Im new to the thermal stuff and need a little help. Im trying to decide between buying a trijicon hunter ir mk3 35mm or saving some cash and getting a pulsar thermion xp50 and a molocular. If i get the mk3 its the top of the budget and would have to use it for spottting. Would be used for coyotes at night. Max shot range would be 200-300 yards but want to be able to spot further out. Thanks for any help.
Night Vision Thermal help
- Thread starter lawnranger
- Start date
I had the mark 2 35mm and traded it for Thermion xp50. I liked the idea of having internal recording and pip and other options. Trijicon won’t give updates free and I had the mark 2 for 5 yrs and liked to have the new warranty with pulsar . If the xg50 was out at the time ,I would of gotten it . You give up some quality with xp50 . I almost upgraded to mk3 just to get the multiple zeros that there mark 2 didn’t have . Trijicon would not give me a new warranty if I I paid 1k to get to mk3.
I started down the thermal rabbit hole with a flir scope, quickly sold it and bought an n vision halo lr, i love the scope but wanted a handheld scanning device so i got an helion xp38, and once i did i spent 90% of my time in the handheld, only going to the gun to shoot or ID at distance. Just recently got the accolade 2 bioculars, love having the rangefinding capability. I also find scanning with binos causes me much less eye fatigue and makes for a more enjoyable hunt.
if you do get both a scope and a handheld scanning device do not skimp on the handheld as this is what you will spend most of your night looking though
if you do get both a scope and a handheld scanning device do not skimp on the handheld as this is what you will spend most of your night looking though
^This, plus if there is anyone besides you hunting scanning with the rifle can be very unsafe. It takes discipline and clearly defined scanning zones not to scan across your buddies, both of which seem to disappear once a target shows up and adrenaline starts flowing.
For your shooting parameters either the XP50 or Mark 3 will probably serve you well. But my preference is the Trijicon. I currently run a Reap 35 and my hunting partner a Mark 3. Both similar, I like the Reap for the weight and he the Mark 3 for the mount and turrent controls....super easy to navigate btw. They are great scopes. Mark 3 will probably hold value if you ever need to resale. Plus there are a variety of aftermarket battery options, either internal rechargeable or Anker....prefer the Anker mount on the stock myself.
For your shooting parameters either the XP50 or Mark 3 will probably serve you well. But my preference is the Trijicon. I currently run a Reap 35 and my hunting partner a Mark 3. Both similar, I like the Reap for the weight and he the Mark 3 for the mount and turrent controls....super easy to navigate btw. They are great scopes. Mark 3 will probably hold value if you ever need to resale. Plus there are a variety of aftermarket battery options, either internal rechargeable or Anker....prefer the Anker mount on the stock myself.
Thanks for all the input. Think im going to go with the pulsar thermion and try to find a good monocular to scan with.
If I had to start over...
I'd be tempted to blow my entire budget on a thermal scanner and mount a big flashlight to my rifle.
We really do spend 99% of our time scanning and 15 seconds shooting
Having a small / low magnification thermal for scanning / helmet mounting teamed with a high magnification thermal scope is where I prefer to be. This allows you to get warning / observation with the low mag unit and if something of shooting interest comes into question... get on the gun and look with the higher mag unit. I see guys doing the same with i2 on the rifle as well and it seems to work fine as well.
Personal preference with the amount of brush / growth around here is thermal / thermal though. NVision or Trijicon wherever your budget will allow.
I'd be tempted to blow my entire budget on a thermal scanner and mount a big flashlight to my rifle.
We really do spend 99% of our time scanning and 15 seconds shooting
Having a small / low magnification thermal for scanning / helmet mounting teamed with a high magnification thermal scope is where I prefer to be. This allows you to get warning / observation with the low mag unit and if something of shooting interest comes into question... get on the gun and look with the higher mag unit. I see guys doing the same with i2 on the rifle as well and it seems to work fine as well.
Personal preference with the amount of brush / growth around here is thermal / thermal though. NVision or Trijicon wherever your budget will allow.
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