Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Help on thermal

Hey Guy,

I have been researching and looking for a thermal scope, hopefully in the $3000-$4000 range. I would love to hear from any of you that have a thermal scope, especially in that price range. So far I am leaning towards the bering optics and Iray thermals. I hunt coyotes in eastern NC and VA. Most of the fields that I hunt, a 2-3 hundred shot would be possible.

I also would love to hear of any customer service stories (Good or Bad) pertaining to any thermals.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

If you want to stay in the price range..

$3k... Bering Super Hogster.

$4k... Bering Super Yoter.

Been shooting Bering for a while. Solid and reliable.

+1

ya!

GWB

I bought the Iray bolt this winter very happy with it battery life is awesome even in 0 degree weather

Tagged.

Bering uses imaging cores from Iray, so image quality would be somewhat similar for the same resolution and with comparable optics.
Both seem to stand behind the customer pretty well. I have been spending a good amount of time with Iray RL42 and it works pretty well. I'll have a proper review out in a bit.

I plan to test a couple of scopes from Bering shortly. From the little I have seen, they are quite well made and offer a lot for the money.

I did a livecast not long ago on how thermal optics work (that's sorta my dayjob) if you want to know more about the underlying technology:

ILya

I really ought to do more with my YouTube channel.

Just don't really have time for it. I just post raw footage of a few hunts there. Surprizingly, one video has about 254k views now.

Reckon I ought to take advantage of that veiwership. Glad you do.

I had a Bering Super Hogster and really liked the image. Did not like the fact that I had to get the manual out every time to re-memorize all of the button push combinations. But excellent optic and a nice light package. You can get a Pulsar Thermion XP-50 for around $4000 or spend $1000 more and get the Thermion2 XP-50 (that's what I run). They are much more user friendly and have easy menu's and controls, on board video and sound. The only thing better is the Halo, but you are in the $8-9K range with those.

I do not know if it can be called taking advantage, but I have to admit that I much prefer doing livecasts where I can have direct interaction with people, than post videos. I do both, of course, but live interaction is a lot more entertaining.

ILya

Love my Bering optics super hogster. Have used it down to -28 degrees and 90+% humidity and it was still killing coyotes. You shouldn’t have to worry about the -28 degrees but humidity I’m sure you have plenty of. From what I’ve heard the Bering optics thermals cut through the humidity better than most

I've been using a Pulsar Trail XQ50 for about 2 years now. I've been real happy with it. I also use a Pulsar Axion XM30 handheld monocular, which works OK for finding "sign of life" in the dark, but doesn't have a lot of resolution.

I'm actually getting close to upgrading both and looking at getting another Pulsar or a Trijicon Reaper. I'll probably then turn the Pulsar XQ50 into my handheld monocular.

Anyone have experience with the Trijicon units? I would really like to have some hands-on time with the next thermal, before I buy it.

IRAY and Berring aren’t bad but they are Chinese thermal for the same price as Pulsar which is European brand with overall better quality and the customer service you’ll get isn’t comparable. For that price range, I would recommend the Thermion 2 XQ38 or Thermion 2 XQ50 which are between $3,300-$3,800. If you're willing to spend a bit extra, The Thermion XG50 is a 640X480 BAE 12 micron sensor that Trijicon and N-Vision use in there $10,000 scopes and it runs about $5K. I say that unit because it is perfect for those 150 yard plus shots because of the 12 micron sensor in it with a 3-24 base magnification. The Thermion 2 XQ50 would be good as well with a 3.5 base magnification.

Go with Doug's recommended xq50 running a older one.Won many hog tournaments here in Texas.

A VOx sensor is better than a SiO2 in several ways, and is what is in military use. French isn’t ‘better’ than Chinese. Bering and IRay offer great warranties and service. 5yr warranty /5day turnaround in TEXAS, for IRay. They both also offer 12um pp, 3x base mag, and VOx…. outside of just their 640 stuff….and for less $. That’s likely because they don’t spend 3/4 of their bottom line on advertising….but that’s just a guess. I’m all for supporting Doug, if you want. I’m not for overhyping Pulsar vs other quality stuff out right now, by denigrating US companies….even if they need to use Chinese parts to put out a better product than their other foreign -owned competitors….and opinions are welcome to differ.

A couple of things to keep in mind: with Lynred thermal cores, all of the 12um pixel pitch products are VOx. With 17um, almost everything is amorphous silicon, except for one particular design. If Pulsar has a 17um VOx product, that would be it, but anything with 12um is guaranteed to be VOx.

As far as iRay and Bering go, yes the cores are made in China and they are really good cores. Not quite as good as the best US ones, but almost there.

iRay is a Chinese company, but they have a growing subsidiary here in the US that imports them and services them. They are not hiding the country of origin, so you can make your own decision on whether that's important for you.

Bering buys cores from iRay and other components from all over the place. They integrate them in Texas and support them from Texas. I had a long talk with the gentleman who own Bering last month to figure out how they go about this. I will say that in terms of bang for the buck, it is hard to overlook Bering.

In terms of overall performance, eveyrone has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years.

ILya

^^^^glad someone’s posting that’s inside the tech loop for remote sensor tech and not just use. I’ve been out of that loop for my day job for a while, but the comprehension of the tech and spec combinations is still there.

I guess you did take my point: I don’t think Pulsar offers 12 micron (and VOx) in anything but their 640 devices with the BAE core. Bering, IRay, and (maybe?) AGM offer 12/VOx in 384 and 640 thermals. Combined with PIP, it’s hard to see how the average hunter could need more resolution/detection range in all conditions, than a Super Hogster or Rico Bravo offer. If you need the form factor of a day scope for mounting on a bolt gun, I know that Bering makes one with very similar specs to the Super, but not sure about IRay.

Thanks guys for all the replies.

Have a Hogster for scanning and Super Hogster for main rifle. Liking this combo very well, both can be weapon mounted if desired vs a dedicated scanner unit.

Tag

I run the same setup. I’m liking leaving the Hogster 25 on my braced/suppressed 22, so I might try a mini scanner from AGM or other, next.