Thermal Optic; 50 - 250yds coyote; 640 sensor; < $3500

[ghott]

Admittedly I’m very much a newbie when it comes to thermal optics and I’m looking to purchase my first. Planning to use it on a 22-250 bolt gun for coyotes in the 50 - 250 yard range. Likely most shots will be in the 75-150yd range in an open field.

I’ve done a ton of reading on multiple forums and YouTube surfing to dive into sensor differences, digital zoom, NETD, FOV, base magnification…and how there is a balance to be had to make them all play nicely together for what style hunting you do.

I try to practice “buy once cry once” to get something that is high quality - but also don’t want to have buyers remorse. From all the reading I’ve done - I keep coming back to the Pulsar Thermion 2 XP50 Pro. The lower base magnification is appealing allowing it to be used for easier scanning until I save some more pennies for a hand held scanner.

All that said, I’m looking for suggestions for other options I may have over-looked that fit my criteria: Quality brand, good for coyotes in the 50-250yd range, 640 sensor with good picture, LRF is a plus but not required, and less than $3500.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Is that a newer or older model? Tech is moving fast in thermals so if it's even a year old it might not be the latest and greatest. Might be why it's so heavily discounted on EuroOptic (dropped from $5k to $3300).

Give Hans over at Outdoor Legacy Gear a call. He was super helpful in helping me decide. I wish I'd taken his advice and gone with the new NocPix Ace L35 instead of the AGM Rattler v2 35-384. Above your price range to reach the cheapest 640 version in that line though (H50 at $4300).

I did get the NocPix Vista H35R which is 640 res, <15mk with the 2560x2560 screen. The screen size and resolution is so much nicer to look through on the scanner than the AGM scope at 1024x768. The Ace has the same screen.

There were some Rix deals that included a free K2 or K3 scanner when I was looking. Might be an option to consider.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

I'm going to give you a few suggestions......

AGM Rattler V2 35-640 - Strong 640 sensor, same base mag (2x) as the competitor product listed. This unit will have a superior mount and battery life which will help a lot with your desire to remove the unit and use it as a scanner and the remount the unit.

AGM Rattler V2 50-640 - Strong 640 sensor, slightly higher base mag (2.5) which will be a better fit for your coyote hunting plans. This unit will have a much better mount and battery life which will help a lot with your desire to remove the unit and use it as a scanner and the remount the unit.

AGM Rattler V3 LRF 50-640 - Large improved display, updated sub-15Mk sensor, built in LRF with ballistics calculator, higher base mag (3.5) this seems to be the ideal base magnification for the coyote hunting market. This unit will have a much better mount and battery life which will help a lot with your desire to remove the unit and use it as a scanner and the remount the unit. This unit may be a bit outside the listed budget but it is a much better complete package. You mentioned buy once cry once and I would hate to see you settle with the unit listed since it is a discontinued product that has fallen behind in performance.

Just wanted to share all these options with you

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Admittedly I’m very much a newbie when it comes to thermal optics and I’m looking to purchase my first. Planning to use it on a 22-250 bolt gun for coyotes in the 50 - 250 yard range. Likely most shots will be in the 75-150yd range in an open field.

your resolution gets cut in half every time you zoom so there is no reason at all to purchase a 640 unit with base mag of 2x for coyote hunting in open fields.

The lower base magnification is appealing allowing it to be used for easier scanning until I save some more pennies for a hand held scanner.

in theory great idea, but then when you save and purchase a scanner your going to want to upgrade your scope to somthing with a higher base mag if you go through with this original plan.

Remember you're going to be looking through your scanner 95% of the time and your rifle scope the other 5%.

i'd give jason or hans a call @ outdoor legacy

 

[wyosteve]

Not wanting to crap on Doug, but you might check reviews on AGM if you decide to go that direction. There have been some issues apparently with customer service that I've read to the point that I crossed them off my list for a handheld scanner.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

Not wanting to crap on Doug, but you might check reviews on AGM if you decide to go that direction. There have been some issues apparently with customer service that I've read to the point that I crossed them off my list for a handheld scanner.

If anyone here has any issues with AGM or any other brand we carry ALWAYS feel free to reach out to me and I'll help you out, whether you bought the product from us or not. We'll always have your back.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Not wanting to crap on Doug, but you might check reviews on AGM if you decide to go that direction. There have been some issues apparently with customer service that I've read to the point that I crossed them off my list for a handheld scanner.

I've seen mostly good C/S reports and Hans with Outdoor Legacy said they're good to work with on that side of things...see a couple older reports that were mainly lack of communication but no one really getting screwed.

 

[ghott]

Thanks all - appreciate the input and great points made. I’ve got some More reading and research to do before making a decision.

 

[wfv56]

Have you eyeballed the Zeiss Dti 6-40? Very high quality and in the price range you mentioned.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Have you eyeballed the Zeiss Dti 6-40? Very high quality and in the price range you mentioned.

That's a scanner, not a scope

 

[wfv56]

True. They offer an adaptor to run it in front of a day optic.

 

[SloppyJ]

Man i hit the ATN booth in Tulsa at the gun show and their thor 5 in 4x32 stood out to me. I checked out the entire line and I loved that one.

The biggest tip the guy gave was that you should opt for one with a higher base magnification because thats fixed. Past that it's all digital and image quality degrades.

Obviously he's in the business of selling scopes but it did seem to be true. Those are the only ones I've been able to handle back to back but there seems to be some other good options out there.

Youre on the right track going for a higher resolution out of the gate. Good luck. I'm just dabbling with research but interested in what you end up with.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Man i hit the ATN booth in Tulsa at the gun show and their thor 5 in 4x32 stood out to me. I checked out the entire line and I loved that one.

The biggest tip the guy gave was that you should opt for one with a higher base magnification because thats fixed. Past that it's all digital and image quality degrades.

Obviously he's in the business of selling scopes but it did seem to be true. Those are the only ones I've been able to handle back to back but there seems to be some other good options out there.

Youre on the right track going for a higher resolution out of the gate. Good luck. I'm just dabbling with research but interested in what you end up with.

Some scopes come with an ocular zoom like the new NocPix Ace line, so not just limited to digital zoom.

FWIW just about everything I've read about ATN is to stay away.

 

[BigDuckHunter]

I’d take a look at models with LRF built in. It’s seriously difficult to estimate the range of coyotes with thermal. To the point one of my buddies shot one with mine and said it was about 75 yards away. It was 15. A hot load in your 250 will help, but for open fields I think they’re super helpful and definitely worth it.

 

[ghott]

Ended up saving a bit more money and picked up a Nocpix ACE H50 (made by iRay). The ocular Zoom is pretty awesome (thanks to @SteveAndTheCrigBoys for mentioning it).