Hey everyone, I have never owned any night vision optics, so I am looking for some input. At this point in time I have only ever looked through a Hogster-R 35mm that a family friend got recently. I was very impressed, but I also have nothing to compare it against. I have done a bunch of research and it seems that reviews on them are still fairly limited, although the initial impressions sounds good. I have also heard good things about Bering Optics customer service, and the 4 year warranty on the Hogster is a nice plus as well. My price range is 3k and down although I would prefer to stick to around $2500, which puts the Hogster right at the top. Right now it is my number one contender being as I have actually gotten to mess with one a bit and I liked how compact it was. Any personal experience with the Hogster R would be much appreciated, or any advice in general. Thank you.
Night Vision Hogster-R by Bering Optics opinions
- Thread starter ricard13
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you need to read the other thread. Use search.
Having done a side-by-side comparison between the Hogster and a Pulsar Trail XQ30 (the $3,200 one). My buddy and I concluded that the Trail was the better model...
Resolution is nearly identical at native magnification, but the Hogster gets significantly more grainy as soon as you digitally zoom.
The Hogster still auto-NUCs, but Boris at Bering Optics (complete with heavy accent) promises to add a manual NUC feature to the next gen of Hogster. Right now, nod goes to Trail.
The horizontal crosshair in the Hogster does not always show up when you record (like the Trijicons). Nothing major, but the Trail does not have this issue.
Here is a video of the Hogster and Trail XQ side by side on the same hunt. Pigs are about 200 yards, which is further than either unit is really designed for...
Resolution is nearly identical at native magnification, but the Hogster gets significantly more grainy as soon as you digitally zoom.
The Hogster still auto-NUCs, but Boris at Bering Optics (complete with heavy accent) promises to add a manual NUC feature to the next gen of Hogster. Right now, nod goes to Trail.
The horizontal crosshair in the Hogster does not always show up when you record (like the Trijicons). Nothing major, but the Trail does not have this issue.
Here is a video of the Hogster and Trail XQ side by side on the same hunt. Pigs are about 200 yards, which is further than either unit is really designed for...
I did, but thanks for the input.
This is extremely helpful, thank you! Again, my only hands on experience has been with the Hogster, so I have nothing to compare against. I liked the compact size and 4 year warranty of the Hogster. I have read that the pulsar is 3 year warranty, which is still good. Is it similarly sized compared to the Hogster?
I have a 25mm Hogster-R. I’ve only spent 3 weekends using it so far, so I’m a long way from being an expert yet. But if you hold down the “C” button for a few seconds mine will prompt me to cover objective, and it sure as hell was acting like a manual nuc as far as I was concerned. This unit was just purchased a couple months ago.
And BTW, we shall see how it holds up long term before I make any recommendations. But I am actually very happy with my $2,300 investment in this Bering unit thus far. Can’t give any perspective on how it compares to a similar Pulsar.
They are similarly sized. Pulsar warranty is three years, but Pulsar has fantastic customer service. One if the biggest drawbacks to the Bering Optics is the lack of a track record...not that they are a bad company to do business with, just not a lot of experience with what the repair/return process for them is.
From what I remember in conversation with my buddy the Hogster's sensor is also Chinese-made...if you are suspicious of Chinese optics then this is an issue. Obviously if you aren't, then this is a non-issue.
Biggest problem with auto-NUC is it happening when you are trying to shoot.
This is my friend Brian's take on it...
Resurrecting this thread.
I am in need of another thermal scanner which will be primarily for guest use so it needs to be easy to operate. Seems like the Hogster 35 fits the bill price wise as well as feature wise with the AutoNUC and easy zoom/PIP. I have a standing rule now that I do not acquire anything I cannot utilize myself.....so Pulsar is out due to limited eye relief and not able to use with glasses.....had a Helion XP38 which I really liked feature wise and really wanted to work but wound up selling for this reason. My go to scanner is a REAP 35 so not interested in another high end unit. I have a Halo 25 that was supposed to serve a dual role as a scope and scanner after I sold the Helion.....works fine for me....but with guests and their lack of familiarity with the equipment the process of taking it on and off the rifle is just not working out in the real world with darkness, adrenaline, etc. I finally quit fighting it after this weekend and realized another dedicated scanner is the solution.
