The bigger objectives dont let in more "light" they give you more FOV, (from my understanding) and are more $$

This isn't right. The bigger objective does NOT give you a bigger field of view. It does let in more heat energy to be focused on the microbolometer sensor and ideally will give you a better/sharper picture.

For example, the Flir PS32 Scout II (1x) with a 19mm lens has a FOV of 17x13 degrees whereas an Armasight Zeus (3x) with a 75mm lens has a FOV of only 8x7 degrees. Moreover, a FLIR PS24 Scout II (1x) with the same 19mm lens has a FOV of 24x18 degrees. Lens diameter does not determine FOV.

The Pulsar smokes the others. It's actually a 388x284 or something like that.

I played with one of these for a month or so and I own an original PS32. Here is a vid I put together from the Pulsar. It was done from clips over a period of a month with very different sets of conditions. You can tell the higher humidity nights (less clear) from the low humidity nights...



While the HD38s has a better image (it is 2x, optical, which is really nice), it is a bulkier scope. So that is something to consider about your needs. How big is the scope and how big of a scope are you willing to carry and how? Maybe it won't matter or maybe it does. For me, it does.

Glass counts, but so do does electronics. The glass (Germanium, usually) is very pricey and so the more glass, the more money, many times more so than with regular scopes. You also want more pixels with less microns between them for better resolution.

However, since you are looking at a spotting scope (for locating game, I assume), then you could probably get away with a 1x 320x240 scope with a typical 19mm lens and 20-25 micron range. It will likely have a 2x digital (NOT optical) zoom that would give you 2x at 160x120 resolution.

Some of the new cores have the micron spacing down in the low teens which is better and they get better resolution with a smaller lens than you would need for a scope of the same resolution and greater spacing.

Scopes with 2x or 3x OPTICAL base power will give you a better picture than zooming digitally. Then when they digital zoom (usually again 2 times and sometimes up to 4 times) you go from 2x to 4x (digital) or 8x (digital), but again, you still lose some resolution, by half with each level. Of course, with the more OPTICAL power or more zoom, the harder it is to use at shorter distances because your FOV narrows so much. Some people like more power, however.

If you have the bucks, the best scopes out there right now (IIRC) are 640x480 resolution. Of course, they are more pricey as well.

So the questions for you then are what are you looking for and at what sorts of distances? Are you hoping for spotting, recognition, or identification? Spotting is seeing an object is there. Recognition is thinking you have it identified but identification is uncertain. Identification is a positive ID on what it is that you are seeing. With each level of specificity, you lose distance.

A lot of hog hunters do pretty well with 320x240 spotters such as the X320 or PS32. Depending on how the hog is standing, we can distinguish it from a deer out to a couple hundred yards (recognition) or more and can spot it from over 400 or 500. Identification may be in as much as 180 with a clean profile view or as little as 100. A lot has to do with environmental variables and user skill, but that gives you some ballpark numbers. A few do okay with 160x120 spotters and a few have some of the higher end 640x480 versions.

So what are you looking for?