Pulsar Helion XP38 and Bering Optics Hogster-R 35mm Video

Originally Posted By: DoubleUpAnybody who has read your posts knows that you have always spoken very highly of the Helion XP38 as an excellent unit that you have to your eye 98% of the time while hunting.

But, maybe they feel the pinch of the price difference vs. quality. Thankfully everyone of us has the option to buy what we "think we need" vs. what we "think we can afford". Some people can drop $10,000 or more on a thermal and not bat an eye. I thank God for that because it will ultimately benefit all of us down the road.

Some people manage to kill coyotes without top tier scopes, and don't feel too disadvantaged. I can shoot about as far right now at night as I would feel confident with the rifle I'm using no matter what scope it had on it. Well said.
 
Originally Posted By: KirschOriginally Posted By: Catdog1Yea the video def didn't do justice for the pulsar. Several on FB are bashing the op What do you mean by this? Please show me or link to what you are talking about. All I have ever done is try to conduct myself on this forum and others with integrity.

Korey you conduct yourself with integrity! Even with being a pro-staff member I think your comparisons are done pretty darn fair without trying to slant anything one way or the other.

Keep up the good work!!
 
Originally Posted By: KirschOriginally Posted By: Catdog1They're basically just upset that they felt that you let the pulsar settings go without adjusting them and in return made it look more horrible than it actually is.

I can't remember what Facebook page I saw it on I would have to go back and look later I don't have Facebook on my phone just on my laptop Whatever Facebook page or pages or group can go ahead and bash me. They probably don't know me, my history, or if I have some type of agenda. The people who are probably feeling hurt are those who own a Pulsar XP. I am not sure why they should feel hurt because they can continue to use their Pulsar Helion XPs which is a very good thermal. I agree, hence why I thought it was ignorant of NG to shut off comments. When you post a public video you're subject to the masses. And with the comments disabled your hands are tied and your not able to defend your footage
 
Pizz on buttbook....there is a reason I have nothing to do with the liberal establishment.
I will say that my helion xp28's and xp50 trail do have nights when everything wants to be dark but without going into the contrast and brightness settings after the update and being able to just change modes it's always better contrast than what that video shows. If it's not better in one color than is normally better in the other. I did see you change the colors and it looked a whole lot better
The hogster appears to be a very good unit for the money. However the video in my opinion shows the hogster to be better than the XP 38. After using an xp's for quite a while I feel they are better than what that video shows for those that may be interested. As far as the people that don't like your videos let them go make their own I'm sure it's not easy. I was just shocked to see how poor the XP 38 really looked in the video. Obviously nothing against you or the video and I'm not inferring you don't know how to dial in a thermal. I just wanted people to know that that may have not been the ideal night or video to make a decisive judgement on which to buy. Thermal can be funny about how it acts in different conditions.

 
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Originally Posted By: Catdog1Originally Posted By: KirschOriginally Posted By: Catdog1They're basically just upset that they felt that you let the pulsar settings go without adjusting them and in return made it look more horrible than it actually is.

I can't remember what Facebook page I saw it on I would have to go back and look later I don't have Facebook on my phone just on my laptop Whatever Facebook page or pages or group can go ahead and bash me. They probably don't know me, my history, or if I have some type of agenda. The people who are probably feeling hurt are those who own a Pulsar XP. I am not sure why they should feel hurt because they can continue to use their Pulsar Helion XPs which is a very good thermal. I agree, hence why I thought it was ignorant of NG to shut off comments. When you post a public video you're subject to the masses. And with the comments disabled your hands are tied and your not able to defend your footage

Hopefully I can explain this in a manner that makes sense. Night Goggles has never allowed comments on our videos. The entire purpose of putting a video online is to drive people to our website so that they will research the products they are interested in further by reading detailed information about those products or calling a subject matter expert in our office regarding those products. We find that often times, people are lazy and they will not go to our website to research the products if they can ask general questions about the products in the comment section. If they can circumvent going to our website by commenting in the comment section, it negates the entire purpose for the video. In a perfect world, someone sees a product video, which piques their interest. Then, they go to our website and research the product or call our office and speak to a subject matter expert regarding the product and then make a purchase based off the information and research they have done. The comment section doesn’t convert to sales. In fact it’s mostly gummed up with ignorant or rude people hiding behind a keyboard spewing their opinions, rumor and conjecture. These are not subject matter experts typically, but speak to the matters as if they were. All the comments section does is cause confusion. I also don’t want to pay a subject matter expert to sift through all the useless comments just to answer one or two valid questions from someone that could simply go to our website and have all their questions answered.
 
