Looking for a thermal monocular for day time use up to 500 yards with good detection? Any recommendations? budget 1500 -2000.

I have the Pulsar Axion 2 XQ35 Pro. I love it. Battery lasts all night.

We have a couple of options in refurbished Pulsars. Save $$$ and get a great unit:

Axion 2 XQ35 Thermal Monocular for only $1,499.99
or
Axion XM30S Thermal Monocular for only $1,299.99

The Axion 2 XQ35 and the AGM Sidewinder TS25-384 are both very solid choices. Free free to give us a call if you have more questions.


Pulsar Axion XQ35

https://youtu.be/hBPcwr5_9ws?si=DFPmfWxsM6E0-3qn


AGM Sidewinder TM25-384

https://youtu.be/hBPcwr5_9ws?si=DFPmfWxsM6E0-3qn

Not intending to poo poo on the retailers that have posted but I paid 1499.00 no tax free shipping for a brand new Axion 2 XQ53 Pro. If they were posting in the classifieds I wouldn’t have posted this.

Hard to beat the Axion 2 for quality vs price. Thats what I run for a monocular and have been super happy with it (the LRF version).

Do the detect that far even during the day light hours?

I purchased an Axion 2 XQ35 Pro from Outdoor Legacy about a month ago. I've used it several times since then and it is a great unit. I could see and ID deer in a clear line of sight at 400 yards when I was out last night. ID on smaller animals out at that distance would be a challenge. I would assume it would work fine in daylight as well since they are simply reading temperature differences.

I bought the AGM Taipan 15-384 from Outdoor Legacy for a specific purpose. The Taipan 15-384 has a base magnification of 1.5x

As most know, there is little depth perception when employing thermal. If one is not familiar with the surrounding terrain or have "landmarks" at known distances it can become a problem finding a critter that is not DRT. If one has to climb down out of a stand it is very easy to lose perspective/sense of direction of a downed critter. My thermal scopes have a base magnification of 3x. Using a 3X base mag thermal, even not mounted on a rifle is a non starter in medium to heavy cover when trying to find a critter that did not drop at the shot.

I mainly hunt out of an elevated stand/blind. I have three spin cast feeders set up at 90, 90, and 120 yds a varying degrees of compass. That gives me three opportunities to shoot, but it also means I may have to switch which window from which to shoot .The Taipan 15-384 with the base magnification of 1.5x works great for discovery/observation. I have spotted hogs out to about 600 yds. (measured) with it. I could not tell what it was, but I could see the heat signature. I may sit in a stand for six hours at night. A big part of that time is spent scanning. Time-wise, I employ it much more than the dedicated optic on the rifle. Knowing something is coming in and being prepared to record video/images, slip off the safety and be ready to fire gives me confidence, and when you know you know, and you know you know, confidence replaces fear.


The white dot in the foreground of the vid that follows is +/- 600 yds. One cannot tell it is a hog with the 1.5 base mag 384 unit, but one can know that it is a living creature due to the heat signature. Once I've discovered a critter, I can either get closer or wait until I can make an exact determination as to what the critter actually is. This vid was the first time I had used the unit and I had hot tracking turned on. That is the flickering green "+".





This hunt was the occasion of my grandson's birthday. He is an air traffic controller in the USAF. I was just before he was to head to Antartica for six months. He had not done a thermal hog hunt.



This is the boar that was the dot in the foreground of the video. They walked/stalked to within 150yds. and Jacob nailed this boar with the 6.5 Grendel.

ya!

GWB

Yes, thermal does not care about light, only temperature. In the daylight, you can get a lot of heat absorbed by the ground, foliage, trees etc. and during the summer, they can reach animal temperatures (mid/high 90s) and so there can be times that thermal is a less useful, but it is usually just for a short period of time in a given day. I have day hunted with thermal numerous times and most of my hunts start off in the evening, before sundown.

Indeed! When I first started using thermal I had only a monocular and a digital NV scope. Out one afternoon a little before sundown I arrived at a field with tall grass/weeds and looked around. I saw nothing. I got out my binoculars and saw nothing. I decided to try the thermal monocular just for fun and to get accustomed to using it, and spotted what looked like a hot crescent in the field. I looked again with binoculars and saw nothing. Using the thermal monocular once again I carefully identifed the exact location of the 'hot crescnet' I'd spotted earlier. With the binoculars I was then able to identify the top of a hog peeking slightly above the weeds. I never would have seen it otherwise. I snuck up and shot a hog, whereupon six or eight more suddenly appeared from the weeds.

As DNS noted above, there may be times on hot days when thermal is less effective but typically it works okay during daylight hours.

I second this, I use my thermal monocular EVERY TIME I go hunting day or night. It is one of the best tools ever for spotting game. On many occasions I have spotted hogs and deer in grass and light cover that I would have never seen with binos or just my vision. It does work better in cooler conditions though, I'm not a fan of hunting in summertime heat anyway.

Well, if you are hunting in the woods during the daytime, a thermal can be hugely beneficial under the canopy for spotting well camo'd critters that are blending in so well that you would not readily notice them.

Thanks going with the Axion 2 XQ53 Pro.

How much those run and what battery?

Daylite pic for sighting, Rattler 640.

Sorry XQ 35 pro fat fingered it.

Forgot to add, about noon, probably 75F and 80 yds, base mag. Hand warmer hot target.

Just bought a pulsar axion xg35 with lrf and it's awesome couldn't be happer.

I just picked up a Athalon Chronus ATS 35-ML400.

Very impressed with it, and it has a built in laser rangefinder.