Low end night optics

I see ads all over for night vision scopes, cameras etc. including the Sightmark Wraith for around $600. any others out there, reasonable price for less that 100 yard shots?

Feeder lights or the wraith are your options. Sightmark also makes a decent digital scanner for about $400.

I have a sightmark Photon, and it is pretty good for what it is. It does well with some moonlight, but on a new moon, or when the moon is just a sliver, it is tough to get much distance and clarity out of it. Since I bought it, I have used a rented thermal. One of the higher dollar (like $5000+) ones. I can't remember which one it was, but OMG the difference is astounding! It made me take the sightmark off my rifle and just put it away. I will get it out and re-mount it occasionally when I will be hunting a full moon, but otherwise, it sits pretty much un-used. I would think that if your budget is $600, then the sightmark is probably your best bet. Just know what you are getting. If you can swing a higher budget, go with as high of a quality thermal as you can afford.

The Sightmark Wraiths are excellent units

I have a number of thermals but got an ATN X-Sight 4k in 3x when it was on sale on Amazon for $450. Kind of an impulse buy. Paired with a Coyote Cannon IR light - it works extremely well. Shocked how clear it is out to 200 yards. Doesn't beat thermal but definitely good enough for out to 200 yards. I can see figures and eyes reflecting out to 500 yards with it... but can't really ID anything with confidence past 300 yards.

I think any low-end night vision (ATN/Sightmark) works well at under 200 yards if you have a powerful enough IR light. I gave up on low-end night vision several years ago and went to thermal. Don't regret spending $$$ on thermal, but could've held off on sinking the $$$ into thermals longer if I had discovered the Coyote Cannon or a similar high-power IR.

The less costly units are going to be some sort of adaptation of a “camera” onto your existing day optics.

Note : the sightmark / ATN products feature their own built on mount to adapt to the firearm / this will always yield the optimal repeatability necessary for 100 yard engagements.

IF you’re a risk taker and like to tinker (with your zero) then YES there are less expensive options.

Note, anything you adapt to the back of your scope you’ll need to take into account eye relief, the unit below is going to give you night time capabilities at the expense of your daytime position of the day scope (it’ll need to be placed far forward on the top rail of the rifle).

This is cheaper than a wraith but as you’ll see has many technical challenges !


Example here:

https://www.amazon.com/Megaorei-Int...;sprefix=megaorei%2Caps%2C228&sr=8-6

I have an older Sightmark.
It came with a small IR Illuminator.
It is decent at 100 yards in pitch black darkness.
It gets better and better with more ambient light.
A bigger Illuminator would be a good idea as well.

ATNs can be had in the $600-800 range with decent filters

My nephew has a wraith not a bad scope for the price. Look around and you can find some deals. Sightmark has good customer service. You couldn’t give me a ATN product their customer service was terrible.

I recently bought a thermal and love it! However, I do love my Sightmark Photon RT as well coupled with a Hawglite 66. I can easily see 400 - 500 yards and everyone is amazed how clear it is. Wraith does color daytime though so that is neat. Two friends have had nothing but problems with ATN. Cool when they work.
.

Eight years ago, the hot digital night vision on the market was a Pulsar Digisight N550 for $1300 that was on 500x582 resolution which is about 1/7th the resolution of a Wraith HD and is/was more than double the price of the Wraith HD. You can easily see double the distance with the Wraith than you could with the Digisight and you get daytime color not offered by the Digisight. The Wraith is actually pretty impressive for the price, LOL.

When you guys talk about the wraith, are you talking about the one that is $499 or the one that is $799?

Just picked up the Wraith HD ($499 unit). Have an photon XT as well. Sitting at a feeder with 100 yd shots, the wraith can’t be beat for the price. The HD menu is much more comprehensive and has a better interface than the XT. I contemplated the 4K ($799) but for what I do, I couldn’t justify the extra cash. I’d love to have a thermal but 99% of what I do is shooting a known distance at one location. The XT served me well and I’ll probably continue to use it as a “scanner” so I don’t have to run the wraith as much. The external IR that comes with the wraith is a huge improvement over the XT. I have a bigpig IR and could easily see out to 200+ yds with the XT, I don’t think I’ll even need it with the wraith.