ATN Thor Thermal Scopes

I am looking for some input from anyone who owns and uses one of these scopes

Friends don't let friends buy ATN.

RUN!!!!!

This

Their highest line of optics; are you looking at their retail store at Grapevine Mills Mall?

No Sir. Just getting started with my search. I figured that the price point of the ATN was too
good to be true, I was just looking for someone who had experience with them

I have 2 ATN 4K's on my prairie dog rifles the 3X is on my 17 HMR and the 5X is on my 17WSM. I got them for their ability to record and the price. Have not had a single problem with either in 2 years. That being said I just purchased my 1st thermal and it's a Pulsar Thermion 2 XQ38. I heard 2 many complaints about the ATN thermals.

Thank you Sir

I have 3 Thor 4’s, two 385 4.5-18 and a 640 2.5-25 as well as a Pulsar Thermion 2 XQ38. I highly prefer the ATN’s, better image quality, easier to use for me, focus is very touchy but when dialed in great. I’ve hunting and killed probably 200 hogs at night the past 5 years and never had one issue with any of my thermals in various hunting conditions (hot, cold, damp, etc( usually have a friend or two out hunting with me. I do like the PiP function of the Pulsar but for me, the image quality isn’t as good as the ATN 384’s.

That’s my real world hunting experience with thermals.

I've also heard ATN's customer service has vastly improved. Could be they've seen the light like Taurus which makes a better firearm these days.

First time in the history of the internet someone said an ATN is better than a Pulsar.

Just curious as to what it is that make the ATN Thermal an inferior scope.

To be honest forums and face place is probably the worst place to get good info on anything.

Caveat: I personally have not owned a modern ATN optic.

I have been around hunters using several models who used them and were happy with them when they showed up. Roughly about half of those guys that I keep up with have sold or retired them onto buddy guns after being exposed to other decent performing optics.

For the casual user atn has been the market player it is because they have a wider retail presence in outdoor stores than any other manufacturer and they had internal recording and a long battery life before the rest of the market players implemented those features.

I'd recommend considering putting less weight on forum opinions and spending time watching long form video content from prostaff users. I'm not talking about 5minutes of kill shots but content like texas Jagd's etc. Video content about the experience all the way from pre hunt gear prep to field.

If you were to spend some time watching that type of content featuring the atn product line I believe you will notice the ugly side of the ATN coin that you will probably never appreciate from reading posts of anonymous user or hater opinions. TXJAGD really tries pretty hard to be a good ATN prostaff advocate but not to the blatant brand shill level. The amount of buggy firmware issues and problems like scope freeze ups and video file loss (where he needs to cut in his hunting buddy footage) was an eye opener for me.

He's not experiencing operator error issues IMO because I see some of the biggest internet shills having the same issues but glossing it over like a used car salesman giving their Shamwow infomercial pitches.

This has been my experience, mostly dealing with other people's ATNs. When they make a good unit, it is a good unit. If you are one of the ones needing service, your experience with ATN may be good, but if it isn't good, the fear is that you become one of their nightmare stories.

All electronic sights will need service sooner or later. If it is under warranty, you don't want to have to fight with the company to honor a warranty you paid for, but are not getting the benefit of. Companies like Puslar, AGN, Bering Optics, Trijicon have good reputations for service.

Grew up on NV. Excited to buy an ATN day/night scope 8 years ago. Froze, every shot out of a heavy SA 7.62. I exchanged the unit 3 times before asking for a refund. The dealer claimed he'd never heard of anyone having similar problems.

Borrowed a top of the line ATN last year. Wouldn't hold a zero. Optics weren't bad to about 125 in decent weather, but again, you couldn't count on the zero. Was an absolute nightmare to sight in during the summer.

Buddy brought a new ATN day/night scope out two weeks ago. Zero walked about 8 inches at 100. Froze, on a different 7.62.

Sighted an entry level Thor LT in for a guy the same weekend. Twice rejected the zero. Otherwise, it did OK on a .300 blk to about 70 yards. At the price point, I personally saw some utility.

