Night Owl Optics night vision scope

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Centercut

Centercut

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Jun 9, 2017
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Ok, OK... Just had to do it. Have seen good reviews on Amazon.com, and really needed something to hit those rats at the pig farm even harder, plus give Nick (@socaloldman) more to write about. So, I looked around, since Amazon had for $399. Optics Planet had them for $359, plus an online coupon for 11% off, for a total $319 and free shipping. 

Received the scope yesterday, and set it up on my Cricket mini. Sighted in at 13 yards, since that's the furthest in my city backyard that I can do. Will tweak it up to 20 the first time I shoot it, that'll give me a near zero of 20 and far zero of about 45 yards. So far, it looks promising if it can hold a good zero. It comes with a weak IR light on top, but I ordered and received a stronger IR light ($16.99) powered by an 18650 cell that attaches to my bottom pic rail where the bipod normally mounts. Supposedly the 4 AA batteries last 5 hours with built in IR on low, and 2 hours on high. I'm guessing with the built in IR off, it'll last at least 6 hours or more. Scope is 3X, that should be good for up to 45 or 50 yards.

Going to the pig farm tonight after work, so more to follow...

1541177828_10088275895bdc81e49def37.36864928_Nigh Owl Optics scope night vision.jpg


1541180084_4915500465bdc8ab41baa22.19972688_IR light.jpg

 
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Welcome to Night Vision! I've had an ATN X-Sight 3-14 for a few years and picked up the 4K 5-20 this spring. Night hunting if fun. Especially with a quiet airgun. Mine lives on my Marauder (my quietest gun) except for Hog hunting were I swap it to my 300BO or 6.8spc.



4K daytime 35 yds (Haven't done night video yet)

https://youtu.be/YwZ_4fCBGN4



Xsight I (75 yards pitch black out)

https://youtu.be/ndq-bkErWlQ
 
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Went to the pig farm last night with the new night vision setup. One word to describe those three hours - CARNAGE! Eight mags of 14 pellets each, and I was the Death Dealer to those unsuspecting rats...

The Night Owl was set up with a far zero of 45 yards which resulted in point blank of 15 to 50 yards. It was a very dark night, almost no moon and lots of cloud cover. Tried it with no IR and was disappointed. Image kinda blurry and not useable. Then turned on built in IR and it got better, but was only barely useable. But when I turned on my 5 watt pic rail mounted IR it was like the sun had come out. Perfectly clear out to the ranges I was shooting which was 15 to 50 yards. Very clear picture, good choice of reticles. The four AA batteries lasted the entire session. With the more powerful IR it was easy to focus and see the action, which by the way was epic. The scope is lightweight and easy to mount. Depending on how it’s mounted and on your specific gun you may need to remove the scope to change batteries. On the Cricket mini I could change the AAs without removing the scope. 

I sat in an open area with a fold out stool and tripod, pig pens on three sides of me from 20 to about 50 yards. Horseshoe shaped area and I was in the middle. The rats would run along the edges of the pens looking for food. Well, the head waiter was the Grim Reaper, and he was serving Death with JSB sauce... in excess of 80 rats ate a last supper of high speed lead.

Highly recommend the Night Owl for a relatively inexpensive night vision scope. The 3x Power was more than adequate for my ranges. Make sure if you buy one you buy a better more powerful IR that takes a 3.7v 18650 battery cell.

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Oh No it was not good at all !!! Mike killed everything and left me the wounded dregs, the whining snivelers, all shot up, clawing their way to what they thought was safety but instead was their tomb! I had to bat cleanup skirting the edges with my red light searching for fear laden eyes peeking from behind cover. For three hours I had to listen to the thwack, thwack , thump, splat, of the Cricket. Don't forget to add in the extra cost of ten thousand pellets, 40 magazines, 100 batteries, all for a few shots! It's just not worth it folks, they need to be outlawed!

When it was all over and we were leaving the light in the car showed Mike with his head turned almost inside out from grinning. Rotten bastard was giddy like a little girl! I was determined to stop the spread of this death dealing instrument of the devil!

I'm home now trying to find stuff to sell so I can buy one.




 
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😂 love Nicks description of Mikes head being turned inside out because of him grinning so hard!! I get a visual of the villain venom with A huge grin!!

