Originally Posted by scottprice
With a ~$3000 budget, what optic would you be looking at?

There is a good thread on the optics forum about thermals: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...e-thermals-and-night-vision#Post19107692

Is your $3k all in or do you already have a magnified optic and want to add thermal?

I prefer clip on thermals with a scope, usually an LPVO. If you plan to do that I’d recommend an Armasight Jockey 640, which if not out already will be on the market in the next couple of weeks. I have a pre-production sample and it is better than the $5k IRay MH25 I have.

High res screens matter in this application. Lower ones, 640x480ish show lots of pixelation when you zoom above 4x or so. The Jockey is good to the 10x where I’ve used it.

A clip on is nice as you don’t have to rezero for day use, or when using on eye NV if you get into that sort of thing. You also get the advantage of reliable tracking and zero on a proven optic.

If I went back to a dedicated thermal scope it’d probably be a Pulsar product as those have a good track record.