Dear American night hunter friends, I am a neutral observer, simply because I will never be able to buy Hogster-R 35 in Europe due to the restrictions of the American ITAR law. So now I expose my thoughts ... If we had to make a purchase choice based only on the video posted by Kirsch, there would be no history ... almost all of us would choose to buy Hogster ... You already know how much esteem, admiration and consideration I have for Kirsch .. He is above all a great night hunter, with infinite passion, with incredible physical endurance, put to the test in hours and hours of night stalking with unbearable cold ... He is also a very technical expert, with an exceptional theoretical preparation that allows him to have a great capacity for analysis and synthesis, both in the description of the technical characteristics of the devices, and in the observation of their performance in the field of night hunting, with fussy precision and with extreme objectivity and honesty of judgment. Therefore I do not share the veiled controversy about possible preferences, dictated by commercial aspects, for one device over another. We just have to thank Kirsch who, assembling those beautiful videos, does a great job for us old hunters, who very often are confused and incompetent and do not know how to choose which device to buy, compatibly with our badget possibilities. IMO I think that in the video made with the Pulsar Helion XP38 in Kirsch I would have only modestly suggested 2 things: 1) to choose a more favorable contrast and brightness setting; 2) to use the Image Detail Boost function, so it would have obtained better images even if partially artifacted..
As regards the comparison between the minimum basic magnification, it is a very long and complex discussion that I would prefer to deal with in an ad hoc post. Suffice it to say that there are many definitions of magnification: theoretical, apparent, subjective, ideal, empirical…. To compare the magnifications, some professionals in the sale of thermal devices in Italy even measured, in an open field, the horizontal FOV observed at a certain distance! I can only tell you that Pulsar cannot indicate a unique magnification for the same FOV. Just think of the Trail XP50 (1.6x) versus the Thermion XP50 (1.9x) and they have the same FOV !!! 12.4 ° - 9.3 °; the same 640x480 sensor, the same 50 / 1.2 lens. This is a mystery difficult to explain ...
 
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Predator Masters Members, thank you for your kind words and support. Tom, thank you for your clarification on the YouTube Comments.

It is entirely possible something has started to malfunction from a recording standpoint on my XP38 as the recorded video of the XP38 doesn't meet my expectations either. I have been noticing issues ever since the last firmware update. Due to this, I should have not tested the equipment until I was sure my XP38 was working correctly. I will contact Pulsar and see if there is anything that I can do to get a more representative video recorded and try a 2nd video. The goal of recording a 2nd video is to give a better representation of what I am seeing through the eyepiece of both units.
 
No good deed goes unpunished!!
tongue_smilie.gif

At least nobody got within six feet of you in the video!!
 
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Originally Posted By: Burnsome...Thanks Kirsch. Outstanding comparison videos and they are much appreciated for honest and unbiased reviews.

and I said AMEN to that.
 
Do you have the ability to record thru the eye piece? that will normally give you a better representation of what you're seeing, excluding ATN. For some reason ATN videos always look way better than the view through the eyepiece does
 
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Kirsch, I know you're having to use an add-on DVR for the Hogster and I would assume it is also degraded somewhat from your eyepiece view as well. I've noticed that in my recordings what looks bright enough through the eyepiece sometimes shows as much darker in the video.
 
