Night Vision Scope Specs/Options For Hunting Hogs

[rushmc]

Ok, I am not going to ask what scope is the best or is someone's favorite. Although I will be interested to see what the hoard has to say on this.

But what I am curious about is what you all think a night vision scope should have and what should be avoided

My rifle is an AA upper and lower with an 18" Satern SS rifle cut barrel


I will go at least Gen II and will probably go digital IR.
What magnification?
Adjustable magnification?
I have read about further up the scale units having adjustable gain? Is this a have to have?

I know that much of this is subjective but I know there is experience out there that can help me spend my money once, and be happy with the purchase

The info found here helped me build a rifle I am very happy with. Now it is time to put the optics on it where I can have some fun


Thanks in advance
marc

[HuntTXhogs]

I have found that Digital serves the hunting market first and LEO/MIL is best suited by traditional image intensification (Gen x).

You don't say what your budget is so lets start with the cheapest options are in a Gen 2 performance range.

Pulsar's Digisight n750 is the best bang for the buck going right now - it is a fixed 4.5x magnification and it's built in illuminator will assist you out to 150 yards.

There are cheaper scopes made by Sightmark "Photon" that come in 3.5x and 5x fixed magnifications, these scopes for the $$$ serve as good baseline models to enhance by using powerful IR lights and doubler optics in front of the native lens. For right at 1k you can get a Photon / Doubler / IR light and encroach upon the Gen II performance level.

Here is a video to demonstrate the modifications of this scope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S24H4jFE8vY

Lastly, for the money a m845 riflescope is my recommendation for piggies using a Gen 2+ tube, it is affordable at just under 2k and rugged and dependable.

The gain features /auto brightness controls / auto-gating and recoil sensitivity are all reasons why I don't spend more $$$ on a unit that needs more care than digital, since digital you can also use during the daytime. I will say that traditional NV is going to be more weather resistant than digital all day long.

Lots of choices but these three I think you will find will come up in your search time and time again.

HTXH

[rushmc]

thanks for your time
I almost pulled the trigger on the Pulsar last week
Normally around $2300.00 and on sale today for $1500
I will take a look at the the m845 which is one have i not found as of yet

[LRRPF52]

HuntTXhogs, that is some of the best information available on your youtuble link. Thanks for that. Your video review is by far one of the best I have seen, especially since you take FOV into consideration and show how it equates in a practical setting. Adding magnification and showing the capabilities for under $1k is way cool.

Do you have any pics of a side view of your blasters with that set-up? Photon/ Doubler / IR Iluminator.

[HuntTXhogs]

HuntTXhogs, that is some of the best information available on your youtuble link. Thanks for that. Your video review is by far one of the best I have seen, especially since you take FOV into consideration and show how it equates in a practical setting. Adding magnification and showing the capabilities for under $1k is way cool.

Do you have any pics of a side view of your blasters with that set-up? Photon/ Doubler / IR Iluminator.

Coming from you Sir that IS a compliment - Thx

Here are some photos I threw together for you.

Sightmark Photon is 13 1/2 inches long as standard configured



The doubler adapter, while it looks simple, is CNC machined to strict tolerances to minimize POI shift and maintain in place during recoil.



The doubler adapter and lens adds only 3 inches to the system, making it come in at a total length of 16 3/4 inches



The IR illuminator puts out a massive amount of light and is focusable -

[Klem]

Yes, nice Youtube review, very professional.

I am interested in your thoughts on the illuminator. I notice it uses an aspheric lens to focus the LED. Have you had much experience with other brands?

My experience has been that IR illuminators are only any good if they can be tightly focused. The Surefire Millenium M3 I sold almost immediately as it was useless. The one I currently have is a Surefire dual visible/IR, but still fairly average. It makes the PVS flare too much with ambient reflections at close range and is not focused enough for longer ranges.

Have been looking at Laser Devices SPIR. At 600mW it's powerful and also focusable, but it is pretty pricey at $550 and want to be absolutely sure before shelling out those sort of dollars.

https://www.laserdevices.com/index.cfm/p-SPIR_195.htm

[HuntTXhogs]

Yes, nice Youtube review, very professional.

