Starlight Arrow Digital Add On - Official Images and review

[Scott Country]

Hello all

We have been asked for images of the new Starlight Arrow from people who could not make it to the launch at the British Shooting Show last weekend.

We collected the pre production samples the evening before the show, so had little time to take any images etc and only had what was supplied at the show to display.

This unit is the entry level Arrow which ranges from £349.99 to £499.99 depending on IR requirements.

We are out doing pigeons in farm sheds this weekend so will upload some footage Monday.

Any how here are some images, but bear in mind this is pre production model, the mount will be much improved and the finish and general fit/asthetics will be production quality. These were literally knocked up for the show.

As for delivery we were told they are due to arrive in 18 days when we were at the BSS last weekend.

Regards

Paul

 

[Hunting Solutions]

If only Julian an co. could come up with something that didn't add two feet to your eye relief....

 

[User00030]

looks good but im holding out for the nitesite eagle

 

[Mr. Gain]

If only Julian an co. could come up with something that didn't add two feet to your eye relief....

Maybe he should sell it along with a matching QD eye-relief extender for day scopes, then your Swaro and your cheek would always be in the right place.

 

[Fabnosh]

Always interested in these sort of things. Is there any technical reason why this type of bolt on always fits on the butt end of the scope and not the barrel end ? It would seems so much more flexible to have it fit on the other end. I'm not sure I could actually mount my scope far enough forward to fit one of these.....and then it would be useless for daytime use. Seems to almost defeat the object of having a bolt on if you require massive adjustments to switch between daylight and night use. May as well have two scopes on QR mounts and just swap between them.

FN

 

[Mr. Gain]

Always interested in these sort of things. Is there any technical reason why this type of bolt on always fits on the butt end of the scope and not the barrel end ? It would seems so much more flexible to have it fit on the other end. I'm not sure I could actually mount my scope far enough forward to fit one of these.....and then it would be useless for daytime use. Seems to almost defeat the object of having a bolt on if you require massive adjustments to switch between daylight and night use. May as well have two scopes on QR mounts and just swap between them.

FN

The problem is that if you stick it on the front the reticle is referencing the image produced by the night-vision device rather than the real world. So if the NVD is at all out of line you'll be pointing your barrel in the wrong direction. This is why such devices are mostly high-dollar units designed to hit a man-sized target, not affordable bolt-ons for bunny-bashers.

The ATN PS-22 was pretty terrible, but the Pulsar DFA75 seems to work fairly well, and I daresay we'll see better in the future too, but for the time being the only way to get an accurate bead on your target with NV is with a dedicated riflescope (a.k.a. "weapon sight") or a rear-mounted add-on that enhances the composite image (target + reticle) already produced by the day scope.

 

[Fabnosh]

Thanks for this. I'd often wondered.

FN

 

[Akeld]

That adds a lot more length than I expected. Thanks for posting the pictures

 

[Scott Country]

Hello all, as Mr Gain correctly said the reason for rear mounted is ref viewing the reticle aligned imaged, and not the image aligned reticle.

The DFA75 does this very well, and with the new Mk2 dial in range system, it works a treat. I have also tried a PS-22 and found it woefully bad.

As for the length, the production models will have a smaller DSA, and will be similar in stature to the Archer, which with an adjustable butt pad on our Accuracy International stocked demo units is no issue really.

 

[Legolas]

I've got one of the high sensitivity models on order and am looking forward to seeing how it performs in the flesh. Trying to find the silver lining in every cloud, the lead time into delivery gives me plenty of time to cobble up an adjustable butt plate for a spare synthetic stock I've got kicking around!

 

[Mr. Gain]

[...]with an adjustable butt pad on our Accuracy International stocked demo units[...] is no issue really.

Absolutely, I agree that an adjustable stock is by far the easiest way of dealing with the eye relief issue.

The problem is, however, that most people's rifles don't have a quick-adjustable length-of-pull, and those that do are usually heavy precision rifles that are less than ideal for night work.

Personally, I think one of the best NV accessories is a good (non wobbly) collapsible AR-type stock - extend it with add-ons and shorten it with dedicated NV sights (which usually sit too far forward for comfort); but this isn't for everyone and you can't by an AR or a chassis-rifle off-the-peg like you can a T3: quite apart from the fact that not everyone wants a rifle with "military" looks.

To my mind, therefore, the crucial question when it comes to rear-mounted add-ons is whether a slip-on butt pad provides enough extra eye relief. If it doesn't then the add-on is too long for non-typical rifles. Does the Arrow fall into this category?

 

[Chelly]

Is there any better cottage of this unit in use with the nm800 or t20?

 

[Scott Country]

If you check out The Night Vision Show on Saturday from 9am you will see Episode 4 which has a review of the Starlight Arrow with 75m, 150m and 200m footage.

Here is a screen grab, however as the Arrow does not have a video out we have used an iPhone attachment to record using an iScope adaptor, so struggled in getting both reticle and fox in focus as you have to tap iphone screen on subject to focus when recording using iScope app.

Through the eyepiece we were very impressed and at 200m on 4x optical zoom it gave a "useable" image on the limit but at 150m it was brilliant.

 

[Chelly]

If you check out The Night Vision Show on Saturday from 9am you will see Episode 4 which has a review of the Starlight Arrow with 75m, 150m and 200m footage.

Here is a screen grab, however as the Arrow does not have a video out we have used an iPhone attachment to record using an iScope adaptor, so struggled in getting both reticle and fox in focus as you have to tap iphone screen on subject to focus when recording using iScope app.

Through the eyepiece we were very impressed and at 200m on 4x optical zoom it gave a "useable" image on the limit but at 150m it was brilliant.

look forward to watching.

 

[joe soapy]

Think you should clarify the mag used for pic.
A fox at 150 yds and 4x looks a lot smaller than that on my scope

 

[Scott Country]

The NV Show used a Hawke 4-16x50 Nite Eye, that's a random screen grab i took from a video edit clip, but the show has footage at 75m through to 200m.

This is the problem with exporting video from the Arrow as no digital out and we are using the iScope adaptor which uses a screen capture app on iPhone which you "zoom" in on digitally to fill the screen so is not a true representation of optical mag.

When they filmed we said to keep the Hawke below 8x mag as it was too grainy above with the iPhone attachment.

Bear in mind we offer a demo service across our range of NV kit where you can try it at home before you buy (small admin fee and security conditions apply) so when we have stock on the shelf you can try our dedicated demo unit at home.

If you skip to 34secs on this video you will see what i mean.

The iScope is designed for attaching to a riflescope, and with very little eyepiece on the Arrow, it was cobbled together by us for The Night Vision show team to use.




Regards

Paul

 

[TheNVShow]

Thanks for posting this vid about the iScope, I guess this answers all query's regarding zooming in. Without this we could not have recorded footage from the Arrow. But believe us in real life the image quality is very good indeed. See more in our episode 4.

 

[carlthetrapper]

I've been using add on's now for about 10 years I'm on my third and found you soon get used to the extra length I swap day to night, lengths with no probs I use sticks all of the time and have taken fox to over 200m and can increase mag up to 16x with little vision loss of my gen 3, but normally shoot x10, I think as with anything its the practice and what you get used to that counts?

 

[Scott Country]

Episode 4 online now guys.

 

[Si-snipe]

Interesting. The home made NV is really influencing the market.