Trying to decide on which is better for the average night time hog hunter who will be hunting various properties. This will be a 1 and done set up used for scanning (attached to the gun) and shooting on an AR10 .308 18” (yes I know it will be heavy lol).
I really like the idea of the 12 micron core in the Thermion. And I think I would prefer the 2.5x native zoom on the Thermion over the 1.6x native zoom of the Trail 2. I realize that the Trail 2 comes with a very accurate laser range finder, and has better battery life. I’m hearing a lot of hype around the Trail 2 though over the Thermion, and I can’t figure out why. I would think a 2.5x native zoom with a 12 micron core would produce a better image overall. Yes the Trail 2 would be better for scanning, but isn’t a 2.5x magnification a good sweet spot for compromise between identification, scanning and shooting?

Is there something else with the firmware, features, capabilities or anything else that I’m missing from either of these scopes? And does the12 micron XG50 Thermion produce a noticeably better image than the 17 micron Trail 2??

Thanks in advance! Hope y’all had a great turkey day.

If I were buying today :

Trail 2 all day

Let pulsar work out the software in the xg50 , it doesn’t seem to be optimized yet and may take time. Speaking from a image quality/rendering standpoint

But I understood from Outdoor Edventures that the XG50 was so good, you could tell the color of hogs with it. See 2:15. He can tell that it is either tan or gray. I thought that was really cool Pulsar doesn't even advertise the XG50's ability to allow the user to determine color of thermal targets.

At 3:35 we get: “...most likely from a high fenced ranch due to his white color, short, tanky body and very long burly hair…”

Not sure how the two go together. White hogs are absolutely not uncommon. I see a lot of them....on low fenced properties. In fact just a couple of nights ago, I caught this one having a Nirvana moment.

If I had 5k laying around I would try one of these for myself , the imagery throughout this video is precise and shows great thermal graduations / variance .

I haven’t seen any XG50 footage that looks this good ....

Thanks y’all. Yeah, on paper, the specs just looked better for the Thermion XG50 from my past experience. But the trail 2 seems to be the more popular option

Both units are relatively new on the scene in the last 12 months - the Trail is a MK2 version while the Thermion is a whole new sensor/core in a familiar body housing.

Trail2 is more refined - at this time

Well said. Thank you. That 1.6x native magnification is where my main hesitation lies with the Trail 2.. I really like the 2.5x native magnification of the trijicon Reap-IR. Its a good balance of field of view and shooting/identifying magnification.

I’ve only given consideration to the two scopes you mention on the thread title

For more money the Halo and Trijis fit the bill on native mag and image quality - no doubt

If Biden gets his way and things keep up the way they’ve been the past year we’re gonna have to start selling our night vision just to afford ammo 😳😳.. much less register our guns and magazines.

It’s hard to beat the picture image of my Trail 2 XQ50LRF, it’s arguably better than the first gen XP line. Plus it has 2.5 base magnification.

Well, it looks like a boat arrived from overseas and more XQ50 LRF Trail 2 are in stock at various dealers....

I have one on the way - been wanting to try this ever since BigPig touted his ....

Question for XG50 Thermion users : has Pulsar updated the firmware since initial release ? Did it help with image stability and clarity ?

Same question for XQ50 or XP50 owners - any new firmware and improvement ....

Lastly , I show Xq50 as 3.5x base magnification - BigPig stated previously 2.5x - do we know which it is ?

https://www.pulsar-nv.com/glo/products/33/thermal-imaging-riflescopes/trail-lrf-version-2/

Still love my Trail 2 XQ50LRF and may purchase another one as a back up or loaner. The base mag is 3.2 or 3.5, I can’t remember as I don’t pay attention to it. Very rarely do I ever adjust the base mag unless zeroing. I haven’t purposely used the recording feature as I always forget, but yes it does have auto record if you want to use it. The LRF is absolutely invaluable for me hunting coyotes. The image is so clear it’s easy to mistake a coyote at 300 yards as being a lot closer. The image boost makes the unit shine along with the choice of color pallets it really lets you fine tune the image to the terrain and weather.

3.5x