind? Lots of options out there these days from chyna units to 1280 cores.

I own and enjoy Trijicon which has now added recording function if that matters to you. Also own Pulsar and enjoy those as well. The advice to budget for scanner and scope is good advice. You will scan way more than you will shoot.

 

[Angelo_orygun]

Check out iRayUSA. American company 5 year warranty 5 day guarantee they either fix it or replace it in 5 days if something goes wrong.

This would be my recommendation as well. Full disclosure, I work there!

I have been around Thermal/Night Vision for my entire professional career (since 2007), and the stuff we have now is light years above what existed on the market 5 years ago. Heck, even 3 years ago when we started.

OP, I see you’re in Oregon. I used to live there! Look up P&R Infrared in Beaverton, they have all the brands available for viewing. Tell Megan I said hi!!

I would be happy to answer any questions via PM, but out of respect for not being a sponsor I’ll just suggest you look at our website or check out the videos on YouTube and leave it at that!

-Angelo

 

[RLL]

iray makes good stuff but its pricey. Best value out there right now is the Pulsar XG50. One of the highest resolution sensors currently and packed with useful features. Downside, for close shots and thick brush, base mag is set at 3x. Laser range finding is nice on the newer units but I’ve not found it needed when I set my rifles up have to a MBPR out to almost 400 yards. Keep it simple…

I do wish Pulsar would come up with a 1-1.5x base mag with a high res sensor. Brush is thick here right now and with the heat, these pigs are holding tight and not venturing as far. Ive got a Sig Echo 1-6x thermal set up on an AR for that, but the processing image algorithms are not as good as the Pulsar or iray when differentiating background reflectivity and “hotter” signatures.

 

[mdwest]

iray makes good stuff but its pricey.

agree...

but that lends the question of... what is pricey?

the OP hasnt stated what the budget is...

there is a world of difference between a 256 vs a 640 thermal (of any make/model)...

but the truth is.. it was only a few years ago that 256 was the latest/greatest technology out there..

and a few years from now people will think 640 is substandard..

there are very good values out there in the 256 space that will absolutely allow a user to effectively kill pig sized game out to a couple of hundred yards (about as far as a typical shooter could effectively engage a target that size in total darkness)... but those 256 optics wont even get close to the capability of the latest/greatest release from a company like iray, pulsar in the 640 space... let alone something like the iray 1280x75 (at a price point of $18K) thats available to the public now..


Ive got a pulsar axion 2 with LRF that I use as my handheld unit... its a wonderful unit... but when my wife bought it for me it has a price point of about $3500...

Ive got an AGM TS25-256 as a weapons mounted optic that I use for coyotes/pigs.. while it is clearly nothing nearly as capable as the axion, it does more than enough for any shot I could possibly take in the areas that I typically hunt... its currently $1200 at Scheels..

Truth be told, while even more limited than the AGM TS25, Ive also got a Sightmark Wraith Day/NV optic that works well on pigs and yotes out to about 150-200 yards... when I bought it they were retailing for about $600... Now I think they are about $450 most places?

what someone needs vs what they want for hunting pigs at night (or whatever else) is typically 2 different things... and what they can afford (or are simply willing to pay) will have a huge impact on just how high up the "want" scale theyre going to be able to go...

 

[Angelo_orygun]

agree...

but that lends the question of... what is pricey?

the OP hasnt stated what the budget is...

Great points above!

To quote Warren Buffet - “Price is what you pay, value is what you get…”

Another data point for thought is that folks immediately think they need the highest resolution that they can get in a thermal scope, and forget about how they are going to scan…

Instead of a $6K 640 scope, a new user might get more value out of a $2-3k 384 scope and a low cost handheld for scanning.

Also, it’s important to not just look at resolution as the only spec that matters. The sensor resolution is one “number” in a series of things that impact what you see down range.

 

[Green Chile]

This topic is always changing and I'm not one to keep up with it. I hunt a lot with Swaro optics and I decided to try their TM35, which can be hand held or clipped on to your scope with numerous sized adapters. I plan on using it this season in Africa for some night cats. EO has them on a deep discount.