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Digital NV Add On Review

Digital NV Add On Review

You will not find any NV system sub four figure sum that will compete with the clarity and range of this scope, this is a seriously stonking piece of kit. Conditions last night were not in the scopes favour, low mist was causing slight rebound on the laser but the picture obtained was absolutely fantastic! I kid you not! For the money involved this monocular competes against the Gen 1 fraternity and in all honesty blows them away.

digi-nv-add-on.jpg

THE MONOCULAR
It's very light in itself, much more so than a Yukon for example and it's compact. There is an on-board IR but this is obscured by the DSA (Day Scope Adaptor) and I was asked not to use this. I never got round to asking why so I will presume it is because the adaptor obscures the light output and will only drain the batteries. On the side is the brightness and contrast dial, it gives a positive click on turning off/on.

digi-nv-add-on2.jpg

DSA
Solid as a rock! Side mounted clamp for additional IR illumination is included. Once on and in place you would honestly have to drop the rifle to have an impact on the DSA and in all honesty if you did that the DSA would probably be the least of your worries.

ILLUMINATION
You need a good amount of IR illumination with this setup. The mistake I was making was to turn up the brightness/contrast to try and get a picture but going too far and creating "white out". This lead to some frustration but with better IR output and a "halfway" on the dial this resolved bringing in the picture. Now a IR Laser takes this scope to its ultimate level in my honest opinion.

I'll put the range between 80-100 yards to shoot to while attached to the scope. Now some may/will say more, that I will not dispute, but I am also considering the range involving a safe backdrop. On range alone I would agree you can arguably see further. However, once you get the gist of the dial and how to have it at its best a lamp with NV filter will do a good job. You have the added weight as always, this wasn't my problem on using a lamp. As the NV is attached to a 3-12x44 compact swat, once mounted, there wasn't a lot of space to fit a lamp on. Illumination on trial at the time went in this order for me: Laser, 12v NV Lamp (close on this placing) IR 75mw illuminator.

digi-nv-add-on3.jpg

SCOPE
Now, eye relief? Well all add ons create issues of eye relief. The compact swat helped a lot with this. I made the whole set up only 21mm longer than my Hawke Nighteye 4-16x50, scope only, that I previously used for lamping.

Side parallax again is pretty much a must for all add ons and this one is no exception. Adding the side wheel is not just for looks. Range finding on NV is difficult the wheel helps but also it enabled me to change the focus without taking my eye away from the scope which was a joy. All I needed to do was raise my left thumb and hey presto!

Now you may notice that I could have arguably cheated on the eye relief here. Why? Well, the Verminator has an adjustable slip back butt that covers the bottle. I did adjust it slightly, if this was a S410 for example you wouldn't have that luxury.

SETUP
Not difficult really, adjust the eye bell on the monocular until the screen comes into focus. Rotate the objective lens on the monocular until the cross hairs come into focus. Took about 60 seconds in all honesty.

PICTURE
Honestly, you will not see a better NV picture out of a set up without spending the beer tokens you could use to cripple your liver or buy a second hand running car! This is Gen 2 territory although admittedly I've only looked through one Gen 2 scope but this isn't about comparison to Gen 2 this is about spending 400 quid on NV kit and for that money you won't beat it!

FIELD OF VIEW
Now in order to demonstrate to my shooting partner why I was struggling I got out my 30 yard zero string and went from the golf pin with flag on top down the green and over the slope. I then got him to light up the pin at 30 yards with his lamp at x4 mag on his scope. My scope was set at x3 with the monocular attached. He could get the flag, the whole pin and a fair bit of the green, I got the flag and nothing else.

Now, in order to fill my field of view in the scope optically (no monocular attached) I had to use x12 mag. This does not suit me for hunting. I'm sorry maybe its me but target acquisition at x12 mag while stalking on sub 12ft airgun is not my cup of tea. So off I sent my buddy across the care park and a combination of string and pacing. It was around (I didn't use a tape measure sorry) 60 yards before I got a picture in the scope that resembled x6 mag. The picture with laser running at that distance? Well I could see the spot on his nose.

In all honesty this is not a sub 12 stalking piece of kit and for me is not as effective as a lamp combined with x6 mag. If the bunny hops you're looking for it, if it hops on x6 mag you're on it. I did take a bunny with this set up last night, it's body shape was outside the scope at 20 yards, I was right in on it and it was huge. I planted a shot behind its eye, click, crack down without a twitch.

Now, if you put this monocular on a .17HMR or .22 rimmie or even a well powered FAC airgun, you would be swinging because you'll get a better target acquisition over the longer distance combined with a clarity of vision that once again, you will not see this side of a grand.

I have no idea if the scope will take the recoil, I think in all honesty, it would. Its a very solid DSA and the recoil on a .17HMR is there but it's not massive in relation to the kit but its a pure guess at this time.

So, if you are lamping on HMR or RM and thinking about NV, look through this before you go off and chase a pulsar N550. You may well save yourself some cash. If you're thinking about mounting it on a sub12 airgun, look through one first because it may well not suit you.

Footnote - Geoffrey from Nightvision Supplies has been a star. Geoffrey has been there from start to finish with before and after sales advice and his service has been above and beyond the call of duty.
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MacOne
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