ATN X-SIGHT 4K PRO 3-14x Review
Disclaimer: I bought it for night hunting with night vision, and I like that it can record directly to a memory card. Personally, I don’t “need” any of the other fancy features it claims it’s capable of doing. That being said, this is a great scope for what it can do if you can work with/understand its limitations. I suspect the software/features will improve with future firmware updates, but don’t expect image quality to improve. I just don’t appreciate companies using us early adopters as beta testers for their products while having us pay full price for these things. Can anyone say false advertising?
DO NOT BUY THIS SCOPE TO REPLACE YOUR DAYTIME SCOPE - ESPECIALLY FOR YOU AIRGUNNERS. BUY A QUALITY OPTICAL SCOPE FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY OR LESS AND YOU'LL GET A SUPERIOR QUALITY OPTIC TO THIS SCOPE. HOWEVER, FOR NIGHT-TIME HUNTING, THIS IS A GODSEND.
Hardware:
Let’s be honest – this is not a “scope” in the traditional sense. With this new version, they’ve shaped it to look more like a scope than the previous versions, but that’s where the similarities end. This is a digital video camera with the LCD installed in the eyepiece and some fancy software to control the camera.
The scopes come in either 3x or 5x optical zoom option. The 3-14x or 5-20x “zoom” is a misnomer. The zoom is digital only. Prior versions had problems at higher zoom ranges because the image would pixelate due to a smaller sensor, despite the image remaining at 1080p. The new 4K versions gives you a bigger sensor, which in theory will produce a crisper, clearer image when digitally zooming in, reducing or eliminating any blur or pixelation.
The 4K is a misleading advertisement claim. The sensor is 4K, but the scope still records in 1080p just like previous. If you left all three at their base zoom, either 3x or 5x depending on the base mag of the lens, they’d look the same (roughly) in regards to clarity when compared to each other.
I was a little disappointed in the quality of the video produced at higher zoom, especially when viewing video stills of what we’re seeing vs what we were expecting or was advertised. This is not because the sensor is bad. This is because the lens itself may not be as high a quality as we were expecting or there may be variability in quality of each lens between different scopes. All the sensor can capture is what the lens is able to produce. A crappy lens will produce crappy large pictures with a larger sensor. This is why so many users have commented that the X-Sight II looks about the same as far as image quality goes, especially at lower zoom ranges.
What I cannot understand is why no autofocus with manual override! This is a digital camera. Heck even your iPhone/Android has autofocus in the fixed lens on the back. Why can’t this scope autofocus on whatever the reticle is pointed at? And why no optical zoom? Is it because ATN doesn’t make its own lenses? Licensing issues, cost of the scope, added weight? You tell me.
The viewfinder looks great. Good eye relief. Nothing to complain about there.
The focus knobs on the front and rear are stiff but not too bad. You certainly won’t knock them out of focus by accident.
Battery life is great! That they did improve on this version.
The buttons for the most part work well except for the “OK” button, which requires some getting used to. It feels like you’re pressing the left/right buttons at the same time when you’re pressing the OK button. If you don’t press the OK button right in the middle, you’ll either activate the picture or video option on the lens.
The included scope rings are fine for most people, especially calibers that produce less recoil. I’ve seen others who buy aftermarket rings, but that’s per buyer preference.
The included IR LED light will only accept CR123A batteries – does not work with 18650 rechargeable batteries because it can’t fit them inside. It does feature a very quiet turn-style intensity knob on the rear (3 intensity settings) and the front allows you to focus the beam. A wide beam will actually degrade some of the video quality/sharpness when recording at night, so focus the beam down to just have it fill the viewfinder screen for best results. It’s probably fine for ranges up to 100 yards, but for farther ranges, buy yourself an aftermarket IR light that accepts the 18650 batteries for better long-range performance.
The rubber eyepiece is fine but I just rolled it on itself to essentially reduce its length by half, producing a better image for me when looking through it.
