Cozwurth, a hearty welcome to the forums. Where in Virginia do you live? This is a great place, with lots of information. We are looking forward to your reports and photos.
The home-made night vision is really nice, as far as being able to see well. If I can solve the POI shift, then I will wholeheartedly recommend this home-made version.
UPDATE: I spoke with Roland via e-mail pertaining to the POI problem. He reported that he has not experienced any issues like that, nor has he heard from anyone who has. He also mentioned that his scope has an adjustable objective for parallax, but we both think my zero should hold since I sight in via the LCD screen and not looking through the scope, then attaching the bullet camera later. I do think the Tasco scope is the issue and not the bullet camera / NV setup.
With the Eagle Tac illuminator, the whole deal costs less than $300. But, as I mentioned earlier, if you hunt from a bait site and a stationary position, you don't even need an illuminator. Trail camera IR will illuminate very well and you won't have any problem seeing. You just need a camera that will record video long enough to get a shot off. That why I like the Bushnell. It will do 60-second videos.
The storage building turned into a cabin has been a great retreat for me. I couldn't hunt these coyotes without it. I have stayed the night in it with temps well below 20 degrees and kept warm. Thus far I have taken 7 coyotes from the cabin, all with night vision. Six were taken with the dedicated Gen 1 ATN scope, and this last one of course with this new home-made deal.
Jim, I don't have any personal experience with the illuminator you mentioned, nor any 805nm illuminator, but I have an opinion for what it's worth. Not sure what your intended purpose for it is. I'll share what I have learned about illuminators, lights and wave spectrums. Please forgive me if I'm hashing over stuff you already know, but perhaps this info might help someone else.
I have had quite a bit of experience with 850nm lights, and an illuminator that operates at 850nm as well. Also, most trail cameras operate, to my understanding, at 850nm or thereabouts, and I have learned how animals respond to those wave lengths.
What I have learned is this - coyotes do see the red glow from 850nm IR (I can too), and the 805nm will have even more of a glow than an 850nm (higher the number, the less glow). Coyotes react differently to that glow since they are individuals. Some will tolerate it, or come to tolerate it better, while others never seem to and will jump and run when a trail camera kicks on. I've had coyotes tolerate the IR light one night, only to jump and run another night. Go figure.
My personal thinking is this, if you are searching for an infrared illuminator, get one with a high nm rating as long as your scope / camera will see it.
The 805nm may work well for you, but my thoughts are to go as covert as you can and get a higher number, maybe an 850nm or even higher, depending on what you need.
Just recently I purchased a DC-powered light that operates at 940nm. It's powerful. I have been wanting to test a 940nm light for quite some time, and finally took the plunge and got one. This light, shipped, was just under $100. It is total black out, no visible light at all that I can see. The only thing a coyote might be able to see would be the light housing itself.
Here's the 940nm light.
I tested this 940nm light from my shooting bench in my back yard, shinning it down the path to the target in the woods at 60 yards. I could barely see, not well enough to shoot. That was with the little home-made NV outfit. BUT, when I moved the light closer to the target, maybe 10 yards away from it, I could see extremely well from the bench to the 60-yard target. Most NV scopes do not see well (distances) with 940nm to my understanding. This little camera deal saw good light, but the light had to be closer to the target (bait site area) since it won't project a useable beam of light any great distance. Mounted on a tree or post near the bait site, this light should work like a charm.
By the way, lights like the 940nm one are also available in 850nm and are much cheaper, about half the cost of the 940, but they do give off a red glow. Also, both lights (940 & 850) have their own photo cells, so they will automatically turn on and off at dusk and dawn if you want to hook them up to a large DC battery, or they also operate at 110 volt AC with an adapter.
Not sure what your purpose is for the 805nm illuminator, but I will say this. "If" you are hunting over bait from a stationary position, then you might want to consider getting an IR light instead of illuminator, placing the light nearer the bait, and use a remote control switch (cheap on Ebay) to turn it on and off from your hunting blind / house when the alarm goes off. Believe me, the little remote control device works like a charm. I now have 5 of them. I'm in the process of mounting the 940nm light near the bait site and wiring in a newly purchased remote switch, though I may not even need it after seeing how well the Bushnell trail camera IR worked the other night.
But, if you want an illuminator for "out and about" hunting, or don't want to go to the trouble of setting up IR lights at the bait site, remote switches and stuff, then take a look at the Eagle Tac T100C2 IR that operates at 850nm. It sells for something like $70. You can find it at Illumination Gear.com. Tod is a good guy to work with.
That illuminator will generally allow you to see very well, while not producing a brighter light that an 805nm would. As well, the Eagle Tac is not so expensive.
Here's the Eagle Tac. It will fit inside a 1" scope ring.
