Photon XT 4.6x Night Vision Scope Review


Dustin, I have no idea at the moment about how the scope might perform in fog. I guess time will tell.

Today I received the Warne Quick Detah Medium Rings and got the scope mounted to my CZ 527, .17 Remington. Initially I was afraid the medium rings would not work, but they did, but just barely. The other issue I was concerned about was pertaining to bolt clearance since the CZs have a rather high bolt. The bolt when opened does not touch the ocular of the scope, but if I push it up it does. It will work with this scope. For AR users, I'm not sure if the medium rings will work or not.

The best measurement I could do indicates the scope sits approximately 2" above bore center to center of scope lens. This is far better than my old Gen 1 scope that was approximately 3.5" high.

Here are some photos to show the clearance of the medium rings, Photon and the CZ. As you can see, there was just barely enough clearance.
















I then removed the bellows eye piece from the scope. I like it much better without the bellows (at the moment anyway).
Mounted on the rifle, the bellows did cause a bit of discomfort with my prescription glasses, but with the bellows removed
all is good. Not sure if much light will blow back into my face at night or not. If you do remove the bellows, you will find the
threads are very fine, and replacing the bellows requires some caution so as to not strip them.












One other thing I did today was put a small filter over the inside of the lens cap to see if it would cut down
on the amount daytime light. It seems to have helped, but I will do a comparison later and video.

The small square filter is one that came with the bullet camera I use for my home-made unit. The filter was
installed by the manufacturer to cut down on IR light, something we don't want when using night vision.
At my request, the vendor I purchased the camera from removed the filter for me and included it in the package.
I just thought I would try it to see if it helps. I think it does but I didn't have a back and forth assessment to compare.
I taped the filter to the inside of the lens cap.




 
Bennybone,

FYI....You can report to Sightmark that the Photon manual is not correct in a few areas:

Page 5 - States there is an External Power Supply jack on the right side of the device. There is no External Power Supply Jack.
Page 6 - 5th bullet point states that you turn on the device by rotating the controller clockwise until it clicks. The power to the scope is turned on by pushing the IR activator switch once. There is no click function on the controller (there was on the first Photons).

Kevin
 
David, Does the eye relief work for you at the current setting? I found with mine to get the proper distance from eye to ocular, i had to set the scope back far enough that the front ring is about in the middle of the ejection port. I had to go to a full length rail because of it, and the original rings I had (Burris signature Zee highs) caused the front housing to hit the front of the pic rail. I had to order some extra highs to clear it.
 
Update:

I provided links to this and the other thread to Sightmark along with a bulletized email on the following:

* Daytime filter falling off during recoil or easily lost
* Owner's Manual errors for the XT layout of controls
* Loss of zero settings when the batteries are removed for unspecified periods

If I receive any feedback from them I will post here - Thx

BB

P.S. - Nice looking setup 6mm , just enough clearance for the rings selected
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My set up gives me a really good feel. The eye relief is not an issue at all, and I did not have to go to high mounts on either of my rifles. I set up the Photn 3.5 (old model) on an AR with two medium rings. I set up the new one with a one piece quick dismount setup. It seems to be medium high also. I need to get some pictures up to show what I did. I will try to do that as soon as my camera comes back home next week. It's loaned to one of my kids right now. I was able to get by with the short picatinny rail that is on my Bushmaster upper. The front box on the scope clears everything and I have plenty of room to snuggle up to the scope. I kinda creep a scope so maybe my technique is a little different than yours. I think the pictures will help when I can get them done.
 

Originally Posted By: stupidnewbieDavid, Does the eye relief work for you at the current setting? I found with mine to get the proper distance from eye to ocular, i had to set the scope back far enough that the front ring is about in the middle of the ejection port. I had to go to a full length rail because of it, and the original rings I had (Burris signature Zee highs) caused the front housing to hit the front of the pic rail. I had to order some extra highs to clear it.

I do have to lean into the scope just a bit to get a good view. The eye relief could be better but not really such a problem that I can't comfortably use it.

Bennybone, This is one other thing Sightmark might want to consider. The eye relief could be better on these scopes. The 3.5x had a much better one than the new scopes.

The medium rings allowed the scope to clear the rifle barrel plenty good enough. It actually sits higher than I like a scope too, but the Picatinny rail used on my CZ raised the height a bit.

The main issue (for my particular rifle setup) is the forward scope housing will bump against the forward end of the picatinny rail before a good eye relief can be achieved. The scope should either have a longer eye relief "OR" have a longer tube to allow the ocular to move rearward a bit further, but preferably a longer eye relief.

Ditto on the owner's manual. Some of it doesn't coincide with the operation of the 4.6x scope.

