Sightmark Photon Night Vision

[Viking264]

My NV is the sightmark 6.5 ...pitch dark I get an ID at 285 yds, without any extra illuminator. A lot further than that, on a moon lit night too..At night, i try to stay within 125yds for my targets . I have a redfield scope I can switch too, with a green light. Its the same light I got from Hog Heavens (350 yds) Animals can't see the green light or the infrared...They might get spoked if you burn them so they see thier shadows , but hogs and coyotes don't see the infrared, nor green or red light. I love the NV scope.

I will also take issue the notion that the animals don't see the red or green; they do, and plainly. I own the Kill Light (or whatever it's called) in green. Super-powerful, and the light that I carry when we take our dogs for nightly walks so that we can signal vehicles to our presence and keep an eye out for bears (>500-lb. black bears are not uncommon in our area). A deer may not immediately take off when a beam from this light sweeps across it, but that also applies to any other light source. This is the tendency of a deer. In other words, they freeze when the light initially passes over their eyes. Eventually, they move. They can see this light, without a doubt, regardless of marketing hoopla. Predators, such as any of the coyotes, foxes (red and gray), bobcats, and smaller feral cats take off immediately upon seeing the light beam, regardless of whether the beam goes over their eyes. Bears, rodents (rats, mice, and larger relatives such as beavers), raccoons, opossums, and rabbits all pause when they first see the light (again, green or the IR emitter, which again is visible to the naked eye), indicating that they do see it. If they didn't, then they would take no notice and just continue on. They may not see the IR beam (I doubt that they do, in fact), but if they are looking in the direction of the emitter, then they will see the red glow. As was stated by another member earlier, this is made worse by the use of too powerful an emitter, or having it dialed up more than necessary. The NV light in question has a variable emitter power feature, so it can be turned down quite low (or completely off, of course).

With rats, large or small, it's one-trial learning. If I miss one with the IR emitter on and they were looking in my direction before the shot is fired, then they immediately associate the emitter with the sound of the rifle, and getting a second chance is not easy.

 

[hunterbob]

If you burn them with a high intensity light , they will run. Especially when thier whole area is brightened up at once... they see thier shadows …

 

[hunterbob]

SidecarFlip how about a review. Varmints can't see the lights. Come on. They may freeze like deer or not realize what is going on. But once they associate it with danger their gone. Rats are easy and will just stand and challenge you, dumb rat. Stand away from the unit and look back. If you can see it they can. The brighter the light the higher the chance of immediately spooking them. We use green and red light because it tones down the burn. Most people including myself use way too bright a light.

I have two lights I use, one is good for 300 yds, one for 100 yds with 3 levels of brightness. I always start my light high and slowly bring it down, so as to reduce the excessive light all at once... I also use a Photon 6.5 XT NV

 

[hunterbob]

I'm around. I've sort of switched my hunting from long guns to magnum revolvers.

I waited and waited for the Photon and Cabelas decided not to carry it anymore so I bought an ATN Day / Nite scope. It's a bit larger physically but has some nice features like one shot zero (works) and it's Wi-Fi enabled. I put the Obistan App on my Android and I can do streaming movies plus I can control the scope from the phone and if anyone is with me, they can see exactly what I see, on the phone in real time. Unlike th the photon, you can go from daylight to dusk to pitch black night without any changes (except the IR illuminator) which it comes with. Had the points so the cost was zip.

You can order them through Walmarts and Midwayusa

 

[Viking264]

I ordered mine through Amazon.

 

[Kmccord]

I just purchased a Photon RT, the newest version of NV from Sightmark, I have not been able to really test it while hunting, the first night we could not stay out very long, freaking Northern blew in with 30 mph North wind, nothing was moving. The other nights have been raining.. The model I purchased is the 6x50 Photon RT, it uses a 940nM LED IR Illuminator, it is good for hunting to about 150yds, it is a one shot zero that works great. It can record up to five hours of video with sound on the built in 8GB memory, or you can download an app and stream it to your smart phone. I purchased it mainly to hunt hogs on my property and my mother inlaw property, I have it mounted on my AR 15 .223, but plan to purchase a 6.5 Grendel upper to use instead of the 223. I was hoping to take it out Friday and Saturday night, but forecast has more rain coming in Friday and Saturday...