I am in the market for a new thermal. How do the older IR Patrols / IR Hunters stack up against the Irays now that the price points are similar on the devices? The build quality seems to be in favor of the older high end optics, but most of the images I've seen are better on the newer budget thermals. Looking for thoughts from people that have owned one or the other or both.

I think the patrols and hunters at least under the Trijicon label have BAE 640 sensors and should be similar to current Nvision offerings. I've read that getting repairs done on the older triji stuff can sometimes be problematic. They were originally made by a seperate company that was bought out by Trijicon so I don't know where the cut off is for something being fixable.

As far as BAE vrs Iray 640s I wouldn't say one is better than the other they're just different. Irays tend to have a more detailed overall image and fog less in poor conditions. Nvision the target pops more and depth perception or distance of the target can be easier to judge. Triji is going to be a little different since the have their own programing but from video I've seen its much more like Nvision than iray.

The more expensive units seem to be more robust.  I looked through a thermion that had a comparable image to my nvision.  It was a perfect thermal night so not sure how it would stack up in fog, light rain, other weather conditions.  I would change your question to what is the iray 1280 unit going to do for the thermal market.   That could be a big game changer.

isnt that a 20k+ unit? that isnt in my budget.

i am looking to spend 3-4. that puts me into new iray range, or a used but older high end unit.

get the steiner c35

downrangethermal or strictlyoffensivekit

both have code hide2022 + a rebate

I am interested in this topic, I have a FLIR RS-32 I purchase eight years ago still ticking. Thinking about another unit, something with similar performance as the RS-32.

Having owned, used and tested a lot of thermals over the last 20+ years, some of the older higher end units will still do the job, but they don't have the features that come standard in many of the lower end china made units.
As with everything electronic, components degrade over time effecting performance and they are way out of warranty, so you roll the dice with an older thermal purchase.

SJC

Man time flies.  Still killing hogs with my janky ass old Armasight Zeus 640 75mm and IR defense ReapIR.  I've used and have owned quite a few of the newer offerings and to me that 640 75 has the perfect to me native magnification for stalking hogs.

It's less 'old vs new' and more 'what core'. Older gear with 640 cores are still as good as the new stuff with 640 cores.

Something else to consider is going COTI 29A... I know its older, but it will provide fusion to your NVDs... I am thinking about selling my dedicated thermals scopes and get one... I feel that its difficult to fuse the images (even with green filters) and if not mounted on a bridge, it feels cumbersome to swap I2 to thermal all the time..

I saw the iRay COTI, which seems nice, but it has a lot of lag from the videos I've watched, its, IMO, much worse IMO than even the older COTI 29A in terms of lag... and obviously I can't swing 8 grand for the real deal ECOTI, so I'll probably settle for an older COTI 29A device myself...

JMO.

G.

I'm still very happy with my Halo-LR.  I thought Nvision changed their warranty and they'll warranty their stuff indefinitely, or maybe it was 10 years for scopes?  I don't remember exactly.