Not happy with wraith

J

jgerrington

New member
Just got the wraith and while the image is good, I can't get over the field of view. Way too zoomed in compared to my photon xt. I have been completely satisfied with the photon with the exception of little adjustment to sight in. I had to shim scope to get it sighted in on my ar15. Another person had same problem.
Also the wraith does not work with my 940nm ir light.while the photon works great with it.
I may be sending the wraith back. Anything else worth going with in this price range? I may get the photon rt?
 
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I'm actually pretty happy with the ATN 4K Pro. I could not live with the battery life on the Sightmark Photon XT that I had. The ATN says it has an 18 hour battery life, and from what I can tell I believe it. While I have and do own better, it's pretty good for the $$.

The Hogster R and Trijicon are in a totally different price range, and a different technology platform (digital NV vs thermal). Those are the only others I'd personally consider.
 
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I haven't been happy with mine either , the screen will get darker on mine on occasion and can pick up coyotes easier with my old XT. Contacted Sightmark and got a generic reply on the problem. Have since bought a Photon RT that I can see farther and more consistent. That said I have been able to get some coyotes with the Wraith but am going to trade back in at the place i bought it. Seriously thinking about making the thermal jump.
 
I will agree that a wider FOV would be nice but I am happy with the Wraith. Not many coyote here but I do shoot a lot of fox and when they are inside of 50-100 yds and coming in quick it is tough to pick them up when switching from the thermal. Just last nite I killed a fox at 275-300 yds with it. The only thing I have changed is the IR.
 
There will be another Wraith this year. It will be at 3X magnification. It will have 4K video and audio, and it does not suffer from the jitteriness of the standard Wraith. I saw a prototype at shot show and it was very impressive. However, it will be two to $300 more expensive. The 3x will help with field of view and it appears to have a larger viewing window.
 
I just got back from a trip to Texas where I got to use my Wraith for the first time. Overall I am happy with it. The main limitation is FOV. I was scanning with a red light and then going to the Wraith when I picked up eyes. The Wraith's FOV does make acquiring the animal in the scope a bit difficult, especially at closer distances. Another limitation is that the depth of field is pretty shallow, so if you have old eyes like I do it can be difficult to keep things in focus when the animal is moving a lot. That said, as the trip progressed I got better at working within those limitations and was able to get some pretty cool video of gray foxes.

One thing that is an absolute necessity is a good tripod that you can lock your rifle down with. I was using a Bog Pod Death Grip and it worked really well. Below is a link to a video where I was fortunate enough to get 3 gray foxes in the frame at once.

 
Not gonna pay that much more for same scope with sound and 3x magnification. I may save and get a entry level thermal or stick with photon xt. The photon trail looks nice for the price. All my shots are 150 yards in and mostly 50-100 yards
 
Anyone have any insight as to why these digital NV scopes don't start out with a 2X magnification so as to have a less restrictive field of view and deeper depth of field? Anybody who is not hunting wide open country is going to be somewhat handicapped with the 4X magnification. And since you can digitally zoom there is no downside to starting out at 2X. Or is there? As noted above a future version of the Wraith will have 3X magnification. The cynic in me says these companies know what the ideal configuration of these products is from the get go and they just roll them out slowly so as to make money off the new and improved models they will eventually make available.
 
Digital zoom kills image quality on NV and thermal. It is the reason I tell people if you are automatically bumping up the zoom/mag on a 640 thermal such as a Pulsar XP (640), then you might as well go with a higher base mag, cheaper 384 version. For thermal, it comes down to a factor of microns, focal length (objective size/aperture) and resolution. These determine what the base mag and FOV will be. I honestly don’t know all the factors on digital NV but part has to be based on focal length.

Two very popular NV scopes are the D740 and D760. The D740 has a base mag of 4x and the D760 starts at 6x so the idea the Wraith has a 4x base is not uncommon. However, I do concur the field of view, even during the day on the Wraith, can be restricting. This is only compounded when using it at night.

I get the frustration when companies release new versions that fix flaws in original versions. Another way to look at this, is they are listening to their customers and making positive changes.

Another factor that has to be considered is for many companies the US market is not their biggest market. These devices are used in many countries, in many terrains and for various types of applications.

