Thank you for the usable feedback without all the whining and tampon swinging this topic seems to always turn to.

Charlie

Like Shots100, I've been testing my 3-12x scope! Oh, and working, because you know... bills need paid and all that.

I have not yet had the opportunity to shoot with it yet. The weather here in the bullseye of the continent has not been in any way conducive to shooting, and it's going to be a while before I can mount it up and try it out. My setup is going to be a bit odd/awkward, and I need a pretty tall cheek riser to make it work with my intended setup (M1 Carbine, Chaote 5-Position AR-style Stock, with a 7" cantilever see-through rail mounted to an Ultimak M6-B scout rail. Hard to explain, i'll post a pic once it's mounted & sighted in.)

I should also make this statement, for anyone considering buying an X-Sight: CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT OR HUNTING AUTHORITY BEFORE BUYING THIS SCOPE!
Here in Missouri, it is illegal to "Spotlight" hunt for game, after sundown. They have statutorily classified the use of both Passive and Active Night Vision devices as Spotlighting. Before I purchased this scope, I checked with the MO Dept of Conservation, which administrates this area of MO law, and received in writing that as long as I am not actively Hunting (IE: for use of pest control in defense of property or livestock, or other recreational use) it is legal to use this new scope. However, I had to dig, and even in reading the law itself, the classification of this scope was not clear at all. Laws have not caught up with this type of technology yet, so be sure you know the law, before you hunt!

All that said... Here is what I have to report, so far.

What it came with:
- Scope (Manual Focus model)
- Carry Case (Padded nylon w/ shoulder strap)
- IR Illuminator
- Metal Sunshade
- Nylon Sunshade+IR Illum pouch
- Manual

What it did not come with.
- AA batteries
- CR123A batteries
- SD Card

You will need to pick these up separately. Luckily, I had them ready to go, or readily acquired.

Mine happens to be a Red-Button model.

Construction: All aluminum, including the sunshade, Illuminator body, and battery cap. The only plastic on this entire thing, is the buttons, and the focus ring for the Illuminator. Rubber eye cup. Very sturdy, it's built like a tank. Heavy like one too, as others have said. I'm pretty sure I could beat someone to death with it.

It came with the .173 firmware. Button/function tests all checked out with this firmware. I did not play with it much.

I formatted a 32GB microSD card in FAT32, loaded the .228 .bin file on it.

The manual is extremely vague and lacking detail. As a tech support professional, I can say this was written by someone NOT in tech support. The instructions are not nearly detailed enough for the "common man". Luckily, they included a separate Firmware Update insert that gives good instructions on the update process. It worked first time through, once I actually RTFM'd, and did what it said (powercycled the scope via battery cap, once the update display settled on 100% complete.)

One thing it did NOT tell you to do though, and you MUST do this, is remove the SD card after the update, and delete the .BIN on it. Otherwise it'll keep trying to update on bootup.

I then decided to do something I did NOT see anyone else do yet. I connected the scope to my PC using a USB cable. This worked fine, and the PC recognized the scope when choosing "Mass Storage Device" in windows. It shows up like any other SD card storage, and you can browse the card with it still inserted into the scope.
NOTE: Once the PC and Scope are connected via USB, the scope's display will turn Blue, and tell you that USB is connected. You CANNOT use the scope, while connected to a PC using USB.

I would like to request ATN find a way to alter this in a later firmware version, so that it can.

Once .228 was installed, I went to work testing the scope around the house.
Now, how did the scope itself work?

1. Image quality is fantastic. Focus works exactly like it should. Images are very crisp and clear. Display is VERY bright, I run it on the lowest setting. You will have to adjust as you shift ranges to target. I noticed that if you shift your range more than about 10 ft nearer or further, you will need to adjust focus. I don't see anything wrong with this, it seems normal to me. Focusing manually works fine, between ALL magnification ranges.

There are only 2 Resolution settings for the main sensor. 1080p @ 30 FPS, and 720p @ 60 FPS. They do NOT have the same Field of View. The 720p setting appears to be "Zoomed In" at about 2x, on the scope's display, even though it reads as 1.0x on the Digital Zoom. It is a significantly smoother picture during motion. Just be aware that FoV or "equivalent Zoom" DOES change if you change the Resolution of the image capture. It's basically like putting a doubler lens on the scope.

Another thing to be aware of... During fast movements, you will notice that the image will "Lean" left or right, as if the bottom of the image is being dragged behind the top. This is most noticeable in 1080p resolution. At 720p, it mostly disappears, for any practical movement. If you intend to track faster-moving targets, you may prefer the 720p settings, but for more static precision work, you'll do better with 1080p.


2. Digital zoom works as expected. "Normal" digital zoom gives you 1.0x - 4.0X Digital zoom. Changing this to the "Extended" option gives you 1.0x - 10.0x (which translates to 3x - 30x). This zoom works quite smoothly, and gives you a very clear graphic as you zoom in and out, which represents your field of view narrowing and widening. It's easy to tell where you are, as you zoom.


3. Digital compass worked immediately, and correctly. I turned it off after a bit, but it seemed to work just fine in my limited test.


