Help overwhelmed first thermal

J

JMcQ

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 19, 2019
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#1
Price point is capped in the $2000k range. I thought I was going to go with a Rix L3, but have stumbled upon the Athlon ATS models which offer better specs at the price point. At least as for as the sensor and objective size IE the L3 at $2599 is a 35mm 384 and the ATS-50 $1799 (@EO) is a 50mm 400-300 I’ve tried searching with some results for the L3 but very little info on the Athlon.
What I’m I missing between the two and what else should I be looking at.

I have 42 acres but most is wooded. My longest clear shot is 365 yards and coyotes are my target. I know I’m on the low end price wise so I’m sure written specs may not tell the story.
$2500 is the real max but I’d prefer to stay lower.
I’ve never even looked through a thermal scope so the lack of reference may be a good thing. I know once you look through a top tier optic it ruins the rest.
 
#2
Would like to know also. Have been holding out for a while on a thermal. Watching and waiting, thermal game appears to be evolving in a good way. Probably going to get the ratler v2. Way my luck goes, something twice as good and half the price is released after I get it out of the box.
 
#3
paulrem308 said:
Would like to know also. Have been holding out for a while on a thermal. Watching and waiting, thermal game appears to be evolving in a good way. Probably going to get the ratler v2. Way my luck goes, something twice as good and half the price is released after I get it out of the box.
Click to expand...
That’s exactly how I feel. Last year I was going to buy thermal and was looking at the AGM rattler setups. It seems like there is fierce competition is driving the market in favor of buyers
The reason I didn’t buy is that echo and save more money for better. Well that can be one hell of a rabbit hole. I have more than one hobby and the other is more expensive lol.
 
#5
Yeah, @TheHorta will be right along soon to help you see your NEED to spend $10,000; right after he gets home from church, it is Sunday you know, and his wife gives him his electronic devices back so he can get on the hide. :)

Kidding aside, he is one of the most knowledgeable people around in this subject matter.
 
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#8
I started with a Bering optics Hogster 35 384 about 4 years ago, no issues with it. Killed plenty of critters with it for sure. Back in October I ordered my second thermal scope. Went Agm this time and it’s been good from my limited time behind it. I went with the Varmint v2 lrf 384.
 
#9
L3 all the way, but not before getting a decent spotter for ease of target detection as I wrote in a post from Aug 26th, 2024.
TOP's has the L3 for $2,300 shipped with a free quality QD mount.
L3
Ocular zoom makes further shots easy.
I would also get the throw lever from Apex3D.
L3 Throw lever

SJC
 
#10
I really wish somebody would chime in with hands-on experience for Athlon units.
That DNT may have went to the top of the list though
If the clip on feature works well, that would be nice. I have a dedicated rifle. I was going to use but occasionally switching it over to a suppressed 22 would be really cool.
 
#11
My brain hurts, but I decided to order a Pulsar XQ35. PSA had a deal with the scope plus a ADM QR mount for $1999. After I ordered it went to out of stock.

Most everyone is selling these for $2300 for the scope and that’s a $250-300 mount so maybe I did good maybe not. I wanted to go with a better known brand and for what it’s worth this is for sitting out back by the pool and shooting an occasional coyote.
 
#13
Well I am a little late to this one but my first question would be" what are your hunting needs" such as distance, conditions, firearm setup.
I think these will help drive you to the correct thermal.

For a bolt setup, I really like the tube style scopes such as the Rix L3/L6 but for gas guns I think the compact scopes are a better fitment. I reference the Rix units as I have touched everything they make (except the DBH at this time) but I have ran IRAY,Burris and AGM.

I think the Athlon units are just a rebrand of the guide series stuff but I could be wrong.
 
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#14


Not the cheapest at all, but for demonstration purposes here is what a 640 sensor can do. You should be able to ID coyotes at your max range without much issue.
 
#15
JMcQ said:
Price point is capped in the $2000k range. I thought I was going to go with a Rix L3, but have stumbled upon the Athlon ATS models which offer better specs at the price point. At least as for as the sensor and objective size IE the L3 at $2599 is a 35mm 384 and the ATS-50 $1799 (@EO) is a 50mm 400-300 I’ve tried searching with some results for the L3 but very little info on the Athlon.
What I’m I missing between the two and what else should I be looking at.

I have 42 acres but most is wooded. My longest clear shot is 365 yards and coyotes are my target. I know I’m on the low end price wise so I’m sure written specs may not tell the story.
$2500 is the real max but I’d prefer to stay lower.
I’ve never even looked through a thermal scope so the lack of reference may be a good thing. I know once you look through a top tier optic it ruins the rest.
Click to expand...

Don't know if you've already bought or not, but I have a very similar use case, a tad less land, all wooded, most shots in the <100 yd range, but longest possible around 240yds. Also have coyotes yipping it up in the back and on adjacent farms. I wanted to stick in the ~$1k range and wound up getting the DNT Hydra HS325. I'm new to thermals and have just had it a few days, so take my opinion for what it's worth, but I've been very impressed. Walking around the property the last two nights and using it as a monocular I was amazed with what I could see in the woods and across pastures, especially in the highlight mode. Rabbits and the neighbors cats in the yard, a song bird asleep in a bush, deer walking through back in the woods and even an airliner flying high overhead were really clear (no coyotes hanging around). The 384 meets what I need, but their 640 is still available at a hair under $2k until the tariff price increase kicks in, which would match your budget and I can't imagine it wouldn't be even better.
 
#16
JMcQ said:
My brain hurts, but I decided to order a Pulsar XQ35. PSA had a deal with the scope plus a ADM QR mount for $1999. After I ordered it went to out of stock.

Most everyone is selling these for $2300 for the scope and that’s a $250-300 mount so maybe I did good maybe not. I wanted to go with a better known brand and for what it’s worth this is for sitting out back by the pool and shooting an occasional coyote.
Click to expand...
I purchased a pulsar Thermion 384 core as my first thermal back in December when they were 3400 with the laser rangefinder. it's been fantastic so far for my use, mainly wooded areas in central AL for hogs and varmints, maxing out around 250 yard shots. I'm pretty sure they're a good bit less now though. RTR
 
#17
I’ve gotten to play with mine for a few days now on my property. My takeaways for anyone else that was in my shoes are as follows.
On 2.5x it’s pretty amazing and has enough field of view to scan with a tripod ( I will be buying a scanner at some point) the 5x and 10x are what they are for the price point.
It has two batteries. The removable goes quickly the internal seems much better. The upside you can run a battery pack if you’re using it double duty as a scanner. I will rig something up attached to my tripod for longer hunts.
The menus are not bad. As all new things with lots of functionality it takes time. I was a bit frustrated with the zero function at first. It’s not hard once you learn the menu sequence and what buttons do what.
Overall I’m very happy at the price point I paid. Even though spending $2k doesn’t feel like a budget option in reality it’s entry level so I don’t expect the magnified resolution to be what it would be on the $6000 model.
I don’t have anything else to compare it with so take my words in that context.
The DNT would have probably been a better choice but honestly I don’t care to buy China. I will use this Pulsar and down the road will decide if a higher end model makes sense for me.
I’m not going to do a lot of night hunts but I love seeing what’s walking around at night. I’ll wait to make any decisions, but I think the scope is GTG and that I need a good monocular.
 
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