There are only Cows in this scene and they range from 50 - 125 yards away and come in all sizes....

The new entry level Pulsar CORE riflescope IS:

The cheapest 384 res / 50 hz refresh rate / 17 micron scope ever brought to market

Efficient - with regards to lightweight profile and battery consumption (up to 4 hours on 2 CR123A)

Easy to use - nice menu system , physical buttons double as hot keys for white hot and black hot and digital zoom

Innovative - One shot zeroing / freeze image zeroing / picture in picture shooting frame

The Pulsar CORE IS NOT:

A viable solution for shooting and ID'ing running targets past 150 yards

Focusable for a razor sharp image

Highly detailed in image of hot and cold items (notice the hide of the cows)

Able to record video

Hopefully the video above gives some indication of the type of image you'd expect to see from a 25 micron 2.5x thermal monocular (Quantum HD50A) versus a smaller front lens riflescope with a 17 micron 1.6x mag config.

Street price is 3500 for the monocular vs 1899.00 for the riflescope

You can expect the newer Pulsar monoculars (Helion or Quantum Lites) to perform better than my monocular.

Whole point of this post is to try and show the CORE's capabilities so you can weigh they against the hype or wide array of claims that come as part of a new scope (to market)

Stay safe and Happy Hunting

Thanks for the comparison, that is a nice video. I will throw in my 2 cents and I don't want this to come across as argumentative because it's not.

The only thing I really disagree with is the ID'ing distances. I guess it depends on what you are trying to ID but I can tell hogs from deer at 300+ yards in the right conditions. As an example, I had over 20 deer in my pasture at one time and I spotted a group of 4 hogs over in a corner of the pasture at well over 300 yards and I could easily tell within seconds they were hogs and not deer. Now granted, I do have a lot of experience but I feel like any hunter who has used their scope much would have easily been able to do the same. My house over looks my creek bottom pasture, so I look off my back porch multiple times every night and I see deer and/or hogs at 300-400+ yards nightly. I'm not saying it's always easy or even possible if the grass is high but with short grass, I usually get a pretty good idea very quickly of what the animal is. Now....it is worth noting, I'm speaking about ID'ing in these particular situations at an elevated position. My house is 15ft+ higher than the pasture because I'm up on the hill before it drops off into the flat creek bottom land. That definitely makes a difference vs being on eye level with an animal.

I would say, and I think you would agree, the video from the RXQ30V does not do the scope justice because a video recording of another video screen will never show the sharp, clear detail that the user will actually see. I've used the Core, all the Trails, Helions and the Quantum Lites extensively and I don't see hardly any image quality difference at all between the Quantum Lites and the Core. I actually believe the fixed focus is sharper on the Core than the variable focus on Quantum Lites. I really like the Quantum Lites and I think the XQ23V is by far the best thermal monocular deal on the market at $1,699 but the focus adjustment on it does very little to really dial in a nice sharp image like the higher end optics. Again, that's not a knock against the Quantum Lite, I'm just making a comparison. I do believe the image quality on the Trails and Helions is a bit better but even then, I was using the RXQ30V back to back with the Trail XP50 killing hogs and while there is NO question the XP50 640x480 is amazing, I felt like the Core was holding it's own for the money.

So again, I definitely don't want this to come across as a debate or me being a jerk. I just wanted to point out that none of our videos or pics will ever do justice to what the Core's user will actually see through the scope and I just think the ID'ing range is better than 150. I will agree on the 150-ish yard shooting range but to be honest, that's as far as I would shoot with any 384x288. Heck I don't like to shoot 150 yards with a 640x480 unless I just have to.lol

Thanks for taking the time to make the video and the write up.

- Jason

Most people buying this scope are not going to be highly experienced and will definitely have issues at distance making such identifications. They are entry level thermal buyers with entry level thermal experience. Also, it won't just be hogs and deer, but hogs and calves, or between deer and coyote. The "right conditions" often are not present in the field. Humidity, vegetation, and animal positioning/movement will all come into play, sometimes for the better, and sometimes not.

My guess is that your identification of hogs at 300 yards is that you are interpreting the movement of blobular hot spots as being hogs, reasoning that few other animals move in such a manner (although calves will and are often confused for hogs at distance). Most all thermal users make such assessments, but that is more of a recognition level than an actual identification level assessment. There is a difference and it most certainly can be significant when it comes to pulling the trigger.

The question I often ask myself when looking at animals at distance is whether or not I would be willing to pull the trigger with a game warden and the land owner as my hunting partners, knowing full well that a mistake will either be a fine or getting kicked off the property plus the cost of the animal. That is when the real distinction between recognition and identification really starts to set in.

Yep I agree with you. I wouldn't expect to hand a brand new thermal user the RXQ30V or even the XP50 and show them an animal at 350 yards and have them instantly tell me if it's a hog or deer. They just don't have the experience. But I would hope that if they were serious about it and wanted to learn, that even on their own, with no coaching, they could start to see the subtle differences in a hog/deer within 1 or 2 hunts. But yes I do agree with you assessment of the hunter who is new to thermal, however, I would say, the scope has thermal capabilities (in my opinion) that allow an experienced hunter to regularly ID animals out past 150. We wouldn't say the XP50 can only ID an animal at 150 just because a new thermal user wasn't capable, because generally speaking, the scope does have that capability.



Again we agree! Yes if a hog is moving, it's often easy to see it's a hog, especially if it's feeding. They make those circular movements that give them away every time. I will also agree that the word recognition and identification can be different.



This is maybe were I've made the mistake of not explaining myself well. When I say that I can ID a hog at 300 yards, I am not saying I would shoot it that far for any reason. I won't take 300 yard shots during the day, I sure won't do it at night. I'm not saying others shouldn't do it, but I'm just not comfortable because I know my abilities or lake thereof. My point is, for me, ID'ing (or recognizing) a hog at 200-400 yards is what makes thermal worth the money. Knowing that an animal is "out there" at 200+ yards is nice but you can't take off on a stalk every time you see a heat source at 250 yards. But if you can recognize that its a hog, then you can take off with confidence and make the 100% positive ID when you get to 150 or less. As I think I mentioned earlier, I don't like to shoot over 150 at night period. Most of the time I spot hogs at 250-350 yards and make (for me) a positive ID. 95% of the time I stalk to within 75 yards, sometimes closer before I shoot. I just like being close and getting the best shot and follow up shots I can. It's not always possible to get that close but I try to find a way.

Last point I'll make is, when we start talking about ID'ing cows/calves vs deer. That is a whole other ball of wax. I wholeheartedly agree that can be super tricky, even at closer distances. The good thing is, I don't shoot either one of those at night.

So again, you and I agree on all this, I'm probably just not explaining myself well. I don't care if the GW is with me or not, I'm not taking shots at hogs over 150 yards at night unless it's some special circumstance. With that said, if a person can't ID or recognize an animal over 150 yards (in normal pasture conditions), then honestly, thermal isn't worth the money. They'd just have to want it and have the money for it. At the end of the day I think we all agree on the RXQ30V, we are probably just splitting hairs on it's abilities.