Pulsar Apex Thermal Scopes
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Don't shoot dear
Active Member
No experience but personally I'd consider the xd75 before the two you listed for foxing..
The XD50 will give you slightly more magnification.
The main issue with thermal scopes with the resolution of the Pulsar models is target identification.
You need to make sure you're shooting at a fox rather than a cat or a badger or even a big hare.
IMHO best practice is to use a thermal spotter to detect the potential target and a Night Vision scope (tubed or digital) for positive identification and taking the shot.
Cheers
Bruce
The main issue with thermal scopes with the resolution of the Pulsar models is target identification.
You need to make sure you're shooting at a fox rather than a cat or a badger or even a big hare.
IMHO best practice is to use a thermal spotter to detect the potential target and a Night Vision scope (tubed or digital) for positive identification and taking the shot.
Cheers
Bruce
Try the XD75 Pulsar Apex XD75 Thermal Rifle Scope
A few observations:
I shot 2 foxes the night before last with a 75 at 115m and 135m and through the scope both felt "close". I've shot more with a 50 but shots at those ranges felt "long". I haven't used a 38.
HTH
- What may look like good resolution in a thermal spotter doesn't look quite as good once you have a crisp reticle for reference and live quarry behind it.
- Compare the reticle position on the main image with the one in the PiP window and check how closely they match.
- As you go up through the Apex models the "click" value gets finer, from 40mm (38), to 30mmm (50) to 20mm (75), giving you a more precise zero.
- Magnification also increases with lens diameter.
I shot 2 foxes the night before last with a 75 at 115m and 135m and through the scope both felt "close". I've shot more with a 50 but shots at those ranges felt "long". I haven't used a 38.
HTH
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Don't shoot dear
Active Member
Saw this on the hunting life forum, the xd75 certainly looks useable...
Thermal Rifle Scopes - Apex Xd75 - Night Vision - The Hunting Life
Thermal Rifle Scopes - Apex Xd75 - Night Vision - The Hunting Life
Erik Hamburger
Well-Known Member
Just check if, whatever Brand you buy in the end, is Water Proof.
The Pulsar Thermal viewers certainly aren't, and I think a piece of kit that costs some £3,000 to £5,000 and is used outdoors in field conditions should be Water Proof! Pulsar is also raking it in on peripherals such as high capacity batteries and a Video recorder, both at considerable extra expense. My view, again, is that at that kind of price point the Thermal Viewers and Thermal Scopes should have an internal SD Card slot and not a bolt-on unit at an extra cost sold separately.
My Pulsar Quantum Thermal has, btw, transformed my hunting and increased my success-rate, but you have to be ever so aware of it potentially getting wet, which will invalidate a possible warranty claim.
The Pulsar Thermal viewers certainly aren't, and I think a piece of kit that costs some £3,000 to £5,000 and is used outdoors in field conditions should be Water Proof! Pulsar is also raking it in on peripherals such as high capacity batteries and a Video recorder, both at considerable extra expense. My view, again, is that at that kind of price point the Thermal Viewers and Thermal Scopes should have an internal SD Card slot and not a bolt-on unit at an extra cost sold separately.
My Pulsar Quantum Thermal has, btw, transformed my hunting and increased my success-rate, but you have to be ever so aware of it potentially getting wet, which will invalidate a possible warranty claim.
The Apex are IPX7 rated which means they are waterproof and even submersible below 1m depth for a short duration.
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2-dead-in-the-air
Well-Known Member
I see these are on offer on Night vision thermal uk website, http://www.nightvisionthermaluk.com
It's more than a year since this thread started and the game has moved on.
IMHO the best bang for your buck thermal scope is the WT series sold by Night Vision Store (Clive Ward) http://www.nightvisionstore.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatID=2376122
I have no association with this company but I did buy a thermal scope directly from China before NVS started selling the same model here and over the last year I've spent a lot of time researching thermal riflescopes and shooting with them
The Pulsar Apex scopes uses a 25 micron core with 384x288 pixels
The WT1 scopes use 17 micron cores and are available in both 384x288 pixels and 640x480 pixels
Comparing directly between the Pulsar Apex 75 and the WT1-75-3, both have 75mm objective lenses and 384x288 pixel cores.
The smaller pixel pitch on the WT1 scopes results in a physically smaller sensor which results in a higher base (optical) magnification and hence a longer detection range
Magnification on the Pulsar Apex is x3 (optical) and x2 digital giving a maximum magnification of x6
Magnification on the WT1 is x6 (optical) and x2 and x4 digital giving magnifications of x12 and x24
Other advantages of the WT1 over the Apex is that the WT1 uses an f1 objective lens lens while the Apex uses an f1.4 objective lens. This means that the WT1 admits double the heat of the Apex making it more sensitive to small changes in temperature by a factor of 1.4
Finally, the OLED display on the WT1 has a resolution of 800x600 while on the Apex it's 640x480 - having looked through both there's no doubt the image on the WT1 is noticeably better than on the Apex.
