When is the best time of year to buy a thermal? I know new products are coming out all the time but generally speaking when can the best deals be had?! TIA

Before the tariffs and tax free

The best time is when you're ready. Give a call, 516-217-1000, glad to work with you

We did a podcast on The Late Night Vision Show about the best time to buy a thermal and it's really hard to say there is a perfect time. Thanksgiving/Christmas there are sometimes sales but not always on what you're looking for. Right now we're fresh off SHOT Show so lots of new optics have been announced and are either starting to ship or shipping fairly soon. These days new thermals can get dropped at any time during the year so I fully expect to see more new models coming over the next 6-8 months but the bulk were announced last week at SHOT.

The biggest thing I can stress is, don't buy a scope because it's on sale or it's a "deal". Figure out a budget that you're comfortable with and then call a good dealer who hunts with all the scope and tell them how you'll be hunting and let them guide you and narrow it down to a small handful of scopes. It's really too much for anyone to take in and try to figure it out solely on their own because you can judge a thermal by the spec sheet and the videos you see online still don't even tell the entire story.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

Jason

I have found the best time is around September to November. The models have been out since being announced at the SHOT show and are put on sale for the next one in January. If there’s any issues with a model it’s well known by then too. I’ve been buying them this way for more than a decade and have saved several thousand dollars using this method.

Thanks for the input! Jason and Doug I’ll holler at you next week!

'the best deal'? With new competition in the market (market is growing and number of 'makers' also) as Jason says, hard to time purchase. With my luck, buy and then see a price drop. Function, reliability and repair service will be the deal makers. Real problem as I see it is they are not designed by hunters. 2 Rattlers and recently a TX60. Lots of 'extras' most will never use. LR - I don't need. Ballistic calc. - nope. Not much real cost for these but price adder is great. Like a Cadillac vs beetle. 12 micron core with more sensors takes larger lens - more cost. A few more states have legalized night hunting so the market is in flux. I do respect Jason and crew, they are a sales/marketing company but gave me good answers. Yu still need to do your homework.

Best time to buy was yesterday

Getting to use a current thermal and not obsessing over $ 4-500 dollars of savings is PRICELESS

This. ^^^^ People will obsess about getting the latest and greatest model or getting the absolute best deal if they just wait for a sale, etc. and will effectively talk themselves out of buying or missing out on opportunities to hunt.

The trick is to figure out what you want and do your research and figure out who has it at the best price right now. That is the best you can do. Let's say ntxtrapper is right and the best time to buy is in the fall. It is now Feb 1st. Are you going to wait 7-9 months to save a few hundred bucks on what will effectively be last year's optic when you buy it? Figure out what you want and give Jason and Doug a call and see what their best out the door price is on what you want.

In my opinion, you are at the tail end of the optimal time to hunt. Shot Show is over and some dealers may be more willing to move older stock because they have new stuff coming in from what they have ordered at/after Shot. As ntxtrapper suggested, this starts in the fall when companies start leaking info on new models or release new models just before Shot to drive up interest. That will sometimes result in prices going down as people are less likely to be the 'old' models when the newest gee-whiz models are just about to come out and dealers have a little harder time moving the older models.

BIL is right as well, right now. If Trump's tariffs go into place, particularly for China, the best time to buy is NOW.

On any given day, you can never do better than the best price that day, but you can fiddle fart around forever waiting for the "best deal" and never manage to hunt.

The best time to buy is now, if you want to hunt. You could get a lot of hunting in and have a lot of fun in the next 7-9 months.

I waited about 7 months and saved 1400 bucks on my latest scope and about 800 on a new scanner. 2200 bucks for a little patience seems smart to me. I haven't seen what Pulsar and IRay have debuted at the SHOT show this year but I will be surprised if either have cracked the over 640 code for a mid priced optic. Price must be a factor for folks on here because I've never seen anyone talking about their 15K+ dollar thermal yet. They are out there right now.

That's the thing, you don't know how much the prices will be lower or not in 7 months, and you are still out 7 months of not having the gear to hunt. Sometimes you get lucky. A lot of people got some great deals after Rix entered the marked and undercut everyone and had companies scrambling. I got a smokin' hot deal and saved nearly $7k in 2014 when FLIR dropped the prices. The Armasight Zeus 3 went from $13,995 to $7800 and I got it for $7100.00. However, I wasn't gambling on prices falling. I got lucky as did a lot of people after the Rix deal.

However, for the most part, year to year, there aren't massive drops in price for most units....and you are still out 7 months without the gear. But hey, you could wait 7 months and get a good deal, or wait 14 months and get an even better deal. If you wait long enough, they might even be free, right?

Given Trump's statements of raising tariffs, if that comes to pass, you can bet that prices won't be taking massive dumps in 7 months. But hey, maybe some other unknown company will step in with super cheap thermals and drive the market down, or maybe they won't.

There’s always a way to get something for someone starting out even if they have to go the DNV option. I’m just upgrading when I get something. I always preferred to be smart with money so I could retire early and hunt every day and night which is what I’m doing now. Like I said if the theory of money doesn’t matter and get what you want when you want, go buy a 15K to 20K optic. I don’t know anyone who has one that hasn’t been sponsored by a manufacturer to push them so I’m thinking money does matter to people.

Check with Huey at Huey Outdoors or Lone Star Boars. He’s got great prices. Look him up on you tube. Great videos.

Well The President signed a 10% tariff on China goods today so as said previously - yesterday would have been a good day to order.

Any retailer who sells something in stock for more today than yesterday because of a future cost of the product is a good sign for me to buy it elsewhere. If it’s something not in stock and a tariff would be added by their wholesaler or the factory, then that’s a different story.

Yes, well… too your point, the deals on non-US made thermals aren’t seemingly going to get any sweeter over the course of the next year

So in 3, 4, or 7 months a purchase would most likely have been better “yesterday” in a figurative sense.

I value and like my money just as much as you’ve described - the point to my initial statement was don’t let your love and value for your money get in the way of enjoyment of something. Saving a few hundred in thermal at the expense of months or time isn’t a winning hand in my opinion.

I can agree with that to an extent especially for a person who doesn’t have any thermal optics. For a person who is upgrading, it’s really a difficult argument to find fault in my method of timing though. I have saved many thousands of dollars since first using thermal in 2013.

When you have the cash.

Okay, but all those now cheaper thermals won't be here next fall, LOL.

And almost all of the fall deep discount sales are over now

Free beer tomorrow.

The best time to purchase a product is after you've decided it's what you want/need, then once you've done some research to narrow down your selection. Once you've reached this point contact a reliable retailer (we're always happy to assist) and discuss what product fits your need and of course the best pricing.