For hog hunting at night under 100 yards is it worth paying the extra $1300 for the thermal pulsar or stay with the sightmark wraith. Most of my time will be sitting in a blind looking at a bait pile. Maybe every now and then spot and stalk. Is either any good for night time deer recovery?

I know there are some experts that will be adding more info shortly.

I have the Wraith- and hunt basically the same style as you. I went NV instead of thermal because of the cost. It works nicely for what you want. Wouldn't be as helpful as a thermal for downed animal recovery.

I have an early Photon xt and an early (green) rxq30v. I prefer the thermal. If it's warm blooded, it can't hide from the thermal unless totally covered. My thermal will still pick up the warm body for at least 4-6 hours after they quit breathing. Sitting at a feeder too. No experience with the Wraith, but the specs I read said it weighed about 2 lbs. That info cooled me down on buying one. Have not held one, so don't know how accurate that is.

My rxq30v has no recording options if that makes a difference to you.

Thanks for info

Thermal no doubt

Thermal and here is why:

Ability to detect in a wider array of environments Day or Night

Field of view advantages with thermal versus the wraith

I have NOT been able to take a successful follow up shot on a running hog with the wraith at NIGHT - the field of view is too small.

In this video , digital shows well in image comparison because it’s daytime and in color, at night thermal rules. Granted the Apex scope is a nicer image than the Core but again checkout the tight field of view on the wraith.

This isn't as cut and dried as it seems. In short, I agree, thermal rules. But if you're truly sitting in a stand, watching a bait pile at 100 yards and you can't see a long ways, you probably won't kill any more hogs with the RXQ30V than you will the Wraith. The only exception would be, as PigPopper talked about, the fact that the RXQ has a much lower magnification and much wider FOV so you can get off more follow up shots. But strictly just speaking to the technologies, over a close range bait pile, the Wraith will generally do what you need.

When it comes to deer recovery at night....you might as well leave the Wraith in the truck and take a really good flashlight or spotlight. The black and white, high magnification image isn't going to do you any favors. The RXQ or any good thermal will spot the warm body of a deer from as far you can get a fairly clear line of sight on it. Thermal rules for dead/wounded animal recovery.

If you're going to do spot and stalk, again, thermal wins. Being able to spot and never miss a hog in a field is a huge advantage over digital NV.

So my final consensus, assuming your budget allows it and you really do want to do some spotting and stalking, night time deer recovery and sitting over bait piles, I'd go thermal. On the other hand if 99.9% of what you're doing is sitting a 100 yard bait pile, you can get a Wraith and do just fine.

Jason

Well this conversation cost me $1300, lol, sincerely not sarcastically thanks for the help.

Will the pulsar scope mounts that come with it work with a Remington 783?

Wow, you got a deal on the core if you paid 1300 for it !

or … Core - Wraith = $1,300?

1300+500 I would have spent for the wraith+100 rewards points

Anyone have them on the 783?

Most of us use AR type semi autos for night hunting. What caliber is the 783 chambered in?

270

Ordered from basspro today, with the 10% off club code and a few reward dollars, $1743.

The scope mount that comes with the pulsar core, is it a return to zero or do I have to buy another scope mount?

In my experience the mount is trash. Pulsar should be embarrassed of their mounts they sell with their thermals. I would actually prefer they didn't even put a mount in the box than give us the crap they do.

This is going to hurt but order the ZRO Delta or Bobro mount from either Myron or Jason here on the forum.

Not sure which mount they ship with now. I have the Sightmark QD mount and have had no problems with rtz. YMMV. Just a thought - are you planning to do the on/off moves, or have other rifles you plan to use it on?

One rifle, on off for scanning occasionally

The factory mount isn't QD. They probably have on old stock photo of the original Pulsar attempt at a QD mount a couple years ago. Most factory thermal mounts are pretty weak. The Pulsar mounts are marginally alright if you don't ever plan to take the scope off. If you want good QD reliability though, you'll need to get an aftermarket mount. Bobro or ZRO Delta. I prefer Bobro for several reasons. Dual lever redundancy, multiple mount spots for eye relief correction, locks on levers to prevent it getting knocked off the rifle, etc.