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I've been watching this company for a year or so; and the Thermal topic for close to 5 years now. Like most inexperienced people on the topic, here is where I was with Thermal:
Option 1:ATN - lowest price option. Terrible general reputation on both quality, and on customer service. My intro to the topic was IR ATN, and like everyone else, it was unreliable and a disappointing experience. When Thermal came on the table, I'm not doing ATN again. Let's just say, I've since learned more about ATN and am more confident in that decision than ever.
Option 2: Pulsar - this outfit has the reputation of a SOLID thermal optic, with one of the better "Bang for your buck" ratio's of a reliable piece of kit. I know three people who hunt with Pulsar's, all of them report solid reliable and effective experiences. Problem with Pulsar are they are considerably more expensive than the ATN, and more importantly, push far enough pass then $2K threashold, into the $5k range real quick, if not careful. They also are HEAVY. And use proprietary battery systems. A solid choice, but heavy and expensive.
Option 3: other. The more serious brands start here, and considerably more serious pricing. $6k+ real fast. No doubt worth it, but that's a hard bite to take for someone who isn't a professional level hunter.
But more research and you get:
Option 2A - Pulsar CORE. This got interesting, as these units are about $2k. "technically" can be had for less, but that's disingenuous since you have to buy the mount separately, and mounts are apparently really expensive to make in Balarus; which is where Pulsar's are made. Investigating these pretty hard and was about to get one when I ran across this. This is a big deal, I have some guns that cost $2k. I don't have any guns that cost $5K!!
Option 4: Bering Optics Hogster The 25mm versions are same price-level as the CORE, at about $2300 (so a touch more). But these units have a way better reputation of image quality, humidity management, distance, and more importantly, are lighter. I like that. I start looking hard at option 4, research everything I can, and notice; there's kind of not much on it. Almost no advertising. Finally, I decide maybe I'm going to go this way - get serious about buying a unit, when I notice something very interesting. Their corporate address, is right next to me. I look them up, and they are literally 1 mile away from me. This can't be real. So... well... I call them up - maybe they have refurbs or something. No, the sure don't, but ... well, if you're just a mile away, why don't you make an appointment with the president of the company. Uh... sssuuure! I'll see you tomorrow!
So I swing by, and meet with the guy. Who's completely cool. Real quick, I learn that all these dudes are Russian. Not just his company, I mean basically everyone in thermal, apparently is Russian. I guess that's because they all rely on gallium, and 70% of the worlds gallium comes from... Russia. He spends over an hour with me, talking about the products, talking about the designs, talking about supply chain. I asked him why they are lightly represented, and he mentioned their advertising budget is $0. They rely solely on reputation. Interesting - in fairness, their reputation is good; which is why I was there. And when I mention the other brands I'm familiar with, he talks some about those too and addresses the issues I have with them. All these guys know each other. I learned a lot about the various markets the different brands target. For example, the main components of a Pulsar is made in Balarus (and Latvia) for the European market. I also learned a whole lot about the ATN line, and also found out just why my own ATN had some very specific failures. It was a fascinating insight conversation, to say the least. He pulls out all of his units, and we walk outside into the industrial park, and just start glassing stuff. He shows me his 12 um 2.9X Super Hogster, and his basic intro 17um 1.4x Hogster. And explains why these units are design for the AR15 platform, with that type of recoil, and that type of usage. It was interesting as Hell. The units were WAY lighter than the Pulsars I've handled; easily half the weight. Yet the optical clarity quality was quite good. To be honest, easily as good as the Pulsars Trails I've run. Right now he doesn't run full 640x480 sensors, but the image processing software and hardware are both quite good, resulting in very crisp image that pretty much looks like it's coming from a 640x480 sensor.
In the end, I think the 12 um 2.9x SuperHogster at $3100(ish), is the better unit, but the field of view was too tight for me. In my hog hunting usage, we line up 3 riflemen abreast, and approach the hogs within 100 yards, and then group fire on a count-down. With that, there is a scatter, and additional follow-up shots are part of the usage. In that case, a wide field of view is vital. To me, at 3X, at 50 yards or so, a hog will just run out of my field of view too quick, when I was looking at it in the parking lot and running the scenario in my head at least. I'm also not a very good hunter, others may do better. So I opted for the cheaper 1.4X version, which is a touch lighter (not much), doesn't record video (oh well - I never used that anyway), but had almost double the field of view. If a group of hogs scatter, I just felt like I could track better with that lower power. Also, the price point is low enough, that if I do this once a year, then there we go. If I get bit by the Hog bug and start to do this 5+ times a year, then I can upgrade if I want to. While this one was cheap enough I can keep as a backup, or run it as a hand-held spotter, which it's light enough for and designed to also be, if you want. Or just sell it I guess, they hold value. So, I pulled out my credit card and bought one. (they don't normally direct-sell; but can).
What I haven't done, is actually shoot it! So I could follow-up and say this is the worst decision ever, but I'm not really expecting that. I won't be able to fire it for at least 2 weeks - life. But can't wait.
For usage, I intend to pair it with my skinny 14.5" pin and weld (for 16" legal) 6.5 Grendel upper I run on a Magnesum lower, for a minimalist light weight gun. The Thermal has a QD mount which they claim (claim) holds zero. I'll test that, because I'm not 100% convinced of that. But if so, that would be pretty neat, to be able to pop it on and off. We'll see, I have friends with Pulsar QD's frustrated that do NOT hold zero, and have all switched back to torqued mounts. But then, a pulsar is over twice the weight, which is asking a lot more of the QD mount to secure as reliably. We'll see, I'll test that.
That's where I'm at least, on this quest. I've been investigating this topic for close to 5 years. This is the one I pulled the trigger on. To be honest, having the company with what my choice already, within a mile of me, did kind of help make the decision! (what are the odds of that??)