I’m also looking into a night vision scope for ratting and your review of this scope makes me very interested. Mike do You think you can put up a vid of what it looks like through the scope while using the night vision?

Thanks. 
 
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@pineappleexpress, yes, it mounts directly to the pic rail without tools. One thing I noticed was that I could have mounted the IR light directly to the scope, and left the bipod on the lower pic rail by using one of these:

1541700146_13200219365be47a32c8de52.23484248_Super Clamp -1.jpg
1541700147_12519975525be47a33081c28.37774231_Super Clamp.jpg


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWTL7LC/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_tLh5BbKHNTEHK

Look closely at my photo (upper right corner) and you can see the 1/4"x20 brass female threads meant to attach an IR light or anything really...
 
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Mahalo Centercut!

I wanted to order everything and mount once. Thanks for the heads up on the mount! Think it’ll work perfectly for the set up I have in mind. I just need to research an IR light and I’ll be good to go. Shooting pigs late in the afternoon/early evening has been difficult as the crosshairs melt into the pig. I’ve found that hunting them with a 25 cal, shot placement is critical. Max range has been thirty yards but I like to do the sneaky and get in closer if possible. 




 
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Mahalo for the advice Centercut! Yes I do have two optics which right at the moment are not mounted. One is a Viper PST-14ST-M with an illuminated reticle and a Vortex Spitefire. I think the night owl will fit in nicely when it gets too dark to see without using a predator light. The Viper’s reticle is red when illuminated and the Spitefire can flip between red and green. Most predator lights I have found are red in color. A few have green but am afraid at the distance I hunt, the pigs will see the green light and bolt. For now I’d like to mount it up on my Cricket and hopefully one day save up enough and own a Vulcan Tactic in 30 when they become available. On another note, Thanks for the heads up on the deal from Optics Planet! Unfortunately I missed the deal on an additional 11% off. Guess it’s it’s the story of my life.... Day late, dollar short..... However thanks to you I was till able to save a few bucks! Mahalo!
 
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Aloha @pineappleexpress, I think you’ll like the Night Owl. It’s very light weight and easy to mount on a pic rail. If your gun is dovetail you’ll need an adaptor. I’d also recommend getting a good set of AA rechargeable NiMH batteries as high a capacity as you can find. That’s what I used and they lasted about 3 1/2 hours of continuous use and still had 1 of 3 bars left when I was done and turned it off. When you turn the scope on the IR also turns on. Make sure you turn it off if using a separate IR to make the scope batteries last longer. Depending on your specific gun and mount you may have to remove the scope to change batteries, so you want them to last as long as possible. Let me know how it goes once you get it. I come to Oahu 3 or 4 times a year and a pig hunt sounds awesome. I lived on Oahu for 5 years from m 2000 to 2005. 
 
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Hui Centercut,

You sure travel back to the islands A LOT! I live on the Big Island and my hunting is on private land and unfortunately the owner won’t allow anyone else to hunt on their property. However I recently asked permission to hunt a MacNut farm but so far they haven’t gotten back to me. I’m also thinking about picking up a predator control (I thinks that’s what it’s called) permit and offer my services to shoot pigs on people’s property. Right now I’m weighing the pro/cons AND SAFETY/LIABILITY issues. But the BIGGEST issue for me right now is finding the time to hunt... Sadly dis thing called work and bills keep getting in the way....

Sorry for getting off track... my old age kicking in again. THANKS for the reply! I check the tracking a couple times a day... HAHA. I expect it to arrive early next week sometime. On the bright side, both items were in stock and shipped together. Thanks for recommending rechargeable AA batteries! I’ll have to look into those. I remember trying to order flashlights from Amazon and Battery Junction but they couldn’t ship to Hawaii because of the batteries... I’ll give a local vendor a look/see

Aloha!

Mark
 
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Aloha Centercut,

MAHALO for the review of the Night Owl! So far I am VERY HAPPY with the scope! I have it mounted on my Cricket with a Pulsar IR illuminator. 

Initially I had trouble zeroing the scope.... didn’t have enough vertical adjustment when I tried zeroing at 10 yards to get it on paper. HOWEVER once I moved the target out to twenty five yard the scope was spot on. 

I’ve only been able to test it at 70 yards but so far I like what I see! I haven’t used the IR much unless spotting because of the moon phase but can’t wait to try it out in total darkness. 

Plus one for you

Mahalo

Mark
 
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