Not much on here about AGM thermals

My oldest son has two Rattlers. His fav' is the AGM Varmint LRF. I've hunted with him several times and he luv's that unit.
I'm invested in the Bering Optics Super Hogster and the Super Yoter. The next optic I get will definitely have the LRF.
I have the AGM Taipan 15-384 thermal scanner. I bought it for the 1.5x base mag. I've had it for six months or so and quite a few hours behind the lens. Works great for detection helps tracking a critter if it is not DRT. For discovery of critters, it has almost made my Leica Binocs obsolete.
Hot tracking feature is turned on in the vid below.



ya!

GWB

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I have a cheap taipan tm10 handheld scanner…and for detection it works great for me. Good to approx 200yds…I’ve used it a ton and don’t have any complaints about it. Battery life is great and it’s been very reliable. Been Great for under $600.
 
I'm running all AGM now and love the stuff. I started out with Bering and had terrible experiences with my Hogster and customer service. I've been running a Rattler TS35-384 for a coupe years with no issues at all. I also run a TM19-384 scanner and that has been bullet proof. Probably a year on that now. Also run an Adder TS50-384 that has been amazing so far, just a month on that one. I have had absolutely no issues with any of it and know of at least 6 other guys around here running AGM Rattlers, Varmint LRF and Adders that have experienced the same as I have. So far, so good with AGM for me.
 
Almost ready to pull the trigger on the 35 with the range finder. many places are sold out B-H photo gives a handheld with it.
 
I have the Rattler 384 and 640 they work fine. I have an ATN monocle, works just OK. 384 is much better for scanning. Could ID a rabbit hopping past the feeder @ 100.
 
I've been running the AGM Adder TS50-384 for the last year. Love the scope for longer shots on coyotes
 

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I bought a TS35 640 as a backup and it’s decent. My issue is battery consumption. I just use it as a scanner and if I get 1.5hrs out of a set I’m lucky. I won’t ever buy another thermal without an internal battery with externals as a backup.
The clarity is ok, but nothing compared to my main 640 thermal. It’s literally like night and day difference. But then again, the AGM was half the price so you get what you pay for. If I’d started off with the AGM I’d probably have thought it was the bomb.
 
Spurchaser said:
I bought a TS35 640 as a backup and it’s decent. My issue is battery consumption. I just use it as a scanner and if I get 1.5hrs out of a set I’m lucky. I won’t ever buy another thermal without an internal battery with externals as a backup.
The clarity is ok, but nothing compared to my main 640 thermal. It’s literally like night and day difference. But then again, the AGM was half the price so you get what you pay for. If I’d started off with the AGM I’d probably have thought it was the bomb.
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well when starting the buying process the 1st thing on my list is price, my pockets are only so deep and how much am I actually going to hunt with this? There are so many boxes to check when you start buying one of these, are you shooting hogs or coyotes? how far are you shooting 100yds or 300 yds? how important is battery life? How far can you ID a target and the list goes on. Image quality can drastically change on any given night because of moisture and dew point. Not long ago we had 21 days without sunshine, rain, snow, and water standing in the fields, image quality went down the tubes. The problem around here is there are no shops to walk into and do a hands on inspection of these scopes, one's left with reviews and alot of research. There are trade offs, am I willing to trade base mag for battery life, etc?
 
Yeah I looked for almost 3-4 months before I pulled the trigger.
The hog/coyote thing really had me thinking. I hunt both so went with what they’d consider a “coyote” thermal. I’ll be honest. I’ve shot both coyotes and hogs at 25-200yds and still glad I picked the scope I did.
Battery life was real important to me. I didn’t do the research on my backup. I’ll get a battery pack for it when it goes on a gun, so hopefully that’ll take care of it.
There’s a setting on my iRay for high humidity and surprisingly it makes a huge difference.
Speaking of the distance again, I’d say the majority of my shots are less than 100yds probably less than 75yds. Down here I have a few fields, but they aren’t huge fields and it’s rare I catch anything on them. Most of my shots are in brush or burns…so I ain’t shooting far even though my base is 3.5.
When I save for another I’ll go back with what I have…unless I can “upgrade”, lol. Depends on how much money I save up.
 
I am having trouble sighting mine in I have watched a few utube videos on it but my thermal does not seem to work the same as the ones in the videos I cant move the cross hairs to the impact point. any help is greatly welcomed.
 
