Digital Night Vision rifle scope attachments from China

[The Lord Poncho]

I’ve recently become quite interested in the possibilities afforded by the night time shooting of rabbits.

Aside from rather expensive purpose made night visions scopes for mounting on rifles, I have come across some offerings on ebay and various Chinese websites for kits to attach to your existing rifle scope. These essentially consist of a small lcd screen (and mounting to affix atop the scope), digital camera (+ mounting to fix to the eyepiece of the scope), battery box, and Infrared LED torch (+ mount to fix atop scope). Such a kit can be had for around £80-£100 inc. postage from China. Some examples here: https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-night-vision-scope.html

Although a little Heath Robinson in appearance, there are various examples on the net of similar albeit DIY made set-ups being used to reasonable effect.

Clearly this will have limitations, and is not going to have anywhere near the performance of a high end device, but has anyone experience of using them?

If so, is it really worth investing in?

I’ve not used digital night vision before, although (aside from nice stuff in the military) I have had a few gen1 traditional ‘fuzzy green’ monoculars in the past, which have been somewhat disappointing…

Any thoughts welcomed!

 

[sunndog]

What rifle/scope combo will it be going on?

 

[The Lord Poncho]

Its for use with a .22 springer air rifle at the legal limit (HW80), with an illuminated reticle AGS Cobalt 3-9x50.

 

[sunndog]

Unfortunately your scope may not be brilliant for the job mate.
You need parallax adjustment Really, side focus is preferable. Infra red light focuses at different distances than daylight. 200yrds through n.v might be 20yrds on your scope's parallax (i keep meaning to note the difference but its always dark at night! lol)
You need to be able to focus down to like 5yrds in daylight and then they are quite fussy at night.....i couldn't say how good of an image you will get at different ranges

Onto the n.v device or 'addon'
They might be ok for air rifle ranges with a decent illuminator. The batteries might last a while. The electrical connections might stand up to springer recoil for a while.......its hard to say
What i do know is that if you double the outlay there are far far better devices available

 

[pieinthesky]

I built up my own add on NV set up similar to the ones you have linked to and it works on my Viper Connect (side focus)

It is very easy to put together and works well if you buy the right components. You can figuire it all out looking at tutorials and there is a Website in the UK that sells the correct components/kits/connectors. I will add a link when I find it. https://www.sure24.co.uk/solutions/night-vision also look at http://www.nightvisionforumuk.com if you have not done so already.

The hardest thing is fixing it securely and neatly to your scope and rifle - the Chinese kits you link to do look neater but I dont know what the quality is like.

You can see well beyond air rifle range with my set up but the glow from the screen lights you face like a beacon. I havent had much luck with it stalking, possibly because of this.

All the bits attached to your scope make for a fragile and unwieldy rig not particularly suitable for stalking and I now tend to use it from the car or hidden in a hedge with a cloth over the top like they used with the old cameras.

The big plus is it can be fitted/removed from your rifle in seconds leaving it ready for day use.

 

[sunndog]

I built up my own add on NV set up similar to the ones you have linked to and it works on my Viper Connect (side focus)

It is very easy to put together and works well if you buy the right components. You can figuire it all out looking at tutorials and there is a Website in the UK that sells the correct components/kits/connectors. I will add a link when I find it. https://www.sure24.co.uk/solutions/night-vision also look at http://www.nightvisionforumuk.com if you have not done so already.

The hardest thing is fixing it securely and neatly to your scope and rifle - the Chinese kits you link to do look neater but I dont know what the quality is like.

You can see well beyond air rifle range with my set up but the glow from the screen lights you face like a beacon. I havent had much luck with it stalking, possibly because of this.

All the bits attached to your scope make for a fragile and unwieldy rig not particularly suitable for stalking and I now tend to use it from the car or hidden in a hedge with a cloth over the top like they used with the old cameras.

The big plus is it can be fitted/removed from your rifle in seconds leaving it ready for day use.

Thanks for the double plug fella. Yes n.vuk is the place to be!

For screen glare the easiest fix is lighting colour gel sheet. A couple of quid on ebay...its the stuff they put over studio lights to change the colour

 

[Janne]

Shoot the bunnies in daylight.
Let them be careless and happy nighttime!

 

[The Lord Poncho]

Thanks all - really appreciated. I think I understand what you mean about the parallax adjustment sunndog - sounds like i need to have a re-think! Pie - i've just googled your viper connect scope. Wow - that thing is a little more high-end than my scope!

I have found one reasonably priced scope - a nikko sterling mountmaster 30-9x50 - which appears to have parallax adjustment, but only down to 10 feet. Sunndog - you mention it would need to be adjustable down to approx 5 feet - reckon i could get away with 10feet, or difficult to say either way?

I will take a look at the sure24 website - quite like the idea of a DIY project, but it sounds like whatever i do in this direction i will need to also splash out on a parallax adjustable sight.

 

[sunndog]

10 feet should be fine mate (i was talking in yards out of habit)
If you are buying a scope with n.v in mind side focus really is a bonus.
Nikko p niteaters are very good as are the MTC range
saying that though i'v got a couple of very cheap compact 6x32's from jsr that do work reasonable well and being so small its not that much of a reach to adjust focus while staying on target

D.I.Y is fun and easy....you will also get a way better performing product for about the same money as the chinese pre-made efforts.
The heart of any digital n.v is the camera. That chinese thing will have a £5 camera in it, an E700 cam is about £65 but probably three times more i.r sensitive which means you will save weight/bulk and cost when comes to buying an illuminator

If you decide to go the d.i.y route do sign up to nvuk we will walk you through everything you need to know