Originally Posted By: Catdog1Do you have the ability to record thru the eye piece? that will normally give you a better representation of what you're seeing, excluding ATN. For some reason ATN videos always look way better than the view through the eyepiece does Appreciate the recommendation, however, the Pulsar Helion eyepiece isn't conducive to recording with a phone through the eyepiece, at least not with the adapters I own. I could do it on the Hogster, but thought it was a more fair comparison by using a DVR since both devices record to virtually the same resolution, frame rate, and format. On the video #2, I will probably highlight the equipment used.
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleUpKirsch, I know you're having to use an add-on DVR for the Hogster and I would assume it is also degraded somewhat from your eyepiece view as well. I've noticed that in my recordings what looks bright enough through the eyepiece sometimes shows as much darker in the video. Yes, I am using an add-on DVR with the Hogster. Most people would say the Hogster is automatically at a disadvantage using a DVR to record vs internal recording. DVRs are very notorious for degrading the quality of the video in comparison to the view from the eyepiece. The Hogster video wasn't as good as it looked through the eyepiece either, but it wasn't as noticeably different as the Pulsar on the video.

Previously when my Pulsar Helion has acted up, I have formatted the memory, reset it to factory defaults and then reset all the parameters. I have had other PM members do this and it seemed to help. I did this today, and will try again tonight.
 
That post on FB was on The Thermal & Night Vision Club by Night Vision Outfitters. But the post and video are gone now so I don't know what the deal is.
 
I will share my .02 as to why these video's cause such an uproar. First I will give my disclaimer though. I don't think Korey tries to be deceptive. I enjoy your posts and knowledge you bring to the sport.

With that said......... whether you like it or not, people will take these video's at a face value. Like the Trijicon video, this video makes the Hogster look like a far superior thermal. Then when people find out that a pro staffer for a company that sells these products is the one making these.........it just rubs people the wrong way. That may have never been the intention, but that's what is going to happen every time these get posted.
 
Originally Posted By: BocephussI will share my .02 as to why these video's cause such an uproar. First I will give my disclaimer though. I don't think Korey tries to be deceptive. I enjoy your posts and knowledge you bring to the sport.

With that said......... whether you like it or not, people will take these video's at a face value. Like the Trijicon video, this video makes the Hogster look like a far superior thermal. Then when people find out that a pro staffer for a company that sells these products is the one making these.........it just rubs people the wrong way. That may have never been the intention, but that's what is going to happen every time these get posted. I agree and many are probably right that in a lot of situations a video such as this is only posted that benefits the person posting, the company they represent, or the products they sell. In the case of the video I was posting, I am representing Night Goggles, as you said, whether that is my intention or not as a Prostaffer. However in this instance, Night Goggles carries both Pulsar and Bering Optics, and I own both thermals in question. There is no reason to push one brand over the other. The standard person watching the video may not know that but it is true. Appreciate your comment.
 
As you rightly said Korey, Nigth Gogless sells both Pulsar and Hogster, so all of us at this forum know very well that it would make no sense, on your part, to push one brand rather than the other. We are so convinced and aware of it, that we also appreciate very much the fact that you put beautiful videos online, without ever expressing negative ratings, neither for one, nor for the other brand, always leaving us the freedom to express opinions , evaluations and the final decision for a possible purchase. Think about what level your love for objectivity has come ... You have decided to reset the Helion XP38 and to remake a new video. And do you know why you do all this? Not for the veiled controversy that arose on the video that shot in another web domain without your comment .... But simply because you yourself had doubts, and you want to deepen and make the comparison as accurate and technical as possible. Korey, I tell you with my heart, in Italy I have never found a prepared, correct, honest and objective person like you. I appreciate you very much for what you do for us old impenitents hunters. ....
 
Originally Posted By: Ernest49As you rightly said Korey, Nigth Gogless sells both Pulsar and Hogster, so all of us at this forum know very well that it would make no sense, on your part, to push one brand rather than the other. We are so convinced and aware of it, that we also appreciate very much the fact that you put beautiful videos online, without ever expressing negative ratings, neither for one, nor for the other brand, always leaving us the freedom to express opinions , evaluations and the final decision for a possible purchase. Think about what level your love for objectivity has come ... You have decided to reset the Helion XP38 and to remake a new video. And do you know why you do all this? Not for the veiled controversy that arose on the video that shot in another web domain without your comment .... But simply because you yourself had doubts, and you want to deepen and make the comparison as accurate and technical as possible. Korey, I tell you with my heart, in Italy I have never found a prepared, correct, honest and objective person like you. I appreciate you very much for what you do for us old impenitents hunters. .... Ernest that may be one of the nicest posts towards any Predator Masters member I have ever seen. Thank you my friend.
 
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