My son and I are going to pool our money for a thermal scope. Looking at a max budget of $4,000 after tax and shipping. Any recommendations appreciated !! Hogs/coyotes with an AR.

Thanks

Don't forgot to add:

$1500 for Thermal Monocular
$1500 for NV monocular (so you don't run through cactus all the time)
$500 for carbon fiber tripod(s) for your rifles
$200 for helmet + attachments

I'd defer to whatever brand Skelso recommends. I would highly recommend picking one up with a built in range finder. My hunting partner has one on his scope but I don't on mine. He has a pretty solid Pulsar he picked up from another poster on here.

Oof

ttha_aggie_09 said:

---

Don't forgot to add:

$1500 for Thermal Monocular
$1500 for NV monocular (so you don't run through cactus all the time)
$500 for carbon fiber tripod(s) for your rifles
$200 for helmet + attachments

I'd defer to whatever brand Skelso recommends. I would highly recommend picking one up with a built in range finder. My hunting partner has one on his scope but I don't on mine. He has a pretty solid Pulsar he picked up from another poster on here.

---

$200 for a helmet?! Come on, this is the OB, go ahead and up that helmet budget by $800 and earmark another grand for the attachments!

1) I don't have all of those toys... yet (I still need NV)

2) You don't NEED any of those things to hunt hogs/coyotes at night. It just makes it much more enjoyable and easier if you're planning to run around at night and spot and stalk. if you're just sitting over a coyote call or feeder at night, you'll be just fine. We're baiting several areas and running around spotting and stalking, mostly at first out of a UTV, so all of those other things are needed.

I was trying to keep the total low! Blasphemy for the OB, I know

What about these?

That Thermion XG50 looks good.

I have an iray bolt in that price range that's nice.

Get the highest resolution 640 or more from major brand you can afford with high refresh rate 50hz +.

Also look at minimum magnification. Low mag you can easily scan a field. Higher base mag your field of view at base is shrunk. It does give you longer range but be mindful of your typical shot distance. Most my thermal shots are 50-100 yards for best animal ID.

Then there's this one …

I'm not set on Pulsar, there just seem to be a lot of them on sale

nealan said:

---

My son and I are going to pool our money for a thermal scope. Looking at a max budget of $4,000 after tax and shipping. Any recommendations appreciated !! Hogs/coyotes with an AR.

Thanks

---

https://texags.com/forums/50/topics/3517256

That's a nice setup. But….. I have a crap ton of credit card points I was planning to use

Pulsars are good as long as they don't have proprietary battery

I have 3 of them and they are bad to the bone. The reason why they are on sale is a newer version is coming out. They have a really good processor for that price point. I researched the hell out of them and other sand I am very happy with my choices.

Did you research the ones I posted? I need help weeding through. Too many options lol

If you only have one device, it's nice to have one that can QD and double as a handheld as opposed to a model built like a traditional scope. But if you get a scope, just know that you're soon going to want a handheld. Detaching from the rifle gets old and you definitely don't want to hold the rifle all the time unless you only hunt in a stand. So alot of folks will recommend deciding one one budget for both then going from there.

A 384 is very functional and cheaper than 640 but having 640 gets you alot better ID especially farther away. I've never seen 1280, I imagine its nuts.

You also need to decide on magnification. 2x is probably best all around for East Texas likely normally shooting inside 200 yards and really more like inside 125yd. 2x is good for scanning around but when you go to shoot it's nice to have 3x if it's a little farther. Trade offs either way.

I'm a big fan of the latest v2 AGM Rattlers and Clarions for scopes and Taipan or ReachIR for hand-held. Nothing at all wrong with Pulsar and probably what my other choice would have been. But I got started using other guys AGMs so I knew what I was getting plus sharing button layout and batteries.

Also, Kelso should be able to help you out.


And nearly everything you can think of is on the Outdoor Legacy Night Vision YT channel or podcast. I watched hours before buying.

I love having a range finder especially if you move around alot and don't know the ranges of the property by heart.

The lack of depth perception is wild at night in a thermal. With higher definition you can get an idea how close something is better than lower. A small hog closer and a big hog farther look similar. Kind of an illusion.

But in most cases it probably doesn't matter in close range shots where you're not compensating for drop.

Just got the AGM clarion 640, I love the duel optical zoom….like getting 2 scopes in one.

Slightly above your budget but there are vendors paying the sales tax so that should keep it close to budget.

That's what I have too, it's amazing. A while back Amazon dropped the price on it several hundred so I got one. I wondered if it baited me into it, like a custom sale just for me. If so, it worked.

Definitely get a unit with on-board LRF and ballistics calculator. It's a game changer for those long shots once you have your setup dialed in. The Nocpix line of scopes are really nice as well and may be something to consider while researching for a suitable unit.

I have the Thermion xp50. The xg35. And the talion xq35.

An old local gun store sent out an email saying they had the thermals on sale.

Don't know if these prices are competitive but they are good people

https://www.superioroutfitters.com/brands/pulsar/thermal/

That's where I took those pictures. Longview location

My NOCPIX H35 (640x512) thermal has been great, still learning its capabilities. Much more user-friendly than the old FLIR it replaced.
Resolution and clarity on these warm, high humidity evenings/nights has been great, looking forward to some cooler/drier air scenarios.

Buy pulsar from Skelso with confidence. He'll get you the best value.

I'd be interested in his input

Sorry, late to the party... End of fiscal year push at work and moving my parents and 70+ years of accumulated stuff from San Antonion to Bryan has been keeping me busy...

For your first thermal scope, I highly recommend a laser range finder. You can get by without it but it will greatly cut the learning curve, making it more enjoyable to use.

I don't mind lower resolution, 384 core. I use one myself. The drawback is you have to make more educated guesses on target ID than you do with 640 core.

Pulsar is the manufacturer that got meninto the business back in 2016ish. I've sold many brands since. They are typically the best bang for the buck but there's occassionally sales by other manufactuters you can take advantage of if you aren't on a timeline.

I would recommend a QD mount so you can dual duty as monocular. Saves your back not having to hold a rifle up, or hunch over a tripod all night.

You mentioned credit card points. Are they points you can use anywhere? If not, what store are they for?

Outdoors@kelsoarms.com if you want to get directly in contact with me.

Emailing now..