I built a rig so that I could side by side test a Drone Pro, PARD NV008 and PARD NV007 (fitted to Hawke Frontier 3-15x50 ffp scope) using 2 different illuminators - a Solaris SRX laser and a Sunnranger 3x42 with an Oslon AS LED
Here's the rig
The Drone Pro is fixed x10 magnification and the 008 is x6.5 with x1.5 digital zoom, making a total of approx x10.
The magnification of the Hawke scope was adjusted to give the same FOV as the Drone Pro. which turned out to be about x6.5.
The additional magnification provided by the add-on is therefore approx x1.5.
I tested in darkness (little moon, overcast and virtually no ambient light) at short range (100m or so) and at longer range (250-350m)
I would summarise the results as follows:
The Drone Pro always wins - it has a clearer, more contrasty image which makes viewing a pleasure.
It works well with the LED illuminator but, is even better with the SRX.
In fact, with the SRX, the entire FOV is evenly illuminated out to silly distances - absolutely fantastic
The PARDs are still very good, and produce very shootable images, particularly at shorter ranges.
They're just not as good as the Drone pro
At short range, the 007 add-on has the edge over the 008, but at long ranges the tables are turned and the 008 is noticeably better than the add-on.
The less good performance of the add-on at longer range may well be down to the scope not letting enough light reach the camera because the image, even with the scope magnification reduced to it's minimum, was still blurred and laggy
The LED illuminator doesn't improve on the PARDs built in illuminator.
If the built in illuminator can't produce a decent image, then don't bother trying an additional LED illuminator - an SRX or equivalent laser illuminator will be needed to see any further.
If you're fortunate enough to own a Drone pro, then you can increase it's performance simply by using an SRX or equivalent laser.
The elephant in the room of course is price - a Drone pro or ENV10 as it's now known, costs over £2k new and used Drone pro x10s typically go for £1400-£1600.
The NV 008 costs around £500 and the 007 about £100 less
You could buy around 4 or 5 PARDs for the price of a Drone Pro, and although the Drone Pro is clearly better, it's not 4 or 5 times better
The NV008 is going back on my 22 rimfire where I'm sure it will account for plenty bunnies, both day and night.
Cheers
Bruce