Best thermal scope for the money?

Looking to get a thermal scope for hogs and coyotes, what the best bang for your buck?? Willing to spend around 5-6k but don't have to spend that much..

I would wait till Pulsar officially comes out with their new line of thermal scopes. Their price range will be in the $3-4k range and will be TOUGH to beat for that price. Look into the XD38A and possibly the XD50A.

If you want something NOW and don't mind spending a little more look at the ATN Thor 336 or the THOR 640 which is arguably providing some of the best performance on the market.

Another option that would be cheaper than your budget. Look at getting the Pulsar HD19A handheld unit for scanning and one of the digisights also from Pulsar. This combo will run you a little more than $3k but you would have the best of both worlds.

I use a Pulsar HD38 for scanning and a digisight for taking the shot, just like the above post suggested. It works great. I did have the opportuity to play with the new Pulsar Thermal Scope this weekend at the Dallas Safari Club show. The rep there acted like it would be not much more than $3000. I cannot wait until it is available in the next coulple months. Since I got my handheld thermal last year, the digisight is just not the same for night time hunting... I am a bit spoiled with the handheld thermal and cannot wait to get a thermal scope.

I hope you are right about the Pulsar, but I don't know how they are coming out with a thermal scope for $3k when their handhelds are $3 to $5k.

I have a thermal scope and thermal handheld, but my X-sight is probably good enough to shoot with as long as I am using the handheld thermal to scan and find them. They both have about the same effective range (where you can see pigs in the dark), but the X-Sight can zoom in a little better.

You can see the Pulsar apex XD38A here done by Bearclaw: http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5240609/Pulsar_Apex_Thermal_Weapon_Sig .

I haven't gotten any in yet, but they should be shipping soon

The Pulsar that is going to be just under 3 grand is a 1X scope. Hogs look like BB's at 50 yards...

The ATN 336 line has sold very well and I would consider the new IR Defense scopes. They are really coming on. Don't care for the FLIR RS series....most are not manual focus. The Aramasight Zeus is a good scope also.

The FLIR RS 32 in either the 1-5 or 2-9 is awesome. I run the 1-5, and like it a lot. For the extra few hundred dollars, I'd recommend the 2-9 with the bigger lens.

Armasight is introducing new thermals at SHOT

Everyone is introducing new thermals at SHOT

Here is a video I took from an HD38A mounted to a Golight

Really? I thought the XD38A was going to be 1.45-2.9x and the XD50A was 1.9-3.8X. Anyone confirm wether it's 1x or variable?

As with all these companies, something could have changed, but that is what the first word was on it. It was also supposed o be here by now.

Apex scopes are fixed magnification with digital zoom, manual focus adjustment

I guess it was the digital zoom that I was seeing reported as "zoom"

It changed for both of us...

...and I still haven't heard that they are bringing the 50 here...

All,
Check out the new pricing on ATN thermals.
We are back to being very competitive and the best bang for the money.

640 THORs for as low as $5495?

They will have the 38 and 50 in the states. Not sure if they will be A models or not. The 38 is a 1.45 or 1.5 depending on the display and the 50 is a 1.9 or 2x depending on the display. All of the units have a 2x digital zoom so just x2 the listed optical magnification. I looked through both at SHOT yesterday and they are nice. I would go with the 50. With the 388 core and 2x optical mag a 200 yard night shot is no problemo!

At this point the ThOR 336 is still the best value under 5K in my opinion, and it's in stock.
If you are going to wait for the next big thing there is always a next big thing and you will never end up getting anything.
My advice is to find somewhere you can try a unit in the field and on your gun to make sure it fits your bill.