Originally Posted By: ToroI’ve had a thermion xq38 and a couple trail xq38. My cousin has the thermion 2 xp50. The Thermions are really nice. The internal battery on the Thermion is a concern of mine but I really haven’t read that anyone has had a problem with it. If I were picking between the 2 of them I would definitely go with the thermion 2 xp50. Great image and its a big plus to have the option of being able to mount it on a bolt gun. Buy two of the larger batteries (aps3) and you will have plenty of juice to hunt all night.
I agree and I think the Thermion 2 XP50 and the other Thermion scopes are really the only Thermals going that do not seem to be having any "real" problems. I keep hearing about the battery not lasting...ask yourself how many hours you spend in a night out hunting...my buddy and I hunt for 6-7 hours normally and neither one of us have had to change out a battery. I use the APS3 external battery and carry the APS2 battery as a backup if needed, but have never had to change out the battery. I bet most that are still using the Trail series are carrying a spare battery either on them or in the vehicle just in case the battery were to go bad(I had 3 trail batteries replaced under warranty when I had my Trail XQ38), so a battery can go bad at any time. I normally have used the full extent of the external battery and about half of the internal battery in 6-7 hours of hunting, so I don't know what people are doing that would drain both batteries in just a few hours. I do put mine on sleep mode when on stand and do not run it recording the whole time. I also hear that people are so afraid of something happening to the internal battery and oh my god, they might have to send it in!! So what? If you have any major issue with any thermal you are going to have to send it in...if it is under warranty it will be fine...if not you will have a cost associated with the repairs...nothing different than with anything else. Look at how many Trails and Hogsters now have been sent back in. How many have been on the beloved facebook or other sites and heard of any Thermion that the internal battery has taken a crap and had to be sent back? How long now has the Thermion line been out there? Long enough to have heard of an issue if there was one. I find that most of the negativity comes from those that don't own one and go off of the fears of others that don't own one. Anything major can happen to any one of the Thermals out there...it is what it is. I can say that my Thermions(yes that is plural) have been rock solid, NO POI shift at all, no internal battery catastrophe, 6-7 hours of battery run time with half a battery to spare, the video quality is excellent and the audio is excellent as well. I have attached some videos and none of the audio has had anything dubbed in...the gunfire sound is in real time, the bullet impact sounds are real time, the coyote sounds are real time and there is probably some cussing in some of my videos that is real as well.
I am not posting this with any intent of bashing any brand or anything like that...just wanting to dispell some of the unwarranted "fears" and to try to put some of this negativity in perspective.