When my wife ok'ed the thermal purchase,I set out to read everything that I could get my hands on about thermal. Where I live there was no one that owned thermal for me to look thru or talk to about it.
At the time (about 5 years ago) thermal sights went from about $4000. to well over $20,000. We set the budget at $6000 but then I sold several higher end guns and this bumped the budget to $8000.
The new thermal buyer needs to figure out what he needs the thermal to do. Nowadays they have built in Wi-Fi,GPS,compass,altimeter,rangefinder,and others. And you will pay dearly for RESOLUTION.
Make sure you understand how thermal works. It is the nighthunters dream,but it has a few limitations. Like . . . it will not look thru glass. Glass is a thermal barrier. There are others.
When your talkin' thermal,you must be a super informed buyer. --- SAWMAN