As some of you may be aware, SGC stopped selling PARD DS35 digital NV scopes because of potential issues with the laser based IR.
The scope has been re-engineered with an LED based IR and is now on sale as the PARD DS35 gen 2
Russ Douglas and I got our hands on a gen 2 DS35-70RF and took it out last night for a side by side test with Russ's original DS35-70RF so that we could see what, if any differences there were to the NV performance of the gen 2
I must admit to being sceptical about the use of an LED based IR after seeing the performance of the original version with it's laser based IR and Russ's scope in particular which has the highest power IR illuminator I have ever measured.
At the end of the test during which both scopes were tested with both IRs throughout their power range, and also with an external LED based IR that had both 850nm and 940nm pills fitted, our conclusions were:
a. The NV performance of both scopes was the same when using the laser IR in the original scope
b. The NV performance of the gen 2 scope is marginally better than the original scope when the LED IR in the gen 2 scope is used
c. The NV performance when using 940nm is significantly better with the gen 2 scope than with the original
We were looking at rabbits out to around 220m
For ranges beyond that I think an external laser based IR would be needed for either version of the scope
My impression is that the LED IR in the gen 2 scope is less powerful than the laser in the original scope, but that the gen 2 scope has a better sensor that makes up for that lack of IR power
So, despite my prior reservations about the LED IR in the gen 2 scope, I'm happy to admit that they were unfounded, and that the gen2 scope is at least as good as the original version and where 940nm IR illumination is used, it is significantly better.
Cheers
Bruce
The scope has been re-engineered with an LED based IR and is now on sale as the PARD DS35 gen 2
Russ Douglas and I got our hands on a gen 2 DS35-70RF and took it out last night for a side by side test with Russ's original DS35-70RF so that we could see what, if any differences there were to the NV performance of the gen 2
I must admit to being sceptical about the use of an LED based IR after seeing the performance of the original version with it's laser based IR and Russ's scope in particular which has the highest power IR illuminator I have ever measured.
At the end of the test during which both scopes were tested with both IRs throughout their power range, and also with an external LED based IR that had both 850nm and 940nm pills fitted, our conclusions were:
a. The NV performance of both scopes was the same when using the laser IR in the original scope
b. The NV performance of the gen 2 scope is marginally better than the original scope when the LED IR in the gen 2 scope is used
c. The NV performance when using 940nm is significantly better with the gen 2 scope than with the original
We were looking at rabbits out to around 220m
For ranges beyond that I think an external laser based IR would be needed for either version of the scope
My impression is that the LED IR in the gen 2 scope is less powerful than the laser in the original scope, but that the gen 2 scope has a better sensor that makes up for that lack of IR power
So, despite my prior reservations about the LED IR in the gen 2 scope, I'm happy to admit that they were unfounded, and that the gen2 scope is at least as good as the original version and where 940nm IR illumination is used, it is significantly better.
Cheers
Bruce
