Thermal spotter

[snow white]

Just ordered the xm30 should be here Monday 

[Fisheruk]

5 hours ago, Rewulf said:

Pretty sure theyve discontinued that line anyway, so you may struggle.

 

Strangest thing is , a lot of users rate the Pulsar Quantum series better than the XM Axioms.
Ive never looked through a Quantum so cant comment, but recently there was a flash sale on older but new Quantum units, not sure if theres any left , but they seemed to sell well , despite being older tech ?

I find them perfectly good.

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, snow white said:

Just ordered the xm30 should be here Monday 

I was just going to say beg borrow or steal so you can try one, I've been corrupted by @Sciurus lending me his, very clever bit of kit.

[Fisheruk]

12 hours ago, Mice! said:

I was just going to say beg borrow or steal so you can try one, I've been corrupted by @Sciurus lending me his, very clever bit of kit.

You won’t regret it in the long run, but it is a big chunk out of a family budget. 😳

[oldypigeonpopper]

On 17/12/2020 at 13:33, Rewulf said:

Pretty certain its the same animal https://www.mmsporting.co.uk/product-tag/hik-vision-owl-35mm-thermal-spotter/

I wasnt advocating HIK products specifically BTW , it was just an example I thought demonstrated what I was trying to get at.

My money would , and did go the way of the Infiray stuff https://www.infirayoutdoor.com/
I use an FH25R , built in laser rangefinder, smaller than a XM 30 , 640x512 sensor , 6 hour battery, and a beautiful crisp image.
Yes they are £2.5 k and 'only' have 25mm objective , but will blow any but the £4k + Pulsars away, and it fits in your top pocket.

This video is a comparison between an XM 30 S and the FL 25 R , the FL only has the 384x 288 sensor, so the picture is not as good as the FH , they are also £3-400 cheaper.

 

Hello, I think the pulsar screen looks better to me , what do other PW members think? 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, so who is selling the Pulsar XM 30 for the best price, I see Blackwood's give the APS battery free with their web site

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I think the pulsar screen looks better to me , what do other PW members think? 

is the rear dioptre adjustable ?,I have to max out my hawke scope to save wearing glasses, 

[Sciurus]

I have the cheaper Quantum lite xq23, which is discontinued, cost around £1400, 3 years ago. I only shoot squirrels but it is perfect for the job. 👍 I can  detect heat on the other side of lake Windermere which is a mile (heat from  house roofs and windows), which isn’t very useful but gives you an idea. It will pick up a well wrapped up human at 1/2 mile, not perfectly clear but you can tell it’s not a deer or sheep.

A friend has an axiom, in the open, this will pick up a squirrel hiding behind leaves better than my xq23 but his doesn’t seem to work In a dark wood as well as mine. 

The back up service of pulsar  is excellent, I dropped mine in a car park, I posted it off and it was repaired and returned within a week at no cost!

I have tried the new  HikVision 15 monocular around £800, the clarity was excellent and better than my old pulsar but a smaller field of view.

I am no techie and don’t need bells and whistles, at the end of the day, it depends on what you need one for, your budget and your preference. As we all know, there is no perfect gun for everyone. Best try and borrow one!

 

[Rewulf]

37 minutes ago, Sciurus said:

Best try and borrow one!

If you can , visit a retailer and have a look through a selection of different brands 

[Mice!]

On 19/12/2020 at 12:59, Rewulf said:

If you can , visit a retailer and have a look through a selection of different brands 

You can't fully appreciate how they work till you try it in the field, I'd looked through a couple before but inside looking at people. 

But better than nothing. 

[snow white]

We thermal spotter came today been playing about with it picking up sheep 400 yards can’t see anything else but it’s hissing down here mind you that’s not unusual the last couple of months 

[oowee]

11 minutes ago, snow white said:

We thermal spotter came today been playing about with it picking up sheep 400 yards can’t see anything else but it’s hissing down here mind you that’s not unusual the last couple of months 

Welcome to the world of thermal. Its not just when its raining. There are days  and nights where most of the scenery has the same temperature and becomes uniform. Without reference points it's difficult to judge distance. There are times I cannot recognise the target with thermal and need digital to reveal and other times I can see a target with the thermal and cannot see it with the digital.

This is one of the reasons that I think thermal and digital work together well rather than spot and shoot with only thermal. 

[kingsy18]

Trying to find out which thermal to get is a minefield,that,a all Ii,m looking for is something simple with no bells and whistles.Something that can pick up a fox at about 500yds clearly is the pulsar xm30 key up to this.Are any of the other brands apart from pulsar repaired in UK if something goes wrong.

[oowee]

Any will pick up a fox at 500. Its when the fox is layed up at 500 with just part of the head visible that the difference starts to show. If you have decent nv gear you can switch back to the rifle to make out the target heat source. 

 

[kingsy18]

10 minutes ago, oowee said:

Any will pick up a fox at 500. Its when the fox is layed up at 500 with just part of the head visible that the difference starts to show. If you have decent nv gear you can switch back to the rifle to make out the target heat source. 

 

Only need to spot them and call in,don,t use nightvision ,I use scope mounted torch,just want to know if you can tell its definitely a fox when moving.

[oowee]

1 minute ago, kingsy18 said:

Only need to spot them and call in,don,t use nightvision ,I use scope mounted torch,just want to know if you can tell its definitely a fox when moving.

At 500 and its moving yep any will do that. Provided its not raining and reasonable conditions it will b good. Confirm when you light it up and alls food. 

[Fisheruk]

On 21/12/2020 at 19:29, oowee said:

Welcome to the world of thermal. Its not just when its raining. There are days  and nights where most of the scenery has the same temperature and becomes uniform. Without reference points it's difficult to judge distance. There are times I cannot recognise the target with thermal and need digital to reveal and other times I can see a target with the thermal and cannot see it with the digital.

This is one of the reasons that I think thermal and digital work together well rather than spot and shoot with only thermal. 

I have a thermal for work which is both thermal and digital. It merges both pictures so you can see the digital image overlaid on the thermal. Once we get that technology released for civilian use, it will make a lot more sense with spotters and rifle scopes. I’m not going to invest more money until they come along with that set up.

[243deer]

For me whether to get a thermal is more philosophical than anything despite current budget constraints. I managed for years with fieldcraft during daylight, then succomed to long distance white light and the different coloured filters for rabbiting and foxing. Now have a Yukon for rabbits and the odd fox which is highly effective. I am resisting thermal despite friends telling me it is a game changer for munties especially. Not sure I want my shooting to become an electronic game.

[mel b3]

10 hours ago, 243deer said:

For me whether to get a thermal is more philosophical than anything despite current budget constraints. I managed for years with fieldcraft during daylight, then succomed to long distance white light and the different coloured filters for rabbiting and foxing. Now have a Yukon for rabbits and the odd fox which is highly effective. I am resisting thermal despite friends telling me it is a game changer for munties especially. Not sure I want my shooting to become an electronic game.

You should give thermal a try , it makes life so much easier. I use mine even when I'm out shooting early morning rabbits . As I've got older and my eyesight has got poorer( i really cant get on with glasses), I can scan a field , and spot rabbits hundreds of yards away , it's then just a case of using field craft to get close enough.  It also saves a lot of time ,  you do a quick scan with the thermal,  and if you can't see anything , you just move on.