Anyone have experience with the Flir PTS233

Anyone have any experience with the Flir PTS233? Is it worth the money?

What do you want to do with it? It is worth the money if it meets your needs, so what are the needs? Are you looking to hunt inside 100 yards or more like out to 200? If the latter, you will be disappointed. Can you use it out that far? Sure, but the image will be awfully blurry.

This is a pretty good video. It looks to be very good conditions with a lot of the target animals nearly fully exposed (versus being partially/mostly hidden in vegetation). It was shot during much cooler weather (animals stand out better) and I suspect in lower humidity conditions.



What I particularly like about the video is that they mention the distances being shot, something most folks don't do.

With all that said, the PTS233 looks pretty good, but again, these appear to be really good conditions. Most folks that I know that purchased PTS233s either hunt infrequently, have relegated it to a spotter and/or guest scope and bought a better scope, or sold it off and bought a better scope with the exception of one guy that I know that uses his quite a bit for what I call barnyard hunting. He protects livestock around his barnyard with his and loves it. He doesn't usually shoot more than 75 yards or so and could not be happier for the job that it is doing for him.

The problem that you are going to have with this sort of scope is making proper identifications of similar looking animals at distance. That is going to be because of the small lens size and lower resolution. Telling the difference between young calves, deer, and hogs can be difficult with good thermal with higher resolution and better imagery. Telling the difference between a coyote and the landowner's dog can be a problem if you aren't careful. Take your time and learn to identify targets properly, regardless of the quality of thermal you use.

Mostly hunting hogs at less than 100 yards.

For 150-175 yards and in, it's a great optic. I don't think you will be disappointed. There are a lot of videos out there showing the image quality and I would say that you should usually expect the image quality to be slightly better in person than the recorded video looks. I've sold a whole lot of 233's over the last couple years and I have a lot of happy customers who are killing a ton of hogs with them.

The only other scope to consider in that price range is the Pulsar Core RXQ30V for $1,899. It's great scope as well and a perfect competitor to the 233 but it has no way to record video, so if you have any video recording desires, go with the 233.

For shooting 100 yards or less, you won't kill more hogs with a $5,000 scope than you will with the PTS233.

Jason

Thank you for the input. I appreciate the feedback.

For me the pts233 is worth the money simply due to the amount I get to hunt. Where I hunt also plays a factor in that too simply because of the low humidity and cool nights here in the Lubbock area which typically make the picture very clear. With that and no trees to deal with I can spot and identify coyotes from pretty good distances but I try to keep all my shots between 100-150 yards. The picture quality is better than what translates to a lot of videos posted online. If I had access to more land and the ability to hunt more often I’d buy a better more expensive unit but this works for me.

The only issue I had was in single digit temps with the screen snowing up after being out long periods of tome. Not sure if it was weather or software related but I reset it and updated the software and have not had an issue since. We’ll see come winter time.

I have killed a lot of pigs with mine..
I can detect "something" in a field way out there, gotta get close to be 1000% positive though

I love how compact and light it is and have it on a QD mount and routinely remove it to use as a spotter

for killing pigs within a hundred yards it is awesome, low power is great for close range running shots.. just like a scope..
6x is nice for longer shots but running pigs at 30 yards not so much

Personally, I really enjoy getting up close and stalking into the wind and hearing them chew on corn and the sounds they make. That is what makes it fun for me.
My brother has one as well, neither one has had any problems

Will the Pro PTS233 stream video to an iPhone?

It doesn't. Would look at Pulsar for that. The PTS233 is a good little thermal for the price point. It'll do good on pigs at reasonable distances. Is it as good as the higher end stuff, no but it'll get the job done. Inside 100 yards or so on pigs its pretty solid. Also it does record video but does not record sound.

A buddy has one. Inside of 80 yards, it's pretty good. 100 is ok. Beyond that and he can tell that something is there but can't identify what it is.

I have a PTS 233. It does what I need it to do. Would I like to have a higher end thermal? Of course but I scraped together for 3 years to get this one. This video is from my place on October 7. Hopefully you can get an idea of what they will do. The feeder is at 107 yds. The image through the scope is sharper than the recorded video as it is with most thermals.