As a proud member of the Pulsar Pro Staff, I’ve logged more hours behind the Thermion 2 XP50 Pro LRF than I care to admit—and let me tell you, this scope still blows me away every time I take it out. On a recent hunt, I rolled out with two buddies: David, who runs the same model I do, and Kolbe, who was packin’ the non-LRF version of the Thermion 2 XP50 Pro. That gave us the perfect chance to see how each setup performed in the real world.
PiP or No PiP: How You Frame the Shot Matters
One big difference between me and David was how he runs Picture-in-Picture mode. I usually leave PiP off—I like a clean, wide-open view so I can see everything that’s going on. David’s a PiP believer, though. That little zoomed-in box gives him laser-sharp precision on shot placement while still letting him watch the bigger picture. It does crowd the screen a bit, and it takes some getting used to, but I’ll admit—for them long shots, his extra magnification’s got its perks. Me, I prefer to stay fully immersed without the extra clutter.
We also played around with color palettes. Me and David both stuck with Black Hot—seems to give us the best contrast for picking out targets in our usual Pennsylvania terrain. Kolbe ran White Hot, which worked better for him in certain spots, especially where the background’s dark. That white heat really jumps out. There’s no right or wrong answer here—it just depends on what you’re hunting and where. That’s what makes Pulsar gear so dang handy—you can tune it to your liking.
Let’s Talk About NUCs
Now let’s talk about the big one: NUC settings. That’s calibration for the image—not nukes, despite what some of us rednecks might call it in casual conversation. I keep Auto-NUC turned off. Learned that lesson the hard way—ain’t nothing worse than having a coyote step into your kill zone and your screen freezes mid-NUC. I’d rather hit that calibration manually when I feel it’s needed. David, on the other hand, runs Auto-NUC, and I’ll give him credit—his image was crisp and clean all night. His scope stayed sharp, while mine gave me full control over when the refresh happened. It’s a tradeoff. You either want consistent clarity or total control. Pick your poison.
Truth be told, David’s image looked better than mine overall—and that wasn’t just the NUC settings. I think I was a little lazy with my focus. That’s on me. Just goes to show, even with a top-tier thermal, you’ve still gotta take a minute to dial it in. If your focus is off, it don’t matter how good your scope is—you’re not gonna get the full potential out of it.
Built for Hunters, Tuned by Hunters
Whether you’re running the LRF version like me and David, or the regular model like Kolbe, the Thermion 2 XP50 Pro delivers badass thermal performance, simple menus, and rock-solid durability. The real magic is how customizable it is—you can set it up to match your style and your terrain. Pulsar didn’t just build a smart scope. They built a flexible one.
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