I know this is an arfcom rule: buy once, cry once, and honestly I can buy a PVS 14 if I wish, but I just haven't decided if the money would be well spent. So I'm thinking about trying  some entry level stuff.   My theory is that if I really dig it, I can sell the cheaper stuff for a slight  (maybe $100) loss on ebay and buy a PVS-14. Whereas if I buy a PVS 14 and decide it doesn't get used very much, I'm going to lose substantially more on a resale.  

So if you guys could pick between a $500 spark and a entry level thermal such as the $600 FLIR TK, what gets the vote?

As far as usage- I'm not a hunter, so it would be used as monocular. I plan on looking for things making noises in the woods at night, and the occasional perp who absconds on foot from a domestic or a drug deal. if I located anything with NV or thermal I'm sure we'd light him up with multiple flashlights.  I'm in Alabama so the woods are pretty dense.  Most of the time you can't see past 100 yards because of foliage. I doubt that anyone is looking back at me with NV, so I think IR illumination is OK to use with the spark.

Any input is appreciated.  Thanks Guys.

I think Harlikwin used the Vega and said it was as good as the Spark. I adapted a Spark to use a standard PVS-14 J-Arm on a standard PVS-14 RHNO and it worked better than the #37 adapter made for it.

A Solarforce 3W IR flashlight will help as a floodlight. A T20 light will help for distance.  These can be had for around $30 each.

My vote is to get a used RHNO with a used J-Arm for cheap along with a cheap Vega and then, with your savings, get the additional Thermal Imager.

If your main goal is to locate and then illuminate with white light a thermal is the way to go IMHO. For the money I'd look into the Leupold Tracker since the tracker uses batteries that can be changed when needed vs having to recharge the TK via micro USB

Hmmm, the tracker does look like quite possibly  a better option for me. More compact,  longer warranty, 123 battery, higher refresh rate, and even the way you hold it away from your eye may be more useful when you are trying to show others what you're seeing. Thanks, I'll look into it.

This.

And you can use thermal during the day and there are plenty of fun ways to play with it when you are bored.

Buy a 100 dollar or lesd gen1 device and the cheapest ir illum you can find... iirc thats all i paid for my vega. Dont have a spark tho, that musta been someone else. Repeat after me all gen1 that are not triple cascade suck equally. You wont get your money back out of it.

Gen 1 will suck, so dont spend 500 on it. I have bought gen2 for under 500 in the recent past, and that is a big upgrade.

The tk will suck as well, its low res core with shitty optics... I dont own one but i have 160x100 core unit with way better optics, and honestly its ok for 100 yds or less, but it rapidly sucks after that. The tk will probably be worse....

If you are not a casual user then be sure to avoid onboard batteries. Onboard batteries are for housewives and little girls.

Over the past few years I've been very impressed with my SPARK.  You have to use an illuminatior with it no doubt but for a gen 1 unit the resolution is amazing, the FOV is a little narrow but not horrible.  I have no experience with that thermal though.

Here's some images from the SPARK with it's onboard illuminator.  The onboard works ok in the house and for navigation but if you are going to shoot with it you need an external higher powered unit.