Just got a Pulsar DFA75 night vision

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Well... It came in today. I wasn't sure if I'd get the right item because the primary picture was wrong, but the title, description, and part number were right, so I took a chance. The price was almost too good to be true, so I kept expecting the d750 to arrive, but they shipped me what I was after.

Man I'm excited. Here in Idaho you can hunt yotes at night with thermal and night vision, but you can only hunt with red lights, spot light etc on private property and you have to have written land owner permission on hand. So... I'll post a review once I get to playing with it a bit.

What I like so far.
The bell adapters that the forward unit connects to each have their own flip up cover. Really smart idea. I also like that I can put adapters on a number of scopes and then just move the unit from scope to scope and still keep my original POI. Clarity is better than I expected as I had checked a number of YouTube videos and they really dont do it justice. The unit so far does not weigh as much as I thought and it has a remote for powering the unit up/off. I also like that they provide an extra battery cartridge and that they did provide good batteries. I also appreciate that they included an IR light with variable settings which can be run off the remote, and a weaver rail in the other side for mounting a more powerful IR light (have a Dereelight Xsearcher on the way... Will review it later). I like that they provided dust caps for the main and rear glass. I also am grateful that it has a 3 year warranty.

What I don't like.
Because it's mounted at the front of the scope, reaching the controls can be a bit of a reach, and I have pretty long arms at 6'3". It's awkward. The date doesnt want to seem to let me adjust it.... But the time will. Odd. I don't like that the front objective cap twists off, and then you have to figure out what to do with it....pocket...etc. wish they would have put a flip up on it also...that would have been smarter. Another annoying thing is that they give you a crosshair, but what's the point because you can just use the crosshair in your scope? That one really confuses me. At least it can be disabled... So that's a relief. Another downside is that the focus for the unit is right on the top of it... Hard to reach... Would be better to have focus on the remote. Lastly, if you have a front bell adjustable parallax scope, I'm not sure this would work. If you adjust your parallax for different distances, the whole unit would twist with the bell... Which would be a mess. I was lucky and have 3 scopes that are side parallax, so I feel grateful for that, but it is something that I think could be counted as a thing I dont like.

Other than that... I'll let you know. Going to try the included IR for mutts tomorrow night as long as it isn't snowing too hard and we'll see how it works. Will also take it to the range to get one of my scopes sighted and to check another to confirm no shift in POI. had to swap scopes on one rifle because it has front bell parallax. I bought an extra front mount adapter so that I can initially use it on a couple of scopes. Might get another if I like this thing as much as I think I'm going to!
If I get some mutts.... I'll post some pics.

Feeling pretty jazzed!

-James

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

That looks like a lot of fun.

 

[hynes57]

Statutes You can hunt on public land just have to get a permit from Fish and Game. They require you to call in your location before you hunt so that they can inform local authorities in case a call comes in.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Statutes You can hunt on public land just have to get a permit from Fish and Game. They require you to call in your location before you hunt so that they can inform local authorities in case a call comes in.

I am a hunters Ed instructor for the local area and I spoke to fish and game about it last week. You are correct in that a permit "can" be issued, however, they said that they rarely ever approve these requests and that they absolutely won't if there is any kind of hunt available in the area, or if free range cows Have access to the land. This pretty much puts the nix on any of our local areas as cows are virtually everywhere, and even if they aren't there... they have access so no approval is going to be forthcoming. This is why I decided to get night vision.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Ok... Took it out this evening to get it sighted in... Dark, but snow on a the ground and 3/4 moon behind the clouds. I put up 4 white targets at 100 yards with a black cross in the center of each... Could not see the crosses, no matter how much I attempted to focus (now... Don't leave yet... Good part is coming).

So I took some 6" black targets out and stapled them on the other targets. Went back and low and behold, there they were, easily visible at 100 yards, even without additional IR illumination. Centering up the reticle on target was very easy as the rifle scopes crosshairs were crisp in view. After firing some rounds from both my AR15 and my savage hog hunter, I went out to check my groups. Both shot low and left... even though I confirmed that both rifles were dead on at 100. Now would be the time that I adjusted the pulsar to my crosshair center... and then 1.7" above my POI, but I didn't bring the manual and couldn't remember which setting corrected this (I've since checked it and it's qutie simple).

The great thing is that with the dfa75 attached, it kept less than Moa groups with both rifles. poi was low left with each which can be corrected via the menu. There is some shift between the two scopes, with the 40mm being 1.1" low and 1.3" left... and the 50mm scope being 2.5" low and 1.8" left, so I'll need to document the corrections I make in the menu for each rifle and then make the adjustments when I move the scope back and forth, just as I would have to do if I moved one of my rifle scopes between 2 rifles.

