You may have guessed by the title I don't know beans about scopes for hunting at night. So some of you gurus please fill me in. I am seriously thing about putting one on a hog gun. Thanks Daniel

Night vision scopes like the Photon or ATN will get you started. With an additional IR illuminator you can do some fairly decent hunting out to about 100 yards, maybe further.
But thermal is game-changing. I've had more fun hunting with my thermal than I would have ever imagined. Sure, they're pricy, but I'll say it was worth every penny to me.
The difference is ~600$ vs 2.3k$+ starting level.
And I would not buy used thermal.
I'd recommend trying to go out with someone that has both, or rent one for a weekend. Once you see the difference, you'll be saving your beer money to get to a thermal...

Friends don't let friends spend money on anything ATN.

I'll disagree and say there's nothing wrong with buying used Thermal as long as you understand warranty impact of what you're buying. All of my Thermal purchases have been used and problem-free.

I spent a little more than I planned but don't regret it at all. I bought the pulsar XP50 and love it. It is not a bottom line model but not near the top either. Here are a few of my videos (the recorded videos are not near as clear as what you see when looking through the scope itself).

Nice hogs Mark.......they are alot of fun. That buck in the last video looks pregnant it's so fat! Should be a great season.

Charlie, What is ATN?

ATN is a brand- some have used the ATN XSight scopes while others have used Photon. Lots of folks seem to have had problems with ATN and ATN customer service.

Thanks for the info. Daniel

Daniel,

Save some coin and don't buy until you can step into thermal. MD Morrow is a great resource to buy from and get all the info before you pull the trigger. You should send him a PM.

for night vision look at PULSAR 455 $1300-$1500 ish

Thermals PULSAR 38, 50 Trail $3-5K

If you can find used ATN Thor thermals with 50mm lens, those are nice

If you have extra $7-9K, Trijicon, REAP-IR 60mm will be most expensive and it's what I like and recommend

The prices some of you fellows are quoting may make me forget about night scopes of any kind. I thought they were higher priced than a quality regular scope, just didn't realize how much more. I will have to save a few more coins. Thanks

pulsar with rangefinder

I run a Pulsar XP38 Trail and it is the best scope for the money I have found. I like the much larger field of view the XP38 offers. I do a lot of scanning and riding around while looking through the thermal. So the thermal scopes with high magnification won’t work for my use. And when you zoom in, the image quality goes way down.

FLIR makes several decent units for less cost, but the image quality is not near as good. Last Saturday night we ran my Pulsar along with a flir 233 and there’s no comparison which is better.

Shouldn’t be much comparison between a $2200 thermal and a $4500 one. The Trail is nice, but it’s not cheap.

Learn a little or ask about the Photon RT or XT NV scopes, decide on a model and watch ebay. Most used ones have a make offer option... throw out some reasonable offers and you will get a score. Get something and enjoy it! You can always sell it and upgrade to something else later. I've bought 3 scopes and 3 monoculars, all used, on ebay.

I got my first NV scope 3-4 years ago. I still think being able to see and shoot at night is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Charlie is right. I've killed a lot of pigs with a Photon XT. Under $500 gets you into the night game while you save up for a thermal. Used Photons seem to hold their value well so you won't lose much if any on resell.

I know nothing about this, but here's an example for you, right here on THF. Make him a reasonalble offer.

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum...ark-photon-rt-series-night-vision#UNREAD

I too have shot many hogs with my Photon. No problems whatsoever. I'm shooting 130 yrds to a feeder.

https://www.foxoptic.com/photon-rt/...vision-riflescope-4.5x42s-sm18015-850nm/

399 new with built in recorder

Stupid cheap

I started out with an ATN X-Sight II and have since upgraded to thermal. My ATN worked great, but they are known to have quality issues. Didn't know about the Photon at the time - probably would've gotten one of those if I did.

As others have mentioned... once you look through a thermal... you'll find a way to buy one. ATN X-Sight and the Photon work, but are limited distance wise. You'll want to upgrade the IR as soon as you get one to maximize your distance.

Nothing like sitting in a blind and seeing every critter for hundreds of yards like you can with a thermal. The first night I took my thermal out - I was disappointed in myself for not getting one sooner.

A benefit of night vision - especially in Texas - is you can hunt at night when it's cooler and when hogs move more. Before night vision, I would take a hog about 1 in every 10 times in the blind. Night vision changed the game with me taking a hog pretty much every time I hunt now.

Start off with a photon for around 500 dollars. It will work well for 100 yds shots. It’s not a thermal but will get the job done.

x2. I have a Photon RT. Out to 100 yards with a new moon. Out to 200 yards on a full moon.

I will admit to not being as versed in night hunting as others are on this site but I use a pulsar n750 with an enhanced IR light from TNVC and have taken hogs, coyote and deer out to 150 yards. Nothing wrong with digital night vision it gets the job done and I am currently selling it and moving into the thermal scope realm based on I have more places to hunt and time. It's amazing how even the less expensive thermal scopes ($2000 range) are years ahead of what was out a few years ago.

Texaslawman on here has started Huey Outdoors, check out his web site hueyoutdoors.com , he sells all types of scopes, night vision. Full of knowledge and a great guy to deal with.

I've owned several of the Photon digital scopes over the years, and can't imagine me needing anything else. I have added one of their extra infrared on one of my rifles and it does provide more light. Never had a lick of problems with any of their scopes and I have killed a bunch of hogs with them. They work on two AA batteries and you can change them out in the dark with ease if needed. Even without the extra infrared, they are always good for me out to about 150 yards.