 
Originally Posted By: 6mm06
The main issue (for my particular rifle setup) is the forward scope housing will bump against the forward end of the picatinny rail before a good eye relief can be achieved. The scope should either have a longer eye relief "OR" have a longer tube to allow the ocular to move rearward a bit further, but preferably a longer eye relief.




looking at the pictures it looks like you could cut more than a half inch off front of picatinny rail. that would let you move scope back some more. would not hurt a thing doing that.
 
Do you have plans to use that picatinny rail for something else and perhaps switch back an forth? If not, I would dump the whole rail and get some low profile mounting blocks under those rings. That would get the scope lower and allow you to move it back some more.
 

I don't want to cut off the picatinny rail since I may want to switch back to my home-made unit at some point. The home-made unit requires the scope to move as far forward as it can since the bullet camera extends rearward into my face a bit, so the extra notch in the rail is needed.

Lowering the scope closer to the bore (on this particular rifle) would not allow the bolt to operate (high CZ bolt lift). Perhaps on another rifle I might could lower the scope closer to the bore, but not on the CZ. I could perhaps have the bolt modified, but then that's extra time and expense.

I think at the moment I have the scope mounted about as close a tolerance as I can and still have good function of the bolt, scope housing and eye relief.

Also, later I may try the scope on a different rifle, maybe an AR to see how it sits, hoping the distances between "notches" in the picatinny are similar and match up.


 

Today I managed to get the Photon sighted in and recorded some of the process. This will give you an idea of how it sees during the daytime, as well as some of the functions.
I will do the night video tests later.

Once I got accustomed to operating the scope's menu, it was pretty easy and straight forward. There are a few negatives in my mind, however; that could be improved upon with the basic design.

The unit is activated (turned on) by the push of the IR button. By holding the button in briefly, the unit turns on. Once the unit is on, if the button is pushed again, the first stage IR illuminates. Push the button again and the middle illumination is activated, and another push is the highest illumination mode.

Several times I noticed I had unintentionally turned on the first stage IR without knowing it. In the day time it's difficult to determine the IR is activated, and the white letters indicating "IR" is on in the lower left corner of the viewfinder is difficult to see under bright conditions. Maybe I held the on/off button in too long and that activated it, not sure. I think an independent and separate button to activate IR would be good to have.

One other problem I had with daytime zeroing was the white crosshair color. The white is difficult to see on target when there is too much ambient light, or bright day. I think having choices of color for the zero adjustment would be good.

The reason I want to sight in during the day is to not potentially scare coyotes that generally only come at night. I don't want to shoot at night when there might be coyotes about, thereby scaring them. So, to me daytime sighting is needed.

Here's the link in YouTube if you prefer to view it there. The viewing size is larger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLHK9nRoUQo&feature=youtu.be






 
Awesome Review 6mm06. Appreciate the video.
now can you go get the atn x-sight and do a review LOL joking.
 
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Nice review!

Thanks for taking the time to make the video.

Now I just need for the vaporware atn x sight to appear in customers hands
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This unit will meet the needs for a second rifle/ buddy setup.
 
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I was hoping all along to see the X-Sight in action and to see reviews. I got tired of waiting, but maybe it will happen before long.
 
6mm06,

Nice job on the review, music and everything !! I hope you don't start selling these you will put me out of business !!

Kevin
 

No need to worry about that Kevin. I can't seem to sell anything good while some can sell Pet Rocks. I remember those days many years ago when people actually purchased them. They were just creek rocks, plain and simple, nestled into a little box with some cute hay, and the rock was given a name so it could take on a personality I guess.

You have nothing to worry about from me. Actually, if you get your hands on the ATN X-Sight I may be a customer again.

Looking forward to your review of the Photon.
 
Great post 6mm06 !!! You mention that the lens cover for the objective does not stay secure. Could you replace with a butler Creek ? I would strictly be using for night hunting only and other than sighting in I would not need to use the Photons lens cover. I also see that they have a 6.5x X 50. What would be the advantage of the 50mm over the 42mm objective lens ? Again thanks for the great post
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Bob
 
Originally Posted By: robertjay53Great post 6mm06 !!! You mention that the lens cover for the objective does not stay secure. Could you replace with a butler Creek ? I would strictly be using for night hunting only and other than sighting in I would not need to use the Photons lens cover. I also see that they have a 6.5x X 50. What would be the advantage of the 50mm over the 42mm objective lens ? Again thanks for the great post
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Bob

Sightmark is finalizing a redesign on the daytime (pinhole) cover that will be provided to new owners. I was told about 3 weeks out to produce a sufficient stock for all units sold and inbound so I will let you know more when I get photos and information on how to get your replacement cover.

BB
 
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