Agreed.
And while I’d love a sales call…I’d really like someone to actually write up the differences. The specs look comparable (sensor size, sensitivity, display size and resolution, pitch, mag, objective size, etc).
Is it purely software/ease of navigation in menus? Bluetooth vs WiFi…
Some of that matters some of it is unimportant to me and I rather save $2k than have WiFi to download videos etc.
If anyone is willing to go through this in a text response please let me know.
I don't work in sales, so my calls aren't Sales Calls. In fact, if you want to buy a thermal, I have to provide you with a totally different number.
What I do is test thermals, help with technical questions, and am a professional coyote hunter. The reason I offered a phone call is a cursory write up is simply going to lead to more and more questions. What I was trying to do was teach a man to fish vs give a man a fish. As Dibbs mentioned, most of my calls go far past 1 hour.
My offer still stands for anyone who wants to drill down into this stuff.
Here is a very generic answer. Not all sensors are created equal. An even within a sensor, not all equipment such as quality of Germanium, quality of internal components, firmware and more is equal. On paper, there are a lot of brands and model that look similar. Even if you compare a Pulsar Axion, and a Pulsar Telos which have similar specs, the Telos has a better image. I have tested so many models that on paper look good, in real-world situations you realize they are very different.
As for some other differences, Pulsars are made in Europe with a French Lynred sensor. Many of the other options are made in China and imported in. Notice, I did not say this was good or bad. That is up to each person to decide. There are sanctions on some Chinese components and companies at this time. Many people don't want to hear it, but it is definitely more of a gamble when a person buys a thermal that relies on technology that is either under current sanctions or may be in the future. A warranty means nothing if the company isn't around to support it or if they can't import parts to fix.
Although I really like the Telos, I say the good with the bad. It is fairly large, and it is a bit heavy, and it has proprietary batteries. I still really like it, but my model recommendation will vary on the need. Not ONE thermal is right for everyone. Field of View and Base Magnification have a huge impact on what model would work better for different applications, terrain, etc.
