New to Thermal

[Nepistolman]

I’ve never been around the thermal world but thinking of giving it a try for coyotes. And I have no clue where to begin. All I know is I’m not wanting to spend 1k to use once or twice and never again. So can you guys help a guy out on what to look for or what to stay away from. Thanks in advance!!

 

[pdhntr]

I’ve never been around the thermal world but thinking of giving it a try for coyotes. And I have no clue where to begin. All I know is I’m not wanting to spend 1k to use once or twice and never again. So can you guys help a guy out on what to look for or what to stay away from. Thanks in advance!!

I am using my third different thermal. Each one higher quality and more expensive than the last.

Discussing "what to look for or what to stay away from" is almost totally dependent on price. With thermal scopes it is really simple. You get what you pay for.

The first thing I tell a person thinking of getting into thermal is decide on a budget, otherwise you are wasting your time and others discussing the positive and negative attributes of scopes that are not in your budget.

In my opinion I would not consider anything less than $2500 new. Or a used one with some factory warranty still in effect.

Jim

 

[Intell]

I’d say watch for a good used unit if you don’t want to spend so much, but your probably still going to be in the $2500 range.

My first was a Trijicon Reap IR. Then I wanted a second unit so I could take my non thermal friends along on night hunts. I didn’t want to break the bank so I bought an I Ray bravo, 380 core for $3000. I was disappointed even though it wasn’t bad, I had been spoiled by Trijicon.
My dealer was kind enough to exchange it for a 640 Pulsar XG50 with the BAE core and it’s close to my Reap unit.

Don’t get me wrong, some 380 units are plenty good enough for dumping Coyotes, I have 380 core pulsar binoculars that are very usable but in my experience with sights the 640 cores give you a lot better less grainy image.

It would suck to drop $1500 on a unit that’s just mea, when a used $2500 can get you Wow.
I’ve saw nice deals in the classified here in the past, Euro optic also has nice demo deals for thermal as well.
If your firm about $1000 you may want to look into some type of digital night vision with IR light, I know of a few young men who use them for coyotes successfully.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

How about the new range finding capabilities, wait and save for that or not?