Super Hogster R or Pulsar Trail 2 XQ50 LRF ??

Ernest49

Member
I want to ask all my specialist night hunter friends .... Is the Super Hogster R (2.9X - 35 mm) better or the Pulsar Trail 2 XQ50 lrf (3.5X - 50 mm) ?? Can you show us a comparative video? Maybe the Trail 2 is a little more sensitive, having NETD
 
Ernest, the Super Hogster hasn't officially released (Planned for week of September 7th) and the Trail 2's have just started to ship to US customers. It is very doubtful someone would have side by side video of the two at this time. Just FYI, the Super Hogster is listed as
 
Excellent comparison here Korey. Thanks!
thumbup.gif


Originally Posted By: KirschErnest, the Super Hogster hasn't officially released (Planned for week of September 7th) and the Trail 2's have just started to ship to US customers. It is very doubtful someone would have side by side video of the two at this time. Just FYI, the Super Hogster is listed as
 
I owned an original Trail xq38 LRF.... Having the rangefinder was a game changer for us while we were running 6.8spc. That unit like all original Trail's had some horrid POI shift. Reportedly this was due to the scope body being made of both poly and metal. The new trail 2's have a full metal body like the thermion's. There have been no reports of POI issues with the Thermion's. I can attest that my Thermion xp50 holds zero perfectly unlike my old trail. My Thermion XP50 felt naked without a range finder after owning the Trail LRF so I added a Silencerco radius.
My hunting partner runs a hogster 35mm and he has very few complaints. It's a super nice scope for the money but I beleive If I were in your shoes I would be plunging for the new Trail 2 lrf. Truth be told... I could probably do without the rangefinder now that we're running 22 Nosler from 300 yards and in although I have always had real trouble deciding if that coyote was 300 yards or 450 yards and the rangefinder solves that. I can say with confidence that we bag more coyotes with a rangefinder than without. One added bonus of the Silencerco Radius is that I can turn on the visable red laser to help mark a dead coyote that were walking out to retrieve in tall grass which has proven helpful several times.
 
johncraddock445 you're absolutely right. When I had the Flir LS-XR monocular scanner I found the red laser beam it came with very useful. On at least 2 occasions it was essential to report the shooting point of the game that had fallen in the tall grass. I am very sorry that Hogster and Pulsar do not have this feature. The rangefinder, IMO I see much more useful on the thermal scanner. I had the Pulsar Accolade XP50 LRF and it was very nice to be able to calculate the distance to the wild in total darkness.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: johncraddock445so I added a Silencerco radius. One added bonus of the Silencerco Radius is that I can turn on the visable red laser to help mark a dead coyote that were walking out to retrieve in tall grass which has proven helpful several times. Lots of people liked the Radius. It is unfortunate they quit making it. There is a hole in the market for a decent gun mounted rangefinder at an affordable price.

A tip for those new to thermal coyote hunting, on most thermals when you can start to see the various shading differences of the coyote, they are in shooting range for most flat shooting calibers. This starts to happen usually inside of 300 yards on most thermals. It sounds silly, but it usually works.
 
Originally Posted By: KirschOriginally Posted By: johncraddock445so I added a Silencerco radius. One added bonus of the Silencerco Radius is that I can turn on the visable red laser to help mark a dead coyote that were walking out to retrieve in tall grass which has proven helpful several times. Lots of people liked the Radius. It is unfortunate they quit making it. There is a hole in the market for a decent gun mounted rangefinder at an affordable price.

A tip for those new to thermal coyote hunting, on most thermals when you can start to see the various shading differences of the coyote, they are in shooting range for most flat shooting calibers. This starts to happen usually inside of 300 yards on most thermals. It sounds silly, but it usually works.

Good tip. I will add my 2 cents...Last year I purchased the NVision. As a very nice unit, I blame the lack of range finder on a few missed dogs. I ended up buying a radius for dang near $1k. So add that to the price left me wishing I would have just went with a Trail LRF. I ended up selling my setup and I'm leaning toward the Trail 2 LRF primarily for the range finder.

Now that being said, with more experience with a thermal, I would probably get a better feel for the distance, but boy, that added feature sure adds a lot of confidence.
 
