Dave G Night Vision review

[oowee]

I bought one of the NV rigs from Dave back in July. I have used it on a CZ .22 and now on my Weihrauch HMR. The rig has a Black Sun Torch and KPC E700 and mounts the screen and torch with a scope weaver rail adaptor and a Screw on fitting for the Camera to the rear of the scope. The housing looks to be made of a project box with tight fitting 5 inch screen and custom made scope tube and screw fitting. The unit is very easy to mount and on some occasions I have swapped it between three rifles in the same evening session. I have two different ring mounts for the different diameter scopes. Interestingly the one that fits the 38mm scope is easier to fit than the 40mm fitting which I would think is a maximum size for this rig. Picture clarity of both the target and the reticle is very good although as the screen is close I have to wear my reading glasses .

 

The first thing to say is what a solid and well made piece of kit it is. I had made my own previously with bits from e bay for £50. Whilst it worked out to 50m it was always a bit of a rickety affair and i needed something that I could rely on in the field and that could be easily switched between rifles.

 

The system works well out to about 100m with the torch, but on some nights where there is a decent moon (Last night) the camera is good for 300m+, and I would be happy taking a shot without the torch if my rifle would extend that far. The batteries are 3 x 18650 3000mAh from Torchy boy so good quality power units. It tips the scales at 915 grams all up with the batteries which has to be considered if you are moving about a bit during shooting. Whilst the rifle is balanced fore and aft it does make it a little top heavy so greater care has to be taken when mounting it on sticks. All in all a good well made piece of kit.

The unit.

and some results taken at about 75 yds :-

[Wb123]

Many thanks for a helpful review.

 

Can you take it on and off without altering the zero, or does one still need day and night rifles?

 

What sort of costs are we looking at for such a set up?

Edited January 13, 2017 by Wb123

[oowee]

Thanks for comments. It fits to the end of the scope so no affect on zero. I sometimes swap between air rifle for rats in chicken house, Hmr for fox and FAC air for rabbits all in the same evening. I think if memory is correct it cost me £280. I did buy a couple of extra weaver rail adaptors one for each scope.

[Hendrix's rifle]

Good write up 👍 just one thing, I was having a conversation the other day about it being a bit strange looking at a screen rather than through the scope. Did you have any issues with it? It took me a good couple of hours to get my head around it

[Dave-G]

Thanks for the review Grant. The prices have been reduced for 2017 as I now have more spare time to make them due to my recent retirement, they are now:

 

£230 with a regular Chinese Spec T50 and the new AS pill.

£260 with a T50 Black Sun IR pill swapped into the torch.

There is something wrong if you are only getting 100 yards from the T50 Black Sun illuminator in darkness.

I'm terrible at instructions - which is why I use so many photos and videos in my posts - and being partially dyslexic doesn't help. I say this as there are a couple of possibilities that I ought to have given you advice on.

Anyway... My first thoughts on the range issue:

Yours was one of the early one's that I may have swapped thicker O-rings onto the torch tube to resolve the well known 'T' torch sloppy zoom function. It later become apparent that if the torch beam has not been zoomed for some time the larger O-rings sort of stick and tighten up up the zoom capability to the point you could think its fixed. For that reason I have now stopped fitting the thicker O-rings.

I usually wind the zoom back for shipping so it occupies less space in the packaging box.... thus it may be 'stuck' on wide zoom: Try twisting the head with some force if that's the case. The torch tube has two grubscrews drilled and tapped into it from inside the laminated double thickness base of the box so don't worry about it coming undone.

A second thought is that you may not have not found the three memory power modes of the torch. I have discussed that in a PM to you as I don't want to embarrass myself on the open forum with my probably dyslexic walk through that.

Edits below:

If you are not familiar with the 'T' torches You might not feel comfortable twisting the head hard enough to adjust the zoom of the beam. You will get a tighter more concentrated beam of Ir light by unscrewing the head of the torch if it is still screwed in from when I posted it to you. There needs to be a gap between the Kwik release scope mount and the chunky ribs on the torch head. Tighter zoom will expose some of what was originally the 30mm torch battery tube.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Dave-G

[oowee]

Oop'scheers Dave I had thought it was brighter some days than not. Its me not knowing that there are different brightness levels for the torch.

Good write up just one thing, I was having a conversation the other day about it being a bit strange looking at a screen rather than through the scope. Did you have any issues with it? It took me a good couple of hours to get my head around it

The home made one had a tilting screen and i used to rest it in my lap to shoot. This is fixed and it does take some getting used to but for me its not an issue. Its just like shooting with a video game If anything I find the shot more composed as its easier to hold the rifle steady.