Before making any decisions just wanted to see if there is any follow up feedback from users....the good, bad, and even ugly. Also curious how/if anyone is using rechargeable batteries or Anker. It will probably never go on a rifle, but still would like to get feedback on return to zero.
Thanks in advance.
I am in need of another thermal scanner which will be primarily for guest use so it needs to be easy to operate. Seems like the Hogster 35 fits the bill price wise as well as feature wise with the AutoNUC and easy zoom/PIP. I have a standing rule now that I do not acquire anything I cannot utilize myself.....so Pulsar is out due to limited eye relief and not able to use with glasses.....had a Helion XP38 which I really liked feature wise and really wanted to work but wound up selling for this reason. My go to scanner is a REAP 35 so not interested in another high end unit. I have a Halo 25 that was supposed to serve a dual role as a scope and scanner after I sold the Helion.....works fine for me....but with guests and their lack of familiarity with the equipment the process of taking it on and off the rifle is just not working out in the real world with darkness, adrenaline, etc. I finally quit fighting it after this weekend and realized another dedicated scanner is the solution.
Before making any decisions just wanted to see if there is any follow up feedback from users....the good, bad, and even ugly. Also curious how/if anyone is using rechargeable batteries or Anker. It will probably never go on a rifle, but still would like to get feedback on return to zero.
Thanks in advance.
I have 25mm version. I've run mine successfully on an external Anker battery. Mine is tube shaped and I had it on my stock with ranger bands. You'd have to get more creative with it being handheld, perhaps put a pic rail on it somehow and clamp it on bottom of optic in the weapon mount. Bering does say RCR123's are okay on their website, but someone from the factory told me it wasn't okay because they've had some explode inside the units. That's my only complaint with mine thus far.... apparently they just haven't updated their website or the one guy I talked to just has a different opinion. In the base case, I think you'll find that the Bering has a SIGNIFICANTLY longer run time than your REAP does on a pair of primary 123 batteries.
My return to zero has been solid, no issues with minute of hog out to 200 or so yards. Haven't done extensive testing on targets but it's pretty solid from what I can tell. My 25mm definitely DOES NOT have autoNUC (thank goodness.) I guess it's no big deal if you're not using it weapon mounted.
My return to zero has been solid, no issues with minute of hog out to 200 or so yards. Haven't done extensive testing on targets but it's pretty solid from what I can tell. My 25mm definitely DOES NOT have autoNUC (thank goodness.) I guess it's no big deal if you're not using it weapon mounted.
Thanks for the feedback. Is the AutoNUC an embedded function that you have turned off? I actually want that capability for simplicity for whoever is using it. I thought the Hogster had it built in like the Pulsars. I'd probably be GTG on the standard CR123 battery life 2 of them get anywhere close to the stated 4 hours. My Reap running at 30 HZ gets 2.5 hours with the IRX rechargeable kit. Sometimes another 15 minutes if I am not tweaking and NUCing so much. Not such a big deal as a scanner, but when I was using it as a scope it added a little bit of anxiety always having to stay on top of my time so I did not go dark on the trigger pull.
I didn't watch it too close, but I'm thinking my 25mm unit was getting more like 6+ hours, and that was earlier this spring when it was under 50 at night. I did not turn the Auto Nuc off; it just doesn't do it. I'd have to look to see if it's even a menu option.
I had my 35mm Hogster out a couple of weeks ago. We were out about 6 hrs and I went through 3 sets of rechargable batteries. I have not used it much with non rechargables, but will try some lithium next time I go.
I did not notice the unit doing a NUC. This is actually the first I have heard of it. Maybe it did it and I just was not looking through it at the time.