The scope hood does help with reducing glare during daytime but not by much. Unfortunately, the image you see/record is washed out and lacking in contrast, which may be due to the amount of light the scope gathers during the day ( the scope is very sensitive to light, a good thing).
The diameter of the objective lens is 62mm, so I went ahead and ordered some ND (neutral density) filters from Amazon, which help reduce the amount of incoming light to the sensor, in theory improving contrast and image quality. Think of these as sunglasses for your scope. I’ll see how these work next week.
Software:
-Initial Firmware is missing key features hyped by ATN at the launch of this scope.
-You don’t have 120fps recording, just 30 or 60fps.
-WiFi and streaming to the Obsidian 4 app will crash your phone and scope, over and over.
-Bluetooth does not work despite it showing up in your screen. There is no menu option to turn it on/off.
-The menu is missing the photo options. You can take photos with the scope, but you have no control over the options in that regard. If you press the left arrow (picture button) you may see the viewfinder screen flicker, which is letting you know you took a picture. You can view them from the memory card, same as the videos. Forget transferring video from the scope to the phone via WiFi – best/failsafe method is to just pop the memory card out, put it in a card reader, and then download them to your computer.
-You may need to recalibrate your compass every time you power on your scope – if you don’t want to do this, simply switch from extended to the minimal widget option in the menu. The compass does nothing to your zero or ability to shoot.
-People have been noticing the reticle missing either in live video or recorded video, myself included, at random times.
-The Ballistic Calculator seems neat, but may cause you major accuracy headaches if any information you’ve entered is incorrect. The calculator is only as good as the information it’s working with. I personally turned it off because it’s faster and easier to use a mil-dot reticle than to input ranges into the scope every time you’re shooting at a different distance.
-Speaking of reticles, the choices look to be the same as the earlier models. I would love to have more options for mil-dot reticles – I logged a ticket with ATN – not holding my breath on that one.
-Zeroing the scope is easy if you can lock down your gun on a mount and not have it move much during the sighting in process.
Disclaimer: I bought it for night hunting with night vision, and I like that it can record directly to a memory card. Personally, I don’t “need” any of the other fancy features it claims it’s capable of doing. That being said, this is a great scope for what it can do if you can work with/understand its limitations. I suspect the software/features will improve with future firmware updates, but don’t expect image quality to improve. I just don’t appreciate companies using us early adopters as beta testers for their products while having us pay full price for these things. Can anyone say false advertising?
DO NOT BUY THIS SCOPE TO REPLACE YOUR DAYTIME SCOPE - ESPECIALLY FOR YOU AIRGUNNERS. BUY A QUALITY OPTICAL SCOPE FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY OR LESS AND YOU'LL GET A SUPERIOR QUALITY OPTIC TO THIS SCOPE. HOWEVER, FOR NIGHT-TIME HUNTING, THIS IS A GODSEND.
Hardware:
Let’s be honest – this is not a “scope” in the traditional sense. With this new version, they’ve shaped it to look more like a scope than the previous versions, but that’s where the similarities end. This is a digital video camera with the LCD installed in the eyepiece and some fancy software to control the camera.
The scopes come in either 3x or 5x optical zoom option. The 3-14x or 5-20x “zoom” is a misnomer. The zoom is digital only. Prior versions had problems at higher zoom ranges because the image would pixelate due to a smaller sensor, despite the image remaining at 1080p. The new 4K versions gives you a bigger sensor, which in theory will produce a crisper, clearer image when digitally zooming in, reducing or eliminating any blur or pixelation.
The 4K is a misleading advertisement claim. The sensor is 4K, but the scope still records in 1080p just like previous. If you left all three at their base zoom, either 3x or 5x depending on the base mag of the lens, they’d look the same (roughly) in regards to clarity when compared to each other.
