Pulsar XD38A Thermal Scope 1 year old used price?

G

G Anderson

Member
What would the going price be for this unit? It appears that this model is discontinued now...it is a little over a year old and a person has it for sale with the external battery pack and I would like some opinions from the experts here as to what a good offer would be for it. Thanks

Gene
 
If you expand and read the whole first (most helpful) review, it says the guy paid $2,999 so it looks likes the guy wants full new price. Another of the reviews says the "A" versions did not have PIP and later versions did. You may want to ask if it has PIP.
 
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I saw that ad too, and unless the price was $2,300 or less, I would buy one of the new ones coming out and have a warranty.
 
ArtistMatt's Review of Pulsar Apex XD38A Thermal Riflescope
I purchased this product after doing months of research into thermal imaging rifle scopes and looking at all the major brands ATN, ZEUS, IR HUNTER. I used a buddies Pulsar 750 NV after using it for several hunts, I decided to take a chance on Pulsar. I am very glad I did. As a predator hunter, the resolution is fine for accurate shooting to 200yds in pitch dark no moon environments. The unit is picking up thermal signatures, so nothing can hide, I watched a coyote approach at 300yds just to settle in a patch of brush at 150yds and proceed to heat the twigs around him. I would also recommend using a handheld device to scout and leave the scope for shooting as the batteries do burn out quickly 2-3 hrs of use. In hunting situations I have been very impressed, Coyotes that are usually adept at avoiding detection are on the losing end of thermal technology, furthermore the automatic calibration setting acted as an unintentional game call. It makes a high pitched squeaky sound, pulling a coyote in from 100yds to 35yds to investigate. What I thought was initially a problem turned into an asset. Identifying animals at 350yds is easy, though as you magnify the image resolution decreases, because unlike a conventional scope your resolution is fixed in a digital pixel format, so you are just making the pixels larger without refinement, seeing a pixelated image. This doesn't effect shot placement from what I have experienced. I like the feature of multiple weapon memory, meaning you can have 3 saved reticles each for a different yardage or gun. The one shot zero is pretty intuitive although it's MOA is 1" not 1/4". I have figured out the best hunting combination of brightness, but there is better clarity on the lower settings. For $2,999 you can't beat the price and it's far better than Night Vision for the same price.

See the last sentance. The unit also suffers from short battery life; do you own a separate thermal scanner?
 
cmatera, thanks for the info. Yes, I had seen some for around $3K new and I PM'd the guy with this info and was just trying to get an idea of what to offer. Basically he is wanting new price for a used one and it does have the external battery pack as well. Also didn't know if the warranty was transferable or not. I won't go $3k on it being used and was thinking somewhere around what you suggested. No, I don't have a scanner...don't have any type of night vision at all and have never owned any, so basically just trying to get into it as cheap as I can, but with good quality equipment. Still haven't decided on whether to go Thermal scan/Thermal scope or Thermal scan/Night vision scope. Your thoughts?

Gene
 
I like that scope too!! Next spring I'm getting some type of 640 thermal scope. My budget was the same as yours too. But after doing much reading and a lot of helpful information on this forum, I decided to go with a Pulsar Quantum XD38A monocular and got a helmet rig for it. It's amazing. $2500, new. With that I got a Sightmark Photon 4.6, $500, and you'll need an illumator, but it does have a good built in IR. Have both monocular and scope is the way to go!!! Plus having a good tripod rig
 
Originally Posted By: Brad BaranouskasI like that scope too!! Next spring I'm getting some type of 640 thermal scope. My budget was the same as yours too. But after doing much reading and a lot of helpful information on this forum, I decided to go with a Pulsar Quantum XD38A monocular and got a helmet rig for it. It's amazing. $2500, new. With that I got a Sightmark Photon 4.6, $500, and you'll need an illumator, but it does have a good built in IR. Have both monocular and scope is the way to go!!! Plus having a good tripod rig

Brad, do you see anytime soon that you will go all thermal or do you think thermal/night scope with IR is the way to go?
 
For $3000 it's they way to go, in my opinion. Most definitely I'm gonna go all thermal, but the thermal scope budget is a big one, so I'm waiting a year and see what the prices do on the new stuff this year.
 
