[English Bob]

My hunting experience is mainly limited to squirrels and rabbits. I have an ATN X-Sight II which I hoped to use for night hunting, but I was busy taking care of my dad, and I never got around to it. Now I would like to get started.

I have been trying to get the scope working. It works fine during the day, but at night, I haven't been able to see anything but a green screen. I just updated the firmware, and I think I may be able to get the scope working tonight.

While I've been fooling with it, I have noticed that night vision is not great for spotting game. It doesn't light animals up, for one thing. I was thinking the smart move might be to get a thermal monocular for spotting. Is this what other people do? I can't imagine locating animals using the scope.

If I can manage to shoot some ***** and coyotes here on the farm, I'd like to move up to thermal and shoot some pigs.

 

[English Bob]

The X-Sight II now works, and I learned a few things about it.

1. It has Bluetooth, but there is no point in using it because it's a slow, inferior version. Total waste of time.

2. The phone will make you use Bluetooth and wifi passwords. They vary from scope to scope, sometimes they are misspelled, and you can't change them.

3. The phone app that goes with it is nearly useless. You can use it to change the scope's settings, which is already possible using the buttons on the scope, you can stream your picture to your phone, and you can look at (but not share or save) photos and videos your scope created.

4. The illuminator that ships with it gets a lot of criticism. I have only used it at around 40 yards, and it seems fine for that purpose, but people buy products from other companies when they want to shoot long distances.

5. The scope is set up to use 4 AA batteries, but you have to be crazy to take that seriously. It will eat the batteries in short order. You have to buy a separate battery pack, a butt pack to hold the battery, and a cable to connect it to the scope. ATN sells a package for $100, but you can buy better stuff separately for around $30. The ATN butt pack is too small for the battery ATN sells. You can jam it in there, but you can tell they didn't make the pack or the battery. They just looked for things that might work, and they bought them.

I updated the firmware, and suddenly I was able to see things at night. I believe the scope can be useful.

ATN doesn't seem to care at all about this product or the people who bought it, so this is something to think about when buying products in the future. I see people recommending the Thor thermal scope. I wouldn't go near it, or any other ATN product, after my experiences with the X-Sight II. I would have to have extremely credible, detailed recommendations from multiple knowledgeable sources before I would buy ATN again.

 

[LIKTOSHOOT]

I used a varmint Red Light. Lighter-cheaper. Says 350 yard. Have used it out to 150 with great success on hogs and coyotes. Light mounts on top of scope-adjustable windage-elevation.
Pressure switch and a small battery that last about 4hrs-rechargable. IR if you will.

 

[Larry Isaacs]

English Bob, I have owned the ATN X-sight for 2 years, the experience has been less than exciting. ATN has a forum and it is truly members helping members as much as possible. The factory seems devoid of knowledgeable staff. The IR light that comes with the unit is less than good, I bought the largest IR source possible, results are great. I do not use many of the features,e.g. Compass, Ballistics, etc. The feature I like is the very quick scope zero. Updating is a P.I.A. The next unit is a Leupold, I have a handheld Leupold now and it makes finding black cows on a moonless night perfect, the next will be a full-on Thermal scope, but not ATN.

Larry

 

[English Bob]

It's a pretty neat product apart from the lack of support and useless app and Bluetooth.

I've been looking at thermal monoculars. It looks like they come in two flavors: toys and $2500+.

 

[TRAP55]

Unless you're using Starlight night vision, your night vision is only as good as the IR emitter. Thermal is light years ahead of both in night and daylight. I was extremely impressed playing with one a friend has. He added the battery bag that gave it 48hrs of continuous use. The features are everything you could ask for, video on, or on with recoil, auto zero from gun to gun after it's programmed, etc. You can find them under $1800.

ATN ThOR-HD 384 1.25-5x SMART Thermal Scope – ATN Corp

Buy the New Digital ATN ThOR-HD 384 1.25-5x Thermal Rifle Scope for night hunting - Best US made Thermal Weapon Sight

www.atncorp.com

 

[English Bob]

I mentioned the Thor, above. I hate to give ATN another chance to let me down.

Still looking at monoculars.

 

[Larry Isaacs]

I suggest the Leupold LTO Quest MSRP $399.00. The next version has a camera and about $100,00 more. These units can not be gun mounted, can not absorb the shock.

Larry