I’m about to pull the trigger on a couple of pulsar units. Who’s got the best pricing that you’ve found?
Any vendors give a Hide discount?
Any vendors give a Hide discount?
Night Vision Best Place to Buy Thermal
- Thread starter Rerun7
- Start date
I would start with member Surgeon_Shooter, then TNVC...................
Is best pricing the only consideration?
I also consider:
Inventory (i.e. lag time until I would receive the item)
Post sales support (with the vendor advocate for me with the manufacturer if needed, and also help me use the unit in the field) and this includes INTEGRITY
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On say a $6,000 unit, I would rather pay like $200 more to be able gain the ear of an experienced hunter who I can bounce issues off of. I find that worth way more than the $200 price.
And what do dealers really have in inventory? How long with I have to wait? For some units (like newer pulsars) NO ONE has them in inventory and I understand that. But I am often shopping for demo units and where I can get a discount but still get some warranty.
Just my .02 cents.
And otherwise I "shop" for dealers just like I shop for gear. Separate processes both important.
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Dealers I've worked with (roughly by amount of business over the past 5 years)
PR-Infrared (Kathleen)
NCS (Aaron) (though no longer in the business)
Third Coast Thermal (Clifford, Houston Area)
I2 Technologies (Pete)
Sure Shot Night Vision (Jay)
TNVC (Victor)
Ultimate Night Vision (Rich)
I don't have a primary, that is part of my strategy, I shop the dealers like I shop the gear.
I have heard that Night Vision Universe has been selling Trijicons for very low prices. If I was buying one today and only wanted to consider price (which is not my approach) I would call NVU.
That’s a great point Wig and not something I had really put a lot of thought into. I had just assumed I’d be relegated to the product’s CS and hadn’t thought about it that way.
I do want to say that Vic from TNVC was very helpful via email but unfortunately doesn’t have the units I am looking for but it may be that way with a lot of folks right now
I do want to say that Vic from TNVC was very helpful via email but unfortunately doesn’t have the units I am looking for but it may be that way with a lot of folks right now
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Thanks Rerun. What Wig said here, "Post sales support (with the vendor advocate for me with the manufacturer if needed, and also help me use the unit in the field) and this includes INTEGRITY". This has and will always be the most important aspect with us is AFTER the sale support in the event something goes wrong. We have direct channels to each manufacturer to run interference. We tell all our customers in the event of warranty service to always contact us initially to insure things are handled accordingly.
We will also match and beat any advertised price.
We will also match and beat any advertised price.
Yeah don't buy a 13k thermal from a vendor and then have it break on a 223 and them charge hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to send it back so it would be fixed. After already sending it back once because the reticle location would not let you zero the scope.
Don't buy from a vendor like that.
Some vendors blow a bunch of smoke and are full of it
Don't buy from a vendor like that.
Some vendors blow a bunch of smoke and are full of it
Then post things like this
"The LWTS is also a great clip-on with it's inherent 640 res at all magnification ranges but less FOV than the T-70 at.5x. (640 x 512)
IF money was no object as the OP stated, this would be my choice. http://tnvc.com/shop/l3-cnvd-t3/"
until you aren't a favored L3 vendor then shit on them and just push T75s/T70s
"The LWTS is also a great clip-on with it's inherent 640 res at all magnification ranges but less FOV than the T-70 at.5x. (640 x 512)
IF money was no object as the OP stated, this would be my choice. http://tnvc.com/shop/l3-cnvd-t3/"
until you aren't a favored L3 vendor then shit on them and just push T75s/T70s
Um.... thanks?
Feel free to start a new thread to post your grievances.
Not helpful to my question. Money is a finite consideration for me, I’m new into thermal and interested to learn so feel free to post something that’s useful to that topic.
Sorry for going off on a tangent,
I would buy good condition used gear. So many people buy night vision and thermal and don't have the time to use it and dump it cheap later on. SH, ARF, Lone star boars are all good places to look.
You can find great deals on stuff. Like unbelievable deals.
if buying new, it wouldn't hurt to call all the vendors and ask for their best price.
I would buy good condition used gear. So many people buy night vision and thermal and don't have the time to use it and dump it cheap later on. SH, ARF, Lone star boars are all good places to look.
You can find great deals on stuff. Like unbelievable deals.
if buying new, it wouldn't hurt to call all the vendors and ask for their best price.
Not sure what you are referring to, (?) but the whole CNVD line is phased out. There is a new LWTS LR type coming out toward the end of the year we're told. I loved the T3 and the current LWTS. Look forward to the LR version of this...