I have a PVS gen III Pinnacle autogated with manual gain. It is helmet mounted. For walking/navigating in the dark, it's great. I have a Pinnacle Gen III D 740 night vision scope and a FLIR LS64 thermal handheld scanner. I was going to buy a thermal scope but am waiting. When I bought my NV, I lived in IL which has a 4 month 24/7 predator season. I moved to MO where posession of NV while in posession of a firearm is illegal, and there is NO night hunting. Night vision at the Gen III level is stable. I bought the best, and nothing better has come out.

With thermal, the technology is rapidly changing, so are the major providers. Armasight is getting together with FLIR. Both have some nice products with questionable customer service. Trijicon and IR Defense have great products, but their prices are a lot higher than they should be. Pulsar has great products, customer service, reasonably priced, and is very stable. Thermal you buy today will likely be obsolete in a couple years, and you will lose a lot of money. I would like to get the original $6,500 I paid for my LS64 like that guy selling the you saw. Another thing I would like to point out-i assume you are interested in predator/varmint hunting like me. A lot of the even brand new stuff coming out has a bigger objective lens BUT at the expense of FOV which is a lot more important in the limited view areas of the midwest. Notice how a lot of the videos showing thermal are showing hogs and deer? Those are big, relatively easy to hit. Coyotes, raccoons and possums are much smaller and harder to hit. A fast refresh rate is a good thing, as is manual and auto refresh (NUC). Smaller micron size is better

If you can navigate by red flashlight to your spots, that will save you a lot of $$ vs a night vision device to navigate. A handheld thermal scanner with a wide FOV is essential. You need to be able to see coyotes coming a long way off to get ready to kill them. My FLIR can show heat in red. Once you spot your quarry, you can go a lot of ways. You can use a red and kill light, you can use a cost effective digital night vision scope ($500-700) with an IR illuminator ($250-350) at closer ranges (150 yds max), you can use a dedicated night vision scope with 4-6x magnification, the benefit being positive ID, and last you can use a thermal scope.

If you want to start in NV, the minimum to me, is a red flashlight to navigate, a thermal scanner (like a flir ps 32 and similar), and a digital nv riflescope (like a sightmark or Pulsar digisight) and an ir illuminator. A thermal scope would be the last thing I would get right now. I would let the technology and industry mature and settle before jumping in. I may have the best of all worlds right now. Some guys who bought thermal scopes are actually going back to thermal scanning/nv shooting. I'm sure I will buy a thermal scope someday but am waiting for all the reasons I gave you plus I will be more motivated when I move to a place I can use it without travelling out of state.

 
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cmatera, yes I am wanting this for coyote hunting and will be hunting Indiana and Illinois. Indiana will be more woodland areas and Illinois will be open country(as you probably know). I was wondering myself if the thermal stuff would ever finally peak...like you say, the new stuff is obsolete in a year or so. Sounds like a good thermal type scanner and then a digital NV scope would be the best "entry" equipment for now then. Thanks
 
Keep your eye on Ebay, Txfactoryoutlet, I just won a brand new in the box LD19S, for $1135. I see them selling, for the stating price. However I had not gotten my yet. I will let you know if it was to good to be true.
 
Originally Posted By: cmateraGuy on here by name of 6mm 06 knows a lot about lower priced nv. Maybe he'll chime in.

Yes, I have read a lot of his(6mm06) posts and gained a lot of knowledge from reading all the various threads on here. A little curious on the one in the link from AR15.com...it says 1x magnification but will digitally zoom to 8x...I have seen some images where when you zoom in, the clarity goes away real bad...is there a point where a guy should look at optical zoom versus digital zoom or am I way off base here?
 
When we use the term "obsolete", that really means it doesn't have the latest and greatest features, but it does not mean that if you can kill predators effectively with it now that you won't be able to still kill them effectively in 3 years or 5 years. Yes, the technology is growing and competition is bound to force prices lower. Newer scopes will have better features like onboard recording and rechargeable battery packs (like the new Trail series) and better pictures, but that doesn't mean the Apex scopes won't still function as plenty good to kill predators.