4. PASSIVE NIGHT VISION - This is my assessment, after testing at varying levels of ambient light (or lack thereof). If you have very good natural night vision (I happen to have excellent night vision, myself), you will find that this scope, by itself, on full "light amplification" setting, offers about the same vision as your natural eyes at night. In other words, it's not going to let you see more than you normally would. This MIGHT change with firmware changes, because I think the image processing firmware could do much better than it currently does. As it stands on .228 -right now-, What it DOES let you do, is digital zoom in and out, from 3x to 30x, and this does allow you to check out things at greater ranges...even though they're dim. It also seems to maintain this ability even at Dawn/Dusk, when ambient light starts to increase, but not enough to use pure daylight. I think those time periods will be this scope's advantage over IIT night vision.


5. ACTIVE NIGHT VISION - Using the IR Illuminator worked very well. I don't yet have an estimate of it's useful range beyond about 30 ft - I've not been able to go outside with it yet, due to work and weather. Since my house has Low-E windows, those windows act like IR Mirrors in Night Mode. You won't be using the IR Illuminator through a window. I don't know why you would do this on a scope with a firearm... but if you do, remember this. Day mode works fine through windows, so long as your IR Illuminator is off. Flicker in Night Mode is still present when setting "Light Amplification" to the "Low" setting. At "Medium" and "High" this flicker disappears.

I'll report more on Night Vision capabilities when the weather around here improves.


6. BATTERY LIFE - I decided to use a set of play Duracell alkaline batteries in my scope first. I figured once they run down, I'll switch to Lithiums. I'm currently sitting on day 3 of playing with the scope (1-3 hours per day of messing with it, as well as powering up and down), and I have yet to use up this first set of Alkaline batteries. I have left the batteries in it since they were installed. There is no battery drain problem with my scope, it seems... much to my relief.

I have kept Wifi, GPS, and Compass turned OFF. I will not be testing these until I am ready to switch to the Lithium batteries. I want to have an idea of how well Alkaline works just using it as a scope, in "field condition".

Another thing, the Lithium batteries are not only better at supplying a steady voltage to the scope throughout their discharge cycle, but they are also noticeably lighter in weight than Alkaline. This will be an added benefit if you use them in this scope, It's already pretty darn heavy, so every little bit helps.


7. MOUNTS AND ALIGNMENT - As far as I can tell, my scope's mount is straight. I tested this with a long straight edge, and it appears to be centered like it's supposed to be. I'll test this further once it's mounted "live" on the rifle.

Now, I DID notice that my IR Illuminator's mount was significantly crooked, causing it to point downward about 1.5º, when mounted on the scope's sight rail. No bueno. There are 2 Phillips screws that secure the Illuminator to the picatinny mount clamp. I took these out, they appear secured by some kind of red loctite substance (I thought it was rust at first), but not enough to prevent removal. Once I removed the mount, I re-mounted it securely against the lip of the mount, and tightened it down. It appears to be aligned properly now, and is within adjustment range of the windage/elevation screw adjustments on the IR Illuminator now.


8. I have NOT tested the interface functionality of HDMI, nor Wifi, and I have not used the smartphone apps with the scope yet. I intend to set up my Asus Windows 8 tablet with BlueStacks android emulator, which I have already confirmed on my PC -CAN- install and run the ATN Obsidian android app. I would have done that tonight before my report, but the tablet's drained and must recharge. I'll let you know how it works out in a couple of days, when I'm done working like a dog.


OVERALL IMPRESSION - So far, I think this scope is fantastic hardware. None of the minor quirks or "hmm, how's this doohicky work" moments seemed in any way insurmountable, and actually were resolved quite quickly. I am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming (albiet later-than-we-would-all-like) firmware update, and look forward to future improvements.

Wait...are you playing with it, or "testing" it? Shoots100 says mount it on a pellet gun and share how it handles the recoil...otherwise you're just blowing smoke. He also says you need to sell him your 3x. He will name the price. Trust him.

Yeah, the recluse is for pussies and sissies.
Though at 100 yards, It's been proven to be more effective on coyotes than Rocky Marciano's punch.

My offer still stands for your scope, as I'd like to buy a scope that's never been mounted on a rifle.

I did go out hunting this evening, but didn't see anything.
The T20 light was useless in the falling snow on any power level.
Then it started to sleet out, so this [censored] ran home to cuddle with his recluse.

Hi everyone,I've had my X-Sight since 21 Jan and have put around 60 RDS thru it. My question is this, has anyone else noticed what appears to be defects or darker spots in the black bezel around the LCD screen when you are looking thru the scope? I have contacted ATN about it and gotten an RMA from them. I just got this thing the way I want it and sighted in. I am supposed to go hog hunting with my brother in two weeks and don'twant to send it in if I don't need to. Has anyone seen this and do I need to worry about it or just hunt. The turnaround time from ATN is around 45 days according to customer service. Thanks in advance for any help.

LMFAO, BURNNNNNNN..

The e-Peens are pretty strong here. I never make fun of someone's weapon, unless I'm willing to volunteer to be shot with it. So unless you're gonna do that, move on with something more productive, instead of trolling and goading other forum members with the "Evil Clown" act. It's getting old.

Or better yet, maybe we should all just put our internet egos away, and get back to the point of the thread by providing real substance, without the attitude and sniping.