I was a little disappointed in the quality of the video produced at higher zoom, especially when viewing video stills of what we’re seeing vs what we were expecting or was advertised. This is not because the sensor is bad. This is because the lens itself may not be as high a quality as we were expecting or there may be variability in quality of each lens between different scopes. All the sensor can capture is what the lens is able to produce. A crappy lens will produce crappy large pictures with a larger sensor. This is why so many users have commented that the X-Sight II looks about the same as far as image quality goes, especially at lower zoom ranges.
What I cannot understand is why no autofocus with manual override! This is a digital camera. Heck even your iPhone/Android has autofocus in the fixed lens on the back. Why can’t this scope autofocus on whatever the reticle is pointed at? And why no optical zoom? Is it because ATN doesn’t make its own lenses? Licensing issues, cost of the scope, added weight? You tell me.
The viewfinder looks great. Good eye relief. Nothing to complain about there.
The focus knobs on the front and rear are stiff but not too bad. You certainly won’t knock them out of focus by accident.
Battery life is great! That they did improve on this version.
The buttons for the most part work well except for the “OK” button, which requires some getting used to. It feels like you’re pressing the left/right buttons at the same time when you’re pressing the OK button. If you don’t press the OK button right in the middle, you’ll either activate the picture or video option on the lens.
The included scope rings are fine for most people, especially calibers that produce less recoil. I’ve seen others who buy aftermarket rings, but that’s per buyer preference.
The included IR LED light will only accept CR123A batteries – does not work with 18650 rechargeable batteries because it can’t fit them inside. It does feature a very quiet turn-style intensity knob on the rear (3 intensity settings) and the front allows you to focus the beam. A wide beam will actually degrade some of the video quality/sharpness when recording at night, so focus the beam down to just have it fill the viewfinder screen for best results. It’s probably fine for ranges up to 100 yards, but for farther ranges, buy yourself an aftermarket IR light that accepts the 18650 batteries for better long-range performance.
The rubber eyepiece is fine but I just rolled it on itself to essentially reduce its length by half, producing a better image for me when looking through it.
The scope hood does help with reducing glare during daytime but not by much. Unfortunately, the image you see/record is washed out and lacking in contrast, which may be due to the amount of light the scope gathers during the day ( the scope is very sensitive to light, a good thing).
The diameter of the objective lens is 62mm, so I went ahead and ordered some ND (neutral density) filters from Amazon, which help reduce the amount of incoming light to the sensor, in theory improving contrast and image quality. Think of these as sunglasses for your scope. I’ll see how these work next week.
Software:
-Initial Firmware is missing key features hyped by ATN at the launch of this scope.
-You don’t have 120fps recording, just 30 or 60fps.
-WiFi and streaming to the Obsidian 4 app will crash your phone and scope, over and over.
-Bluetooth does not work despite it showing up in your screen. There is no menu option to turn it on/off.
-The menu is missing the photo options. You can take photos with the scope, but you have no control over the options in that regard. If you press the left arrow (picture button) you may see the viewfinder screen flicker, which is letting you know you took a picture. You can view them from the memory card, same as the videos. Forget transferring video from the scope to the phone via WiFi – best/failsafe method is to just pop the memory card out, put it in a card reader, and then download them to your computer.
-You may need to recalibrate your compass every time you power on your scope – if you don’t want to do this, simply switch from extended to the minimal widget option in the menu. The compass does nothing to your zero or ability to shoot.
-People have been noticing the reticle missing either in live video or recorded video, myself included, at random times.
-The Ballistic Calculator seems neat, but may cause you major accuracy headaches if any information you’ve entered is incorrect. The calculator is only as good as the information it’s working with. I personally turned it off because it’s faster and easier to use a mil-dot reticle than to input ranges into the scope every time you’re shooting at a different distance.
-Speaking of reticles, the choices look to be the same as the earlier models. I would love to have more options for mil-dot reticles – I logged a ticket with ATN – not holding my breath on that one.
-Zeroing the scope is easy if you can lock down your gun on a mount and not have it move much during the sighting in process.
