Night Vision Pulsar zm50 vs. Xp50

[ghostinthewoods]

I know everyone hates these post but here goes. New to the game. I will be hunting predators out west so ranges will be longer. Question is am I better off to go with the higher magnification in the xm (22x)? Or is it better to have the 640x480 and only 16x in the xps unit? Or if there are better options I am open to suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Smith1]

I’m sure someone with more knowledge than me will chime in but I can’t imagine the xm having a remotely usable picture at 22x

 

[7P's]

Take a look at this video, might help you decide.

 

[ghostinthewoods]

Take a look at this video, might help you decide.

Thanks. Helped alot.

 

[kirsch]

The most important thing is decide based on terrain and what your typical shot is to get a thermal who's optical/native (base) magnification works well for this type of terrain. As already said, very few people use thermals up to the highest digital mag settings. The FOV on a Thermion XM50 is very tight, so it may be difficult to find multiples or find the target on a follow up shot. If the XP is too low and the XM is too high for base mag, consider the XQ or look at different brands all together.

 

[Hobbes442]

Get the one where magnification is closest to what you want to shoot at. Because every time you magnify ,you take your clarity in half. I have had trijicon my 2 35mm and pulsar xp50. The NV wraith is 4x and worthless in times trying to acquire anything fast. The xq38 is new and 2.5x and really great for price when I compare to xp50. I’ve looked beside the xq50 also with mine and better for longer shots . We have all 3 of these at work and side by side rally hard to notice quality differences. If I was to be shooting 200 yds( which is really far at night) I would get xq50: if less than that either xq38 or xp50. I got rid of trijicon to get pulsar and have no regrets

 

[shoots100]

I hunt mostly in the woods and small fields, so my choice was the XP38.
640 res with 1.5x base mag and a 16.3 horiz x 12.2 vert FOV .
XP50 640 1.9x base and 12.4 x 9.3
XQ50 384 3X base and 7.5 x 5.6
XQ38 384 2.5x base and 9.8 x 7.5

 

[Hobbes442]

Xq38 and xp38 are close. I would rather have 2.5x vs 1.5 though. I had the xp50 on 1 eye and xq38 on other and the quality Is damn close . If they made an Xp with 2.5 when I bought mine ,I would of got that vs 2.0.
good luck.

 

[shoots100]

With the 640 res of the XP38, the PIP magnified 3x image is 320 res , which is a lot clearer than the 384 PIP magnified image at 192 res.
The XQ's have a narrow FOV, that only gets smaller and more pixilated when magnified.
I sighted my rifle in at 100 yards and with the PIP at 3x, I had no issues hitting the 200 yard target.
The extra money spent for a 640 res scope is well worth it.

 

[Nicholas Borne]

I've been shooting the Thermion XP50 since first week of May. It's killed 16 hogs and 1 coyote since then (I reluctantly share with friends). the highest mag I've killed something on had been 8X (hog at 165yds). 16X is very grainy! Could I shoot something at that mag....yes, but I would think that at 22X any target would be a blob especially with a smaller processor.

 

[Hobbes442]

Pulsar just came out with XG 50. Bae core like trijicon. Would be great for coyotes

 

[ghostinthewoods]

Thanks for all the info guys. I ended up going with the xm. Have just sighted it in and messed with it a bit figuring it out and it seems to be awsome for the country I'll be using it in. Now thinking about a monocular for scanning and scouting.