Thermal Optics

The Bering Optics Hogster Stimulus is no question fantastic for the dollar, if you are on a very limited budget. At $1599, you would be hard pressed to find something that will hang with it as far as capabilities go. But what if you have a little more in the tank? To answer that question, we took a look at the Stimulus side by side with Hogster R-35.

That was one of the furthest shots I’ve even made with a thermal optic, at night, on a hog. My guide and fellow hunters were cheering my shot, and I certainly felt good about it. But I also knew the REAP-IR made the shot possible.

Thermal optics have long been the domain of the, uh, not poor. While some people have a job that can justify the upfront cost, it has not been a realistic option for the masses. Granted, prices have gone down. But not down to the point of accessibility to the masses. Until now.

The new infiRay Cabin CBL19 thermal monocular is now available to the US market, through a relatively new company, iRayUSA. It features a high-resolution display and a 384×288 sensor core. The result is a crisp, detailed image that’s able to detect heat out to 1,070 yards.

At SHOT Show 2022, AGM Global Vision released its all-new AGM 14 Fusion Night Vision Tactical Monocular.

While this whole project is still in the works, Core Vision Industries is hoping to deliver by the end of 2022 with distribution aiming for a SHOT Show debut in 2023.

Heating up the game, Pulsar released seven new thermals at SHOT Show 2022. While four of these were updates to existing product lines, Pulsar announced the brand new Talion riflescope, and the Krypton and Proton clip-on thermals.

This article is the second of two on thermal optics. In part one I discussed night vision, how I decided to invest in thermal optics, and profiled the iRay MH25 thermal scanner. In this article, I cover the Bering Optics Super Hogster thermal riflescope.

The first of a two part series, this article covers the scanning portion of thermal night hunting with a review of the IrayUSA Mini MH25 thermal scanner.