This is my first thermal scope and so far I am impressed with it, as is everyone who looks through it. I just picked up a high spec filmless white phosporus PVS-14 and the Hogster compares well in image quality and ability to see at distance. Of course I could not see my neighbors horse at 400 yds with the PVS-14, which I could with the Hogster. Have not had either of them out on a very dark moonless night yet, though.
Received my Hogster 35 yesterday...here's what I found out about Auto-NUC:
There are three different calibration "modes" available to the user:
The default setting for Hogster units is supposed to have the Auto-Shutter setting OFF. Mine, however, was set to ON. It's easy to change though.
There are three different calibration "modes" available to the user:
- Auto Shutter (Auto NUC)
- Manual Shutter (Manual NUC)
- Manual Background Calibration (lens cover closed)
The default setting for Hogster units is supposed to have the Auto-Shutter setting OFF. Mine, however, was set to ON. It's easy to change though.
Thanks for the info!
Mine was set to manual from the factory. Have not purposely used manual NUC so far as it has not needed it. Have activated it a couple of times accidentally though.
I have had my Hogster 35 out for a couple of nights now using Streamlight lithium batteries . These have a much better battery life than the rechargables I was using. So far have about 3.5 to 4 hrs on the current set and they still have some power left in them (still not in the red).
Yes, USB Type-A to Type-C.
Something like this:
The Hogster will automatically turn on when you connect the battery and turn off when you disconnect.
Mine came with a cord already. It also splits for DVR too, so there’s a bit extra if you’re just using the battery.
I got one of the Anker cylinder shaped batteries with big hopes that I was going to mount it to my rail with an M-lok flashlight holder. The Arisaka in-line mount I got was very elegant but the wrong diameter. I haven’t messed with it since. Ended up using ranger bands to strap the battery to my stock and that worked just fine. Pretty low profile.
I got one of the Anker cylinder shaped batteries with big hopes that I was going to mount it to my rail with an M-lok flashlight holder. The Arisaka in-line mount I got was very elegant but the wrong diameter. I haven’t messed with it since. Ended up using ranger bands to strap the battery to my stock and that worked just fine. Pretty low profile.
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Damn, that looks nice for $25. I have a 10k anker somewhere, maybe I’ll order one of those.
I went with the 5k anker cylinder battery. Mounted it with some cheap aluminum tasco 34mm rings.
Even the 5k battery will run the unit for a VERY long time and they’re pretty cheap. I use my rifle for scanning too, so I’ve been trying to avoid any extra weight where possible. The 5k will fit very nice and snag free along the weak side of your stock with some ranger bands, and the wire routing is pretty clean. You can see this setup if you look closely in the picture below:
I’ll keep that in mind and probably end up with a couple smaller ones as spares. The 10,000 is only 6.4 ounces so shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll have to drive 2 hours to do any hunting so I figured better to have the extra juice and not need it then the other way around.
Question for those using Anker batteries. Which batteries are you using? And what is the output voltage?
I have an Anker Powercore 10000, model #A1263. It lists output voltage as 5 volts @ 2.4 amps. I have been leery of trying it with my Hogster since the Hogster lists 3 or 3.7 volts as input. Thanks.
I have an Anker Powercore 10000, model #A1263. It lists output voltage as 5 volts @ 2.4 amps. I have been leery of trying it with my Hogster since the Hogster lists 3 or 3.7 volts as input. Thanks.
I think there is a firmware upgrade for the Hogster that was just released, one of the upgrades in the package is the PIP will stay in memory after the scope is shut off.
The 3/3.7V rating is for the battery supply. The USB-C port is rated for 5V.
Any idea where this firmware upgrade can be downloaded?
I'll check around, as I learned of this today from another site. Borris had him send his scope in for the upgrades, not sure if he had to pay shipping but will ask - I would think it'll be available for download in the near future, if not currently available for download.
Here's the reply from Bering Optics:
Yes. We have the upgraded firmware. You are welcome to send your item to the below address:
Attn: Diana Nikitin
1409 Travis Circle S.
Irving, TX 75038
Phone: 817-453-9966
Nothing said about having it available as a download. You have to pay shipping to them.
