Night vision scope

[HunterBob]

Planning to do some hog hunting in a couple of weeks on a farm where we are allowed to hunt at night. Anyone have any recommendations for a night vision scope around the $400 range?

 

[Matki15]

Sightmark photon or sightmark wraith are your best options around that price range. I use the photon and love it. It’s about the size of a normal riflescope, has WiFi streaming to your phone, recording capabilities, and different reticle options. It works in daytime as well but it displays it in black and white. The wraith has all of those features, except in daytime it displays color. The wraith is also smaller with more color options for your reticles. The wraith does come in right around $500 though if you’re strict on your budget

 

[HunterBob]

Sightmark photon or sightmark wraith are your best options around that price range. I use the photon and love it. It’s about the size of a normal riflescope, has WiFi streaming to your phone, recording capabilities, and different reticle options. It works in daytime as well but it displays it in black and white. The wraith has all of those features, except in daytime it displays color. The wraith is also smaller with more color options for your reticles. The wraith does come in right around $500 though if you’re strict on your budget

Thanks, I have been looking at the wraith as well as the new atn 4k pro, which is a bit out of my price range but has many awesome features. The thing I like most about it is that it has an internal rechargeable battery rather than taking and eating up AA batteries. Have you had any problems with your photon with battery life?

 

[Matki15]

With the photon it really depends on what batteries you use. With your normal Duracell batteries it may last an hour or two. I run energizer lithiums in mine and those will last me all night. The wraith and photon also has a micro USB port you can run an external power pack to if you want. Be cautious of any ATN scopes, i personally have never owned one but my friends do and they often freeze up at the worst moments

 

[HunterBob]

With the photon it really depends on what batteries you use. With your normal Duracell batteries it may last an hour or two. I run energizer lithiums in mine and those will last me all night. The wraith and photon also has a micro USB port you can run an external power pack to if you want. Be cautious of any ATN scopes, i personally have never owned one but my friends do and they often freeze up at the worst moments

Thanks for the info. I researched others who talked about the atn scopes freezing up, but this seemed to be fixed through a firmware update? Have your friends done this to their scopes?

 

[Matki15]

Thanks for the info. I researched others who talked about the atn scopes freezing up, but this seemed to be fixed through a firmware update? Have your friends done this to their scopes?

They have and it helped some, but not enough for them to consider them reliable scopes. Every couple hunts they’ll still freeze up or start lagging

 

[Matki15]

This is a screenshot from one of the videos I’ve taken with the photon. Hog was about 75 yards away walking which is why it’s slightly blurry. Scope was set on 4x magnification and IR brightness was on level 2. In the actual video it is much clearer of a picture

 

[HunterBob]

This is a screenshot from one of the videos I’ve taken with the photon. Hog was about 75 yards away walking which is why it’s slightly blurry. Scope was set on 4x magnification and IR brightness was on level 2. In the actual video it is much clearer of a pictureView attachment 51329

Awesome, thanks for the info! I see that there are some used photons selling on ebay, I may end up going that route.

 

[Matki15]

If you do go that route, be aware there are several models of the photon. I use the photon RT model with 4.5-9 zoom. The other model is the XT and while it is functional, the IR light is not on the same level as the RT. They also offer a 6-12 zoom but at average hog hunting distances I find that to be too much magnification

 

[HunterBob]

If you do go that route, be aware there are several models of the photon. I use the photon RT model with 4.5-9 zoom. The other model is the XT and while it is functional, the IR light is not on the same level as the RT. They also offer a 6-12 zoom but at average hog hunting distances I find that to be too much magnification

Thanks!

 

[Matki15]

Not problem! If you end up getting it and have any questions feel free to ask, going on 2 years with my scope and there’s definitely a learning curve to figuring everything out

 

[Matki15]

Another thing I just thought of as I’m out here using mine to hog hunt, this scopes eye relief isn’t the best so you almost have to be right on top of it. You may have to buy cantilever scope rings and mount them backwards to let the scope be close enough to your eye to see clearly. That’s how I ended up with my scope. Friend of mine bought it for his 7mm mag bolt action and he couldn’t get it close enough to his eye to see. Ended up working great on my AR with the stock almost all the way collapsed though

 

[HunterBob]

Another thing I just thought of as I’m out here using mine to hog hunt, this scopes eye relief isn’t the best so you almost have to be right on top of it. You may have to buy cantilever scope rings and mount them backwards to let the scope be close enough to your eye to see clearly. That’s how I ended up with my scope. Friend of mine bought it for his 7mm mag bolt action and he couldn’t get it close enough to his eye to see. Ended up working great on my AR with the stock almost all the way collapsed though

Awesome, that is great advice. I saw some video reviews where some people had only used one mounting bracket all the way back on their rail, which makes sense based on what you are saying.

I'm currently keeping my eye on some that are selling on ebay and hope I can get one for a decent price.

I also saw on a video review that you want to make sure the mounting rings are high enough. How high are yours?

 

[RamBam]

The Atn comes with the cantilever mounts. Yes it’s a bit more but for me was worth it. The battery life is pretty spectacular. It’s been very good. I watch deer out a few hundred yards. Regardless of what you buy. Good lights with be a investment.

 

[Matki15]

Awesome, that is great advice. I saw some video reviews where some people had only used one mounting bracket all the way back on their rail, which makes sense based on what you are saying.

I'm currently keeping my eye on some that are selling on ebay and hope I can get one for a decent price.

I also saw on a video review that you want to make sure the mounting rings are high enough. How high are yours?

that’s the mount I use on mine, says center of scope will be 1.5” abound the rail and I can see through my scope perfectly with these

 

[HunterBob]

View attachment 51409View attachment 51410
that’s the mount I use on mine, says center of scope will be 1.5” abound the rail and I can see through my scope perfectly with these

Perfect, thanks!

 

[HunterBob]

The Atn comes with the cantilever mounts. Yes it’s a bit more but for me was worth it. The battery life is pretty spectacular. It’s been very good. I watch deer out a few hundred yards. Regardless of what you buy. Good lights with be a investment.

Awesome, thanks for the response. Have you had any problems with it freezing up?

 

[RamBam]

No mine has been excellent. I was super hesitant of that when purchasing but customer service seemed easy to deal with. I am careful when inserting chips and the charging cable. The ports don’t guide them in well. That was the talked about weak points. It’s been awesome. I’ve had it for about 2 years now. It’s been out a ton. It’s never froze. Battery life’s very long. I run a really good light.