Which Sub $2500 Thermal Rifle Sight Should I Get?

Armasight OPMOD Predator 336 2-8x25 Thermal Weapon Sight, FLIR Tau 2 - 336x256

ATN ThOR-HD 384x288 Thermal Night Vision Smart HD Rifle Scope

Pulsar 1.6-6.4x22mm Thermal Imaging Riflescope Core RXQ30L

or suggestion?

The new FLIR sight in that price range for sure. It's a great thermal for the price.

I bought my ATN ThOR-HD 384 2-8x 11 months ago and have only gotten happier with the purchase every time I've used it.

It has more features the other brands are still trying to catch up to (WiFi, video/photo storage direct to SD card, Ballistic Calculator, Bluetooth, cant and incline readouts) and with the ATN Laser range finder feeding the measured distance direct to the scope via Bluetooth - features they won't have for years yet.

Optics Planet has a 10% off sale going on right now which puts the price at $ 2,429.10 and the scope in your hand in a matter of days rather than the current 2 - 3 weeks before the new FLIR starts shipping.

Here's a video showing the quality of the image which was made in February

ThOR-HD 384 2-8x video black hot palette

Save your money and get the Boson FLIR!

Thanks
I'm leaning more towards the lighter and lower cost options

Range finder is nice though I wonder why these don't have ranging reticles?

I've never see any in the videos

The reticle display on an electronic screen will hold a zero center coordinate but the reticle arms will not scale accurately across the full range of the digital zoom thereby making a ranging reticule suspect at best.

The ATN scope has stadiametric ranging (new feature on the FLIR!) which presumes you know the height of the target at the top of the shoulder (i.e. deer, coyote, etc - and the "average height" is generally accurate) but then requires you select top of shoulder (with a button press) and foot on ground (another button press) so the scope can calculate the distance from the angle it measures between the two points and the selected height. If you are a surveyor, you might be able to hold the rifle steady enough freestanding to do it but even with a bipod my best is +/- 10% accuracy.

ATN's laser range finder with the Bluetooth data feed comes in a 1,000 yard and 1,500 yard model (MSRP $ 279 & $ 349). They also sell the X-Trac remote which connects via Bluetooth and allows all of the button functions to be "at your thumb" and also provides a fine control thumbwheel for zooming in/out as well as a Home button which toggles between base and maximum magnification (e.g. 2x to 8x and back).

Didnt realize the Flir was so affordable

The $ 2,200 FLIR is 1.5 - 4x and will ship in 2 - 3 weeks.

The next level up FLIR Thermosight PRO 320x240 Boson core units are supposed to ship in 2+ months.

Yup, can't wait for them to hit the market.

That thermosite pro looks tough to beat for the price.

Incredible images from a 320 core.

Agreed. Beautiful.

I have a Thor pro 384 25mm I have been very happy with.  I would love to it compare side by side with the new flir.  If I was buying today I would prob go with the flir for the new boson core and 10 yr warranty.  But I have to say I do like my Thor takes AA and I can use rechargeable batteries.  Also I like that it has a mic, and I do get a lot of use out of the WiFi and steaming to my cell phone.  Nice to set it up on a tripod and then watch on a tablet or cell.

How long do the batteries last in the Thor? How good is the range?  Also, does the Boson q14b have a reticle? I see pics of a gun mount, but images don't show a reticle.

I get a legit 8 hours out of 4 AA energizer lithiums.  I just got a set of kenteli rechargeable batteries (lots swear by them for the Thor) and just started testing them.  I also have a external pack I use when on the tripod.

The q14b entry level with a 9mm lens does not have a reticle now per flir.

I have three sets of the Kentli's for my two scopes. They last 6 - 8 hours routinely. I buy my Kentli's on Amazon so if one of them isn't up to spec I can just ship it back for a new one.  If you are getting 8 hours out Energizer lithiums, you're doing better than anyone else I've heard of.

OP - The Kentli's are so popular because they have no drop off over time and reliably recharge hundreds of times. A set of four 3,000 mAH with a USB recharger on Amazon costs ~ $ 47 but they more than pay for themselves being rechargeable.

