I want to preface by stating that I am new to the thermal game...

Recently purchased a thermal. Mostly for predator hunting in the panhandle, but some ETX costal field pig shooting mixed in. After toting around an AR15 with a thermal, I realized quickly how impractical scouting-scanning with a rifle thermal really is. So now I am in the market for a handheld scanner.

I have it in my head that I can get away with something with less power and resolution (cheaper) for this purpose. I see it as sitting in the bed of a truck with the call playing, scanning with this cheaper monocular, detecting an animal, then using the rifle to identify. Or, walking to the edge of a field, scanning to see if animals are present, then identifying with the rifle scope.

Is this too far fetched? Can I get away with one of the x<$1,000 scanners?

Thanks in advance!!

A rifle tripod that can hold your rifle without your effort is a big plus in terms of scanning with a monocular and then checking with the rifle

That may be a thing you do 40-50 times during a hunt

Your logic isn’t flawed - monocular to detect and riflescope to ID

The 1200 monoculars are better than they’ve ever been, I did the exact thing you propose a couple of months back with one of these “cheapy” monoculars.

Note: the Infiray Outdoor E3W is the current model you want , it’s much better than the unit in the below video !

What scope do you have? I ask because the sub-$1,000 thermals in the 256 resolution are really really basic. Quite honestly they are almost a toy once you've seen real thermal. When you get into the AGM Taipain TM15-384 for $1,295 or the Pulsar Axion XM30F $1,499, you're getting a legit 384 entry level scanner.

If you have a decent scope it's highly unlikely you're going to be satisfied with 256 resolution scanner. The customer return rate on those units is sky high because they honestly look better on Youtube than they do in person and people with any thermal experience are usually very dissatisfied. If you can save up and break into the 384 entry level range you'll be much happier.

I bought the AGM Varmint TS35 384 LRF.

That's a nice scope. I'll go ahead and say it.....the sub $1,000 thermals probably going to feel like a serious waste of money to you.