I'm usually the odd guy out on these thermal discussions, I probably will be here as well. But it is ok I'm used to it, lol.
I'm not sure how far you are from either Jason or Hans at Outdoor Legacy Gear but they might could get hooked up with you and let you see some stuff in person. They are both great guys and will do you right.
Since you are on a predator calling board, probably the majority of the advice you are going to be given more directly applies to that. I approach it from a different perspective though, one that may be closer to the way you are going to shoot. And that is that I spend as much time pig hunting as I do coyote calling, and usually shoot more pigs than I do coyotes. The two can be very different and finding a good compromise optic between the two is important.
So first off, what really is your budget? The best option, that comes up over and over, is having both a scanner and a scope on the rifle. So now that makes two purchases not one, and that puts you in a whole different spending category. Lots of threads on that, threads you can read on it.
Now lets talk about what you are actually doing with it.
Pigs. Don't need anything fancy here. Any decent 35/384 scope will have you killing pigs out to 250, no problem. Pigs are big, they are hot and easy to see, and due to the way they move usually pretty easy to ID. Unless you really want to show super pretty videos to your friends and post on the internet a 640 is not needed here at all. Only exception would be that if you are covering lots of big fields every night and trying to ID at long range, trying to decide if that is a group of pigs 1/2 mile away you need to stalk, then the 640 and higher magnification is good.
Probably more important on pigs is to not get over-magnified. Get on a big sounder up at 40-50 yards and field of view can become an important issue real quick. Less magnification and wider FOV is better, most generally. Especially if 150-200 is going to be a long shot for you. When pigs start running everywhere at relatively close range things can get crazy. Which if you are hunting them with lights already, you know that. If I was ONLY hunting pigs I would say for me about 2.5x base mag would be pretty good.
Now coyotes. I call in open country. Most of my shots are 75-150 yards but I take enough out at 250+ that I need to have that capability. ID at distance is a thing. But, also, if you really think about it while it is nice to know for sure what one is way out far, it is only once it comes into your shooting distance you really have to know for sure. And usually you can tell by behavior anyways. So, for sure a 640 is nice and helps a lot. But by no means is it necessary.
So what do I shoot? I shoot primarily a Thermion XQ-50 which is a 384 scope. Base mag is 3.5 which is a little on the high side for close up pigs. But I have shot it enough and am comfortable enough with it, that does not bother me. Generally with that scope I will not stalk up any closer than about 50 yards on pigs. I have at times though. We stalked a group in a shelterbelt one night in the trees and weeds, ended up at 26 yards before we started shooting because we had to. That was a little close for 3.5x, but it worked out. For coyotes though the 3.5 base mag is great. I turn on PIP and leave it on, so I have either 3.5x or 7x on my screen all the time without swapping around. That works perfect for me, I love it.
My other scope is a AGM TS35-384 Varmint LRF. Base mag is 3x. Better for pigs, nearly perfect for that, and still plenty good enough on coyotes. It has the LRF, but really I don't use it much. My main reason for going with that model was not the LRF, but the fact it uses rechargeable 18650 batteries instead of CR123's, which I hate, and the 3x base mag. This is the optic that most of the time I have it popped off of a gun and am just carrying it to use it as a handheld scanner. Is that optimal? Probably not. But it is fairly small and light, has a good return to zero American Defense mount, and since I am using it as a scanner having a good battery system is important. Plus when I need it for a second gun I have that option whereas with a dedicated scanner I don't. I also use this scope on my 300 HAMR when for sure I am doing crop damage control on pigs. That HAMR is pretty light, and so is the AGM. When you are carrying it a billion steps in sandy plowed ground and are old like me weight matters. And it is a great little scope for hammering pigs.
Some folks would say the best thing for my situation would be a 640 core scope to get the wide FOV down low, and then be able to turn it up and still get the resolution at higher magnification for the distance shots. Probably they are right. But that would have blown my budget and I would have ended up with jut one optic, not two. And I'll say this. I have a Thermion XQ50 (384 core) with 3.5 base mag. A friend of mine has a Thermion XP50 (640 core) with 2x base mag. His looks better at the 2x base mag than mine does at 3.5x. But zoom his to 4x and to my eyes I can't tell much difference between mine and his. Maybe there is and my eyes are bad enough I can't see it. But for sure it isn't night and day.
