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First time users of thermal optics may find themselves discouraged at the range when they discover the traditional red-and-white paper targets they’re used to for zeroing appear instead as plain black or white squares through their scope. Since a thermal scope works through infrared light, they can’t read the ink printed on paper and standard targets cannot be used for zeroing. Instead, heat-based targets are used in place, but otherwise the same rules of zeroing apply. Here are some of the different techniques you can try in your backyard or at the range:

High Contrast Targets

The color black absorbs heat. Therefore, making a high contrast target with a white backing and target zones made of black duct tape is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to set up a target for thermal. However, it may not be the most efficient way, since any shots that land in the white zones of your target won’t be seen clearly through your thermal optic.

Hot Foil Tape

If your shots aren’t hitting paper, it may be prudent to purchase a large, completely black target board made of foam or cardstock and stick self-adhesive foil tape on it for aiming points. Since metal foil absorbs sunlight much better than plain black paper, the foil tape, once left under the heat of the sun, should appear either very bright or very dark through your optic, depending on your palette choice. Any shots fired through the warm tape or board should leave a distinctive hole which can be used for zeroing.

Frozen Screws

While this method may be tedious and time consuming, it leaves clear and distinct marks on your target which are perfect for zeroing, rather than barely visible bullet holes. Under the heat of the sun, cold objects will appear as very dark or very bright depending on your palette settings. You will need several short screws (approximately the same diameter as your ammo if you can get them) on ice in a cooler and a paper target with stiff backing made of cardstock or museum board, strong enough to support the weight of a small screw without folding. Fire a group of two or three shots in your board and fill the holes with those frozen screws. Looking through thermal, you should have a good view of your shot placement. After this, it’s simply a matter of adjusting your windage and elevation towards the distinct dots on your target.

Hand Warmers

Lining up an array of hand warmers on a board to act as a target is both relatively cheap and hassle-free. Perfect for cold weather or zeroing at night, hand warmers light up the night in infrared just like cold objects darken during the day. Simply tape some hand warmers to cover a flat surface and fire away. The disadvantage of this setup is the hand warmers will leak once shot, and bullet holes may prove to be difficult to find.

Pulsar Thermal targets

For the scrupulous shooter who doesn’t want a DIY solution, Pulsar offers thermal zeroing targets for sale, purpose-made for zeroing thermal optics. Consisting of paper targets and pads which heat up when exposed to oxygen, this high-tech thermal target set is guaranteed to be the most reliable option for zeroing your thermal scope. Best for low temperatures, Pulsar’s thermal zeroing targets glow hot for anywhere from 10 – 20 minutes, so they should not be opened until they are ready for use.

What about you? What is your favorite way to zero your thermal device? Tell us in the comments below.

It was a warm Texas Friday afternoon in late October. Expecting deer to come out in 85° heat was wishful thinking, but I was, hanging out in the hunting stand. I sat patiently, like a bachelor waiting for a girl that I didn’t make the best first impressions on. There was no guarantee that I wouldn’t be stood up.

Yet, after hours of silent waiting, they showed up – two fine looking does, both about two years old, walked up to the feeder just before legal shooting light ended.

Some might be wondering why I chose to use thermal binoculars on a daytime hunt. The fact of the matter is the Merger LRF XP50 isn’t limited by the time of day. Since it’s a pair of thermal binoculars and not night vision, the daytime world won’t be washed out in brightness like it would be if viewed through a pair of PVS-14s.

Instead, the Merger LRF XP50 defeats any natural camouflage animals may be using to hide in whatever environment you might be hunting in. With its high resolution 640x480 sensor, no creature is too small for the Merger to detect.

Despite its size, this tiny bird appears clear through the Merger’s viewfinder, while the integrated rangefinder is sensitive enough to determine its range. All this in full sunlight.

Built with an intuitive interface, the Merger’s various controls are quick to learn and easy to access. The rangefinder is toggled with the press of a button and is capable of detecting objects up to a thousand yards away, more than enough for any rifle hunter.

The Merger’s rangefinder is usable in both single measurement and scan mode. In single measurement, the user taps the Merger’s LRF button to measure the distance of a single distant object. In contrast, Scan mode keeps the Merger LRF laser on and measures the distances of all the objects its laser touches.

Unlike digital night vision, which converts ambient light into a digital image, thermal works by detecting long-wave infrared, which is emitted by all objects, both living and non-living. Since thermal can see at higher wavelengths than night vision, it can also see through smoke and fog, so a misty morning means nothing to the Merger.

Precise, practical, and highly versatile, Pulsar’s Merger LRF XP50 pro is perfect for daytime hunting due to its ability to pierce through fog and defeat camouflage as well as its long distance rangefinder.

Would you use digital thermal imaging in the daytime? Tell us why or why not in the comments.

