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Night Vision Anyone get there hands on a xp50 trail 2?
- Thread starter Rocklong
- Start date
Do you think the magnesium housing took care of the zero shift problem? I have tried three different xp 50 trail lrf models and all three had a pretty significant zero shift with temp swings. Missed several yotes before I realized what was going on.
Any chance you could point out that review of the gen2 Trail with a link or post number? Just went through a bunch of pages of that thread looking for it but came up empty. My search-fu is lacking.
Well, if we "believe" sellmark ... the reported "POI shift" problem was a "one off"
... Of course, we heard way more than one report about it ... so the idea that it was a "one off" doesn't fly very far.
I was heavy into pulsar back in 2015-2017 when they first came out ... and things seemed pretty good in those days ... since then however, the quality seems to have gotten consistently worse and worse. And I base this on reports from numerous people on several continents as well as my own experience.
And for the most recent example ... I had a brand new XP50 (2) a few months back and it had no issues, but at the same time another gentleman on here got one and it was broken out of the box. Consistent results ?? NOT !!
Piecing all the evidence together the picture that emerges is that over the years, Pulsar has relied more and more on PRC produced components. Finally assembly of some units may still occur in Eastern Europe ... but the main issue seems to be quality control. I'm not sure whether East Europe relaxed their standards or more units are being QC'd in PRC or both. But quality / consistency has clearly nose-dived over the past 2-3 years ... a steady but consistent downward trend.
I used to recommend pulsar without reservation. I can no longer do so based on all the data I've seen. And its a sad story, but I cannot argue with the hill of data.
So back to your question. I do not think so, because I don't think the reported POI shifts have / had a singular cause. I would place the blame on systemic issues with the QA process, which cannot be fixed by hardware change. Fixing QA process requires a humanware change and those are tougher.
Actually I was thinking "thermion" ... sorry
I think its pretty much the same unit except for the housing. The review is interleaved across multiple posts ... 
Night Shooting Report ...
Later (1 am ish) went out for a check ... it was activitely misting ... I would call the mist at that time "medium mist" ... which is pretty bad conditions for thermal ... I cranked the UTC-x gain up to 8 (gain = contrast in BAE speak) which is the max I ever crank it. I was able to see the...
www.snipershide.com
So the hill of data consists of your working unit and another's broken unit? Or you mean the zero shifting issues with older/discontinued line?
Which components are you claiming come from China? I thought I heard that the sensors came from Ulis/Lynred over in Europe (France?) - are you saying that those thermal guts are made in China, or thinking more the housings/glass? Maybe I'm not quite as scared of the China connection if there is one, with so many other popular units here stateside that are already coming from there.
I'm just getting familiar with the Pulsar lineups, so interested in learning from folks, especially those that have hands-on with the 40mK NETD gen2 stuff. With NV/thermal opening up here in PA, a bunch of folks have been chatting about the market on these and I'm just trying to learn.
Which components are you claiming come from China? I thought I heard that the sensors came from Ulis/Lynred over in Europe (France?) - are you saying that those thermal guts are made in China, or thinking more the housings/glass? Maybe I'm not quite as scared of the China connection if there is one, with so many other popular units here stateside that are already coming from there.
I'm just getting familiar with the Pulsar lineups, so interested in learning from folks, especially those that have hands-on with the 40mK NETD gen2 stuff. With NV/thermal opening up here in PA, a bunch of folks have been chatting about the market on these and I'm just trying to learn.
The hill of data also includes input from numerous hide members both US based and in other nations.
I believe the sensors are at least designed by ULIS ... but note the recent discussion we had about the difference between "sensors" and "cores" ... they are not the same widgets!
Based on data from numerous persons, I believe 90% of the pulsar components are made in PRC.
And yes it is true ... probably most of the sub $5k units available in the USA are 90% components made in the PRC.
The only exceptions I aware of might be the FLIR cored units. I'm trying to gather more data on that.
==
But if you read thru the posts on the Thermion gen2 I had you'll see it did pretty well ... but if you were watching at the time ... another gentleman on here had a miserable experience with his at the same time. And these are not events, these are part of a multi-year pattern ... and again including data from numerous hide members in various countries ...
I believe the sensors are at least designed by ULIS ... but note the recent discussion we had about the difference between "sensors" and "cores" ... they are not the same widgets!
Based on data from numerous persons, I believe 90% of the pulsar components are made in PRC.
And yes it is true ... probably most of the sub $5k units available in the USA are 90% components made in the PRC.
