Originally Posted By: bigjoe8565
I have a photon and bushnell Equinox monocular for scanning. My question is how much better is an entry level thermal scope over my current setup? Entry level being Flir PTS 233, ATN Thor or Pulsar Core. I primarily hunt blinds over feeders and a 120 acre wheat field.

I'm really happy with my setup and trying to determine if an entry level thermal is worth 4x price of my current scope. Two disadvantages I see is not being able to find pigs in the tree line, and pigs sometimes spooking when the IR is turned on.


My son bought the Sig Echo 1 for our hunting trip back in October he also has the Photon XT and I have the ATN X-sight. First night out we were scanning far side of a field. I didn't see anything with the ATN, he picked up and animal on the far side of the field. Resolution wasn't enough to tell what it was. I played around with my IR light a bit and finally picked up the glare of an eyeball moving up and down. By the amount of movement I was pretty sure we were looking at a deer.

While the Photon and X-Sight really open up night hunting for the $$$, they are right you don't know what you are missing until you use thermal.

Last edited by VAFish; 01/08/18 07:11 PM.
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