ATN X Sight 5-18x

Does anybody have one of these and if so what are their honest opinions about them?

used one a while back for about 5 hours,

total cr@p, after using it I went and got the Drone pro for night shooting and found it to be just as good in daylight as it is in the dark,

I would not recommend it, to many software issues/updates to be done,

that's what you get when you use your client base to do your research and development for you

take a body swerve from it

bob.
 
Bob - with respect - you've just described the way that Microsoft and just about every other software manufacturer works and have given an opinion based on a short term assessment of a product of twelve months ago. But it is a valid opinion.

I've been using one for about twelve months. There are some good points and some things that can be annoying.

Updating the software can be frustrating for sure - it can lose your zero on update, and the QA on the releases has not always been brilliant. However, the company are releasing updates, including improved performance and functionality and the platform is stable. If you remember your zero co-ords, you can dial them straight back in - and the return to zero is very good - meaning the movement across rifles is pretty straightforward.

There are lots and gadgets and gizmos - if you like that sort of thing, but equally it can be operated very simply. The buttons can be a bit fiddly, but it's fine once you get used to it - just a different mode of operation.

It can chew batteries - high quality rechargables (Eneloop Pro or Kentli) will see a full nights hunting though.

It needs careful mounting - it took me some time to get the eye relief comfortable with it set far enough back - and it's now a little high as a result, so I need a cheekpiece.

In the day, the picture is very good. There are increasing numbers of videos from this on forums. At night, the unit suffers, as all digital units do with contrast issues (washout) if you do not get the level of IR illumination right. The auto brightness control can be a PITA as a result, but this can be overcome.

The unit has a tiny amount of lag in the picture, which is to be expected as a digital unit - this has been dealt with in a software fix and can be further ameliorated by adjusting the frame rate.

If you mounts are out/misaligned, the reticle appears off centre in the screen, which can be off-putting. The zoom centres the reticle, which is also odd, but this thing holds zero well.


In summary, I think this is an item you need to learn to use more than others and it needs user setup with personal preferences to get the best out of it over using it 'out of the box'. I suspect this has put off some people as scopes you tend to just take out the box and move - but it is a very capable unit for the money. I would describe it as a good compromise device and for the money, unparalleled in terms of capability and performance. The Drone Pro is a good piece of kit, no question - but it is twice the money of the X-Sight and so I question the validity of direct comparisons. It is in the market of good tubed kit and needs to be compared there. One could say the X-Sight mist be very good to be constantly compared to something twice it's value.

So for me, it has it's faults, as do most things, but provides me with a lot of capability day and night for not a lot of money. I have shot mine on everything from HMR to 270, both day and night and over 200m. While I have higher grade tubed kit that I prefer, I have no issue with taking this out and using it. Only you can decide whether this unit is right for you. There is a FB forum for users - lots of support and advice to get the best out of it - have a womble. You may find someone close you who can give you a demo and allow you to make your own assessment. Mine's a keeper. I'm selling a tubed Gen2+ 6x dedicated scope over this if that gives you an idea. Feel free to PM if you want further information.
 
Bob - with respect - you've just described the way that Microsoft and just about every other software manufacturer works and have given an opinion based on a short term assessment of a product of twelve months ago. But it is a valid opinion.

I've been using one for about twelve months. There are some good points and some things that can be annoying.

Updating the software can be frustrating for sure - it can lose your zero on update, and the QA on the releases has not always been brilliant. However, the company are releasing updates, including improved performance and functionality and the platform is stable. If you remember your zero co-ords, you can dial them straight back in - and the return to zero is very good - meaning the movement across rifles is pretty straightforward.

There are lots and gadgets and gizmos - if you like that sort of thing, but equally it can be operated very simply. The buttons can be a bit fiddly, but it's fine once you get used to it - just a different mode of operation.

It can chew batteries - high quality rechargables (Eneloop Pro or Kentli) will see a full nights hunting though.