Price wise the WT1 is £3750 and the best price I can find for the Apex is £3589
IMHO the WT1 is well worth the extra.
Once again, let me stress that this is not a sales pitch for Night Vision Store products (I think Starlight are selling the same scopes under their "Icarus" brand), but simply an attempt to help people who might be thinking about spending a lot of money to buy a thermal riflescope to make an informed choice.
Cheers
Bruce
IMHO the best bang for your buck thermal scope is the WT series sold by Night Vision Store (Clive Ward) http://www.nightvisionstore.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatID=2376122
I have no association with this company but I did buy a thermal scope directly from China before NVS started selling the same model here and over the last year I've spent a lot of time researching thermal riflescopes and shooting with them
The Pulsar Apex scopes uses a 25 micron core with 384x288 pixels
The WT1 scopes use 17 micron cores and are available in both 384x288 pixels and 640x480 pixels
Comparing directly between the Pulsar Apex 75 and the WT1-75-3, both have 75mm objective lenses and 384x288 pixel cores.
The smaller pixel pitch on the WT1 scopes results in a physically smaller sensor which results in a higher base (optical) magnification and hence a longer detection range
Magnification on the Pulsar Apex is x3 (optical) and x2 digital giving a maximum magnification of x6
Magnification on the WT1 is x6 (optical) and x2 and x4 digital giving magnifications of x12 and x24
Other advantages of the WT1 over the Apex is that the WT1 uses an f1 objective lens lens while the Apex uses an f1.4 objective lens. This means that the WT1 admits double the heat of the Apex making it more sensitive to small changes in temperature by a factor of 1.4
Finally, the OLED display on the WT1 has a resolution of 800x600 while on the Apex it's 640x480 - having looked through both there's no doubt the image on the WT1 is noticeably better than on the Apex.
Price wise the WT1 is £3750 and the best price I can find for the Apex is £3589
IMHO the WT1 is well worth the extra.
Once again, let me stress that this is not a sales pitch for Night Vision Store products (I think Starlight are selling the same scopes under their "Icarus" brand), but simply an attempt to help people who might be thinking about spending a lot of money to buy a thermal riflescope to make an informed choice.
Cheers
Bruce
Bruce just a query, going from a 25micron sensor to a 17 micron sensor increases magnication factor by more or less 1.5x. Example the Quantum XD 2.8 to XQ 4.1 and other new models.
How does that work out with the WT1 should the optical mag with a 75mm lens and 17 micron sensor really be 4.5x magnification ?
bewsher500
Well-Known Member
I have been trailing a xq50 from the group buy dealer. (Still significantly cheaper despite the strong euro)
not had a problem with quarry ID and very impressed at its range to pick up a heat source.
i was picking up sheep at over 8-900yds
i have just mounted it on my 300wm for a spot of night time pig action for the ultimate recoil test.
needs to be rezeroed which is a bit of a faff imo. Multi rifle zero would be useful
i have also made a custom QR mount to use on my .222 which wears Leupold QR bases and can easily be fitted in the dark one handed.
this allows me to use it as a spotter and just fit to rifle, two cam levers and away
more to follow
not had a problem with quarry ID and very impressed at its range to pick up a heat source.
i was picking up sheep at over 8-900yds
i have just mounted it on my 300wm for a spot of night time pig action for the ultimate recoil test.
needs to be rezeroed which is a bit of a faff imo. Multi rifle zero would be useful
i have also made a custom QR mount to use on my .222 which wears Leupold QR bases and can easily be fitted in the dark one handed.
this allows me to use it as a spotter and just fit to rifle, two cam levers and away
more to follow
Can you post a picture of how you're doing this. Are you using it like an add on ?
According to this from Pulsar http://www.pulsar-nv.com/support/nv_technologies/
The optical magnification of a digital NV or thermal system similar to the Quantum or WT1 depends on 4 things
These are:
Focal length of the objective lens (38/50/75 etc)
Diagonal size of the sensor (work that out from the number of pixels, the pixel pitch and a bit of Pythagoras) - it's 12mm for a 25micron sensor and 8.15mm for a 17 micron sensor
Focal length of the eyepiece lens (not normally available)
Diagonal size of the eyepiece display (number of pixels known, but not their pitch)
It turns out that the optical magnification can be calculated pretty accurately by dividing the focal length of the objective by the diagonal size of the sensor and multiplying the answer by a "fudge factor" for the eyepiece of between 0.65 and 0.67
The increase in magnification of the XQ thermals over the HD/XD series is entirely due to them changing from a 25 micron core to a 17 micron core. The eyepiece hasn't changed
The WT1 with 75mm lens has x6 magnification (not x4.5) with the higher magnification due entirely to the larger objective lens.
Hope that helps
Cheers
Bruce
The XQ uses a 17 micron sensor, the older HD and XD series uses a 25 micron sensor
Detection range for the XQ38 is more than an HD/XD50,
Does the XQ have a reticle and is it's position adjustable so that when mounted on the rifle it could be adjusted to the bullets POI?
Also what's the current price of the XQ38 and XQ50
Cheers
Bruce
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