Option 1:ATN - lowest price option. Terrible general reputation on both quality, and on customer service. My intro to the topic was IR ATN, and like everyone else, it was unreliable and a disappointing experience. When Thermal came on the table, I'm not doing ATN again. Let's just say, I've since learned more about ATN and am more confident in that decision than ever.
Option 2: Pulsar - this outfit has the reputation of a SOLID thermal optic, with one of the better "Bang for your buck" ratio's of a reliable piece of kit. I know three people who hunt with Pulsar's, all of them report solid reliable and effective experiences. Problem with Pulsar are they are considerably more expensive than the ATN, and more importantly, push far enough pass then $2K threashold, into the $5k range real quick, if not careful. They also are HEAVY. And use proprietary battery systems. A solid choice, but heavy and expensive.
Option 3: other. The more serious brands start here, and considerably more serious pricing. $6k+ real fast. No doubt worth it, but that's a hard bite to take for someone who isn't a professional level hunter.
But more research and you get:
Option 2A - Pulsar CORE. This got interesting, as these units are about $2k. "technically" can be had for less, but that's disingenuous since you have to buy the mount separately, and mounts are apparently really expensive to make in Balarus; which is where Pulsar's are made. Investigating these pretty hard and was about to get one when I ran across this. This is a big deal, I have some guns that cost $2k. I don't have any guns that cost $5K!!
Option 4: Bering Optics Hogster The 25mm versions are same price-level as the CORE, at about $2300 (so a touch more). But these units have a way better reputation of image quality, humidity management, distance, and more importantly, are lighter. I like that. I start looking hard at option 4, research everything I can, and notice; there's kind of not much on it. Almost no advertising. Finally, I decide maybe I'm going to go this way - get serious about buying a unit, when I notice something very interesting. Their corporate address, is right next to me. I look them up, and they are literally 1 mile away from me. This can't be real. So... well... I call them up - maybe they have refurbs or something. No, the sure don't, but ... well, if you're just a mile away, why don't you make an appointment with the president of the company. Uh... sssuuure! I'll see you tomorrow!
So I swing by, and meet with the guy. Who's completely cool. Real quick, I learn that all these dudes are Russian. Not just his company, I mean basically everyone in thermal, apparently is Russian. I guess that's because they all rely on gallium, and 70% of the worlds gallium comes from... Russia. He spends over an hour with me, talking about the products, talking about the designs, talking about supply chain. I asked him why they are lightly represented, and he mentioned their advertising budget is $0. They rely solely on reputation. Interesting - in fairness, their reputation is good; which is why I was there. And when I mention the other brands I'm familiar with, he talks some about those too and addresses the issues I have with them. All these guys know each other. I learned a lot about the various markets the different brands target. For example, the main components of a Pulsar is made in Balarus (and Latvia) for the European market. I also learned a whole lot about the ATN line, and also found out just why my own ATN had some very specific failures. It was a fascinating insight conversation, to say the least. He pulls out all of his units, and we walk outside into the industrial park, and just start glassing stuff. He shows me his 12 um 2.9X Super Hogster, and his basic intro 17um 1.4x Hogster. And explains why these units are design for the AR15 platform, with that type of recoil, and that type of usage. It was interesting as Hell. The units were WAY lighter than the Pulsars I've handled; easily half the weight. Yet the optical clarity quality was quite good. To be honest, easily as good as the Pulsars Trails I've run. Right now he doesn't run full 640x480 sensors, but the image processing software and hardware are both quite good, resulting in very crisp image that pretty much looks like it's coming from a 640x480 sensor.
In the end, I think the 12 um 2.9x SuperHogster at $3100(ish), is the better unit, but the field of view was too tight for me. In my hog hunting usage, we line up 3 riflemen abreast, and approach the hogs within 100 yards, and then group fire on a count-down. With that, there is a scatter, and additional follow-up shots are part of the usage. In that case, a wide field of view is vital. To me, at 3X, at 50 yards or so, a hog will just run out of my field of view too quick, when I was looking at it in the parking lot and running the scenario in my head at least. I'm also not a very good hunter, others may do better. So I opted for the cheaper 1.4X version, which is a touch lighter (not much), doesn't record video (oh well - I never used that anyway), but had almost double the field of view. If a group of hogs scatter, I just felt like I could track better with that lower power. Also, the price point is low enough, that if I do this once a year, then there we go. If I get bit by the Hog bug and start to do this 5+ times a year, then I can upgrade if I want to. While this one was cheap enough I can keep as a backup, or run it as a hand-held spotter, which it's light enough for and designed to also be, if you want. Or just sell it I guess, they hold value. So, I pulled out my credit card and bought one. (they don't normally direct-sell; but can).
What I haven't done, is actually shoot it! So I could follow-up and say this is the worst decision ever, but I'm not really expecting that. I won't be able to fire it for at least 2 weeks - life. But can't wait.
For usage, I intend to pair it with my skinny 14.5" pin and weld (for 16" legal) 6.5 Grendel upper I run on a Magnesum lower, for a minimalist light weight gun. The Thermal has a QD mount which they claim (claim) holds zero. I'll test that, because I'm not 100% convinced of that. But if so, that would be pretty neat, to be able to pop it on and off. We'll see, I have friends with Pulsar QD's frustrated that do NOT hold zero, and have all switched back to torqued mounts. But then, a pulsar is over twice the weight, which is asking a lot more of the QD mount to secure as reliably. We'll see, I'll test that.
That's where I'm at least, on this quest. I've been investigating this topic for close to 5 years. This is the one I pulled the trigger on. To be honest, having the company with what my choice already, within a mile of me, did kind of help make the decision! (what are the odds of that??)
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