Night Vision Bushnell Equinox Z2 monocular

[WT1]

Anyone looked through one? They seem to get good reviews at various web sites. There are three models a 3X, 4.5X, and a 6X. The 4.5 seems to get the best reviews.

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[WT1]

Anyone?

 

[wigwamitus]

I have a z1 3x and 4.5x and for what they are, I think they're GREAT. I can read book with them from across the room ... 30 feet ... I can see cattle with them at 600yds on a full moon night with no illum ... resolution at 12x is still useable ...

Downsides ... on most nights you'll need a pretty powerful illuminator to do much with them ... I haven't used the built in illums since the night after I first got them. I keep my T-20 LED illums attached to them ... that gives me 400yds plus with illum.

And they r pretty big and bulky.

So for "B-Team" work they have value.

 

[WT1]

I have a z1 3x and 4.5x and for what they are, I think they're GREAT. I can read book with them from across the room ... 30 feet ... I can see cattle with them at 600yds on a full moon night with no illum ... resolution at 12x is still useable ...

Downsides ... on most nights you'll need a pretty powerful illuminator to do much with them ... I haven't used the built in illums since the night after I first got them. I keep my T-20 LED illums attached to them ... that gives me 400yds plus with illum.

And they r pretty big and bulky.

So for "B-Team" work they have value.

What would you recommend for general scanning, the 3 or the 4.5? I have seen reviews that the 6X has too narrow of a field of view.

Also, anyone aware of any major differences between the Z and the Z2?

 

[wigwamitus]

Well I couldn't find a 3x for a while, so first got the 4.5x ... but then finally found the 3x ... for me .. I would definitely want the 3x ... and even that's rather high ... I live along a wooded creek and I'd prefer a 1x.
But if you live in like SD near like Mitchell and nothing but miles or flat fields ... then I'd get the 6x ... so depends on your terrain. The more magnification, the less FOV, the more FOV, the less magnification, classical trade off.

The 3x I got does NOT have the onboard video. The 4.5x does, though I've never used it. But if you want that, make sure the one you get has that.

I also tried mine as a weapon site behind a 1x RDS ... and it worked out to 100yds ... they had a special mount for the equinox that would mount it to a rail.

 

[WT1]

Well I couldn't find a 3x for a while, so first got the 4.5x ... but then finally found the 3x ... for me .. I would definitely want the 3x ... and even that's rather high ... I live along a wooded creek and I'd prefer a 1x.
But if you live in like SD near like Mitchell and nothing but miles or flat fields ... then I'd get the 6x ... so depends on your terrain. The more magnification, the less FOV, the more FOV, the less magnification, classical trade off.

The 3x I got does NOT have the onboard video. The 4.5x does, though I've never used it. But if you want that, make sure the one you get has that.

I also tried mine as a weapon site behind a 1x RDS ... and it worked out to 100yds ... they had a special mount for the equinox that would mount it to a rail.

Thanks for the information. Now they have a helmet mounted monocular as well. Wondering if that works with a designator?

 

[wigwamitus]

Well again, you'll most likely need a powerful illum to go with it .. these are roughly gen2 equivalent ... you can mount an illum on the side rail of your helmet.
If you want a laser pointer, you can hold it in your hand.

 

[WT1]

I also tried mine as a weapon site behind a 1x RDS ... and it worked out to 100yds ... they had a special mount for the equinox that would mount it to a rail.

This one comes with a mounting bracket. It gets good reviews if you haven't purchased one that didn't get snagged during inspection for functionality issues, I'm guessing. It is on sale at the Bushnell web site for $149, if you checkout as a guest. If you log in to see what it is with your military or LEO discount, for some reason it shows up at $191.21. I called and spoke with the internet tech guy about it and he said they are short staffed with the Corona thing and so if you want it at the lower price, you should just check out as a "guest" until they can get that worked out.

The last time I had nods on was driving in the desert in the early 90's and they sucked. I don't think these will be much better, but the convenience of the package and getting back in to NV will be interesting.