 
Kirsch,

Thanks for the info. I get it on the digital zoom and image quality, but when it comes to digital NV scopes, I think 2X would be the better magnification to start with as it would increase the FOV considerably. I would much gladly trade off some video clarity when zoomed in for for a great ability to quickly acquire targets in the scope. I am more interested in the ability to get off a well placed shot than I am in getting quality video.

Out of curiosity how does the FOV on the "average" thermal compare to that of the Wraith? I think the FOV at 100 yards on the Wraith is about 20 feet.

Thanks again for all your insight and always taking the time to answer question!
 
I just want to be clear with everyone, I also believe the field of view is very tight on the Wraith. I would never recommend this for someone who is using it to scan for coyotes and doesn’t have a scanner to see them first.

Fitz, when you say the word average, that varies dramatically on both thermal and night vision. Many hunters in the US, especially hog hunters, want a really wide field of view. The user who is hunting fox in the UK, is looking for something with a smaller field of view and more magnification.

I can tell you my PTS536 which I have been using the last year+ also has a 4X base mag and has a 4.5° field of view. The Wraith has a 4° field of view, so about 10% less, but very close. Most people would say the PTS536 also does not have enough field of view and they would be right for hunting in cover for sure. Higher base magnification and smaller field of views are designed for longer range hunting. If this does not suit the hunter’s needs, they should be looking for a different solution. Many people tend to look at the Wraith because of it’s fairly attractive price point for the features it provides.

Although I’m not a fan of ATN, if anybody asks, this is why I recommend the 3 -14 verses the 5 -20 Xsight.
 
Originally Posted By: cmateraI'm actually pretty happy with the ATN 4K Pro. I could not live with the battery life on the Sightmark Photon XT that I had. The ATN says it has an 18 hour battery life, and from what I can tell I believe it. While I have and do own better, it's pretty good for the $$.

The Hogster R and Trijicon are in a totally different price range, and a different technology platform (digital NV vs thermal). Those are the only others I'd personally consider.

I am into 20 months with my ATN 4K 5X20. Very happy with ATN scopes.
I just bought a Thor 4 384 2-8 Nice thermal, long battery life.
Nice picture, I am a user, not a seller.
 
I just picked up a wraith also. Tested it out at night but not sighted it in yet. I agree the FOV is bad! It seems like it's at a higher than 4x magnification if you ask me. The stock IR mount is complete junk. Throw it in the trash. I put a wicked QD mount with adjustable elevation and windage without using tools and the wicked 403ic 850 IR.. so much better! My complaint is it doesnt work well looking over the scrub here in the desert a few small cacti and some smallish bushes and you wont see past it. Its prolly best used in flat terrain with cut corn stock fields a grassy meadows. My only hope is if I pick a stand that has an elevated view over a wash or looking up onto the hillsides so I can see past the [beeep] small scrub bushes.
 
I agree magnification is more than 4x. Looking at a feeder at 50 yards and can't fit the 7ft feeder in the field of view. Makes follow up shots too difficult. Otherwise a good scope. I'm sending it back and will see what the new version looks like.
Or save up for the hogster R thermal...
 
Spidicus, you're right, one of the issues with digital NV is that IR blindness from bushes, trees, even corn stalks. What looks like a decent stand in the daytime may become almost impossible at night. One advantage though is that at night you don't have to worry about concealment unless it is over about 50% moon, so it is easier to set up without bushes and brush in the way. Plus you can stand with a tripod and get above some of the problems from being low to the ground.

An even worse problem occurs when you shoot. The smoke from the IR makes it similar to shooting a black powder gun in the daytime. There will be a few seconds when you can't see anything about what happened to the target animal. Windy nights not so bad, but calm nights the IR seems to reflect off the smoke forever. Make that first shot count!

Back in my Photon days I had trouble finding the target animal when going from scanning with thermal to shooting with the digital NV (Photon XT). Narrow field of view with the digital plus with thermal everything just stands out and catches your attention. I eventually just gave it up and went all thermal. Here is a recent video that shows how thermal kept me from accidentally shooting a deer which ran right throught the bullet path just before I killed the coyote. Had I been shooting digital NV, I'm sure I wouldn't have seen the deer coming.

 
Nice video. My plan is to get the thermal scanner this fall before fox and cat season begins. Thermal kill scope is gonna have to wait a bit longer.. hope the wraith works good enough for next season or two
 
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