Digital scopes, yes or no?

[jonylandrover]

Afternoon all. I have been watching on here for a while now and the popularity of digital scopes looks to be quite high, namely the Hik Alpex 4K LRF for example. Curiosity got the better of me and a had a look at a new one last weekend. in the shop its hard to tell what it will be like out in the field.

From those using digital now for a while, what's your thoughts compared to glass?

I'm tempted, I like the LRF and built in ballistics that digital offers me. Are they that much better than glass in that 1st and last light times?

A lot of my deer shooting now is up to 400 yards on Reds, you just cant get closer and still have a safe shot on my particular spot.

will digital be better than my glass keeping that in mind?

Do I take the plunge or do I keep my glass and the LRF in my pocket.

 

[Flash G 74]

Hello, It is a game changer but will never beat a good day scope glass, A lot of people now like the idea of a day/night scope with or without LRF, If you do a lot of stalking then maybe yes but for occasional use a decent scope add on might be all you need

 

[nf-fuse]

400 yards might be pushing it on digital.

Yes they are a lot better in low light (and complete darkness).

 

[Nickb]

The Alpex 4k lrf is a game changer at 1st and last light, turns darkness into shootable light.

The daytime image is not as good as glass but the lrf and bc is a great asset.

 

[Donkey Basher]

From my experience of using an Alpex LRF for two seasons on fallow in fields, they are fantastic at first & last light & literally p1ss all over even the best glass.

However, they are carp imo when you go to max zoom, for example when you are looking at a deer sized target at 300 yards or more. They are digitally zooming in using extrapolation of the image in the sensor to enlarge what you see in the screen & then ‘overlay’ the aiming mark on that image. My experience of this has varied from missing the animal to, worst of all, not hitting it where the aiming point was.

Shooting anything with it at 400 yards, especially if you’re at first or last light, would not be a good idea from my experience.

Just my two p’neth of course.

 

[jonylandrover]

400 yards might be pushing it on digital.

Yes they are a lot better in low light (and complete darkness).

can I ask as to what respect pushing it with digital would be? are we talking image quality at that rage?

 

[jonylandrover]

From my experience of using an Alpex LRF for two seasons on fallow in fields, they are fantastic at first & last light & literally p1ss all over even the best glass.

However, they are carp imo when you go to max zoom, for example when you are looking at a deer sized target at 300 yards or more. They are digitally zooming in using extrapolation of the image in the sensor to enlarge what you see in the screen & then ‘overlay’ the aiming mark on that image. My experience of this has varied from missing the animal to, worst of all, not hitting it where the aiming point was.

Shooting anything with it at 400 yards, especially if you’re at first or last light, would not be a good idea from my experience.

Just my two p’neth of course.

Very interesting, these are the sorts of things id like to hear to help make decisions. the zooming in of the image has been my biggest fear, loosing the quality due to the distance and zoom required.

 

[devon deer stalker]

Nothing beats glass at that range
I tend to use my C50 below 250

 

[nf-fuse]

can I ask as to what respect pushing it with digital would be? are we talking image quality at that rage?

Yes. Don't get me wrong it's doable but you don't get the image of glass.

The 4k ones aren't bad though.
I would try a play with someone else's before you commit.

 

[Muffin man]

If you want to shoot in the dark out to that kind of range a vulpine mk3 add on and a wraith v3 ir torch would be a much better option but obviously you have no ballistics

 

[Malxwal]

400yds in the dark , I hope you're getting paid to do that ?

 

[Merlyn]

Very interesting, these are the sorts of things id like to hear to help make decisions. the zooming in of the image has been my biggest fear, loosing the quality due to the distance and zoom required.

I have been a digital man for over four years now. Pard in my case. I just love it. But, my stalking is 200 yards and below in the main. I totally agree with jonylandrover's comments. For 400 yards, you can't beat a reasonable glass scope. No, you won't see the animal as soon as it gets light but, ten minutes later you will feel much more confident when you squeeze the trigger - as the picture quality will be better.

 

[Tim1]

No.

 

[Deerkeeper2]

I don’t have time to type a full response but the biggest issue you will have with digital at long range is the poor quality of the image at high ‘magnification’. My C50 only gives a acceptable image upto 7x in my opinion.

 

[NullMac]

They don’t compare to glass. That’s not the point.

What they do is give you a shot at times when you would not get one with glass. I took a shot last week in the mist. We saw the deer with thermal. Much to our surprise I had a good picture in the Alpex. It was completely invisible to the eye.

Compared to glass they are awful. Yet the glass tarts have gone quiet cos it turns out you don’t need the best sight picture to whack a deer.

They will not be replacing target scopes anytime soon

 

[Cottis]

As Nullmac says, they are not close to proper optics in terms of image resolution but they allow you to make perfectly telling shots in conditions where you simply would have gone home if armed with a traditional scope.

The 4k images are better than many think. With my DNT 4k thing, I have used the LRF and ballistic thingy to shoot squirrels and crows at 300yds. No reason why it would not be capable of a 400yd shot on a red deer which is relatively massive in comparison. I shot a squirrel out of a tree with mine the other day (tree at the bottom of a valley with me shooting from a hill on side with another massive hill as a backstop beyond it) It was about 280yds from memory. A big leafless tree with a tiny grey squirrel hiding in it yet I could see it, ID it and make a shot on it. A deer on open land at 400yds is no problem if we are talking soley about the scope's capability.

Mine is pretty crap in proper darkness though. Not sure why it just lags seriously behind my proper NV setup which I have used for years.

 

[Jelen]

400yds in the dark , I hope you're getting paid to do that ?

And finding/extracting the carcase in the dark wouldn't be much fun. Paid or not

 

[Jagged77]

I have 4 Alpex’s - fair to say I’m a convert. They have limitations compared to good glass in daytime but the lowlight performance, video playback of shots plus LRF are all superb features. Yes it can mean extraction in the dark but nothing good lighting can’t help with.

 

[Dave_45]

David Tulloch has some good footage of shooting sika hinds on his YouTube channel at 400 ish yards with the zulus

6.5 prc using 130gr outfitters

I was fair impressed with monolithic bullets at that range , a bang flop and one a death dash of 15 yards maybe

 

[Jelen]

Afternoon all. I have been watching on here for a while now and the popularity of digital scopes looks to be quite high, namely the Hik Alpex 4K LRF for example. Curiosity got the better of me and a had a look at a new one last weekend. in the shop its hard to tell what it will be like out in the field.

From those using digital now for a while, what's your thoughts compared to glass?

I'm tempted, I like the LRF and built in ballistics that digital offers me. Are they that much better than glass in that 1st and last light times?

A lot of my deer shooting now is up to 400 yards on Reds, you just cant get closer and still have a safe shot on my particular spot.

will digital be better than my glass keeping that in mind?

Do I take the plunge or do I keep my glass and the LRF in my pocket.

Video of a 22lb Muntjac shot at 195yds after sunset using the DNT 4k scope at x12 zoom. Bearing in mind the scope was focussed at 100yds, and the actual image through the scope was clearer, a red deer (5 times the size) should be doable at 400yds. Finding and extracting the carcase?