It needs careful mounting - it took me some time to get the eye relief comfortable with it set far enough back - and it's now a little high as a result, so I need a cheekpiece.

In the day, the picture is very good. There are increasing numbers of videos from this on forums. At night, the unit suffers, as all digital units do with contrast issues (washout) if you do not get the level of IR illumination right. The auto brightness control can be a PITA as a result, but this can be overcome.

The unit has a tiny amount of lag in the picture, which is to be expected as a digital unit - this has been dealt with in a software fix and can be further ameliorated by adjusting the frame rate.

If you mounts are out/misaligned, the reticle appears off centre in the screen, which can be off-putting. The zoom centres the reticle, which is also odd, but this thing holds zero well.


In summary, I think this is an item you need to learn to use more than others and it needs user setup with personal preferences to get the best out of it over using it 'out of the box'. I suspect this has put off some people as scopes you tend to just take out the box and move - but it is a very capable unit for the money. I would describe it as a good compromise device and for the money, unparalleled in terms of capability and performance. The Drone Pro is a good piece of kit, no question - but it is twice the money of the X-Sight and so I question the validity of direct comparisons. It is in the market of good tubed kit and needs to be compared there. One could say the X-Sight mist be very good to be constantly compared to something twice it's value.

So for me, it has it's faults, as do most things, but provides me with a lot of capability day and night for not a lot of money. I have shot mine on everything from HMR to 270, both day and night and over 200m. While I have higher grade tubed kit that I prefer, I have no issue with taking this out and using it. Only you can decide whether this unit is right for you. There is a FB forum for users - lots of support and advice to get the best out of it - have a womble. You may find someone close you who can give you a demo and allow you to make your own assessment. Mine's a keeper. I'm selling a tubed Gen2+ 6x dedicated scope over this if that gives you an idea. Feel free to PM if you want further information.

thank you Simon,

A very honest reply, but with due respect to yourself and many others.

I just done what I class as a shot/Sharpe reply,

I have been using/testing and playing with a few NV/ thermal things over the last 9 months and to take the time in writing a reply as such could confuse and or bore the OP to death,

I apologise to the op for such a short reply but if he now reads your reply and reads a few more from many users he can now make up his own mind, but IMO no matter if you pay 500 or 1700 pounds the item should be fit for purpose straight out of the box, we should not have to faf around with software updates etc etc, you should be able to mount it, set it, zero it and then crack on.

just my thoughts and again with the greatest of respect Simon IMO its not worth the money and my biggest problem is the screen lag...not something I want in a scope that I use to hunt live targets with.

bob.
 
Just been perusing this same item on the Black10 sale @ Scott country, some of the demo vids are screamers!, prolly a good reason for anti's to chase auto loaders, some fine renditions of targets missed on the run & the rounds seen going away, having said that I am very interested in some of the gear on display.
 
I have one and did use it briefly before coming to the same conclusion as Bob.
Compared to other NV kit on the market, it's performance is very poor.
The Yukon Photons, Pulsar N550/750/870 and Drone Pro all perform better at night than the X Sight.
If you want a digital day sight with continuous zoom and all the bells and whistles, then it's the dog's danglies.
However, what make it such a good day sight is also what makes it a very poor NV sight - very small sensor pixels
The X sight has a full HD camera - i.e. the 8mm diagonal sensor has 2.1 million pixels - that means the pixels are very small.
Lots of small pixels are fine when there's plenty light and result in a very high resolution image.
For NV work, where there's not much light available, small pixels simply don't have enough surface area to capture the incoming light.
The best digital NV kit uses cameras with much fewer pixels (typically 300,000 - 400,000) but each pixel is much larger. The larger pixels have more surface area and therefore capture much more of the available light.


Cheers

Bruce
 
frame rate is pants if you like sore head and buggered eyes get one or do the right thing and get a tubed unit gen2+ or gen 3 from ebay and never look back turn on look shoot turn off job done digital has come a long way but still has a long way to go before I would purchase eney off it
 
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