Night Vision Thermal - Pulsar or Flir. Anything else?

[Shireman]

Need a little thermal for pigs & varmints.
Current set up is NV goggles with illum & laser. We do spot & stalk mainly on groups. Get within 100 almost always. Picked up some new ground and need to be able to scan big areas and the go get em. Will continue to use NV. Want a thermal scope for scanning, singles and just because. Have used a pulsar apex50 and got along great with it. Cannot locate a the new flir pts233 to play with. Reviews look promising. Any thoughts on this. Anything else out there? Want to stay under $3K.

 

[LRSHOOTER0311]

At that price point, I would stick to the flir pts 223

 

[wigwamitus]

scan big areas

You can pick up used pulsars of various flavors for under $3k ... scanning big areas you will need more power than the flir pts 223 ...

 

[texasleftychef]

To OP - I just got a FLir PTS233 and got my first pig last Friday. While I think it’s good for what it is, it’s not going to tell you a bunch past several hundred yards I don’t think. But I’m new to all this. It maybe that if you know the land you will be able to discern what is probably out there but for sure have to get closer before doing anything.

So what do you guys recommend for this? Seems to me that for scanning FOV is pretty much the way to go. Or is more mag better? Or maybe an idea of which FOV vs mag for what size space? Sorry If thread jacking.

 

[wigwamitus]

FOV versus magnification ...

For scanning large fields, a.k.a. "big areas" magnification is needed. For scanning close in lots of FOV is good.

Over the weekend we were scanning fields with dimensions of 1/2 mile to a mile per side ... .the 19mm patrol on 2x ... and the quantum 50mm could definitely detect, but I used the mk3 60mm for PID.
Patrol 1x optical ... and we ran on 2x digital a lot
quantum 50mm 2x optical.
Mk3 60mm 4.5x optical ... ran on 2x digital (9x net) often.

==
But when scanning around my chicken coop area ... with distances inside 100yds, the patrol on 1x is perfect.

==

 

[texasleftychef]

So what I’m getting out of this is probably best to use 19mm or so zoomed up 2x for detection and then either NV or better thermal for PID. Or 19 zoomed up 2x on a 640 unit or native 38ish on a 320/380?

 

[wigwamitus]

Depends on the typical spotting distances. If mostly work large fields, I'd go with more larger focal length and more magnification. Like 2x up to 5x spotter.

If mostly working close terrain, I'd go with 1x spotter.

 

[Shireman]

what i needed. thanks for info.

 

[LRSHOOTER0311]

We actually have 10 FLIR PTS 233 coming in this week, your welcome to call if you have any questions 941-276-5976

Any pulsar xp50's?

 

[LRSHOOTER0311]

No if your looking for an Xp50 your absolute best option is to find a trusted dealer and put a pre order in

Pre-order??? They've been out for quite awhile...