6mm06
Well-known member
Today I received the M845 Gen 2 NV scope that I have had on order for about two weeks. I was able to do a quick review tonight. Here is my initial impression.
In a nutshell, I like it. The red illuminated dot reticle is small and easy to see for some precise shooting at closer distances. The night is very dark tonight. Even a Gen 3 would not see well in the woods behind the house. But, with the LLTL-001 850nm illuminator the view looked really nice out to the 60 yard site and actually further. Without IR I could not see much at all, but I figure that would be expected for a Gen 2, especially on a dark night like tonight. Maybe on a moon lit or starry night I might be able to see somewhat without an illuminator, but that remains to be seen.
At my 94 yard shooting range I could see plenty good enough to drop a coyote in the woods, but the light was a bit more faded since I had the illuminator backed off a bit in order to give a better view. Around 50 to 60 yards it seems to be ideal and a nice view. I think the view will be even better in more open places. My T-20 light, though I haven't yet tried it on this scope, may work fine on medium setting, just guessing.
To get the best view, I had to open up the illuminator to less of a spot since when focused in a tight beam, I can see the squarness of the LED. The home-made unit I have been using requires the light focused tight. There is a little field underneath power lines that run out past my house and the view was very nice with an estimated distance of 50 yards. I think the scope will work well at my 60 yard bait site. The dot reticle is so small that it makes aiming really nice. I consider the scope great for calling back here in the mountains where 75 to 100 yards is generally a long shot, and for closer ranges for raccoons, skunks etc too. The scope has a good field of view but subjects do not appear so distant as I had been thinking they might.
The only downside I see is that an illuminator (850nm) must be used that has a signature and would give away my position, but that is the same with a lot of scopes unless you consider Gen 3 on a good night. The only other negative I see is that there is no picatinny on the scope to mount an illuminator, so it has to be mounted on a rifle. Other than that I'm pretty impressed.
The scope is rather small considering most dedicated NV scopes, and the controls are simple to use. A basic on / off switch is all that's needed to get it going, and by turning the knob further, the dot gets less and less bright. It attaches to a Weaver / Picatinny rail easily and locks into place via the base mount that has two levers on the right side. It's easy to attach and take off a rifle. Whether it will hold zero or not after removing and reinstalling, I'm not sure. I'm hoping it will.
The bellows eye piece remains closed until you put your eye against it with a little pressure, and then it pops open easily to give a view. I wear eye glasses and have been wondering how that might affect me seeing, but I didn't have any issue with it. Also, the eye piece diopter adjusted well to my eyes (which are not very good) while wearing my glasses. Some NV scopes don't adjust well for me and my particular eye sight and I sometimes have to remove my glasses to get a proper focus. The M845 gives me a good focus with my glasses on so I'm very happy with that. The M845 has the usual green NV view, with an illuminated 2 MOA red dot reticle.
The scope is rated up to a .308 which is good to know. Apparently it can take some recoil and should make a great scope on a hog hunting rifle. Everyone said it's built like a tank and it does appear to be pretty sturdy at 46 ounces, even though it doesn't feel very heavy, but heavy enough to have a solid feel. My old Gen 1 scope was much larger and heavier. The M845 doesn't sit up off the bore much more than my daytime scope does, and less than the Gen 1 scope did. Hopefully that will translate into trajectory that I can deal with. The view, even though only 2.8x, seems like a bit more magnification. It may just be an optical illusion but I didn't find the lower mag to be much of a problem for close range work. I was afraid the magnification would just not be enough, but for distances under 100 yards, I shouldn't have any problems provided I can get it sighted spot on for accuracy.
For the money it appears to be a good buy and I like the view better than I did with the digital Photon.
I can imagine how nice the Gen 3 version of this scope is.
Thanks to Vic at TNVC for some good advice.
This is my initial impression of the scope without having tested it when shooting. More to come later.
STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER TESTING.............
