Night Vision: a good thing?

[Cicero]

Well, the clocks fall backwards this coming weekend which takes my thoughts towards the oncoming winter season and of shorter days in the field. I have yet to succumb to the night vision thing - as tempting as I have found it to be in past years - and it certainly seems to have come of age since the early days of home brew rigs, many of which looked to be designed by Mr Heath Robinson.

Thing is, is it really worth the outlay for a decent set-up?

[TORNADOS7]

Don't really know if I'm prepared to commit to the kind of financial outlay required buddy but it's been playing on my mind of late, it's a decision I won't be taking lightly !...

[Cicero]

Don't really know if I'm prepared to commit to the kind of financial outlay required buddy but it's been playing on my mind of late, it's a decision I won't be taking lightly !...

Me neither.

[Bladerunner too]

Absolutely worth the outlay,with this proviso, get to look through whatever you are thinking of buying,if new shouldnt be a problem,they (shop) should have a dark room (celler ect) if buying second hand check what you can,lens especially gen 1,ect no spots..an before you buy ask (on here) what people know about the particular one you are interested in , in other words get as much info as possible.

[oldboyshooter]

hello, for many years i used a red torch 501B added a aspheric lens and blacked out reflector and a thumb switch, then i tried a yukon n/v scope of a friends to say it was a great bit of kit so i got the new PHOTON. best thing i did for night hunting, but can use in daylight which i dont. plastic front cap 25mm hole and much better clarity. this is on a FX T12 .177 permanant

[Cicero]

hello, for many years i used a red torch 501B added a aspheric lens and blacked out reflector and a thumb switch, then i tried a yukon n/v scope of a friends to say it was a great bit of kit so i got the new PHOTON. best thing i did for night hunting, but can use in daylight which i dont. plastic front cap 25mm hole and much better clarity. this is on a FX T12 .177 permanant

The photon 5x42 retails at just under £400. Is this the one you recommend?

[32:1]

Im just looking to buy the new XT for close air rifle range stuff, I was either poor or unlucky at lamping so being a hands-on (tightwad) kind of guy I set about making a DIY add on, very easy to do and I ended up with a very nice bit of kit, image is great, all in with a IR torch it was approx. £140 Ive used it a lot and now see the benefit of a dedicated scope set up, for rabbits/field use anyway, the diy screen is cracking for rats/barns work though.

The stealth benefit of NV is a big plus to me as my fields are very open with little cover, Ive started to get paranoid about the small amount of screen glare on my diy rig, that's why Im looking at the XT as theres no visible light. And the other benefit is that other people cant see me wandering around with torch beams in the middle of the night either !!!

Chris

[Unframed Dave]

I use a Pulsar n500, it is amazing. The main advantage being; I can sit and wait from around dusk using a cheap copy of the Idleback chair and rabbits just appear around me as the light fades. Eyes show up very brightly and you can see the pellet in flight. They have no idea I'm there. It does feel a bit like cheating really. I've used it to great advantage with rats as well. Recently I got a Yukon photon as part of a package deal, nowhere near as good in my view.

Dave

[Cicero]

I use a Pulsar n500, it is amazing. The main advantage being; I can sit and wait from around dusk using a cheap copy of the Idleback chair and rabbits just appear around me as the light fades. Eyes show up very brightly and you can see the pellet in flight. They have no idea I'm there. It does feel a bit like cheating really. I've used it to great advantage with rats as well. Recently I got a Yukon photon as part of a package deal, nowhere near as good in my view.

Dave

That's good to know Dave. I'll have a look at the N500.

[danco1987]

I love it. I recommend the Pulsar Challenger NV unit, DSA and N1000AP laser. I got my for around £300 all in all - the unit was 2nd hand and laser brand new. Seen the package go for £250 on here though. They perform better through certain scope - mines on a Nikko Sterling Nighteater and the image is crystal clear. the N1000AP infrared laser is variable power. The lowest is perfect for airgun ranges but you can use the others for spotting at distance.

Mine has accounted for a lot of bunnies and I wouldn't go back to lamping during these colder nights.