It's hard to find Youtube video where the ATNs fully freeze. When they freeze on us, the unit is simply dead until fully powered down and back on.

I have a 50mm Pulsar that I swear by. It works, every time and the images are fantastic. Ironically, I pick that Pulsar for hunting over the big Trijicon Hunter, which costs nearly double.

This photo was taken on a humid night at about 150 yards:

(Of note, what you see in the scope is tremendously more clear. This image was recorded, uploaded, downloaded, emailed, saved, then uploaded to THF)

Great. Thank you Sir

My son and I each have the Thor LT320 3X thermal scopes.

They work great for killing hogs and at their price point I don't think there is anything that compares to them.

I started out with the original ATN X-Sight when they came out with them, what was that about 8 years ago now? I have a 5X, my son has a 3X, nephew has the newer 4K version in 3X. All of them are still running just fine and killing hogs.

I don't know about ATN's customer service, none of us has ever needed it.

I've had great luck my ATN Thor's, zero issues, probably 150 plus hogs killed with them, never had a freeze up but don't have anything that kicks hard and all my AR's i pig hunt with are suppressed (22 Nosler, 6.5 Gren, 6.8 SPC, Rem 30AR & 308). I do have a pulsar XQ38 and it's not bad by any means but when I take a friend with me that has hunted with both and always pick a set up i have a thor 4 on. it seems it's more like a truck thing, your either a Chevy, Ford or Ram guy and there's little things you like about each better than the other and all people are different. I will say, these scopes are high tech and i think a lot of people just had issues setting them up correct but I find the atn easier to navigate around in all the functions than the pulsar, i don't like the side button and I like the ease of using the obsidian 4 app over StreamVision 2 but to me neither are bad, splitting hairs almost.

I've had zero accuracy issues or need to ever rezero once dialed in with any of my thermals so far (knock on wood). The ATN mounts do suck and on my ATN's i run bobro QD mount designed for the Thor 4.......they are pricey but i like 'em and they've worked out very well I have a wilson QD on my Pulsar which is mounted on the 22 Nosler, it shoots lights out as well.

I have an LT320 5-10x on a A-Arms 17hmr, it's pretty darn good for night critters at the feeder, super easy to use and it's helped me keep a massive raccoon population in check....I had 20 plus at some of my feeders at times, not anymore.

This is why I am fearful of online reviews. This is not an evaluation of VAFish, only using his post as an example of why I don't trust such reviews. Lots of folks here on THF purchased the original X-Sights about 8 years ago. It was the newest, latest and greatest day/night vision thing going, complete with a supercomputer to run everything, only the computer was about 50% of what it needed to be. They made a big deal about the Obsidian computer. I think you are the only person who is happy with your purchase. I know that new out of the box, the original units only had about 80% operational and as ATN attempted to fix or activate problem A, they turned off feature X or screw it up. For B, they got X back on but turned off Y and partially disable X and V. As of the introduction of the X-Sight II, they had various features deactivated on the original X-Sight and a LOT of very pissed off owners who were screwed over royally by ATN, used as Beta Testers, and left with only partially functioning scopes. ATN just abandoned the original X-sight and the owners, dropping them like a hot potato after the release of the X-Sight II.

Glad you have not used customer service, but how an original X-sight is running fine when they were apparently never fully functional is what I mean about customer reviews.

Here is where they had been delayed for months...
https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5169878/1

Here is one of the numerous X-sight problem threads...
https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/printthread/Board/42/main/447766/type/thread

Here is a thread with 45 pages of X-Sight problems...
https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5573317/1

Never used the Thor, but I do own a 4k that I've had for years - never had any issues with it. If you want to record video it's a great scope. The 1-shot zero function works pretty great. The ABL range finders you can add to the scope are just awesome - literally, a single push of a button and you've ranged your target and adjusted your POI... the rangefinder and scope have always 100% worked perfectly together. You're obviously not going to get the clarity out of a digital scope that you will with glass... so, you probably won't want to be shooting ELR with it. But it's always been a reliable fun scope to use with some cool features to play with IMO. I think ATN gets a lot of unnecessary hate honestly.