IR scopes

[indydave]

so, what is reasonable?

needs to work out to 200=250 ish yards i realize i will need an up grade light source. and NOT super fragile
sightmark wraith ?

not over 600-800 bucks?

 

[Rookie]

That's what I would suggest...

 

[Ahap]

I have a Wraith, bought used recently, I'll offer my impressions of it after little use so far.
1. It's heavy. Really heavy.
2. Battery life, especially in green ir mode is very short.
3. With the included ir light, I can see well to 150yd, maybe a little more, I didn't really try it beyond that.
4. Buttons to change function, magnification, etc are not very tactile and I find myself having to come off the eyepiece and look at the buttons to make changes. Forget trying it with gloves on.
5. Compared to my mid level to lower upper level traditional scopes, the daytime picture is not especially sharp.
Did I mention how heavy it is? It's very heavy.

 

[BrockStrader22]

I have an ATN x-sight II HD 5-20x, everyone hates on ATN but I'm satisfied with it.

Compared to Ahap's Wraith:
1. It's heavy. Really heavy. Also really heavy, I might even add another really to that. It's really, really heavy. It weighs more than the rifle I have it on.
2. Battery life, especially in green ir mode is very short. same, I got a 20,000 MAH portable phone charger from amazon for about $20, solves this problem, not sure what green IR mode is, the ATN has a separate IR light attached to a picatinny rail and the battery life on that seems to be fine.
3. With the included ir light, I can see well to 150yd, maybe a little more, I didn't really try it beyond that. same, IR light works great as far as I'm comfortable shooting, it'll also pickup moon light or any other light source around
4. Buttons to change function, magnification, etc are not very tactile and I find myself having to come off the eyepiece and look at the buttons to make changes. Forget trying it with gloves on. No problem with the buttons bare handed, gloves would be a problem.
5. Compared to my mid level to lower upper level traditional scopes, the daytime picture is not especially sharp. I have a Nikon Buckmaster that I would consider mid level, it has better glass, the Nikon Monarch has way better glass, but neither of those can see in the dark. If you forget your sunshade for daytime shooting you better have iron sights because your scope isn't useable.

The "one shot zero" feature is nice, it takes more than one shot but it speeds it up a lot. Seems to hold zero very well. 20x is too much magnification, it was cool at my old house getting a clear view of the flag on top of the courthouse 2 miles away at night though. Supposedly you can take pictures and videos with it, I've never tried but supposedly it can do that. The digital range finder is pretty accurate but the moving screens and time it takes to do would be pointless in a hunting situation. You can change your bullet weight value and it will move the zero to where that bullet weight should be compared to the bullet weight you set zero on, seems to be pretty accurate there (i've only compared 77 grains, 62 grains, and 55 grains and have never tried without changing it to see the difference) 99 grains is the highest value allowed.

 

[FNparabellum]

so, what is reasonable?

needs to work out to 200=250 ish yards i realize i will need an up grade light source. and NOT super fragile
sightmark wraith ?

not over 600-800 bucks?

You could go with sightmarks pre-wraith model. I forget the name of the model but ive had mine for 8 years now and have had no issues. Its a bit heavy but I only use it for coyote hunting so theres not much moving when im using it anyway. Its not the clearest scope but its good enough to tell a dog from a coyote.