When Pulsar released the Accolade in January of 2021, it took the world of thermal vision by storm. These compact digital binoculars had eye-friendly adjustable screens with the ability to pierce through damp or misty nights with its finely engineered sensor. It worked well in all conditions and provided an easy to use interface even for users with gloved hands.

Now, with the new Merger LRF XP50, Pulsar builds on the greatness of the Accolade to exceed the expectations of its loyal customers who have come to know and trust Pulsar for its excellence. The Merger was designed with a traditional European finish, one of the cleanest fits and finishes on the market. Similar in look and feel to a traditional pair of binoculars, the Merger has great ergonomics and fits snug in its user’s palms. The Merger’s interface is both simple and unobtrusive. Even with gloved hands, these thermal binocular’s controls are easy to manipulate.

Designed with a new, more robust shell, Pulsar has transitioned away from the plastic/glass nylon composite of previous designs and has built the Merger using high quality magnesium alloy. This rugged, durable construction makes the Merger suitable for harsh outdoor conditions, especially with its IPX7 waterproof rating.

A comparison of the visual fidelity of the Merger to its predecessor, the Accolade, reveals night and day differences between the two thermal binoculars. The Merger features a larger F50/1.0 Germanium objective lens than its predecessor. Combined with its 1024x768 display, a substantial upgrade from the Accolade’s 640x480, the Merger’s image quality provides crisp, high resolution images that were simply not possible to capture in the Accolade. The Merger retains the impressive 1900 yard detection range of the Accolade as well as its 1000 yard laser rangefinder.

The convenience of streaming videos and pictures through the Stream Vision 2 app has carried over to the Merger, and the new thermal binoculars feature integrated 5GHz Wi-Fi, with longer range and faster transfer speeds than the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi on the Accolade.

Along with other improvements, the Merger boasts a longer battery life. With its Dual Li-Ion power system consisting of an external APS3 chargeable battery and a built in battery pack, the Merger can run for 10 hours in the field, more than enough for a long night of wildlife scanning or trekking. To further extend its battery life, the Merger comes equipped with an optional automatic on/off function in the form of a proximity sensor, which puts the unit to sleep whenever the binoculars are away from a user’s face and wakes it up again when in use.

The Merger’s high performance, rugged reliability, long battery life and wide range of features make it a top contender in the world of thermal optics. Aside from hunters and forest rangers, law enforcement and search and rescue personnel will find this solid piece of equipment perfect for conducting reconnaissance or rescues on dark nights. Sold for the same price point as the Accolade, there is no reason for a discerning buyer to accept anything less.

The Talion XQ38, named after the French word for retaliation, lives up to its name as one of the best thermal scopes for nighttime varmint control. Whatever pest comes out of the woods to destroy property or upturn farmland, the Talion will be ready to deal with it. With its five weapon profiles and 50 zeroing distances, this scope can be mounted on a different rifle for every critter. Users can mount it on a .308 for boar then mount it again on a 10/22 for raccoon hunting a few hours later the same evening without having to zero it again. Thanks to the Talion’s weapon profiles, transferring the scope from one weapon to another is as easy as switching weapon profiles and distances in the scope’s menu.  

However, the act of zeroing the scope for the first time might be odd to a first-time Pulsar user. The Talion lacks the windage and elevation adjustment knobs of a traditional riflescope. Instead, zeroing is done through its digital interface, which can potentially save the user more ammo than traditional zeroing. 

For some users of daytime optics, the one shot zero technique is employed to save ammo. In it, the rifle is placed securely in a gun vise, a shot is fired, and the scope’s windage and elevation are adjusted to align with the bullet hole. The issue with the one-shot zero technique is it can only be done if a shooter’s rifle is held securely in an immobile gun vise, as any slight variations will offset the scope’s minute adjustments. The Talion does not have this problem. 

Many of Pulsar’s scopes come standard with the one-shot “freeze zeroing” function. This unique feature allows users to take a single shot and zero the rifle without the use of a gun vise or even particularly steady hands. Using the “freeze” function, the scope takes a photo of the target down range. To use the freeze function, the user must first determine the distance of the target and feed it to the Talion through its menu, after which the device will enter zeroing mode. A small, red cross will appear on the Talion’s digital display, which can be adjusted via windage and elevation controls in the windage/elevation sub menu. With this function, a shooter can fire once, freeze the target, make his weapon safe and adjust his windage and elevation without worrying about weapon sway or making inaccurate follow up shots.  

The Talion XQ38 also has phenomenal image quality in both daytime and nighttime thanks to its 1024x768 and <40 mK NETD. This versatile optic can be used either at day or night with 9 hours of battery life and comes fully equipped with a high-tech suite of features including integrated Wi-Fi for Stream Vision 2 support and 16gb of memory to store its high-quality photos and videos. 

