Pulsar XP38 Trail review.

[fanninland]

Jglass, rest assured we aren't beating up on you as most of us have been in the exact same place, but it took me a couple years of agonizing to realize that what chopper and TLM say is true. My family has a good size farming operation and even though it made good business sense to have thermal it was really tough to pull the trigger. Finally my dad (born of the Great Depression era, will use a cartoon of baling wire for repairs to put off buying a new hay rake, etc.) told me that life is short quit stalling so after dropping $6k on a Zeus a few years ago not one regret. If you hunt 60-70 times a year you should buy the best unit your budget will allow, and this time next year you might be like me -trying to decide which sub $2k unit to get for a backup, lol.

Very informative & helpful review btw, sorry for the thread drift....

 

[jglass]

Thanks fanninland. You reminded me that I was raised by Great Depression era parents as well. We can read books and watch TV about the Depression but it is not the same as hearing it from people that lived through it like my parents did. I failed to make the same impression on my own kids because I never actually experienced the depression.

All kidding aside I'm trying to avoid buying more thermo scope than I need. Visibility is pretty limited in Florida once you leave a road or parking lot. I don't want a 4K scope if a 2K scope will due and at the same time I don't want to buy junk or a scope that will crap out after a couple of hog hunts. You guys are all I have for guidance because people around here know nothing about thermo imaging except contractors that use thermo imaging for finding heat loss in homes in the winter. The only thing we hunt at night in Illinois is raccoons and coyotes.

Looking at a Pulsar APEX XQ38 today. It has a video output but no internal memory. $2750

 

[Brian Shaffer]

These are my hunting parameters. I hunt for 3 months while in Florida but I'll do 60-70 hunts, but not year around like some of you.
An expensive thermo is hard for me to justify. I hunt in dense jungle where visibility is 125' most of the time but would still like to see over 100 yards.

The only thermo scope I ever had in my hands was the ATN 384 and I liked it. This was at Brownels in Iowa.

Comments please. Thanks, Jim

If you hunt 60-70 times a year, then I believe you have more justification for thermal than most hunters that buy thermal. Normal visibility may be 125' but you will find that increased as "glowing" critters show up through gaps in the vegetation. I have shot several that way.

For short distance work like you are talking about, a low magnification thermal would be most ideal for you.