Galt said:
I am having trouble sighting mine in I have watched a few utube videos on it but my thermal does not seem to work the same as the ones in the videos I cant move the cross hairs to the impact point. any help is greatly welcomed.
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I think most of these scopes have 1 shot zero's or some such name however, I just change the numbers on my X Y coordinates. It may take 4-5 shots but it's no big deal for me. On my Adder "X"= Horizontal. To move point of impact to the right, "increase the number value. "Y"= Vertical to move point of impact down, increase the number value. Yours may be different but, you can get the idea.
 
Spurchaser said:
Yeah I looked for almost 3-4 months before I pulled the trigger.
The hog/coyote thing really had me thinking. I hunt both so went with what they’d consider a “coyote” thermal. I’ll be honest. I’ve shot both coyotes and hogs at 25-200yds and still glad I picked the scope I did.
Battery life was real important to me. I didn’t do the research on my backup. I’ll get a battery pack for it when it goes on a gun, so hopefully that’ll take care of it.
There’s a setting on my iRay for high humidity and surprisingly it makes a huge difference.
Speaking of the distance again, I’d say the majority of my shots are less than 100yds probably less than 75yds. Down here I have a few fields, but they aren’t huge fields and it’s rare I catch anything on them. Most of my shots are in brush or burns…so I ain’t shooting far even though my base is 3.5.
When I save for another I’ll go back with what I have…unless I can “upgrade”, lol. Depends on how much money I save up.
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battery life and base mag were huge in my selection as well. Up here I hunt big fields easily see 600-1000+ yards, my shots are 150+, I think I've had 2 shots less than 100 yds. The 4x base mag on my Adder has been great however, the new scope has a 3x base mag and I think it will work fine coupled with the PIP. I never use the zoom features just point and shoot. I'm looking forward to the new GH 50 x 640, should be here tomorrow I want to see the "highlight" color palette appears to be the cats pajamas.
 
Out of all the color schemes my go to is black hot. Started with white then tried one of the other, but black just seems to work best for my eyes.
I have cell cams out on my hog baits. I had one spotted sow I really wanted to take and after sneaking in I was able to pick out the spots on the spotted sow vs the other solid black ones.
I think you’ll be pleased with the iRay, especially going from 384 to 640.
 
I have a TS35-384 Varmint LRF, a Pulsar XQ-50 Thermion, and TS35-640 Sidewinder scanner.

As far as batteries go, one thing I found was that the factory AGM batteries are hit or miss. If you research 18650 batteries you find that there are lots of counterfeits, lots of rebranded resell from computers, etc. LOTS of junk out there in the battery market. Cheap 18650's are no bargain. I used to have trouble with the batteries not lasting for me. Then I broke down and bought good batteries with good reviews. They aren't expensive and it is amazing how much longer run time you get with good batteries. There are plenty of good ones out there, you just need to research them. I am using the baby blue Molicel batteries and they have been great. One of them will run my Sidewinder scanner nearly all night, or the Varmint LRF for around 4-5 hours or so. I have 4 of the Molicels and that will run both of my AGM units all night long.

I have looked through and used quite a few thermals. That 640 Sidewinder scanner is a lot of capability for the money. I have been very impressed with it. The Varmint LRF I have is older technology. I use it quite a bit pig hunting because it is light and compact. For a coyote optic I much prefer my Thermion. Honestly though both are 3-5 years old though and within the next year or two I imagine I will be upgrading. Not sure which one I will be starting with though.

I did look through a V2 Rattler here a while back and was pretty impressed with it.
 
Gault - have to be in the correct menu for that. Re-read the manual, some are written poorly. I've got V1 and V2 Rattler, both are great but V2 is an improvement. Originally got the ATN OTS, it works but I use the V1 now for scanning. Have to check charge on the OTS, V1 just drop batt in and go.
 
Anyone have options for extended batteries or another power option for the V1. Right now it takes 2 CR123 batteries I think. 2hrs on a set of batteries is really really pushing it, lol.
 
Spurchaser said:
Anyone have options for extended batteries or another power option for the V1. Right now it takes 2 CR123 batteries I think. 2hrs on a set of batteries is really really pushing it, lol.
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A 18650 won't work? I replaced two cr1123's with a single 18650 in one of my lights and it has been working fine for years.
 
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