Night Vision ATN Thor 1.25-5?

[deersniper]

Are they decent? My buddy is looking for a thermal in that price range for fox hunting. Thanks.

I I know most ATN is junk but I hear good things about the Thor

 

[wigwamitus]

I had one (Thor HD 19mm 1.25x) briefly a year ago ... I have a detailed review back during Nov 2016 period in my practicing thread if you want to go read that.

The short version is the one I had was an unfinished thing.

On black hot the image was non-existent. The display was 100% white.

On white hot, the image was fuzzy. Beyond 100 yds the image was very fuzzy.

There were several other issues.

I called ATN, they told me to download the latest software, so I did.

That did help calibrate the digital compass, one step forward.

But did not help with the white display on black hot.

Called ATN again, they told me to return it, I did.

BTW, this pair of exchanges was my GOOD experiences with ATN. They were actually professional and as helpful as possible given the circumstances. My other experiences with ATN CS have not been so positive. But in this case they did a good job.

So. There have been several software updates since then, maybe the issues have been fixed. Since I returned mine for refund I do not know.

Maybe mine was a lemon ??

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That said, as of now, both Pulsar and FLIR have 19mm entries in the $2,000 scope field and I would go with one of those versus the ATN at this point.

 

[deersniper]

Thanks. The new Flir seems like the budget scope of choice.

 

[wigwamitus]

Well, if you can't spend more than $2k and can't wait to save up a few hundred more, then either the pulsar or the FLIR are options and preferred over the ATN, given my results.

But for a few hundred more, getting a pulsar 384 with a focus ring would be even more preferred. Either an APEX or a Trail.

So here is OP shown price for 38mm Apex $2,500 in my experience if you call OP you can offer to buy today for another 10% discount and they will say yes (you can try for more). And I don't say this because I am recommending OP. I say this because they are a price setter in this market and that matters. Personally I prefer to work with a group of smaller dealers who really use the gear and know the gear etc. But OP is a price setter in this market. So the real street price is $2,250 with the extra 10% discount.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/pulsar-pl76417-apex-xq38-dig-nv-scp.html

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And here is the Trail 30mm for $2,800 and with another 10% discount this is $2,520.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/pulsar-pl76513q-trail-xq30-therml-scp.html

The $2k devices with fixed focus, do not look so good beyond 100yds and they get worse farther out. So the focus ring models solve that issue for a few hundred more.

 

[SUIScide]

I use a 1x ATN that belongs to my father quite a bit. I've had it black out on me when I've taken a shot. I thought it was a battery thing or something but that seems to be a problem with them. I think I'd steer clear of ATN. Also watch "lone star boars" YouTube review of the ATN
I'm in a similar market but have 2k in Cabela's points saved up so I have to buy from them. They have an armasight predator 640 1.5x that I think should work well it is hard to find info on that particular model though

 

[wigwamitus]

I have an ATN ODIN 17mm 1x 320(30)

I usually run it on my helmet, side by side with pvs-14

But also on .22LR as a stand alone weapons site

And it does fine in all these roles.

I like the ODIN. It is a pvs-14 housing, so it mounts on my tatm dual bridge just as a 14.

So, in my experience not all ATN devices are bad, but the others I've had were. This is the good exception. Now, I'd rather have a SKEET-IR. But the ODIN gets it done. I can spot yotes out to 500yds while rolling on 4-wheeler and it can see cattle out to 1200 om good thermal conditions. They are blobs, but it can detect them.

I run a really nice glass amber filter on the back and that eliminate headaches and even does not mess with the natural night vision in my eye anything like looking through a full strength black/white thermal does and the glass filter is much clearer than the wilcox plastic one - which I do use on the back of the 14 on the other eye.

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But for a budget rifle mounted thermal right now, I still like the pulsar 384s ... best bang for the buck. The predators get the job done, I just worry about FLIR CS, with the old Armasight CS Team getting sack.