Pulsar hd19a or XD19a Night Hunting Tips?

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vetman1

Member
I am looking at purchasing a Pulsar HD19A or a Pulsar XD19A monocular for scanning for coyote and hog hunting. I was looking for a few suggestions on using the thermal monocular to shorten my learning curve.

Do you use a neck strap or a binocular harness to hold the monocular when you are ready to shoot?

Do you use a lens cover for the monocular to protect the lens as well preventing light exposure to the animal? Or do you just turn the display off before you put the monocular down?

Do you use the Pulsar external battery pack or rechargeable AA batteries?

Finally, do you turn off your headlights a long ways from your stand and if so what do you use to be able to see to drive to where you park? I do not have any nightvision optics to use to drive and see with at night only thermal.
 
The unit only emits light toward your face and it will be an issue to deal with. I would suggest turning it off if you when you are ready to go your shooting scope.

The only way to deal with the learning curve is field experience with thermal.

The unit has a built in lens cover for the objective.

The battery issue is personal preference. It uses 4xAA Lithium batteries and they are somewhat expensive. You will just have to decide which you want to use.

As for driving you cannot use thermal as it does not penetrate glass and even if you could it would be dangerous IMO.

Here is a good lanyard on Amazon that is cheap and it even comes with a 1/4x20 stud that will screw into the Pulsar body.

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I had a lot of trouble with the 4aa battery internal pack. I would recommend the external battery pack it lasts about 9 hours.
 
I use 2500 mah and 2800 mah rechargeable batteries in mine. The battery holder is the only negative I find with the unitbe sure to look at the label to see which way the battery needs to be inserted. On mine I sometimes have to roll the battery around to make sure it has a connection. And occasionally I have to pull the tabs up a bit on the unit itself that the battery pack presses against to get it to turn on. But it's been lasting bout 4-5 hours atleast the past week in 20degree weather. I generally turn mine on when I leave the house and turn it off when I get home unless I hit the power button on accident. I bought mine used from sledge on here and he had already replaced the rubber eyecup with a flip up scope cover. When I'm not looking through it I just close the cap so it's not shining light on me. I prefer this to shutting it off as it takes 10-15 seconds to startup. I use mine on a lanyard and it works fine for me but my buddy uses his on a binocular buddy and I think
Think that is a better setup as it doesn't swing around. Another option is helmet mounting and I know sledge on here does that and would Probly help you setup it up. As far as headlights we leave ours on and usually walk 100 yds or so but I'm sure the area I hunt is different than yours. Keep in mind that vegetation will block the thermal so woods and grass patches aren't ideal in my opinion we hunt empty fields. All that being said I think a thermal scanner is the best thing to get for hunting at night and you'll really be glad you got one. Good luck
 
I have yet to have any duracells or lithiums last past 4 hrs with constant use, last night I only got 3hrs of on/off w/the duracells.
If you only have the 4 cell holders make sure you have a loaded one in your pocket when the other goes dead & its going to happen when you have a coyote comeing in!
Id look at a 12v battery pack, either the pulsar one at $135 or so or get one off amazon for much less.
I made a harness w/a quick clip on it so I can remove it when I need to without having to pull the strap over my head. When I see a coyote I just tuck it under my coat so the light is hidden & not turned off.
 


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