[danco1987]

Ive started to get paranoid about the small amount of screen glare on my diy rig, that's why Im looking at the XT as theres no visible light. And the other benefit is that other people cant see me wandering around with torch beams in the middle of the night either !!!

Chris

Definitely agree! A major benefit, especially on small permissions, is the lack of torch beams scanning all the place.

Re screen glare - I'm sure rabbits pick up on this after a while. Once they see their mates get popped off a few times, they wise up to any tiny bit of glare and also the tiny glow produced by the infrared. The screen glare from my pulsar challenger unit, whilst the ir laser is still on, is tiny but they will still see it light up a bit of your clothing. So I only turn the ir on when I have the rifle and scope raised to my eye, ready to scan for targets and I flick it off if I'm going to move closer, then bring the rifle down from my eye. That way no glare is shown on my body. As for the tiny glow from the n1000ap laser I use - I mostly use the lowest setting and scan as I did whilst out lamping, when I'm targetting a bunny, I start off at the hedgeline and move out towards the field and as soon as I spot my target, scan back to th hedgerow and flick off the ir. Move a little closer and repeat until within range. Then I slowly get down and take shot of the bipod. It really is still all about stealth when using nightvision because they will get wiser.

[spike589715]

Using my spotter I spotted a rabbit the other side of a field just walked quietly across the field set up around 40 yards and bang job done
The rabbit was sitting in a very dark corner in fact it was pitch black and clearly had no idea I was there
I have a DIY rig that seems to work very well so all good
I have not been out much at all this year but should be soon !

Cheers
Simon

[danco1987]

Using my spotter I spotted a rabbit the other side of a field just walked quietly across the field set up around 40 yards and bang job done
The rabbit was sitting in a very dark corner in fact it was pitch black and clearly had no idea I was there
I have a DIY rig that seems to work very well so all good
I have not been out much at all this year but should be soon !

Cheers
Simon

On two of my permissions, the hedgerows and trees around the fields provide great cover and make it pitch black in a lot of places at night. In these spots, I can shoot as you describe above which is great and leads to big bags.

One of my permissions is much more tricky, more open and I have shot it quite consistently for nearly 2 years now - day, night, lamping and nightvision. The rabbit population has decreased from the massive numbers when I first started shooting there as I expected but there are still rabbits about. However these rabbits are extremely shy. During the day, if they see me and go to ground, I have to wait ages for them to come out now, sometimes they just don't. Lamping is a no no! No matter what the filter is, they're incredibly lamp shy and I wouldn't get anything with a lamp. Nightvision is the best option but they are still tricky and spook at the tiny of things. I've got to be proper stealthy with them and managed to get 2 rabbits on that permission last Friday night which I was chuffed about. On my other permissions, that's a below average night.

Think it just depends on the land really and the level of shooting that goes on.

[angrybear]

Night Vision is a superb addition to any hunter/pest controller.

I still use a gen 1 Cobra Merlin add on unit with a day scope adaptor (dsa). This means I can fit it to any scope on any of my rifles, I also have a selection of IR illuminators from the very cheap to the very good, So for close range ratting with sub 12 air I can use a low level of light so as not to scare/alert the prey, while at the other end of the scale I can put it on my .22 Hornet with a N1000 laser turn up the mag to see and shoot fox past 150yds, or rabbiting with my FAC-Air/HMR with a T20 IR 50-100yds.

The question of is it worth the outlay Yes, if you buy the correct thing.

There are super duper units out there new for £2500+ but there are also perfectly capable units for around 1/10 of that.

For a bit of air rifle ratting & the odd rabbit hunt a used gen 1 add-on (Cobra Merlin or Pulsar Challenger) will suit perfectly, £250 ish & if it hooks you easy enough to sell on,
or for a more serious hunter/pest controller, there are any number of digital add-ons coming on to the market around the £600 mark that can be used from 10yds to 200yds+, or you could fit a dedicated NV scope to a particular rifle, or a day/night like the photon or Pitch Black.

[MrGreengrass]

Absolutely ....only sold my Photon on as i won't be needing Nv anymore .......i found it extremely useful at the time.