Thermal - went with Bering Optics Hogster 25 mm

[lazyengineer]

Pretty cool write up. I just got the Burris bts 50 for my primary thermal and I was looking at the hogster 25 for a handheld scanner unit and can throw it on a gun if someone wants to hunt with me.

You bet. Have run it on several hunts. Nothing compared to the extensive usage others here do, so I can't definitively say much. But I ran it for several hours straight a few times, and have run it maybe a dozen or so times between range outings and hunts. (btw, you can daylight shoot at paper targets with Thermal, better than I was expecting. You don't need hot-pockets). I quite like it, and when comparing it to Pulsars, found it half the weight and half the price for the same image quality (maybe better, depending), and same durability. The only field failure I had was initially I was running a battery pack in my back pocket with the power cable. Bad idea - as hunting is just hard on stuff, and the cable connector to something not mounted directly with the gun, got crushed as I went from sitting positions in the dark and back and forth. Didn't hurt the scope, but did trash the cable in my back pocket.

So I changed that up. Here's how I run it now, with a very light 1" diameter Li-rechargeable batter on an offset quick release flashlight mount. Doesn't weigh anything. This way I keep it running all night via external battery power, and then the onboard CR123 batteries I use as the back-up, should the external power fail. the external batterie was like $10, so I bought two. I went this route, as uninterrupted power, even in failure mode; and also, the Bering optics guy warns against internal rechargeable CR123 batteries, as he's seen several very expensive destroyed scopes come back from those when they fail.

The rig is a minimal weight approach concept, just because that's what I wanted to do. So light weight profile 15" pin and weld to 16", with magnesium light weight lower, and light 10" handguard. And this very light Thermal (it's even lighter than its small size looks). When I hunt, I run just a standard 17 round E-Lander, not the bigger mags then that. Sometimes just a 10. I don't run suppressed to keep it light and simple. That, and I don't really have anything registered, and in my own experience, for the weight, expense, regulation, and bulk, I personally have not been satisfied with the degree of suppression one gets from suppression. Obviously, many other folks are. So I just run a simple break to get back on target; with electronic muffs when I hunt for the amplified hearing. But anyway, my point is this Thermal fits in tidy with a weight and bulk minimalist approach, if that's what you are pursuing. And gets you there at about the lowest price point that gets you into the Thermal game, which may be appealing to the twice-a-year level hog hunter.

It ran just fine all night long without every have to be shut off, and never reset or anything like that. A damned nice change from my prior ATN, I'll say that. My ATN prior experience with their basic IR, was not a good experience.