Thermal recommendations

Check out late night vision show on youtube. They break down all the current thermals on the market. They also have a store called outdoor legacy gear. The owners are top notch and will talk to you to see what would be best for you. That's where I got mine.

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pulsar XM38 or XG50 is exactly what you’re looki

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dont do this. XM38 will leave lots to be desired. XG50 is cheap because they have come out with the thermion 2 line and are moving it before the new one comes out.

I suggest getting LRF first time around also. The thermion 2 XQ50 will be the best in that range. the <25mK sensors are awesome.

The XP50 is bad arse. It's 640 res vs the XQ at 384 but comes at a higher price. I have the Thermion 2 LRF XP50 pro.

XQ comes with a 384 resolution 3.5 base mag and the XP with a 640 resolution 2.0 base mag. When the XP is a 4.0x zoom it will have roughly the same image as the XQ at 3.5x. (base). Ive owned the XQ and now the XP. The 2.0 took time to get used to but i still shoot pigs and yotes out to 300yds

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5-600 yards on but don’t necessarily want to shoot that far. Want to be able to identify though

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This comes with time behind the scope. The better your resolution the clearer the image for ID but you will learn as you use it

Here is my youtube showing my thermion 2 XP50 Thermal hunting

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Pickle do you and JC have the same scope?

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No he has the N-vision Halo

Just bought the AGM35 rattler. Haven't shot yet but really awesome. $2500

You satisfied with that cans suppression?

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satisfied with that cans suppression

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That's my trash panda. it's a good can and I'm happy with it. My thunder chicken is much quieter but it is longer.

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Willing to spend up to 4K, using for hogs and yotes at night. Going on a 6.5 Grendel, some places we have roads that you can see 5-600 yards on but don’t necessarily want to shoot that far. Want to be able to identify though.

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Honestly I think you have a couple issues. For that distance, a $4k budget wouldn’t cut it, at least for me. You’d probably want the most badass Pulsar or ATN product in the $6k+ range. Secondly is your choice of cartridge. Figure out how far you want to shoot. If it’s more than about 200 yards, you’ll want a good range finder too. More than 300 yards I’d recommend a bigger round like 6.5PRC or 6.8 Western or even 308 or 300 Win Mag.

If you are good with 200-300 yards being the max range, keep the Grendel and you might be OK with a $4k thermal.

I don’t know if you can get a 640 resolution thermal for that price. Maybe? Definitely a 320 or 384 resolution for $4k.

You definitely want a spotter/scanner monocular. Don’t want to be swinging that gun everywhere looking for hogs from field to field or even in a stationary setting. Swinging the gun around gets old. Get at least a 320 or 384 monocular.

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s wanting to attempt to tell the difference between a hog and a deer from further out

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ID comes from 50% experience.and 50% a quality thermal. New guys or budget thermal guys always think a rabbit is a pig.

I hunt 500-2000 acre crop fields where we have piles of deer coon pigs coyotes coming out all night. We have to ID animals 500-1200yds constantly. The higher basemags help but it all comes down to resolution, high quality sensors and experience

I have the merger xp50 lrf binoculars and the axion 2 XG35 (640res 12 micron) monocular. They all have their purposes.

Binos have an amazing image and are the best thing to a scope to ID targets. I have videos of coyotes at 900yds that is clearly a coyote

Monocular is great as a quick reference pocket tool. I have their top of the line monocular and even then it's just not powerful enough to produce a scope quality image (animal and environment). I can still ID out to 500yds depending on the conditions

The pulsar XQ series is in your budget with a higher base mag so less image degradation when zooming for the longer ID and your 50-200yd shots will look great. I would still prefer a 640res scope but I don't think you are getting that for 4k

Hey pickle… so you are saying the thermion 2 XQ50 would be good for 100-200yds? My dad is looking for something similar around $4k.

Btw, videos are badass

Below Im showing the FOV between 2.0 and 3.5x.


Above is 120-150lb pigs at 100 yds with 2.0 base mag. thermion 2 XP50 (640 res <25mK sensor). Pip shows 8x (4x base mag) at 194 res


above is 120lb sows and piglets at 100 yds with a 3.5 basemag. Pulsar trail 2 XQ50 (<40mK sensor 384 resolution) the Pip shows 7x (2x base mag) at 194 res

The thermion 2 XQ50 will look better than the second but not as good as the first. It will have the <25mK sensor but still a 384 resolution