I will be taking these units outside tonight and get pics of what they look like at night. The scopes are a Pulsar Apex 50 a Pulsar Phantom in gen 2+ white phosphor and a Sightmark Photon XT 4.6. If anyone has any questions or suggestions please let me know. I will try and get the pictures done tonight. We will have a 17% visible moon tonight so please keep that in mind.

I'm looking forward to it. We have just this year seen trail cam pics of a sounder of pigs and we really want to kill (control)them as fast as we can, really don't want them there.

Shoot a pig that's my only request

I have a pulsar apex ona .308. It's great!

Got rained out last night. If anyone wants to see pics of any Sightmark and Pulsar products please let me know. I work for them and I will do my best to post some pictures at night.

That's not right to just throw that teaser out there and not talk about it

Thermal is the Apex 30 from Pulsar. Image quality is great, and I'll go as far as saying looking at deer up to 100 yards away you can even see their heart light up as the brightest spot on their body. After 100 yards, you still have a great detailed image. Specs say up to 1000m range, haven't tested anything that far yet. Really like the Picture in Picture mode on the Apex - gives a smaller PIP window at the top at full zoom on the reticle. Allows you to line up the first shot at full zoom without losing your full wide view of all the other pigs that are next in line. Just got the AR. Its a DMPS .308 by panther arms. No upgrades yet to the gun, but have been extremely satisfied with it so far.

Thanks for posting the pic of the Apex. Once again I am truly sorry about not posting pictures up yet but we got rained out and I will do my best to get actual pictures of the units at night up.

HansAg, how do you think that Apex 30 rates next to the XD series? I don't know enough about them yet to compare

I apologize, its an Apex XD38A (its still brand new to me). When I was comparing, I looked at the XD38/XD50 and found they were very similar. The 50 is a step up for sure, but I saved a grand and got the 38. This is the first one I have owned, but was introduced to a wide range of thermals from a good buddy who is in the business of selling them now. Got to test a couple in each price range, up to 20k. Don't get me wrong, if you have that kind of money to spend, there are much better products out there than the XD series by Apex. I think the Apex is a great buy for the price, the XD38 and the XD50.

Did I mention I love having a thermal?

That's a sharp looking setup HansAg. If you ever want to look at some of the thermal monos down the road let me know. I can definitely come on over and give a demo.

OP did you ever get to take some more photos? I ordered my DVR so I will have some soon!

Not yet. Going out of town this week but if anyone wants to see thermal vs gen 2 and 3 let me know. I should have them up in 2 weeks

LOL, You cannot see their heart light up as the brightest spot on the body. Thermal reads the external temperatures and not internal temperatures. It does not have X-ray capabilities. With that said, you may be seeing the arm pit show up as brighter. You get some mutual heating between the back of the front leg and the lower side of the body that causes the area to show up better. Or, it may be that there is less hair there and that you are seeing more heat radiating from the less-well covered skin of that area, but it is not the heart.

You can see the same sort of armpit heating on humans as well.

I don't want to be sarcastic or condescending man but with a good thermal you can see the heart light up as a small spot on the body.

No sarcasm or condescension taken. Just show us some proof. There are a lot of very good quality videos on Youtube to choose from.

Here is a good one from Tyler. There are a variety of hot spots on deer, such as where the legs rub against the body, but you can't actually see the heart. The heart is INSIDE the body, shielded by a layer of muscle, bone, skin, and hair. You aren't seeing the heart.

The above video was done with an ATN 640 (core), 5X scope which exceeds the the image quality of either Pulsar scope (388 core) discussed above. I don't know what "good thermal" you have to have to see the heart light up, but I own the ATN 640, 5X, the IR Defense MKII (640 core), the Pulsar XD50A (388 core), the IR Defense IR Patrol (640 core), the Pulsar HD38 (388 core) and the ATN OTS-X (320 core) and have used a number of others, but have never seen this phenomenon.

There are numerous videos already out there of the Pulsar scopes btw.

I have used the Pulsar Phantom in white phosphor and compared it to the ATN equivalent. I found the Pulsar to have a better sight image and cheaper than its counterpart, while backed by a better company. I enjoy white phosphor.

to go a bit further than the good Morgan Freeman said (he's so rude sometimes).....

Thermal captures the heat emitted by objects and mammals which is actually infrared light (upper bands). This is why you can't see thru a window - since the window would reflect back the external temperature and not the internals. With a deer you are going to get the cumulative total of the external temperature just like you use one of those swipe-thermometers across the forehad.

Thin areas of skin (armpit) or thick layers of fat will either allow more heat to escape or keep more of that heat internal which is why you see the characteristics you do in the DNS video posted above.

Put your right hand over your heart, is that hotter than your thigh? Belly? Not to any degree of relevance. Now try your armpit and notice the difference, or your breath..... for a funny experiment watch someone pass gas with the thermal.

I understand the logic above, and I'm new to thermals so I don't claim to be the expert. So what we have concluded: their skin is thinner right under/behind the shoulder which is why this spot appears "hotter."

But wouldn't the vitals area be warmer than other sections of the animal? which would cause those areas of skin to be hotter? But to say the friction from walking creates the heat seen in these areas I think is incorrect.

Here is a picture I think helps with the argument that certain parts of the body appear hotter because vitals are creating that heat. Sure I agree the hair/skin may be thinner in these areas too.

And with respect, my comment didn't imply that I believed it had x-ray capabilities (common sense). Heat radiated externally is created by internal bodily functions that created that heat.