I don’t know anything about them, but want to buy one. Educate me please.

This month's American Rifleman had a good review on one.

I follow a guy on youtube.

a.amatine

He does a bunch of review / comparison videos for thermal, night vision and suppressors.

He mainly hog hunts at night.

For 1000 I would save the money. No thermal sight worth having I know of in that range.

Probably so.

I'd check out the Late Night Vision Show on Youtube. They have some really informative videos about how to operate on a budget with regards to your hunting style and what to skimp on vs not (night vision / lights / thermal scopes / thermal spotters / etc.) They also do a lot of comparison/ranking videos for items in similar price ranges.

For me, a decent thermal scanner works well when paired with a rifle-mounted light, as I do a lot more looking/waiting than I do shooting.

I'd consider adding at least another grand to the coffers before starting that journey.

This…

Agree the floor is somewhere around $2k. Depends on what you want to do with it tho.

If anyone asked me, I'd tell em to stay away from ATN.

seems to me that Thermals are one of those things that you get what you pay for. I'd go as far as to say to say that you need to bump up to $4000 to start, and go up from there for a quality unit.

I’m not opposed to spending up to 5k. I just want to know what to buy with the money. Several units in the 2500 dollar range. I was looking at a AGM rattler 35-384 I believe. It was around 2400. Any input on these?

AGM Adder TS35-384 is an excellent unit that is new this year. I have friends who have units triple the cost and we have compared them side by side… it is an amazing bargain! If I were to do it over again, I’d buy the same unit in a heartbeat

That's the one I just bought. Unfortunately it will be a while before I get to mount it and sight it in and put it to work. Still doing load development on the rifle using a conventional scope.

I have the AGM Rattler TS35-384, also the TS50-640. The TS35's on a RARimfire used for rats at night inside/outside dairy barns. Resolution is better than needed for rats to the 35 yd limit imposed by ammo - CCI Quiet Segmented. I would have no trouble shooting deer to 200 yds with it, and coyotes to about that far. The TS50 is alot more than needed for rats but mine's going on a coyote rifle.

The TS35 Adder is heavier and longer. Needs two rings. Optical axis is lower though, if that's important. Less suitable as a hand-held. My friend just ordered one, having sent an ATN lt320 3-6 back. Around $1500. We both tried it few nights ago, compared it to my TS35. Maybe we're spoiled, but it was not in the same galaxy with the TS35. TS35s are usually around $2400, but Black Friday just under $2100. For most purposes it hits a sweet spot.

We also tried a TS25-384. It has a bit more field of view, bit less base magnification. I'd consider that model the "floor".

That's a decent unit. A buddy uses his as a scanner but it doubles as a backup scope.
If it's going to see a decent amount of use, I'd consider going with rechargeable RCR123 batteries with that setup (or use an external power supply).

Bering Optics Hogster Vibe 25 & 35mm is in that ballpark too.

FYI, the Adder does not need rings… it comes with an American Defense Mfg Recon QD mount! Making it an even better bargain!

The Adder mount is a monolithic with two 30mm rings, correct?

Yes, accommodates a 30mm tube. A picture's worth 1000 words.

Made by American Defense.

I agree 100%. I live in Wisconsin but hunt hogs in TX and Alabama. I am also an FFL Dealer and have sold quite a few thermal scopes for my buddies and other hunters.
ATN is hit or miss. Lots of powering on issues with ATN their customer service seems decent though.I had a FLIR for several years that MSRPd around 2300.00 that was a great scope no problems.I BELIEVE FLIR got out of the thermal market for regular consumers. Or so I was told.

Bill

This ...

I agree. I have an ATN Thor-4 640 and I wouldn't recommend it.
I think my next one will be a Trijicon.

Tony

I've been using a Pulsar Trail XQ50 for the past couple years. No complaints at all, but I'm planning to upgrade to 640 x 480 and I've been looking at what's out there. Trijicon Hunter and Reaper seem to be the cream of the crop, but they're also top of the pile for cost. The Trijicons are also pretty basic, which is good and bad. They're designed to be robust with one purpose in mind, provide the best image possible, simple controls and without all the bells and whistles of WIFI, video etc.

The Pulsar Thermion 2 Pro XP50 is also pretty impressive. I recently bought a set of Pulsar Merger LRF XP50 bino's with the built in range finder. They're incredible and remove the need for a scope with a rangefinder. Having video recording and WIFI capabilities are nice features too. The only thing that has me tapping my brakes on the Pulsar is I suspect they're about to start using the newer 12 micron on their top model and do away with the current 17 micron. I might just wait until that happens.

Bering Stimulus at around $1400 is the only thing I know of (worth having) that’s even close to $1k.