ATN X-Sight II 3-14x

I will let someone familiar with clip on answer that question. As to which to choose if you only had one, for me it would be the thermal. But you really need a separate scanner and scope to be efficient. Scanning with a loaded firearm is not safe and would become tiring quick. You could use NV to scan and shoot or you could use thermal to both scan and shoot. I currently have thermal to scan and NV to shoot but that will change as soon as I can swing a thermal scope.
 
Thanks again...appreciate the response. I see the ATN has 3-14 and 5-20 X-Sight scopes...are these Gen 1 or Gen 2 stuff? The 5-20 really isn't much more than the 3-14...do you really need all of this magnification or not? dkarre, you mention the Hog light getting you out to 400yds...was this using a colored led or the IR led on this light? I really appreciate you guys answering all these questions...it's starting to give me a better idea of all this. Weekender, what thermal scope brand would you opt for and what magnification range? Thanks again

Gene
 
Gene, the X-Sights are digital so they don't have a Gen1 or Gen2 rating as traditional NV scopes do. I would say in comparison they would fall in between depending on the brand and model.

If you are primarily going to use a scope for calling predators then the lower magnification is best. For shooting hogs or over a bait pile where fast target acquisition isn't quite so important then higher mag is okay.

Most of these digital scopes from ATN, Pulsar, and Sightmark have some sort of basic IR illuminator built into them, but it usually isn't adequate for longer distances. An IR add on light of 850 nm or in some cases 940nm is going to be required to get the greatest distance. The 940nm has lower glow at the source but won't reach out quite as far as the 850nm.
 
I'm running my sniper hog light with an IR pill...It's an expensive light but I'm happy with it..If your looking into IR illuminators I recommend something that had a dimmer and is focusable
 
GAnderson, I have hopes of getting a scope like doubleup uses, Pulsar XD50A. It's 2-8 power, 2X optical with 4X digital zoom.
 
Thanks again to all for the information...really does help. While I don't do a lot of night hunting, I would like to have suitable equipment without breaking the bank. Some of the open areas I hunt may end up with a yote hanging up at 250+yds and would like something suitable to make this shot...that is why I was wondering about the variable "power" NV scopes...I am used to dialing my 6.5x20 leupold up and whacking him out there(in daytime), so was trying to find something similar in NV stuff. It sounds like NV scopes are somewhat similar but with limitations. The thermal stuff really looks good but doesn't seem to be as "riflescope" type as NV does, but thermal really does show every living thing out there. Thanks again

Gene
 
Originally Posted By: G AndersonI am just getting interested in this whole night vision/thermal thing and boy it is mind boggling. I have a few questions and maybe some of you can answer or direct me to someone that can. As other have stated, I don't think I want to fork over several thousand $$$'s not knowing much about all of this, so here goes. I see that they offer NV in what I call typical riflescope magnification ranges...say like a 4x16 power...does the night vision scope actually work just like a riflescope in that magnification range? If so, then why are you limited to 100 - 150yds max range on NV? Does the NV "scope" actually mount on the rifle just as a regular scope? I have seen rifles pictured with a regular scope on them and then a second device up against the end of the scope...what's that? Then I start reading about the whole thermal vision thing...does it ever end? OK, by now I bet most of you are laughing uncontrollably, but I really don't know a [beeep] thing about this stuff and hope you can at least get me headed the right direction. Thanks

Gene

Gene,
Lots of good questions, many that I have answered over and over again as more and more hunters get into the night hunting arena. In general, there is no perfect NV or Thermal setup out there. Every technology and every system has both positives and negatives associated with them. You simply have to make a list of the pros and cons and then base your decision on that. You can get started with night vision that works for hunting fairly cheaply. However, these cheap Gen 1 or Digital devices require a very powerful IR flashlight to make them work good. This makes the field of view (FOV) rather small so you will probably miss a few if you are calling coyotes, fox or bobcat. If hunting over bait piles or hogs on feeders you really don't need much of a FOV. You can check out my YouTube Channel where we field test several units (Gen1, Gen 2+, Gen3, and clip-on Gen3). This will give you some idea of how these work in various ambient light conditions. Additionally, just viewing these should answer most of the questions you posed in your post. We will be putting up more field reviews this summer so subscribe to it and stay tuned!! Kevin

HTRN YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJfHimNagQiMXiH1HMKHyw
 
Originally Posted By: G AndersonThanks again to all for the information...really does help. While I don't do a lot of night hunting, I would like to have suitable equipment without breaking the bank. Some of the open areas I hunt may end up with a yote hanging up at 250+yds and would like something suitable to make this shot...that is why I was wondering about the variable "power" NV scopes...I am used to dialing my 6.5x20 leupold up and whacking him out there(in daytime), so was trying to find something similar in NV stuff. It sounds like NV scopes are somewhat similar but with limitations. The thermal stuff really looks good but doesn't seem to be as "riflescope" type as NV does, but thermal really does show every living thing out there. Thanks again

Gene

Thermal comes in both scanner (usually hand held but can be mounted on a tripod or vehicle) and rifle scope versions. Check out some of doubleup's latest posts here in the night hunting forum and you can see what the scope version XD50A looks like. Basically if you see videos with no cross hair on the screen it is most likely a scanning device and if you see a cross hair it is most likely a rifle scope.
 

