Thermal

North Stalker

Well-Known Member
I'm seriously looking into getting into the thermal imagers for increasing my success rate. Not interested in hearing about "Oh, that's giving you the upper hand","unfair advantage", etc, etc! I know this, this is why I'm wanting it! It's woodland management, not deer management I do, yes I enjoy it!

Wanting input put about the Pulsar HD38 and HD50 only, not interested in hearing about other types, I know there are plenty "Other" types out there.

Advantages and Disadvantages of each from people who've actually used the equipment.

Thank You
North Stalker.
 
I have the HD38S, and I'm very happy with it. I can spot things much further than I can shoot, but it does take a bit of practice learning just what you're looking at, especially in the woods, where you may only see a very small area of an animal, & have to work out the scale/distance.

I have tried a friends HD50S, and they do give a marginally better resolution, but not enough for me to change.
 
where are you in Scotland?

East of Inverness

I have the HD38S, and I'm very happy with it. I can spot things much further than I can shoot, but it does take a bit of practice learning just what you're looking at, especially in the woods, where you may only see a very small area of an animal, & have to work out the scale/distance.

I have tried a friends HD50S, and they do give a marginally better resolution, but not enough for me to change.

Thanks, the difference in cost is marginal, I could probably get the 50 for the price of a 38 if I shopped about.
 
The HD50S has a 50mm focal length objective lens while the HD38S has a 38mm focal length objective lens.
Other than that they are identical
The HD50S has a slightly higher magnification than the HD38S and a correspondingly narrower field of view.
The new XD models have the same lens, sensor and display as the old models, but a with a couple of software bells and whistles added which, IMHO are not worth the extra cost.
Grahams in Inverness had the best price I could find (£2592 for the HD50S)

Cheers

Bruce
 
HD50:
+ :
Improved my success rate on Muntjac by at least 50%;
Use it 80% of hunting time and bino now only 20% of the time
Great for counts/surveys as well
Without the Thermal I now feel severely disadvantaged when out hunting

- :
Expensive
Battery cartridges are badly designed and fail often, most need replacing soon, only to fail as well.
Lens cap doesn't close properly
Mounting points for straps double up as mounting points for high capacity battery and video recorder, the designer didn't imagine you may want to use both at the same time.
With high capacity batterer and/or video recorded mounted it doesn't fit in the supplied bag.
Not waterproof
No built-in slot for SD card so requires proprietary add-on video recorded which is expensive and badly built
Be aware of thermal and bino clanging into each other in particular when scaling fences or gates
BIS Export license required in case of a warranty claim if you bought it abroad in the Eurozone

Recommended Euro shop for excellent fast service and delivery and save some 20% on UK retail prices: http://www.jvs-outdoor.com/
 
Wanting input put about the Pulsar HD38 and HD50 only, not interested in hearing about other types, I know there are plenty "Other" types out there.


have a look at the Guide IR510, compact, good battery life and a great piece of kit!

Thanks Bandooki, but not interested in anything else. The Guide IR510 has a detection range of 400m, the HD38/50 is 950m/1250m?
I have no idea how you could compare that against the HD's? I'm only interested in hearing about the 2 TI's I original asked about.
 
but like was said, pulsar units while technically better, are not as ergonomic or as guaranteed as the guide (three years for guide) pulsar?
 
Iv'e been using an XD50 for the past 12 months and it has changed the way I hunt enabling me to get some really nice pigs that are light shy. I've also used it to get a few dingoes which are extremely difficult to hunt and a real challenge, the thermal has made all the difference in hunting these at night. Mine has been looked after but well used and has never let me down, not a single problem to date. I haven't used other brands so can't compare it to them.
Jerry
 
Beware chaps that the pulsars whoever you buy from are guaranteed for 3 years only to the initial buyer. Once sold as secondhand Thomas jacks WILL NOT honour any guarantee left on the unit..
 
Beware chaps that the pulsars whoever you buy from are guaranteed for 3 years only to the initial buyer. Once sold as secondhand Thomas jacks WILL NOT honour any guarantee left on the unit..

Out of curiosity, how would they know? Is a warranty card given at time of purchase or would they just go off the receipt date?
 
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