Dustin Drews
New member
Ok so I am pretty new to night hunting. I do predator control for a county for sheep producers. Coyotes are a big problem for the growers and I wanted to have all my bases covered day and night.
The organization I work for bought a Mars 6 back in 2011. From the story I got it had a bad tube it had some really bad bright spots from the start. they sent it to ATN under warranty in 2012 and got it back a year later. The problem was fixed but from what I understand ATN did not want to fix it for free they said it was a over exposure to light issue. Long and the short of it it was this way right out of the box.
So they get it back in 2013 fixed. They never used it because all they had were 26 inch heavy barreled rifles to put it on. Fast forward to now I come on board and want to use it. I took it out 2 times and got sick trying to scan for coyotes using the scope. So I requested a pvs-14 for walking about and scanning for coyotes. It does exactly what it is suppose too! Thanks TNVC.
I was excited to go shoot a coyote at night with my new tools. I go out and make a stand and it was cold like -12 below zero cold.
I turned on the scope to make sure everything is working and nothing happens? I can see the crosshairs and nothing else... I walk back to the truck go home put new batteries in the scope drink a cup of coffee to warm up and head out to make another stand.
Everything is going great I checked my scope before I left the truck it was working like it should. I get out to the stand start calling a few minutes and I thought I better make sure my scope is still working. Now I can see the crosshairs but the picture in the scope looks like it does in the day time with the scope cover on.
I turned on the illuminator. It helped but very little...
I go back home very upset... Bring it inside and go to bed. In the morning I went to look at the rifle to see what is wrong.
We have a room with no windows in it that is very dark. Turn on the scope it works perfect? Turn on the illuminator it gets brighter as it should. Scratching my head I go to the web cannot find anything out by google.
So that night I got a call a calf went down and coyotes ate it up. I went out to the ranch sat on the hay stack called for 30 seconds and had a female come in I killed her. Her boy friend was hanging out a ways a way I tried to get him in but noting was happening. So I thought it is 250 yards I should be able to pull it off.
Turn on the scope dark again... So I sat there for 30 min trying everything I can to get this scope to work and nothing. Coyote finally gets over losing his gf and walks off.
So at this point I am really angry. The next day I call ATN after 23 minutes of being on hold. I explain my issues... I tell them I think there is an issue with my scope in cold weather what is the scope rated for temp wise. He said -40... He ask what batteries I was using. I have tried AA and cr123s from 2 different companies, one brand was even lithium. He did not have any other advise besides to send my scope back to ATN and wait 8 to 10 weeks because they are backed up. I asked him if he could talk to a tech about what they think the issue was. He came back on the line and said they think there is an issue with the tube.
I told him about our issues with the last tube and how long it took to get it back and that the scope has only ran for a hour at most since we got it back from them. Will this be under warranty? He replied no it will not, We bought 3 of these scopes form these people... He said the bill will be 200 to 700 to fix it.
I guess I am looking for advise. I want to get a D-760 from TNVC and throw this thing in the river but I cant... But I would like to know if we just got a lemon and they are good scopes and worth fixing?
Please help I need to know what direction to tell my boss to go.
Also, are night vision scopes normally fragile? How robust are they? Do they always have problems and issues?
Please help!
God Bless,
Dustin
So
The organization I work for bought a Mars 6 back in 2011. From the story I got it had a bad tube it had some really bad bright spots from the start. they sent it to ATN under warranty in 2012 and got it back a year later. The problem was fixed but from what I understand ATN did not want to fix it for free they said it was a over exposure to light issue. Long and the short of it it was this way right out of the box.
So they get it back in 2013 fixed. They never used it because all they had were 26 inch heavy barreled rifles to put it on. Fast forward to now I come on board and want to use it. I took it out 2 times and got sick trying to scan for coyotes using the scope. So I requested a pvs-14 for walking about and scanning for coyotes. It does exactly what it is suppose too! Thanks TNVC.
I was excited to go shoot a coyote at night with my new tools. I go out and make a stand and it was cold like -12 below zero cold.
I turned on the scope to make sure everything is working and nothing happens? I can see the crosshairs and nothing else... I walk back to the truck go home put new batteries in the scope drink a cup of coffee to warm up and head out to make another stand.
Everything is going great I checked my scope before I left the truck it was working like it should. I get out to the stand start calling a few minutes and I thought I better make sure my scope is still working. Now I can see the crosshairs but the picture in the scope looks like it does in the day time with the scope cover on.
I turned on the illuminator. It helped but very little...
I go back home very upset... Bring it inside and go to bed. In the morning I went to look at the rifle to see what is wrong.
We have a room with no windows in it that is very dark. Turn on the scope it works perfect? Turn on the illuminator it gets brighter as it should. Scratching my head I go to the web cannot find anything out by google.
So that night I got a call a calf went down and coyotes ate it up. I went out to the ranch sat on the hay stack called for 30 seconds and had a female come in I killed her. Her boy friend was hanging out a ways a way I tried to get him in but noting was happening. So I thought it is 250 yards I should be able to pull it off.
Turn on the scope dark again... So I sat there for 30 min trying everything I can to get this scope to work and nothing. Coyote finally gets over losing his gf and walks off.
So at this point I am really angry. The next day I call ATN after 23 minutes of being on hold. I explain my issues... I tell them I think there is an issue with my scope in cold weather what is the scope rated for temp wise. He said -40... He ask what batteries I was using. I have tried AA and cr123s from 2 different companies, one brand was even lithium. He did not have any other advise besides to send my scope back to ATN and wait 8 to 10 weeks because they are backed up. I asked him if he could talk to a tech about what they think the issue was. He came back on the line and said they think there is an issue with the tube.
I told him about our issues with the last tube and how long it took to get it back and that the scope has only ran for a hour at most since we got it back from them. Will this be under warranty? He replied no it will not, We bought 3 of these scopes form these people... He said the bill will be 200 to 700 to fix it.
I guess I am looking for advise. I want to get a D-760 from TNVC and throw this thing in the river but I cant... But I would like to know if we just got a lemon and they are good scopes and worth fixing?
Please help I need to know what direction to tell my boss to go.
Also, are night vision scopes normally fragile? How robust are they? Do they always have problems and issues?
Please help!
God Bless,
Dustin
So
