Clue me on these new Digital Day/night scopes

[Gunfighter14e2]

Have a 3rd gen pvs14 w/IR lasers on everything, as well as a Thermal. Is there any advantage of these over what I have? If so the pros & cons please. Never fingered one so the first question, does it require a IR source to operated at night, if so that is a no go from the gate.

 

[blksno]

I was highly skeptical, but I've been testing out the DNT Zulus HD LRF both the 3-12 and 5-20 Gen1 which is Day and Digital NV only. (Non-Thermal) and I've been highly impressed. I hear the Gen2 just got released as well.
Pros are that it works day or night, has built in LRF, with FFP reticle, and onboard ballistics that calculate holds in real time.

Does it "REQUIRE" IR ... No. But it's built in and helps for sure.
Major pro for me, is it has onboard HD video and audio recording...and it's stupid cheap.

Is it BETTER than everything else? Probably not, but it's pretty damn good, that's for sure.

 

[blksno]

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Directed to both of you.
Were those night photos taken w/o using any IR source?

 

[blksno]

Directed to both of you.
Were those night photos taken w/o using any IR source?

no, the glowing eyes is a dead give away....but I can probably get you some fresh pics tonight. The deer come out in the park by my house all the time. I will try and get some without IR

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

no, the glowing eyes is a dead give away....but I can probably get you some fresh pics tonight. The deer come out in the park by my house all the time. I will try and get some without IR

Yea I seen the eyes and suspected it was IR, but did not know if its auto on at night or has to be turned on.

 

[Old Man with Gun]

OP you may want to state your goal, like detect 100lb animals at 200 yards and ID what kind of animal at 100yards on a moonless night.

I have good NV and it works under any conditions. My impression of digital is it may be decent with moon light and clear skies in a open field, but will be useless in the woods with a canopy or on a moonless night.

 

[MikeMiller]

Have a 3rd gen pvs14 w/IR lasers on everything, as well as a Thermal. Is there any advantage of these over what I have? If so the pros & cons please. Never fingered one so the first question, does it require a IR source to operated at night, if so that is a no go from the gate.

Hey brother your thermal and PVS14 can be used effectively without IR illumination. I have not seen digital yet that can be used in as conditions as Gen 3 or thermal without using an illuminator Hence from the digital I have used you are giving up your position to others with NVDs if you use an illuminator

I know you. I don’t think you want a system that gives away your position

 

[Edsel]

Interested in this as well.

Is there a good thread or online link which details the different "tiers" of night vision?

Brands / Models, etc.?

 

[blksno]

Hey brother your thermal and PVS14 can be used effectively without IR illumination. I have not seen digital yet that can be used in as conditions as Gen 3 or thermal without using an illuminator Hence from the digital I have used you are giving up your position to others with NVDs if you use an illuminator

I know you. I don’t think you want a system that gives away your position

Correct.
Digital NV functions...but barely without IR. It's gotta have full mood, star light, residual street lights etc to amplify.
Here's tonight. Completely overcast with no stars or moon visible.

Good for what it is...but I don't think it will ever compare to what it wants to be.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

I know you. I don’t think you want a system that gives away your position

Yep, that's the reason. Everything I have that projects is on a pressure pad. Even adapted a 14 eye cup to my thermal scope for that very reason. No one around here has one to finger, hence the question. Been looking for a Range finder that's good to about 4-600 that runs on a pad as well.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Correct.
Digital NV functions...but barely without IR. It's gotta have full mood, star light, residual street lights etc to amplify.
Here's tonight. Completely overcast with no stars or moon visible.

Good for what it is...but I don't think it will ever compare to what it wants to be.

View attachment 8730932View attachment 8730933

Thanks for the photos. With those I can see how a minor tactic change, would allow one of those scopes to have a place. Is the laser on all the time, or can it be turned on & off quickly? That mfg'ers 3-12 model is what I was looking at, and its looking like based upon your range & mil hold the same reason.

 

[blksno]

Thanks for the photos. With those I can see how a minor tactic change, would allow one of those scopes to have a place. Is the laser on all the time, or can it be turned on & off quickly? That mfg'ers 3-12 model is what I was looking at, and its looking like based upon your range & mil hold the same reason.

I've been testing the 3-12 and the 5-20 swapping them back and forth between 223, and 22lr and just using the tripod to film critters.