A rangefinder can definitely be handy. Topwater you are right you get better at judging distance the longer you hunt at night. Along with the tip I already gave, at night coyotes tend to work the call quite well. If you are set up correctly from a wind perspective you can often get them to come very close. What I am getting at is let them come. When they start getting inside 100 yards, you will know it. Stop them with a quick "hey", whistle, or bark, and pop them. Range becomes a non-issue when they get in close. If they are coming in hot, stop calling earlier so you can get them to stop before it is too late.
 
Originally Posted By: KirschA rangefinder can definitely be handy. Topwater you are right you get better at judging distance the longer you hunt at night. Along with the tip I already gave, at night coyotes tend to work the call quite well. If you are set up correctly from a wind perspective you can often get them to come very close. What I am getting at is let them come. When they start getting inside 100 yards, you will know it. Stop them with a quick "hey", whistle, or bark, and pop them. Range becomes a non-issue when they get in close. If they are coming in hot, stop calling earlier so you can get them to stop before it is too late.

I mostly agree. However, I've been calling coyotes for a long time (day time), and getting the wind right every time is a pipe dream. So....This is my personal opinion based on my 1 year of thermal experience....I was truly surprised how well coyotes work the call at night. That in itself lends toward needing a range finder. The dogs missed hung up and I/we misjudged the distance. That's why my extensive day time experience says if there is a quality range finder option.....go for it. You will be rewarded
wink.gif

Also keep in mind I hunt in very open country. And Oh, the Super Hogster sounds intriguing...LOL.....here I go again...trying to decide on a thermal. LOL..
 
Last edited:
I also bought the Nvision Halo LR and a sico radius last year. Radius was suer heavy, and the Halo LR had the housing break 3 times. So, like you, I sold mine.

XQ50 lrf trail 2 will be here next week.

Also going back to a bolt rifle this year. No more jams, cold weather cycling problems from a heavy AR10.
 
Agreed, my xq38 LRF Trail left little to be desired for where I hunt. If it would have held zero I would have never jumped ship... That being said, I love the image on my Thermion XP50. The radius does its job and with the minimal amount of walking we do the added weight is not an issue. I do wonder how well its going to do with holding zero being mounted on the handgaurd. I was unable to mount it the the thermion due to running AS3 batteries and their added height.
 
Have a Hogser 35 and a Trail XP50 LRF. The thing I most appreciate about the Trail is the base mag. at 1.6 coupled with the the 640 allows a wider fov while using the pip for your magnified shots. Very advantageous for acquisition of targets before and after shooting. The Hogster magnifies the base magnification each time you increase the pip which shrinks the fov. Being at a higher base mag. to begin with and smaller fov makes finding the target harder.
 
Originally Posted By: BUCKWHEATDoes any one know if the new SH hogster base magnification goes up go up when using picture in picture. On all Hogsters, the PIP is always 2x of the main window. So, when the SH is on native/base magnification of 2.9x, the PIP is at 5.8x. If you digitally zoom the image the next level will be 5.8x for the main window and 11.6x for the PIP, etc.

The main window magnifications are 2.9x, 5.8x, 8.7x and 11.6x.
The corresponding PIP values would be 5.8x, 11.6x, 17.4x, and 23.2X
 
Kirsh I am happy to know how that workes.
How bad does the base screen get pixelated out or does it fuzz out as you zoom in on the main screen wile increasing picture in picture. At what point is it not worth going out in higher picture in picture until the main screen is not good.
 
Originally Posted By: BUCKWHEATKirsh I am happy to know how that workes.
How bad does the base screen get pixelated out or does it fuzz out as you zoom in on the main screen wile increasing picture in picture. At what point is it not worth going out in higher picture in picture until the main screen is not good. This is impacted by a lot of factors including humidity, distance of target, etc. However, in reality when you have digitally zoomed the scope one time, the main window is at 5.8x and PIP is at 11.6x. I can't see many times a person is going to need more magnification than 11.6x honestly for coyote hunting. The FOV is very, very small at this point. My guess is I will keep the Super Hogster on native mag with PIP probably 98% of the time. I made comfortable shots to 300yards with the SH at native mag and PIP on.

On the Hogster 25 and 35, even digitally zooming it once time really hurts the image. The SH maintains image quality longer with digital zoom. There are lots of examples of zooming in the following video:
 
Kirsch-these videos you post are extremely helpful for newbies looking to get into thermal. I really appreciate it. I hope to have a Hogster (35 or SH) by the new year.
 
Back
Top