Fred,

Just today I heard from a guy in Namibia that I hunted jackal with almost 10 years ago. He has a YouTube channel if you care to check it out - FMJARACAL

Francois used an ATN X-Sight 3-14 HD2 for this video. See for yourself. I am rather impressed with what I see in this video, but have sent a letter to him with some questions about the scope. I will keep you informed what he says about it. Anyway, for information sake, here is the video:



Francois uses suppressed rifles which doesn't show the white-out effect as much as with unsuppressed.

This video has me taking a closer look at the X-Sight, but I'm still waiting to hear what he has to say about it. I won't jump in until I feel satisfied the scope is worth it. I know that ATN customer service is not so hot, but I also know that Sportsman's Guide will refund your money or issue a new scope within the warranty period and they have good service without having to send the scope directly back to ATN.


 
Thanks 6mm06, that is very impressive footage. Obviously the scope is working nicely for him. I have read about and watched a lot of videos on this scope and while it works for some, others have troubles. Many but not all of the troubles seem to be self inflicted with user input data. The scope has so many features it seems to confuse a lot of people. It would be a lot easier to pull the trigger on one of these scopes if there was good customer service backing it, but unfortunately that seems to be an area needing improvement.
 

Originally Posted By: RuddyI'd be interested to hear what the distances were he was shooting.

I sent a letter to Francois last night asking that same question, of the average range he was shooting. He is currently away on a hunt for about a week but hopefully I will hear from him soon. Once I hear more I will post it.

Weekender, I too have watched a lot of videos about the X-Sight and find that most of them are day time which is about as useless at [beeep] on a boar for a night-time evaluation. Francois' video is probably the best night footage I have seen.

You would think that ATN would have got the message by now, that we hunters don't want all those crazy features in a night vision scope. A simple, straight-forward NV scope is all we want.

Here is a review video I watched just a few minutes ago. This guy seems to tell what he sees as issues with the scope. Makes me want to continue to wait for a better model since for one, I like good resolution, zooming ability and responsiveness. Maybe future generation scopes will fix some of the issues that plague the scope.



Lazerus, it did seem (to my eyes anyway) that the X-Sight was a bit clearer with regards to focus, but the Pulsar was brighter.

 
I noticed the same thing but at the end of the video on the Pulsar it listed equipment used a Lightforce light and the ATN it listed an 850 ir so that might be the difference.
 

Ruddy, I didn't catch that at the end of the Pulsar video and that could explain why it was brighter as well as the more grainy and unfocused appearance. Thanks for mentioning that.

This guy did a test recently of the Gen 2 model X-sight. I see that it is flickering like the older models did, so it makes me wonder if the issue has to do with firmware. The jackal video did not flicker like this one does.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/for...mp;#Post3036236


 
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I have seen the flickering on several of the videos and of the ones I queried, the sensitivity had been set to low. I don't think it works at all on high. Those setting to med as ncyotecaller mentioned seem not to have the flickering.

I have watched several of the air gunners rat shooting videos and none of them have the flickering.
 
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Originally Posted By: RuddyI'd be interested to hear what the distances were he was shooting.

I saw one where he put the distance on the screen as 268 meters, but most appeared much closer compared to that one.
 
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I've had the first gen ATN X-Sight for over a year now. I've shot a few coyotes with it at night, but sadly, I forget to push the record button on the video feature to capture my kill on video. You know how it is when you see a coyote approaching. Pushing a record button is the last thing on my mind.

It works well, but you really need an external battery supply to hunt for any length of time at night and if you run the video because it sucks up the juice real quickly. Add in the wi-fi option and you have less than 2 hours on the 4 AA batteries. That is a pretty cool option, though. If you turn on the wi-fi and have the Obsidian app on your phone, you can have someone with you and they can see everything you see on the phone. I've done it a few times with my neighbor and it's pretty cool.

I also bought a more powerful IR. T20 I believe. Maybe T34. I can't remember. I can see eye shine out 500 yards or so. If a coyote is withing 150 yards, you will most definatly see it, full body. If you've never hunted at night, it is not as easy as it may seem. Your field of vision is only as wide as your IR light shines, which isn't very much. You have to constantly scan to pick up any movement. My scope is the 5-18x model and I wish I would have bough the 3-14x. I keep it on 5x when I'm hunting at night and that's still too tight. 3X would probably be perfect.

ATN has a page on FB for it's owners. Anyone can join or even look at it. Lots of owners post up some pretty cool night videos on that page. Here is a link:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=atn%20smart%20hd%20owners
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATNXSightUsers/

Hope this helps some.
 
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I pulled in 3 coyotes Saturday night, but couldn't get them close enough for a shot. I could see them clearly at about 350 yards. Eye shine was very, very bright at 500 yards. I was elevated (on top of my roof) so I could see quite a bit further than being at ground level. So far, the X-Sight has been great.
 
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