bluesj Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Just picked up a new Yukon Photon XT 4.6x42. In the box is the scope in its carry case, the instruction manual, a cleaning cloth and video cable. First impressions, it’s a chunky bit of kit and heavier than I expected it looks and feels well made apart from the menu/ brightness button feels a bit wobbly. But it has got a three year warranty. The scope runs on 2AA batteries, they are said to last 5 hours (we will see). Mounting is via normal 30mm scope mounts, I used some cheap high mounts I had in the draw but to get the eye relief about right I had to pull the scope a long way back as you can see so I’ve ordered some reach forward mounts to give it a bit better support. As it is the bolt handle misses the scope, just. The scope is turned on and off with a button on the left side of the scope the IR illuminator uses the same button to turn it on and adjust to one of three power settings. Press once for scope on again for ir power level 1, twice for power level 2 three times for power level3 then again for ir off. Press and hold to turn the scope off. The brightness control is knob also on the left and is easily used with the scope to your eye. There are 6 different reticles to choose from in 3 colours, white green and red. In day light the white one doesn’t seem a lot of use as the image you see in the eyepiece is black and white. I don't like the rubber eye bell thing as it doesn't fit my face very well and I got on better without it. Zeroing was easy enough, put the rifle on a rest one shot at the target and move the cross hairs to it and a couple of shots just to make sure. It would have been even easier if I had remembered to take a decent rest and remembered the trajectory table so I could have zeroed at shorter range. The view through the scope well not crystal clear is more than good enough for the job and with a bit of fiddling got better. We went out just before dark to give it a try in day mode (lens cover on) and it works the same as any other scope just in black and white and with a square field of view. But as the light faded it was much better that a normal day scope and lamp the rabbits are much easier to spot as the show up black on a whiteish background. Two or three times I could see three or four rabbits using the scope but only one or two using the lamp. So with trials and tests over it was time to get the transport out and load up. We used a lamp for spotting, once spotted off with the lamp and take over with the night vision. We spotted the first rabbit on a mound at the bottom of a long bank at about 25 to 30 yards, with it being a clear night I could see it easily without the IR illuminator. Squeeze the trigger and number one was in the bag, a second then hopped in to view at about 60 yards. Pop and that was number two, we had another nine or ten in the next hour or so until the gator started to overheat so we stopped for a coffee and change of vehicle. When we went back out it had clouded over a bit so needed IR illuminator on to see clearly, this has the added bonus of making the rabbits eyes glow bright white in the view finder making a really good point of aim. We finished the night when the fog rolled in on 29. The only down side so far is that the lay of the ground is not very visible through the scope so you can’t see small undulations, humps and bumps etc very well which meant we lost a few rabbits that had been shot because the ground looked so different with the lamp. Not a real problem as the six or seven foxes we saw should pick them up. But I’m not sure that I would want to shoot ground that I didn’t know for the first time using night vision because of not being able to read the ground through it. To sum up, I’m very pleased with the scope and it works well. Well worth the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 I have a Ward D vision and it is brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snipers eye Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 have an ns50,shot 37 rabbits last week on a golf course,bril bit on kit on my 455 cz .22,hawke scope 4-16x44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick miller Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 (edited) I have my cube and it's better than everything else (except a Drone Pro) In all seriousness this was a nice, honest and compact review. I look forward to finding out more when you've gotten better used to it. Have you tried it out with a secondary illuminator yet? If would be interesting to s how it performs at range with maximum zoom. Edited June 15, 2015 by mick miller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Did you use a IR light you bought separately or are you referring to the built in one on the scope ? How much was it ? Sounds very good so far hole you get on well with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted June 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Did you use a IR light you bought separately or are you referring to the built in one on the scope ? How much was it ? Sounds very good so far hole you get on well with it. Only used the built in Ir so far. They are £400 ish, but i traded a 17hmr for the scope and a few other bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapshooter Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 I also have the photon xt good scope for the money but get yourself a t38 ir lamp for it and its a whole new ball game ! also if you haven't tried it yet take the center out of the flip up front cover as well as it makes it a lot less focus fussy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjimlad Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Thanks for posting this up. It's very interesting... Maybe something to get for when the nights draw in again as it is past my bedtime when it gets proper dark at the moment ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted June 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 I also have the photon xt good scope for the money but get yourself a t38 ir lamp for it and its a whole new ball game ! also if you haven't tried it yet take the center out of the flip up front cover as well as it makes it a lot less focus fussy Ive just cobbled together an IR lamp to try. Thanks for posting this up. It's very interesting... Maybe something to get for when the nights draw in again as it is past my bedtime when it gets proper dark at the moment ! Same here, but had to try it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapshooter Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 To be honest its hardly worth messing about, a T38 ir is only about £30 and is blindingly good . I tried a ir filter on a couple of lamps including a lightforce 170 and they aint as good as what you can get out of a little T38 torch . all the best Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted June 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 To be honest its hardly worth messing about, a T38 ir is only about £30 and is blindingly good . I tried a ir filter on a couple of lamps including a lightforce 170 and they aint as good as what you can get out of a little T38 torch . all the best Ian I will get one but I'm out again tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davyo Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) The XT I had I never felt that I needed to use add IR.The only thing I didn't like was it no day scope,ok if really dull day but the slightest sun shine and it's totally useless.I would have another but would get an add 22lr for a day scope. Edited June 17, 2015 by Davyo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted June 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 I didn't think it was too bad in day light, not as good as even a cheap day scope but useable. I've got another rifle with a day scope so not too worried about day use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapshooter Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 biggest problem I found with the onboard ir was that it eats batteries and also the spread was a bit limited. with a T38 I can be out 5 or so hours and not have to carry spare battery's all the best Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted June 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 biggest problem I found with the onboard ir was that it eats batteries and also the spread was a bit limited. with a T38 I can be out 5 or so hours and not have to carry spare battery's all the best Ian I've found that, The rechargeables I ordered have not turned up yet So have been using ordinary batteries, some sony ones only lasted ten minutes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow white Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) You want 2500 mah battery's rechargeable I think somewhere it tells you to use them I have gen1 and xt find the xt with a t20 IFR on it is brilliant I have picked foxes out to over three hundred yards from me front door so I no the distance.Would not shoot at that range though.I have a doubler on it makes all the difference. Edited June 18, 2015 by snow white Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davyo Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 You want 2500 mah battery's rechargeable I think somewhere it tells you to use them I have gen1 and xt find the xt with a t20 IFR on it is brilliant I have picked foxes out to over three hundred yards from me front door so I no the distance.Would not shoot at that range though.I have a doubler on it makes all the difference. Agree you have to use the correct batteries, i used to get min of 4hrs using the on board IR on high setting.(used to carry 2x sets of batts)Used to have a T20 as additional (NM800 as back up) but never felt the need to use either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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