anyone have any experience with these

[marksman]

just wondering has anyone had any experience with the bushnell equinox z 6x50 night vision monocular
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZV4fXQPlQI
although grainy at a higher zoom I think this would be ok for vermin acquisition before putting a light on
has anyone had experience with one

[Bent Arrow]

Funnily enough, I am looking at at 4.5 x 40 model. I had one in my hands at the local optics shop today, unfortunately not able to test in the dark . Optical quality seems OK for the price at 4x, but the digital zoom is pretty ordinary. The unit is fairly bulky in the hand. A few reviews comment on how the focus is hard to manage, but it's not too bad, if you've ever spent a fair bit of time on bino's. I found using two hands, one to hold the unit and the other to focus was quite functional. I'm interested in why you would choose the 6x zoom, more money for it, the field of view is smaller. My gut feel is the 6x unit would be less versatile?

[marksman]

I was thinking "the bigger the better" because I want to see vermin at at least 200 but have thought about the 4.5x40 model
really these things would just be a night day camera I think, and when you try and make a day night camera both are not as good as they could be
the utube vid shows to me they have some capability, it looks pretty good for gen 1
and I know there is heaps better but not for around $500

[Bent Arrow]

My understanding is that the built in IR torch won't reach 200m. You could probably add a better torch.

[marksman]

on the utube vid I put up, in the questions someone asked if he used a better ir light but he said no the built in one is a good one so no need
they look like a pretty good unit for what I would want anyway

[Bent Arrow]

on the utube vid I put up, in the questions someone asked if he used a better ir light but he said no the built in one is a good one so no need
they look like a pretty good unit for what I would want anyway

There is some interesting information in this conversation re performance http://lonestarboars.com/threads/bushne ... 882/page-5

The consensus from what I have read is that for the sort of distance you might want, an external IR torch is the go except on reasonably moonlit nights.

I dropped the cash on a 4.5x today. The weather has finally changed and it's wet and windy outside, not exactly conducive to standing around outside to see what it can do. My first thoughts are that it will be good, I need to work out how to turn the screen brightness right down, as after just a couple of minutes I found the brightness annoying. As per my initial thoughts at the shop, it's really a two hand job to use it. It's definitely a battery eater, so I'd suggest rechargeable batteries. It comes with a usb cable so it could be run from the cigarette lighter in a ute, but the cable sticking out would probably be a PITA. What I'd really like to do is find a way to plug the TV out cable into a phone or ipad/tablet so you could scan paddocks without having to hold the unit up to your face.

[marksman]

did not realise the monocular can be used as a night scope with a mount
that post is full of good info, thanks for posting
let us know how it works for you

[Bent Arrow]

did not realise the monocular can be used as a night scope with a mount
that post is full of good info, thanks for posting

It can be, but if you read all of that post, it was a bit of a Frankenstein, and seems like it was pretty unsuccessful