Its just how tight you want the beam. MY Wraith came with a 3X lens and its way to tight, so ended up buying a 2X
New Dark Engine BLADE IR Illuminator
- Thread starter Clive Ward
- Start date
The X2 will give you everything you need. The X3 is unbelievably clear to silly distances but is heavier and fov is narrow, as @Andyquadra says.
zerovarm
Well-Known Member
The 2x Lens fills my screen on 6x mag on a 4-24 Delta and can with ease ID a fox at 600+ yards on full spot and scope mag cranked up. I'm not sure what more you would need
I've managed to check back on this. It was quite easy to find as since launch mid last year, we have only had two returned for 'not enough power' and one return where the customer had ordered the wrong wavelength. Three in total.
All I can say is, there are a lot of variables in an add on setup. Mines a fairly optimal scope and I can get a good image at 500 yards, and indeed illumination of tree lines at beyond 1000 with an MTC Mamba RIR 4-16x50 and an NV007V at around 10x magnification. Others are also finding the performance with an add on is absolutely fine too. There are videos on YouTube demonstrating that performance. Some day scopes will need a lot more IR, or something else might have been happening in your case. It's impossible to say.
Unfortunately due to new laser safety and product safety regulations, the BLADE is at the very maximum power that is legally allowed to be sold to consumers, so for less efficient setups you might need something like the Dark Engine MAX (or similar) that can focus the beam tighter and get that allowed power into a smaller area. But that then negates the size advantage of the BLADE.
My apologies for the long winded nature of your return but, without going into boring minutia, the return was unfortunately protracted by the Post Office.
We didn't even know it was on the way back to us until we received an e-mail from you with the tracking number on 21 August, even though it was posted on the 9th.
After checking the tracking and seeing all the failed delivery attempts (no cards were left with us) we finally managed to get it delivered to a local Post Office (as whoever was doing the delivery route at the time seemed unable to deliver post.
We finally made a special trip to said Post Office and collected it on 30th August. The refund was done on 1 September. We can only refund for goods that we physically have back with us, but I understand the frustration.
In hindsight we should have sent you more updates on the non-delivery of the return, but in the end I had to find time to make a special trip to collect it myself, after it not being allowed to be collected due to non-matching ID previously. Again my apologies.
I'm glad you do have something that is compatible with your setup though.
Cheers
Clive
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I'm not sure anything else would be much of an improvement, unless it's getting on a bit and the diode has worn or you want to save some weight / bulk.
All mail order places will offer a 14 day refund as long as the goods are returned in the condition supplied, so that's an option if you want to try some alternatives.
Cheers
Clive
What would you reccomend with an alpex? Not keen to pay a premium for weight reduction, but want good illumination
For Sale: - WARD BlackSun IR torch
Aspheric lens, LED. 850nm Black Sun torch from Clive Ward. No marks, all present and working (see photo's). Smooth flood to spot operation. Has the three press (low/med/bright) button. NO battery. £90 £85 inc UK delivery - can be collected from near Lanark. I can take off the red IR sticker...
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk
Hi Acm,
The best for the Alpex is the Dark Engine BLADE. It's also likely best for anything you buy in future due to the conformity of the beam and adjustability of the beam and power output.
Anything 'cheaper' would be an aspheric LED illuminator, and it already comes with one of those. There are of course better LED illuminators available that will improve things, but it wont be the night and day difference you get between the supplied LED and the Dark Engine BLADE.
Cheers
Clive
Clive, really ?
The supplied IR illuminator on an Alpex is the same as your darksun ??
For Sale: - WARD BlackSun IR torch
Aspheric lens, LED. 850nm Black Sun torch from Clive Ward. No marks, all present and working (see photo's). Smooth flood to spot operation. Has the three press (low/med/bright) button. NO battery. £90 £85 inc UK delivery - can be collected from near Lanark. I can take off the red IR sticker...
www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk
The B502, maybe 50% to even 100% more powerful than the supplied IR, but that would equate to a range or IQ increase of 25%-50% in the field.
You need four times the power to see twice as far with IR.
Cheers
Clive
Hi All,
At the suggestion of a few customers, we are now offering individual pills for the BLADE series for those needing different wavelengths.
Covert:
Standard:
These come with a .9mm allen key and spare screw (for when you loose it).
Changing is easy enough.
Remove tail cap switch and battery.
Remove stainless steel grub screw from neck of IR. (loosing it is optional).
WIth IR lens up, unscrew the lens by the body, not the focus adjuster.
Remove lens and o-ring.
Unscrew pill with a pair of tweezers or needle nose pliers.
Screw in new pill.
Re-assemble.
Cheers
Clive
At the suggestion of a few customers, we are now offering individual pills for the BLADE series for those needing different wavelengths.
Covert:
Black Sun Dark Engine Pill For BLADE COVERT
VCSEL upgrade pill for Dragonfly infra red illuminator.
www.nightvisionstore.co.uk
Standard:
Black Sun Dark Engine Pill For BLADE
VCSEL upgrade pill for Dragonfly infra red illuminator.
www.nightvisionstore.co.uk
These come with a .9mm allen key and spare screw (for when you loose it).
Changing is easy enough.
Remove tail cap switch and battery.
Remove stainless steel grub screw from neck of IR. (loosing it is optional).
WIth IR lens up, unscrew the lens by the body, not the focus adjuster.
Remove lens and o-ring.
Unscrew pill with a pair of tweezers or needle nose pliers.
Screw in new pill.
Re-assemble.
Cheers
Clive
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
The torch that came with my Alpex mk1 can see well over 200 yards without an upgrade , I’d be hoping to ID quarry at double that with the blade or am I being unrealistic.
ColinBr
Well-Known Member
It's easily twice as good.
The night I was out with the blade was a very humid and wet night. Not good for either NV scope or Torch
You won't be disappointed
In regards to IDing quarry at 400 yards would depend on what your trying to ID I suppose.
In the review video I shared earlier, the gentleman mentioned being able to get good illumination of a treeline and eye shine at 700m and ID of a fox at 500m with his Alpex / BLADE combo.
Cheers
Clive
Do you have reports of ID distances with a Pard 007S by any chance, Clive?
ColinBr
Well-Known Member
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