I believe in buy once cry once. What thermal scope would u get and why?

How hard are you willing to cry?

To properly answer that question in a helpful way we'd really have to know a lot more info on your situation. It would be sort of like asking "if you could buy one truck, what would it be?". Some people would choose a 1/2 ton 2WD single cab 6 cylinder loaded with leather, some would chose a middle of the road 3/4 ton with cloth seats and rubber mats and some would chose a 1 ton 4 door dually diesel 4WD. All can be great trucks but the 1 ton isn't necessarily better and might be a terrible decision for the guy who wants/need a 1/2 ton. Thermal scopes are tools and need to be purchased as such; you want to get the right one for the job.

What animals are you going to be shooting, what kind of terrain, how far will you be able to see, do you need/want video recording, do you need/want a laser range finder, how far do you plan on shooting on the realistic longer end, what will you average shot be and what is your realistic budget. With that info we can really narrow it down to a handful of scopes and give you good advice. Otherwise you'll have people telling you to buy the Bering Optics Super Hogster for $3,100 and the next post will say the N-Vision Halo-XRF for $9,500. I hope that makes sense.

If you surely want to CRY buy an ATN Thermal Scope

Let’s see. No budget, no rangefinder, no video, only animals legal to kill at night, 200 yards max, Texas terrain, . Clarity, dependability and functionality are my main concerns . Thanks

Syncerus. Look up the shortest verse in the Bible lol

We have mountains, prairies, forests, deserts, crops, etc. LOL.

Trijicon MK3 2.5x 35mm

Or possibly one of the N-Visions.

Get ready to pay for a few cows if you go this route. Pulsar LRF is the ticket and gets the knod.

I’m in this boat, would like just one. Main intent will be coyotes as far as I can go, because I want anyone that I discover to be DEAD. But I will also use it for hogs. So it will pass between a Tikka 6.5 CM and an AR in 6.8.

I'm with DNS...with the requirements you have outlined...I'd go Trijicon or N-Halo.

What you really need to figure out is the power you need. If you are going to sit in blinds and shoot them, then I would want a high magnification and if you are going to spot and stalk, then I would want as low as I can. To me, that's one of the bigger overlooked items.

I agree that most don't pay attention to it, but it's the first thing I look for. I've had two multi-hog encounters under 30 yds, and a low-end of 2x or less is necessary in those scenarios if you think you're going to fire multiple accurate shots.

I agree with PP, it's going to Trijicon or N-Vision. Both are great options but I personally feel that N-Vision has out paced Trijicon in the race at this point in image quality, battery options and warranty.

I'd look really hard at the new N-Vision NOX 35. This is their REAP IR competitor and it's extremely nice. I believe it easily beats the REAP at $1,200 less with better image quality, 20% lighter weight, long battery life options and the 5 year warranty. This is going to be a great option for hogs and coyotes mostly under 100-150 yards. 200+ is absolutely do-able but for closer range shooting this is the ticket.

2.5x base mag
CR123A battery
or 18650 battery (6-7+ hour run time)
Rifle or helmet mountable
$6,795

If you're doing a lot of longer range shooting over 100-125+ yards I'd consider the Halo LR or the Halo X 50. These two scopes are identical other than the X 50 includes video recording, a smart phone app and it uses 18650 batteries. The X 50 costs $1,000 more but if money is really no object, I'd spend the $1,000 to get the 18650 batteries and have the option to record video if you ever wanted to. On the other hand, if spending $1,000 to use a rechargeable battery sounds silly, buy the Halo LR since it's the same scope minus those 3 features.

Both those scopes are 3.5x base mag. The LR uses (4) CR123A batteries and costs $7495. The X 50 uses (2) 18650 batteries (has the video recording) and costs $8,495. The 3.5x is more magnification that most people will want for 20-50 yard hog hunting but far superior when you get out to the 100+ yard ranges.

If you really don't see yourself shooting a lot at the longer ranges, I'd take the lower magnification and wider FOV of the 2.5x NOX 35.

That's my 2 cents.

Jason

Price is always a factor, especially with thermal scope. The Trijicon IR hunter scope is awesome. But for $7K-$8K, I can almost get 2 of the Pulsar units I use. But the Trijicon unit is awesome with great detail and clarity. I hunt with a Pulsar Trail XP38. I went with the XP38 for the larger field of view. At a $3500-$4K price point, it's a very good thermal scope. I scan on 1.2x power and often engage targets on that same 1.2X magnification. Sometimes I'll go up to 2.4X when in the stand on a stagnate target. But the field of view, IMO, is key to the thermal scopes. Many of the Pulsar units have higher magnification, but the image quality goes down some with the higher mag and the field of view is half or less.