I am looking for recommendations on a thermal scope for an AR. Budget is around $4K, maybe a little more. I have used one several years ago but do not recall the brand. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Go with a 640 core thermal. I prefer Pulsar as I’ve had great experiences with their products and customer service.

If I'm not mistaken, 640 core thermal is a type, correct? Multiple manufacturers will make scopes in this category? Sorry, no knowledge of the scopes in this segment. Thanks.

640 core thermal has 640 x 360/480/512 pixels, depending on the shape of the screen.
Then you have...
384/320 resolution
256 resolution
And you don't want anything less than 256 and potentially not less than 384.

You also have 1080 and 1280 resolution scopes that are more pricey. For your $4k you can find a variety of 640 resolution scopes.

Pulsar is good with their customer service and all electronics will eventually need customer service. ATN's CS is an example of what you don't want. Trijicon has good CS, but are out of your price range as is probably N-Vision. InfiRay and Rix have good CS, though Rix is brand new. And there is AGM, also with good CS, based on what I have read online.

All things being equal, and they almost never are, then these are some traits to look for.
Resolution/pixels, higher is better for the image
Lens size, larger is better for the image
Hz, 50 is pretty standard, but you want no less than 30. Higher is better for image quality with motion
Thermal sensitivity, lower is better. This is the small about by when the thermal can detect difference, so the smaller the number, the greater the image detail. Numbers are usually something like <40, <25, <20, etc.

Thought I posted this the other day. 17um for pulsar and 12um for AGM Addler. IR sensor 'pixel' size determines real resolution. Each pixel has to heat and cool fast enough for the refresh to be accurate. None have real optical mag change, just use a smaller section of the detector and blow it up on the screen. You probably want the normal 'scope' format for long range varmit as it is closer to the bore. Lower NEP ( temp) number is better but performance costs $. I'd call the guys here and talk about your requirements with them.

Thanks very much for the info! The scope I used several years back was "in color", if you will. Several scopes I have just reviewed seem to feature a "black & white" screen. My assumption was that all thermal scopes were in "color" so as to depict the body heat of the targets. Is that not the case?

Mine has what is called jungle mode (color). I prefer the black & white with green reticle. Detector sees shades of grey, view screen colorizes it. IIRC one of the above Utubes has hogs in color & B&W - color is distracting to me. Your choice.
Don't mind me if I get too technical, I did DoD cooled IR stuff back in the early 70s. Was interesting and fun.

I don't think so. The "detector" does not see shades of grey. It "sees" differences in temperature.





Do tell.