Bottom line is how long do you wait? I knew over a year ago that Pulsar was coming out with the new Trail scopes probably this year and they have. I too was tempted to wait, but at 70 years old, I don't know how many more good years that I have and didn't want to waste an entire year of hunting. I purchased the Apex XD50A and have had a great year of hunting with it. I am absolutely pleased that I didn't wait and waste an entire year, but everyone is different for sure.
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleUpWhen we use the term "obsolete", that really means it doesn't have the latest and greatest features, but it does not mean that if you can kill predators effectively with it now that you won't be able to still kill them effectively in 3 years or 5 years. Yes, the technology is growing and competition is bound to force prices lower. Newer scopes will have better features like onboard recording and rechargeable battery packs (like the new Trail series) and better pictures, but that doesn't mean the Apex scopes won't still function as plenty good to kill predators.

Bottom line is how long do you wait? I knew over a year ago that Pulsar was coming out with the new Trail scopes probably this year and they have. I too was tempted to wait, but at 70 years old, I don't know how many more good years that I have and didn't want to waste an entire year of hunting. I purchased the Apex XD50A and have had a great year of hunting with it. I am absolutely pleased that I didn't wait and waste an entire year, but everyone is different for sure.

Very good points Doubleup...I have thought of that myself a time or two...I am knocking on the door to 60 years old. The latest and greatest most of the time is just more bells and whistles. What works now should work for several years and my hunting will be purely recreational...not into all this "contest" stuff that seems to be taking over. Thanks
 
I am between the two of you in age. True, the decision to wait or jump is based on how much time is left on the clock. By the same token, I don't want to waste $$ on something that will not do what it needs to do. Sometimes, we just have to accept that the technology is just not there yet, and may not be in our lifetime.

In the case of night hunting, thermal is not the only technology out there, nor is it necessarily the best option at this time. There are guys who have killed more coyotes with lights than some of us will with thermal.

With regards to magnification on thermal scopes, magnification is overrated. So there you sit, with your wide FOV scanner and you see one coming in. Now you need to transition from scanning to shooting. By the time you do the prey can be close, more often than not too close in the Midwest. The greatest benefit of a thermal scope over night vision is quicker re-acquisition when going from scanner to scope, at the expense of a more positive ID. If it were not for that (quicker re-acquisition) I wouldn't even care about a thermal scope.

Most coyotes are shot at 100 yds and closer even in daylight and would be at night if hunters waited a bit an worked them in. Are you going to snipe coyotes at night at 200-300 yds and hope you aren't shooting at your neighbors dog due to lack of positive ID? I don't even shoot at those ranges during the day (150-175 and under for me). Most places in the Midwest there just aren't that many wide open places where a long shot will occur. 10-15 yds and your target is over a hill or in the treeline. On close in shots, too much mag starts to work against you, just like a day scope set at 9x when something runs in front of you at 30 feet. Yes higher digital mag on a night scope is much less sharp (especially at the high end). For me, it's a non-issue. I don't live where long shots are likely and would not take them anyway, I'm shooting small targets that are usually 100 yds and under, so I'll probably never need a high mag scope to shoot at a questionable target, making the digital zoom fuzziness at the high end meaningless to me.
 
I would say that in comparison the Apex XD50A is at least 5 times better than the HD19A as far as clarity and sharpness. The 50A has a native res. of 2x which gives a very good fov for close in shots. I keep the PIP turned on all the time, and even though the image is fuzzier obviously it does make a tremendous difference in shot placement when needed.

My hunting buddy uses a Photon 6.5 and if there was ever any need for questionable ID, he would be able to do it. So far in almost a year of hunting with the Apex there has only been a couple of times when I needed to verify the target. Neither of those instances were in calling but rather in the field behind my bait pile, and I used my Photon to verify animals that were out 150-200 yds.

Personally I just haven't seen the problem with ID that so many mention using thermal when calling. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it is not a problem that I've been experiencing. I can only imagine how much better the XP50's with a 640 core and 17 pitch must be compared to what I'm using.
 
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