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Jake's Review of Armasight Watchman IR Illuminator
The performance of the emitter and lens are fantastic and punch way above the size and weight of this light. Lighting is even, and the throw is insane. The focusing has good range and is easy and effective. Build quality is very good.
There are a few problems with this thing, though. First and foremost, there is no momentary on. It comes with two tailcaps, one a push button and the other a tape switch, except the tape switch is really a remote push button. They behave the same. One push turns the light on, taps afterward cycle the brightness levels, and a long press is required to turn the light off. I originally thought maybe I could splice this with a Surefire type switch and slave it with a laser, but the electronic on/off makes this thing incompatible.
The red light is annoyingly large and obvious and even inluded on the tape switch cap. Something like a DBAL running light, which you really don't see unless you're looking for, would be way more welcome.
Mounting options aren't great since the body is 30mm. You're pretty much stuck with the included ring. You could do something clever like install the ring on a KDG Kinect rail section so you could take it on and off easily. Aligning the light with your scope is fidgety and requires loosening the ring, tweaking, and retightening. The rear body housing the emitter has some slop in fitment to the front body that houses the lens, so the aim of the beam can shift a little. If you focus the beam all the way down, it takes out most of the slop.
None of that takes away from the fact that the Watchman's illumination performance is outsanding. But with a lack of momentary on and ability to control together with a laser, it's pretty much limited to night vision hunting scopes and handheld use.
There are a few problems with this thing, though. First and foremost, there is no momentary on. It comes with two tailcaps, one a push button and the other a tape switch, except the tape switch is really a remote push button. They behave the same. One push turns the light on, taps afterward cycle the brightness levels, and a long press is required to turn the light off. I originally thought maybe I could splice this with a Surefire type switch and slave it with a laser, but the electronic on/off makes this thing incompatible.
The red light is annoyingly large and obvious and even inluded on the tape switch cap. Something like a DBAL running light, which you really don't see unless you're looking for, would be way more welcome.
Mounting options aren't great since the body is 30mm. You're pretty much stuck with the included ring. You could do something clever like install the ring on a KDG Kinect rail section so you could take it on and off easily. Aligning the light with your scope is fidgety and requires loosening the ring, tweaking, and retightening. The rear body housing the emitter has some slop in fitment to the front body that houses the lens, so the aim of the beam can shift a little. If you focus the beam all the way down, it takes out most of the slop.
None of that takes away from the fact that the Watchman's illumination performance is outsanding. But with a lack of momentary on and ability to control together with a laser, it's pretty much limited to night vision hunting scopes and handheld use.