ATN Xsight II 5-20

hybridfiat

Well-Known Member
I've just ordered one for night time foxing and rabbits, plus a monster T67 IR light. Does anyone here have experience with this new model. I have read that the original had 'bugs' in the program. From what I've read the new model has them sorted. True?
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It is basically a digital video camera with a switchable Infra-Red filter that has an adjustable crosshair and wireless and bluetooth comms.
Any video camera can be used for night time surveillance. All thats required is removal of the IR filter in front of the sensor. The IR filter allows better colour perception in daytime but with an IR source (like an IR torch) it will see clearly at night.
This is not a true 'Light Intensifier' night vision unit that we see described as Generation I, II, III and IV. Apart from gathering more light with the big objective lens than a human eye; it does not magnify the effect. Instead it 'sees' infra-red light way better than any human and projects that onto a screen for us to see.
The digital night sights are daytime capable unlike the true image intensifiers that will be damaged if exposed to daylight for too long. They can be used but only with caps that have a pinhole in them.
I have not got it yet but there are plenty of videos on Youtube with the ATN Xsight II. I used an early form of these in NZ and was not impressed. Focus adjustments were digital and cumbersome. It was a pulsar and had no WiFi or Bluetooth. I'm hoping these will be better, online reviews suggest they are.
I wanted to hear someone elses experience.
 
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I've had one on test and am looking forward to getting one permanently to go on my .17hmr. I had the original x-sight and yes it had some issues which were fixed by various firmware updates. The culmination of those updates has resulted in a much nicer product in the x-sight 2.

One of of the biggest issues in first version was a problem where it would automatically dim the image at night regardless of how much IR you threw at it. This is much improved in v2 where you don't need a huge IR lamp to get a good image.

Daytime image is superb, crisp like looking at an HD video camera. Night time requires a decent IR to make the best of it. The included one is not worth getting out the bag in my opinion. I have a Tracer F900 to use with mine when it comes and in testing it worked really well.

It has loads of extras such as gps, wifi, geotagging, rangefinder etc all of which I turned off as just didn't need them. The thing I did leave on was the recoil activated video recording which ensures you'll always get footage of the shot even if you forgot to press the record button.

For the money it's a capable day/night scope which does what it needs to. It's not dedicated night vision but then you're not paying dedicated NV money. Scott Country do a demo service which may be worth looking into if you want to try before you buy.
 
Jimmy you mention the need to replace the standard supplied IR lamp with a better performing one to really get the best out of these scopes. Well ATN buys in the present lamps but in the future they will be supplying lamps of their own manufacture which will be much more capable.
 
Thank you for that Jimmy. I did a lot of research and decided that this was the best for the money. There are others that may pip the XSight in resolution like the Vampire with it's 100mm objective but they don't have the inbuilt recording or WiFi, which to me is important.
As you are all well aware, shooting accessories have a very low WAR (Woman Approval Rating). As such I intend to 'market' this latest expensive addition as a tool for night time observation of Australian wildlife as well as a scope. Tactics my friends tactics :eek:)
I may get a Thermal Imager before going to NZ next year. I'd thought about the Torrey Pines Logic T12 N. It would allow acquisition of hidden game in the tangled maze I hunt in over there and maybe for use as a gunsight for close range stuff like rabbits in complete darkness.
 
Jimmy you mention the need to replace the standard supplied IR lamp with a better performing one to really get the best out of these scopes. Well ATN buys in the present lamps but in the future they will be supplying lamps of their own manufacture which will be much more capable.

Absolutely, they look strikingly similar to the Nightmaster 800 and if they perform anything like that they'll be a good addition.
 
OK I've got the scope and my first impressions are that it will work well in an open environment with some adjustments to the light and Settings. I is difficult to judge range at night , but I'm still learning. The light gathering under a full moon is pretty good without the IR but better with. I don't think that finding game is it's strong point as the field of view is too small and panning blurs the image too much, but slow scanning while sitting up in a hide or from a hilltop it will function well.
I went down to an isolated footy oval last night to look for rabbits but only saw roos. I took some pics as I couldn't get the video function to work. The zoom is minimal as it does get grainy.
As I said I'm still getting used to it.ATNX0005.jpgThis roo (small joey) is at 60m. It's in the middle of the oval and I'm in the car park.ATNX0004.jpg This is a really big boomer and he's way over at the other end of the oval 110m away.
I do not shoot roos here as they are no problem and it's nice to have wildlife on one's doorstep sometimes.
Rabbits and foxes are another thing though and get short shrift.
I have yet to try long range but the 5x seems like 10x when looking at stuff under 40m. The crosshairs are not centred when the rifle is sighted in. That is a bit annoying but I will adapt the mounts and get it closer to centre eventually. Sighting in is really as easy as the promo material says. Set height above the bore. 1 shot at 25m and move the crosshair to the hole. Save and you're done.
Otherwise I'm happy with it and looking forward to a trip out foxing when it stops raining.
 
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I'm back at work but this is the view out of my door in front of the desk taken with the Xsight. The white marker post is about 300m away. Daytime mode with the shroud and aperture reducer at the front. The zoom is digital so the picture suffers. I think that the 5x will be where it stays for most shooting. The zoom is handy for targets and sighting but that's about it.
I will get some night time pics this week when on night shift. Same spot and do some ranging at night too.
When running with NiCad batteries it disables the photo and video functions because of low power. External power fixes that.
So far I've managed 3.5hrs continual use with cheap NiCad rechargeables. I expect to get better with the Kentli Li ion batteries when they arrive.
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