This is news to me and I'll assume it's news to most. Check out this page from AGM's website:


Major theft, stolen good alert

So the cartels now need thermals?

A whole container

"Devices from unknown sources will not be serviced or covered under warranty."

If I manufactured something and it was stolen during a factory shipment, I would at least support the product for unsuspecting buyers.

Noted for my future purchases from other manufacturers.

It's not uncommon anymore for a manufacturer to stipulate that its product must be purchased from an authorized dealer in order to utilize the warranty.

Pulsar, Iray and plenty of others don't. I've never had anyone even ask for a SN. I guess if you buy one of their products from an individual that's still under warranty you're just SOL. Like I said. Noted.

Maybe you should carefully look over some written warranty policies. As in "read and learn."

Have a problem with the others, call or go online and get a shipping label, send in and repaired. Never had an issue but I never owned an AGM product. I never will now after reading their lame threat.

Top management really failed here. A container holds alot of thermals in it and they screwed the pooch.

unsuspecting buyers are buying stolen goods. I'm sure the price that the folks that stole the product are not selling them for what they are worth.

I wouldn’t say the prices of thermals are exactly stable. My last scope was 1200 bucks off of what they were selling for a few months before and from the same well known large retailer.

I take it that you aren't actually in the manufacturing business and looking at the possibility of servicing thousands of product stolen from you.

It is an easy proclamation to make when it isn't happening to you.

Yes, better to have the company victimized twice, first with the loss of the stolen goods and second with them having to service stolen goods.



All thermal companies require a serial number for warranty work. You may or may not have to provide it before returning a product. If they don't require it before you return it, they will verify it upon receipt if there is a possibility that it may not be covered.

One of the reasons Pulsar may not require a serial number to know if their product is under warranty is because you have told them what product you were returning. If the start of sales of the product are within the warranty window, then they don't need to know the serial number because ALL the serials are within the warranty period. However, online requests for RMA do require a serial number. https://support.pulsarnv.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=4417061666580

AGM, Trijicon, and (as a few years ago) I know FLIR all require serial numbers before RMAs. I have gone through both the Trijicon and FLIR programs.

I bet not many of these hit the general US public. We’re talking thermals here, something highly controlled in other countries. These will go to people who aren’t so nice is my prediction.

I’ve had Pulsar support their product long after the warranty was expired. They didn’t have to but did it anyway. In this case you can bet they had cargo insurance. If they didn’t that’s a poor business practice. Sounds like the only victims will be the people who unknowingly buy them and are told to pound sand if they ever have a problem. I would say the used market for them is pretty much done now because of their unnecessary threat in their statement.

That's just a little worrisome and I sure hope you're wrong. The timing is a little odd, now that you mention it.

I wonder if this was something that was planned out long in advance...the imagination runs wild.

ITAR stuff, Feds should be ALL over it.
Previous - So the cartels now need thermals?
As far as stuff stolen, you'd be surprised at how much is lost at air freight terminals. Almost daily.

That last thing I worry about is a thermal in a bad guys hands

Hmmm! I have recently seen AGM Thermals for sale on Facebook Marketplace. ???

I investigated numerous cargo theft cases in FW and the common denominator was international organized crime. Typically involving some inside information. They don’t want a shipping container of toilet paper so they know what it contains before hand. The case clearance rate is extremely low because of the expertise of the actors.

I just hope those illegals aren’t selling them down at Home Depot because we know where law enforcement is going, somewhere else.

So who besides me can’t help but wonder if the longshoremen had any involvement?

I agree, either Cartels, Russians, or Ukrainians have them already.