The only exceptions I aware of might be the FLIR cored units. I'm trying to gather more data on that.
==
But if you read thru the posts on the Thermion gen2 I had you'll see it did pretty well ... but if you were watching at the time ... another gentleman on here had a miserable experience with his at the same time. And these are not events, these are part of a multi-year pattern ... and again including data from numerous hide members in various countries ...
I had issues with my Thermion XP50 right out of the box with a connection issue/ dead internal battery. One month and 22 days later my replacement finally arrived...
...it has dead pixels everywhere. I actually repaired four more last night before heading out as they were becoming quite obvious/annoying. That's in the neighborhood of 30-40 dead pixels on a new unit...it will he going back next spring when I can afford to wait another 7 weeks on a replacement.
On a good note: Sellmark's customer service guys are extremely friendly and willing to help...I've had extensive time on the phone with several of them.
My advice is to save up another few dollars...if you can afford a Trail 2 XP...you can probably figure out how to afford an N-Vision or Trijicon.
...it has dead pixels everywhere. I actually repaired four more last night before heading out as they were becoming quite obvious/annoying. That's in the neighborhood of 30-40 dead pixels on a new unit...it will he going back next spring when I can afford to wait another 7 weeks on a replacement.
On a good note: Sellmark's customer service guys are extremely friendly and willing to help...I've had extensive time on the phone with several of them.
My advice is to save up another few dollars...if you can afford a Trail 2 XP...you can probably figure out how to afford an N-Vision or Trijicon.
I got mine a couple weeks ago and sold it immediately. Having went through several Trails AND a Thermion that were plauged with poi shifting I was not going to waste another season educating coyotes. In my mind if the magnesium Thermion couldn't hold zero the magnesium Trail wouldn't.
I did give it a look through and didn't notice any improvement with the 40mk whatever. My main impression was the eyebox was smaller although it is hyped as a wider angle eyepiece. No field use or evaluation just first (and last) impressions.
I agree the support is good but not the product. Even though they would not budge on refunding my purchase and kept replacing poi shift with poi shift.
Diggler is spot on, keep scrimping and get an NVision or Trijicon or you'll be in the sinking ship my friends and I were and that really sucks.
I did give it a look through and didn't notice any improvement with the 40mk whatever. My main impression was the eyebox was smaller although it is hyped as a wider angle eyepiece. No field use or evaluation just first (and last) impressions.
I agree the support is good but not the product. Even though they would not budge on refunding my purchase and kept replacing poi shift with poi shift.
Diggler is spot on, keep scrimping and get an NVision or Trijicon or you'll be in the sinking ship my friends and I were and that really sucks.
I don't have a trail but just want to chime in about pulsar like everyone else...
i got an accolade 2 and it's sick. No ragrets. It's just for detection, and pulsar got a lot of the software niceties right.
If I was going to use i was only shooting 50 and in, I'd have no issue going with a low mag pulsar as a rifle scope. I wanted to shoot far though.
i got an accolade 2 and it's sick. No ragrets. It's just for detection, and pulsar got a lot of the software niceties right.
If I was going to use i was only shooting 50 and in, I'd have no issue going with a low mag pulsar as a rifle scope. I wanted to shoot far though.
Why don’t all thermals have lrf? That’s the only reason I am set on pulsars. Where i hunt lrf is a must. You can’t have 3+ inches of zero shift and expect to hit a coyote at 2-400 yards. Most of the time I have coyotes at unknown distances and rely on the lrf to tell me the distance and expect the scope to hit where I sighted it in. (HAs failed me numerous times from poi shift after watching the video back then rechecking zero) The people who haven’t had zero shift with the xp50 lrf have hunted in very constant temps or have shot hogs at 50-100 yards all the time. I have tried three different xp50s and all of them have had at least three inches of zero shift at 100 yards from sighting in at 60ish degrees to hunting with them at 0-20 degrees. One of them worse than the other two. I just sent mine in for another zero shift warranty and told them I wanted an xp50 trail 2 or a full refund and they sent me an email yesterday telling me they were sending me a new unit (same as I had before and probably one someone else sent in for the same issue) that was quality checked to be 100%. Fuck!!!! To much money for this bs.
Yep, they sell you the sizzle, then deliver the steak and the steak ain't nothing like the sizzle hype. Glad I stayed away from Pulsar.
Flir all the way for me. Maybe they don't give a rats ass about civi's anymore but their products work and are dependable.
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