I am interested in your thoughts on the illuminator. I notice it uses an aspheric lens to focus the LED. Have you had much experience with other brands?

My experience has been that IR illuminators are only any good if they can be tightly focused. The Surefire Millenium M3 I sold almost immediately as it was useless. The one I currently have is a Surefire dual visible/IR, but still fairly average. It makes the PVS flare too much with ambient reflections at close range and is not focused enough for longer ranges.

Have been looking at Laser Devices SPIR. At 600mW it's powerful and also focusable, but it is pretty pricey at $550 and want to be absolutely sure before shelling out those sort of dollars.
https://www.laserdevices.com/index.cfm/p-SPIR_195.htm

Klem -

Your question exceeds my knowledge and experience, I was never an Operator - the ability to focus down IR to a beam sufficient to achieve what you desire using NODs is best answered by someone with real world experience.

As the name implies....

Hogs don't shoot back and that is what I know.

HTXH

[joker31]

damn, i wish they made a clip on, im stuck going with a pvs-14, want digital clip on at 1000-2000 price point

[joker31]

I have used NVG's in real world but mostly the now antiquated PVS-21's, 7's and 14's. The 14 us best used either with onboard IR for short to intermediate distances and and we used PEQ's for longer distance stuff for non down the sight aiming, I had to learn this after Coming back in the military the second time because we used PVS7's and onboard ir for detection, there was no NVG shooting in my unit during Desert Storm and our Spotter Scopes were huge. My second time we had PVS14's and PEQ's and had to learn the 1 eye thing which sucked for me, I was glad when ANOTHER unit picked me up that had Very high speed gear including the PVS21's, They were stereo and were a dream to wear because when clearing a room, if someone hit the lights, you werent blind and never lost your sight picture. They also had overlay capabilities with thermal which didnt work for some people that had eye problems because their brain didnt overlay the thermal correctly. they were also heavy and their field of view was better than the 14's but still not great. The GP-18's are freaking awesome because they are like a VR video game. I never used them other than familiarization and training on them (was hurt before my detachment was issued them)

The SPIR looks nice, but remember if your shooting from a stationary position like a blind that your on and off axis scatter will be an issue so you'll have to play with the gain to make it work right or you'll get backscatter and the fog effect from the beam, I'd say get the strongest laser you can get your hands on.

I'm about to get a pvs14 for my own use but i'm second guessing it because of other active nightvision systems that are coming down in price and new ones that will hit the market soon like this sightmark and other digital products.

btw we used Surefire U2 ultras or scoutlights with filters for cave clearing, mainly because it was short distance and they spread light like crazy, from overwatch they looked like jack o'lanterns.

[Klem]

Interesting thoughts, thanks.

Sell my grandmother if I could get my hands on a PVS21 for personal use. More plausible however is the dual clamping 14 system that '52' showed us in an earlier thread. That means shelling out for another 14 ($$$). The peripheral vision and depth perception advantage of two NVD/1-per-eye is a classic synergy for sure.

[HuntTXhogs]

damn, i wish they made a clip on, im stuck going with a pvs-14, want digital clip on at 1000-2000 price point

Pulsar makes a darn fine digital attachment, the DFA75.

Here is a video of a pre-production model -

The current retail version is more refined and easier to operate, I will try to get that review up later in the year.

Price is around 2k.

HTXH

[rushmc]

thank you for taking the time on this
Great info
You now have me stuck on the Morovision m845

Either that or the Pulsar n750

And I am getting one of these to go on a hog hunt sometime soon

any ideas where I can go??
It appears by your posts have some very very good ideas of where I can try this!

[Overwatcher]

I have an Armasight CO-MR HD,and for a gen2+ clip on less then 2k...I'm impressed.been testing it the last month,I'm going to be doing a full review (when i get time!) I will be sure to post pics and my yay and nays.
So far so good with it however.
OW

[Slappy]

A friend of mine that is WAY into building and getting the pork at night sent this to me. For all that this has it looks like a darn good deal plus it has everything you could possibly want or need. Has anyone used one of these?? BANG BANG!!

http://www.atncorp.com/x-sight-night-vision-rifle-scope-5-18x

[cory]

That price point seems to good to be true.