I had long wondered what practical applications thermal imaging might have outside of the hunting world. The most obvious purpose for high quality thermal optics, in my mind is exploration. In my youth, I was fond of hiking in the rainforests of my home country, but as the curtain of night would fall and the once-still greenery of the forest would begin to come alive with all manner of howls and chirps, human hikers would have to leave before darkness could completely overtake them and leave them stranded in the woods. Now, I finally had the opportunity to see what the woods were like when they were truly awake.

Pulsar’s Merger LRF XP50 Thermal Binoculars were perfect for some late-night wildlife observation. I had never used them before, but my expectations were high due to Pulsar’s name alone. Taking the Merger out of the box, I was pleasantly surprised to know I wouldn’t have to waste time charging its batteries for first time use. The Merger’s APS 3 battery boasted ten hours of continuous operation with both batteries, thanks in part to battery saving features like its proximity sensor, which puts the unit to sleep as soon as it senses the user no longer has the device near his face.

Knowing I wouldn’t need to worry about the device dying mid-expedition, I made my way over to Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve in Plano, Texas. With 800 acres of well-preserved forest located in the middle of the city, Oak Point is Plano’s largest park. It was also one of the few parks that closed at 11pm, making it perfect for nighttime animal observation. Oak Point promised rattlesnakes, bobcats, coyotes, owls and other creatures of the night. I was excited to put the Merger to the test.

When I arrived at Oak Point, there was hardly a soul around. The only light sources came from the streetlamps in the parking lot and bungalows. Beyond the cement walkways, the lake and forest trails beyond were completely engulfed in darkness. The last few late night hikers who remained were making their way out of the park, leaving no one to disturb the animals. After giving the manual a brief review, I turned on the Merger and let it lead me through the night. Almost immediately I spotted my first animal.

Visible only through the Merger, a nine banded armadillo foraged for food near the riverbank. It dug away at the soil, searching for insects with its tiny claws, oblivious to the fact I was only a few feet away.

The Merger’s high definition 640x480 sensor displayed the little creature with surprising sharpness. As far as I could tell, there was no lag between the creature’s actions in real time and what the Merger was showing through its display. The device’s automatic Non-uniformity Correction (NUC) calibration also helped reduce any image flaws like vertical bars and unwanted specks from IR radiation.

Continuing down the trail, I tested the Merger’s laser range finder as I went on various trees and structures in the distance. Considering the unit was handheld and not mounted on a tripod for stability, the readings were consistent in both “manual” rangefinding mode and scan mode. In “manual” rangefinding, the unit measures the distance of any object within its crosshairs at the push of a button, while scan mode emits a constant laser, automatically feeding the user data on the distance and angle of whatever the unit is pointing at.

The Merger’s eight different color palettes also came in handy while observing wildlife. A bird’s feathers offer terrific insulation for the animal and are more difficult to detect on thermal vision in black hot or white hot modes. In rainbow mode, however, I managed to capture a great egret as it finished its midnight fishing trip and flew off into the darkness.

The Merger’s high shutter speed manages to capture this photo with minimal blur and distortion. While the egret’s feathers camouflage the bird itself, its IR radiation reflects red heat off the lake’s water. While thermal vision isn’t the best for fishing, it’s better than plain night vision for wildlife observation on land.

The many features of these high-tech thermal binoculars don’t just end with its photo capabilities. Using the Stream Vision 2 App with the device can be a nuanced experience which users may find to be quite convenient when they understand it. First time Pulsar owners might be confused about how to “connect their phones to Wi-Fi” in the middle of the wilderness. However, Wi-Fi in the case of Stream Vision 2 does not mean “Internet.” The Merger functions as its own offline hotspot which a phone can connect. Once the phone is connected to the device’s hotspot, to both act as a viewfinder and ad-hoc trail camera. The device’s proximity sensor will turn off, and if the Merger is mounted on a tripod (through its tripod adapter) or placed on a steady surface, the observer can simply relax out of sight of any animals while viewing the Merger’s output through his phone.

Settings are also easier to manipulate through stream vision. Color palettes, which would normally require a user to go through color mode settings for each color type, can now be switched via a tap of the thumb. The same ease of accessibility applies to the Merger’s brightness, contrast, zoom feature, picture-in-picture setting, calibration modes and options. Finally, downloading footage from the device and storing it into Stream Vision 2’s cloud service was as simple as clearing the device of files. All the file manipulation is done via the app. There’s no need to fiddle with wires or remember obscure folder paths.

The Merger LRF XP50 is truly a high-tech marvel for observing the wilderness at night. Although it’s primarily designed with hunters in mind, the Merger is the perfect tool for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.