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[wigwamitus]

Just keep in mind, you can probably get a gen3 pvs-14 for around $2k ... just wanted you to be aware before you dive in to digital. I'm sure digital is the future ... but there is no comparison at this point to capability of gen3 tube unit in terms of passive head mounted NV.

 

[WT1]

I ordered one yesterday at $149 and it just shipped Fedex two day free shipping.

 

[Rerun7]

Let us know how it is. I would be interested in this to have for my kids if they go on a night hunt with me if they are at all usable.

I’m not buying them a PVS14, haha.

 

[WT1]

Let us know how it is. I would be interested in this to have for my kids if they go on a night hunt with me if they are at all usable.

I’m not buying them a PVS14, haha.

That is in fact what one of the reviews I've read on it mentions. The guy doesn't want his kids to have their hand in his AN PVS4 so he bought them each one.

 

[WT1]

Came in today. Not too bad, actually. Shipping was 2 days and free when I ordered it. Just don't log in, otherwise the price goes up to $191 for some reason, check out as a guest. I contacted Bushnell about that and they said right now with everything going on, I should just checkout as a guest because it was unlikely they would be able to fix it in everyone's account settings, though everything else shows up with the military or LEO discount. Wow on some of those deals.

I could see out to 300 clearly and it works well in a completely dark room. Comes with a helmet attachment and a rail attachment. Should make a great scouting tool for deer in the late and early morning hours. But when I went to the park the local teenagers were partying on the other side of the parking lot and the music was too loud for anything to come out and graze in the early evening where they usually do. I don't blame the kids, that's what I'd be doing now if school was out early for the year, too.

Focus the eye piece on the display and then the front lens. One button, on/off. It is not a weapon sight but you can put it on a rail behind a red dot for night shooting. One year warranty. Manual is only like 5 pages with five or so lines of text on them.

Field of view on these things is fairly narrow but good enough for scanning.

I'm new to this stuff. Last time I had nods on was driving a hummer in the desert at Ft. Irwin in the early nineties and I took them off because I could see the cat eyes of the whipper vehicle in front of me better driving with one eye than with them on. But the starlight ones have gotten much better with Gen 2 and 3, I understand.

Lens caps, manual, a nice padded case, the two attachments, the box, not bad for a buck fitty.

So far so good but we'll have to see how rugged it is.

Now for a thermal sight.

 

[WT1]

Seems fairly rugged. For the money, it is a deal.

One caveat. It is not like an AN PVS or other lens system. You have to focus this monocular on every object you are looking at if they are farther than 10 yards apart. So you don't get the infinite in depth focus.

Other than that. it is not too bad.

I'd get the Equinox Z2 though. They are larger, yes, but the resolution is much better and the range is also better. This is very small, like a nod monocular, so it fit well in the space I'm putting it.

 

[WT1]

Update regarding batteries. Don't leave batteries in the Sentinel monocular during periods of non-use. It runs them down over a two week period, fairly common for these night vision devices I've heard. But it works great with new batteries.

 

[WT1]

Finally was able to watch some deer after dusk last night with the Bushnell Sentinel Monocular. I think the locals are already eating the deer because some people are out of work as I've been looking very hard for any sign of them and after almost three weeks of scouting only to see two deer where there are usually a lot more.

Works ok for it but I'd get the Equinox Monocular instead. More resolution, video recording, for only $50 more.

But this thing is very compact and does a good job for what I got it for, a bug out bag. Though it doesn't look like they offer it anymore.

 

[TheHorta]

I stuffed an MTM + Magnifier in my Bugout Bag. I stumbled upon one kicking around that never got used, so in the sack it went!

 

[WT1]

Had to change where I'm looking. I think it is due to the general lack of human activity for the last four months. The deer have changed where they are traveling, much closer to roads now and foot trails. Had I been there at the time of the pic I could have reached out and grabbed one of his antlers and that would be that.