The 5-20 has a pretty narrow fov and imo, would be better suited for day shooting. Even at 5x...its pretty tight if youre trying to locate things, and 99% of my night time engagements would be inside 100 yds.

If I were going to buy one for night time. It would be a 3-12. It was mounted to my AR, or I would have used it last night. The 5-20 was attached to my tripod.

The LRF is NOT on all the time.

It's a single press to activate it, and then another single press turns it off while it calculates and displays ballistic holds.

Here's the 3-12 and few days ago

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

I've been testing the 3-12 and the 5-20 swapping them back and forth between 223, and 22lr and just using the tripod to film critters.

The 5-20 has a pretty narrow fov and imo, would be better suited for day shooting. Even at 5x...its pretty tight if youre trying to locate things, and 99% of my night time engagements would be inside 100 yds.

If I were going to buy one for night time. It would be a 3-12. It was mounted to my AR, or I would have used it last night. The 5-20 was attached to my tripod.

The LRF is NOT on all the time.

It's a single press to activate it, and then another single press turns it off while it calculates and displays ballistic holds.

Here's the 3-12 and few days ago

View attachment 8731004

I think I can make that work, would be nice if it had an eye cup, but that's corrected easily enough. Be nice if they had one in a 2x to 6/8x, as I'm not a fan of high magnification for my needs.
What is run time?
Rechargeable or std battery

If that Laser Max is what I think it is, I'd be a player should you want to part with it.

 

[blksno]

I think I can make that work, would be nice if it had an eye cup, but that's corrected easily enough. Be nice if they had one in a 2x to 6/8x, as I'm not a fan of high magnification for my needs.
What is run time?
Rechargeable or std battery

If that Laser Max is what I think it is, I'd be a player should you want to part with it.

Appears the Gen2 comes with an eye cup, charger and a pair of 21700 flat top batteries.
Per the website, then Gen1 has 8h and the Gen2 is 10h

"Upgraded from a standard 18650 to a high-capacity 21700 battery, the scope delivers up to 10 hours of extended runtime."

Has "stand by" mode etc

zulus-v2

Day Night Technologies (DNT) delivers the future of optics with cutting-edge thermal scopes, night vision scopes, and precision optics. These products are specifically designed to meet the needs of hunters, shooters, and tactical professionals. Explore next-gen optics today!

us.dntoptics.com

 

[diggler1833]

My one gripe about digital NV (limitations aside) is that if you're shooting in unfavorable or almost zero wind conditions - it is going to look like you shot an 1861 Springfield with the cloud of gas and residue that pours out of the front of your rifle. Expect 1 - 2 seconds where you can't see your target for squat.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Appears the Gen2 comes with an eye cup, charger and a pair of 21700 flat top batteries.
Per the website, then Gen1 has 8h and the Gen2 is 10h

"Upgraded from a standard 18650 to a high-capacity 21700 battery, the scope delivers up to 10 hours of extended runtime."

Has "stand by" mode etc

zulus-v2

Day Night Technologies (DNT) delivers the future of optics with cutting-edge thermal scopes, night vision scopes, and precision optics. These products are specifically designed to meet the needs of hunters, shooters, and tactical professionals. Explore next-gen optics today!

us.dntoptics.com

OK thanks,... keep me in mined on that Laser Max.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Here's just my opinion.
If you are broke poor and well that's all you can afford and all you ever will be doing is having fun looking around close up and stalking close by critters, sure those poor man's thermals and poor man's NV are going to work.

BUT considering that a proper decent real thermal type stuff (even if Chinese made) is had in the $3k or less mark for some really decent digital (but still real thermal) imagers that don't need any of that illumination stuff to work. Athlon for example makes some really nice new series of them if you need affordable and don't mind Chinese.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Here's just my opinion.
If you are broke poor and well that's all you can afford and all you ever will be doing is having fun looking around close up and stalking close by critters, sure those poor man's thermals and poor man's NV are going to work.

BUT considering that a proper decent real thermal type stuff (even if Chinese made) is had in the $3k or less mark for some really decent digital (but still real thermal) imagers that don't need any of that illumination stuff to work. Athlon for example makes some really nice new series of them if you need affordable and don't mind Chinese.

The flip side is when your looking at simple units for FNG training & their usage just in case, cost can be a factor. Would I trade my pvs 14 & IR lasers or thermal for one,... nope. When your looking at outfighting a group, cost is a factor, at least with us. You don't have to have the best, but you need a tool and tactics, that allows trading up should it be required,...