Yes. We have the upgraded firmware. You are welcome to send your item to the below address:
Attn: Diana Nikitin
1409 Travis Circle S.
Irving, TX 75038
Phone: 817-453-9966
Nothing said about having it available as a download. You have to pay shipping to them.
Yeah, I'll wait for it to be available as a user update...PIP isn't that important to me, especially when it's dead simple to re-enable when you want it.
Not sure why they'd want to go thru the trouble of doing it themselves???
Any other info on what else the firmware update is addressing?
I have used most of the thermal scopes in the low-mid range category. In my opinion, there is no better value currently in the thermal game than the Hogster 35. The 25 is a nice option if a person wants it mainly as a scanner in tight cover.
According to Bering Optics, there are no planned firmware updates going forward. There are no plans for allowing customers the ability to do firmware updates on these units. For units that have app integration such as the Phenom, maybe.
I've probably put more time behind a Hogster than anyone. Feel free to shoot me any questions you might have.
Here is video of 20 coyote kills with the Hogster-R 35.
I am a Prostaff member for Night Goggles and the Hogster is their best selling thermal currently.
According to Bering Optics, there are no planned firmware updates going forward. There are no plans for allowing customers the ability to do firmware updates on these units. For units that have app integration such as the Phenom, maybe.
I've probably put more time behind a Hogster than anyone. Feel free to shoot me any questions you might have.
Here is video of 20 coyote kills with the Hogster-R 35.
I am a Prostaff member for Night Goggles and the Hogster is their best selling thermal currently.
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Just got mine on Friday and the PIP was still up Saturday when I turned it on. Must have come with this.
Pretty happy so far, but also only looking at the dog in the backyard I’m sure anything would look good. I did order a throw lever for the front focus ring which should be a nice addiction. My upper is out for delivery today, I’m hoping I get to test everything out on the next few weeks.
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Yes, the last firmware update included the PIP setting staying on when powering the scope off and on. Some recent changes also include adding an auto and manual nuc option, and I believe a change was made to the battery meter to be more accurate.
As far as a throw lever/cattail adapter/extender, I totally agree with the position of the focus ring, an extender/throw lever is absolutely needed. Luckily, the ones I use are $8-10 on Amazon and work great.
As far as a throw lever/cattail adapter/extender, I totally agree with the position of the focus ring, an extender/throw lever is absolutely needed. Luckily, the ones I use are $8-10 on Amazon and work great.
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This is true. However, if you start the Hogster on CR123 power, and then connect the battery pack, it will draw from the external battery pack, but if you disconnect the external pack, the scope stays on and goes back to CR123. This only works if the scope was powered on as mentioned first with power from the CR123s.
I am fairly new to Snipershide but I don't believe they want a person to put in links to other sites. I sent you a PM with the info.
In summary the ZR Tactical one is very nice and looks very professional and is custom made to work on the Hogster. However, here are 4 reasons why I like the ones off Amazon for my usage.
1) First, I like to position the focus lever on the left side of the scope, so I can use my off hand to adjust. I have it set so at about 100-200 yards it is perfectly focused in the middle. This way, I always know where the sweet spot is. It only takes a slight adjustment up or down for different ranges. The ZR model only has 3 possible positions.
2) On the Hogster 35, the end cap is extremely hard to get off. If I need to take off the focus lever to get it in a gun case or something, I don't want to have to take the end cap off and on each time.
3) The ZR tactical price is more than 2x the price of the Amazon one but totally agree the ZR one is a nicer looking option.
4) The Amazon one can be used on virtually any focus for any scope so it is more universal.
In summary the ZR Tactical one is very nice and looks very professional and is custom made to work on the Hogster. However, here are 4 reasons why I like the ones off Amazon for my usage.