To get 8 hrs, I am running brightness on 1 or 2....I also dont run any widgets, WiFi, Bluetooth.

I wish I knew they had 3000 mAH, I got the 2800 ones but they seem t be working good so far.

Get an external battery pack, you will be miserable without it.
The one ATN sells lasts forever but really its bigger than it needs to be, any USB battery pack will work.

I'd really like to see an in-depth comparison between the Thor and the new Flir.  I'm probably going to bite on one of these in the next six months, or so.

It will probably come down to which one has the better occular setup.
That's the biggest downside the the new Thor HD's, the screen specs are great but the lens setup just isn't comfortable to the eye like the older thors.  Also, because the thermal image doesn't use all the available pixels on screen, you don't really get the full zoom of the thermal image.  My 2.5X feels more like a 1.25 power effective scope.

Onboard video and image capture is super awesome though, all sent straight to an SD card.  Best feature of the scope.
Color pallets: Meh, cool but you rarely use anything but black and white
Mutliple presets for differnt guns/bullets is pretty neat.
Recoil activated video is cool
All the bluetooth/wifi stuff is neat but they are the kind of add ons that you don't really have to have.
The range finder feature is also cool, but unless you are shooting long range its a trivial feature.
The ability to update firmware from the SD card is REALLY nice.

The flir will probably beat it on video lag too, its noticeable on the Thor's but you can get used to it.

PULSAR

I'm in the exact same boat...which of these is the best?  

To be more particular which one has the best detection and identification range?  How far can you really see a heat signature from with one of these "lower end" sights?  Pulsar says 1300+ meters for big game...this actually true?  ATN claims 800 yards?

Check the flir PTS233 thread, looks promising.

There are calculations which generate the "theoretical" values for detection, recognition and ID.

Pulsar is saying "big game" - what does that mean? A deer? An elk? The cross sectional area - height by width - of an animal makes a BIG difference in the calculated value and last time there was a technical thread discussing the calculation the various camps couldn't even agree on those values because they do vary by region to some extent.

My answer has ALWAYS been the same - talk to as many actual users and watch as many actual videos to get an understanding on how each performs.

Without testing both side by side its hard...I agree with bushman, it is going to come down to ocular setup.

Thor has some more features....but all that goes out the window if the view is better and easier on the eye with the new flir.

I am tempted to buy one and then sell whichever I dont want to keep.  I am still holding out for the q14b though....

If somebody funds it, I'll buy all of these things and will take them to Texas for some hog hunting.  I'll then let you all know the advantages/disadvantages, and will declare a WINNER!  Otherwise, I'll take my time, scrape together the cash, choose one, and just use the damned thing!

I'll make one safe bet. Anyone who doesn't currently HAVE a thermal scope and buys one of the three listed by the OP will be happy as a pig in shit the first time they sight an animal through it.

The difference between everything else and thermal is conceptually similar to the difference between turbocharging and Warp Speed - there's no contest because once you see everything you were not seeing before when you look through thermal for the first time, it's like sex - you're going to want MORE.

Yep. I used one many years ago at Wild River Ranch in Goliad, Tx.  It wasn't weapon mounted, but we used it to spot hogs.  It probably didn't remotely compare to this new unit, but at the time, according to our host, was a $14,000 or so unit that Victor at TNVC had sent to him to test in the field. We'd spot hogs with it (Not many, though. The hunting was bad that year. There was a drought and not many hogs around), and then use what I think was Gen II or Gen III night vision on the rifle to postitively ID the animal and then shoot it.  At a distance, hogs and cows or even deer didn't look to different from one another in the thermal imager.  

Anyway, I'm going from memory, and I remember it being amazing, but not nearly as sharp as what I see in the videos posted on this or even the ATN or Pulsar units.  The Flir Thermosite, however, appears to be really smooth, allowing for running shots, as the demo video shows.

Anyway, I digress.  If I was able to spend $2200 bucks right this second, I'd order the new Flir.  I've got to see what I can do over the next few months. If my brother in law and I decide to hog hunt in October, I'll snag one before then and start learning how to employ it effectively.  Otherwise, it may be December or January.  I've got to be careful, though, because I'm ordering a Jeep in December, so I can't put too much stress on my wife's goodwill.