Here's the best thing. With the rifle unloaded, my brother and I took turns viewing each other at 100 & 200 yards. It was easy to identify each other and we both felt that even without IR, on a night like this with snow down, coyotes out to 200 should be a breeze. I'm impressed so far.

Last note: it eats cheap Kirkland batteries pretty fast. The ultra pack they sent are still kicking, but we put in cheap kirkland AAs to see how long they would last and I'm not sure we even got 45 minutes. Might have been closer to 30. I bought some rechargeable 3100mah AAs, so I'll post feed back on their longevity once we get it into the field.

So far so good. I'm liking it. Wish standard battery life was longer and glad I bought 12 rechargeable 3100s. My night master xsearcher ships tomorrow morning so I should be able to provide feedback on the unit with an external IR. I'll post target pics once I get back to the range and adjust the windage and elevation settings in the pulsar.

 

[hynes57]

I am a hunters Ed instructor for the local area and I spoke to fish and game about it last week. You are correct in that a permit "can" be issued, however, they said that they rarely ever approve these requests and that they absolutely won't if there is any kind of hunt available in the area, or if free range cows Have access to the land. This pretty much puts the nix on any of our local areas as cows are virtually everywhere, and even if they aren't there... they have access so no approval is going to be forthcoming. This is why I decided to get night vision.

Weird. Guess they must have made an exception for me then. If I had the money I'd still get the thermal/night vision though.

 

[HarryN]

I am probably confused, but I thought I read on the hunting license rules (on-line version) that ID does not allow electronics to be gun-mounted. For example, my interpretation was that a range finder as a separate device was fine, but if mounted on the rifle, it was not.

Am I missing something or just misguided ?

BTW - looks like a neat setup.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

I think this might answer your question!

https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/content/question/night-hunting

 

[hynes57]

I am probably confused, but I thought I read on the hunting license rules (on-line version) that ID does not allow electronics to be gun-mounted. For example, my interpretation was that a range finder as a separate device was fine, but if mounted on the rifle, it was not.

Am I missing something or just misguided ?

BTW - looks like a neat setup.

Big game versus coyotes. Can't use that stuff on big game but okay for coyotes. Weird thing is that they allow lit reticles for big game but no rangefinder get scopes.

 

[HarryN]

Thank you both for the reply and clarification. I have not hunted coyote's since I lived in IA 35 years ago. Things have really shifted in that time.

 

[HarryN]

BTW, Kirkland batteries are pretty decent at room temperature, but for low temp use it really takes something like an Energizer Li type AA to get decent primary cell performance. They are not cheap, but they really work.

Recharge type can be really good, depending on the construction.. If you get curious about comparing AA cells to each other, the site candlepower forums has an amazing battery comparison section.

Don't underestimate the care needed to deal with the energy stored in some of those cells, especially the higher performance once. The really serious hobby people charge their cells in a steel bucket with sand in the bottom - and not inside the house.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Ok.... I've had a chance to use and play with the unit long enough that I can finally give some feedback on it. The IR illuminator that comes with it is weak... And pretty much useless in the field. It creates blocky pixelated image through the eyepiece and stutter/lag, though it's worse if you have no illumination.

On the other hand, if you put some money towards a good IR illuminator, such as the T20 wih the Oslon black IR850, or the Xsearcher IR, then this unit is simply awesome. With the stock IR, I couldn't see coyotes ay 75-80 yards. With the new IR torch attached to the picatinny rail on the right side of the pulsar, I could see eye glare out to about 300 yards and it creates a much clearer and cleaner image that is lag/stutter-free. I'm amazed at the difference. With good IR illumination, it makes this unit very effective for night hunting... Whereas the original illuminator made the unit almost useless for real hunting.

Also... I sighted this in back when I originally got the unit...back near the date of my first post. When we went out last night... Part of me really wanted to go out and reconfirm zero, however, my brother was late getting ready and it was nearly 10pm before we departed, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Well... At 110 yards it was dead on taking this coyote. One shot through the neck and it was DRT. My brother took a jackrabbit later in the evening at about 80-90 yards and it was dead center, so I'm very pleased about that.

My only complaint so far is that the external lens has a twist off cap as opposed to a flip-up... Easy to misplace and lose in the dark. Mine is already gone. Going to see if I can find a butler creek cap that fits... Hoping so!

All in all... I am 95% pleased with the dfa75. The picatinny rail is a nice touch... The stock illuminator is worthless for hunting, but it's clear and accurate with a good IR torch. Very very pleased!

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Oh... Btw... Got some rechargeable batteries off of amazon and last night we hunted from 10:30pm to about 5am. Obviously some of the time we were driving around... And setting up stands, but I didn't have to change out the batteries. It also came with a second battery cage so if they do run out, you can quickly just pull out the inserted cage, and put in the fresh one. Smart!