1) First, I like to position the focus lever on the left side of the scope, so I can use my off hand to adjust. I have it set so at about 100-200 yards it is perfectly focused in the middle. This way, I always know where the sweet spot is. It only takes a slight adjustment up or down for different ranges. The ZR model only has 3 possible positions.
2) On the Hogster 35, the end cap is extremely hard to get off. If I need to take off the focus lever to get it in a gun case or something, I don't want to have to take the end cap off and on each time.
3) The ZR tactical price is more than 2x the price of the Amazon one but totally agree the ZR one is a nicer looking option.
4) The Amazon one can be used on virtually any focus for any scope so it is more universal.
So long as you're not actively driving members to another site to drive up that site's numbers, there's no issue posting links to things that help fellow members. Additionally, as long as you're not selling, or an owner of a product, links to them are generally okay. If it's suspect, a mod or LL might send a PM asking for details or explanation, but otherwise the Hide is pretty tolerant. It's about sharing knowledge, first and foremost.
I am Prostaff for Night Goggles/TNVC and help answer questions on various groups, forums, etc. I am very new to the Hide so thank you. The best price for the one I mentioned on Amazon is to buy 2 at the following Link. There is also an option to buy only One at a little higher pricing. I use these on all virtually all my scopes with a focus or zoom ring/dial.
Finally got out this weekend at I’m pretty impressed. No issues seeing 2-300 yards and the FOV for scanning was great. I can see at some point in the future if I keep hunting similar areas (Wide open corn fields) I would get something with a little more magnification and use the Hogster as a scanner. Not a necessity though.
The ZR tactical throw ring blows ass after actually using it. It’s really nicely made but it’s a friction fit and falls off easily, as well as gouging the focus ring. Apex 3d just teased a new on they are coming out with, and I may go that route if I don’t get the one Kirsch posted
@kirsch, maybe you can answer this, does the standby mode still use battery power? I would unplug my pack between sets but it would be much handier to put it in standby. I only had one pack and didn’t want to change killing it, but already ordered a backup
The ZR tactical throw ring blows ass after actually using it. It’s really nicely made but it’s a friction fit and falls off easily, as well as gouging the focus ring. Apex 3d just teased a new on they are coming out with, and I may go that route if I don’t get the one Kirsch posted
@kirsch, maybe you can answer this, does the standby mode still use battery power? I would unplug my pack between sets but it would be much handier to put it in standby. I only had one pack and didn’t want to change killing it, but already ordered a backup
There is a power draw as the unit is still on, just no display, etc. I can send a message to Bering to see how much of a draw there is in comparison.
I have tested the Hogster on a 5000mAh battery pack and a 6700 mAh pack. The 5000 ran the Hogster for over 9 hours of continuous use and the 6700 lasted around 11 hours. this is not on Standby but running. The higher the mAh number of the battery pack, the longer it will last. However, this was a test at indoor temps around 70 degrees. Sub-zero temps would decrease these numbers.
I have tested the Hogster on a 5000mAh battery pack and a 6700 mAh pack. The 5000 ran the Hogster for over 9 hours of continuous use and the 6700 lasted around 11 hours. this is not on Standby but running. The higher the mAh number of the battery pack, the longer it will last. However, this was a test at indoor temps around 70 degrees. Sub-zero temps would decrease these numbers.
Just a guess, but i would guess your 10000 would probably last 2 full nights. Battery packs are fairly cheap and good insurance, so it is good to have an extra as you said. In addition, if you drive between hunting stands for coyotes or fields for hogs, you could always be charging your battery pack during this time as well.
I did receive an answer back from Bering on the power draw question. Here is the answer:
The standby mode saves power by turning off the screen. The screen's power consumption is 300mW. This option helps to increase the batteries lasting time an additional 30 minutes and allows the HOGSTER to work approx. 15% longer in compare to fully powered scope.
The standby mode saves power by turning off the screen. The screen's power consumption is 300mW. This option helps to increase the batteries lasting time an additional 30 minutes and allows the HOGSTER to work approx. 15% longer in compare to fully powered scope.
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