I've done this several times myself ... and do not disagree ... BUT ... one tradeoff is warranty ... Some items (like pulsar and Trijicon) have warranties that only apply to the original owner. Armasight had the same rules. I can tell you that Armasight did not enforce this rule. I haven't had to test the IRD/Trijicon or Pulsar enforcement. But what a given person decides to allow on a given day, might not be allowed by a different decision maker on a different day. So there is risk with warranty if buying used.
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Vic, any word on whether that new LWTS-LR will be available to civilians?
Didn’t realize that about the original owner warranties so great to know. I’ll keep my eyes out but prob buy new. I think I’ve narrowed my choices to these as my first scope:
Pulsar Trail xq38
Pulsar Apex xq50
Armasight predator 640
Armasight Zeus 336
Most of my shooting will be within 100 yards but I have a couple places to stretch up to 500 but I don’t plan on shooting near that far. Coyote and Hogs for 90% of it.
Put in an order for a new monocular so looking forward to that one too!
Pulsar Trail xq38
Pulsar Apex xq50
Armasight predator 640
Armasight Zeus 336
Most of my shooting will be within 100 yards but I have a couple places to stretch up to 500 but I don’t plan on shooting near that far. Coyote and Hogs for 90% of it.
Put in an order for a new monocular so looking forward to that one too!
Note that shooting distance and scanning distance might be very different. I've scanned yotes and hogs out to 800yds ... maybe further (no PID) ... but rarely shoot over 100yds as well. So you want to be able to do both. Scan (detect AND positively identify) ... and then shoot (or no shoot).
Ideally I’d like an optic that I could detect at 500, ID the difference between deer, hog and yote at 300 and shoot out to about 150.
The thermals on your list will meet those requirements under most conditions.
I've seen Apex LED display cloud up in temps below 20F. This was not happening with Trail.
All thermals will be fuzzier in higher wind.
All thermals will see "sea of grey" in frozen, rainy or high wind.
The 75mm Zeus has more magnification and a larger focal length and lens size, than the 42mm Zeus. The larger lens will help give a better image in poor conditions, with the trade off of reduced FOV.
I've seen Apex LED display cloud up in temps below 20F. This was not happening with Trail.
All thermals will be fuzzier in higher wind.
All thermals will see "sea of grey" in frozen, rainy or high wind.
The 75mm Zeus has more magnification and a larger focal length and lens size, than the 42mm Zeus. The larger lens will help give a better image in poor conditions, with the trade off of reduced FOV.
I have an IR(now trijicon ) MarkII 35mm thermal. I have been with friends dad,that have zeu sand the clarity of Mark 2 was clearly superior. the son bot 2 Mark2 thermals after seeing both. they may not have all the bells and whistles as pulsar , but they are clear and can see 1800 yds and you can tell diff between hogs and deer at 1000yds +
they are more expensive ,but I saw an used on on this site for $4500.
here is an armadillo at 105 yds- watch him expload- shot with Scar 17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX4oC-48wBQ
they are more expensive ,but I saw an used on on this site for $4500.
here is an armadillo at 105 yds- watch him expload- shot with Scar 17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX4oC-48wBQ
as other poster said , most shots are 100 or less as you can sneek up on them . coyote and some hog shots are 200-250 . judging distance at night is hard - need to have good landmarks remembered to judge
picture is a lot clearer than video
picture is a lot clearer than video
Judging distance is easy.
Target ID at 1000 is difficult. Coyotes, someone's dog, someone's calf, a deer, another hunter crawling around on the ground.
I would have to see to believe a sub $15000 retail thermal that's going to do that. And even with the high end stuff it's not going to be 100% ID. Maybe with a cooled system but those are unavailable
Target ID at 1000 is difficult. Coyotes, someone's dog, someone's calf, a deer, another hunter crawling around on the ground.
I would have to see to believe a sub $15000 retail thermal that's going to do that. And even with the high end stuff it's not going to be 100% ID. Maybe with a cooled system but those are unavailable
I have a meeting with L3/Insight's Program Manager in a few weeks, I will report back the details. Usually at the onset of a program, supply and demand dictate the availability.
I ended up ordering a Trail XQ38. Just waiting now...
I also got the Quantum lite xq30v. Haven’t gotten a ton of time behind it yet but initial impressions is that I have been really impressed vs the FLIR I had before.
Those piggies will never know what hit em...
I also got the Quantum lite xq30v. Haven’t gotten a ton of time behind it yet but initial impressions is that I have been really impressed vs the FLIR I had before.
Those piggies will never know what hit em...
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