Today I finally got a chance to play around with the new night vision scope. It's an ATN Spartan 410, Gen 1, 4.5X.
I've read good and bad about Gen 1 scopes, and good and bad about ATN. I had to find out for myself to satisfy curiosity. The good thing is, if I don't like the scope, I get a full refund from Sportsman's Guide. That's a hard policy to beat so I figured it was worth a try.
The verdict is still out on the scope, but preliminary results indicate it will be effective at shorter ranges.
The last two nights I have viewed objects, including my dog, at distances up to 100 yards. Once sighted in and with a good shooting rest, I think taking coyotes to 100 yards is possible, and definitely at 50.
We have a snow on the ground and a half moon right now. That really helped with illumination and I really didn't need the IR illuminator that came with the scope. On bare ground and on a dark night, I'm not sure yet since I haven't tested it in those conditions. I have a feeling the IR illuminator will be lacking, but there are better ones available such as at TNVC.
The crosshair illuminates well and the fixed 4.5 power scope gives ample magnification. The crosshair seems to lean to the left a bit, but it could be the way I hold the rifle. My son and both tend to hold one differently and the crosshair always lean when we look through each other's scopes.
The scope is big and heavy, at over 3 pounds. However, after mounting it on my Dtech 6x45 and holding it for a while, it doesn't seem too bad. I wear eye glasses and had no problem with eye relief.
Today I sighted the rifle in at a measured distance of 58 yards, and groups are good enough right now to kill coyotes at that distance. My blind is 53 yards from the bait. Tonight I plan to shoot after dark and see if I can view the target better.
One thing to remember if you use night vision in daylight hours, is to keep the scope cover on, and use it very little, only for initial sighting. I will fine tune it tonight.
I know everyone says save your money and get a Gen 3. I have no doubt they are right that Gen 3 is far superior. I've never looked through a Gen 3 scope, but I imagine it is everything everyone talks about. However, I may have to save for a long time in order to afford a Gen 3, but the Spartan 410 is affordable. If it works for my intended purpose, then it's worth it. If not, then it goes back to SG.
After playing around a bit with the scope, I'll know much better about it's performance. I'll keep you posted.
UPDATE: Time has passed and I thought I would sum up the review of the Gen 1 scope. After two years of using it and experimenting with a variety of IR lights,
I put 6 coyotes on the ground at the 60 yard site. The Gen 1 does work but it needs a lot of light. For close range shooting it will work, but the IR illuminator
that comes with the scope is essentially useless. The new illuminators available now (2015) will help it a lot.
