Travis Orr from United States, OH Public Profile

A friend let me borrow their older Sightmark NV scope (SM18018) and I was hooked. After looking at many different models, I decided this was the best value for the reliability and I'm happy with my decision.

With the supplied IR illuminator, I can easily make out objects out to 100 yards so far, but I decided to purchase an aftermarket illuminator that uses rechargeable batteries. I've seen where people have used a single 17670 (also known as a Pila 168 S) in place of the 2 required CR123s with success and maybe I'll try that later on.

The features of the scope are nice. You can use the scope in the day or night and it even gives the option of the NV in green if you don't like it in black and white. The image is very clear after you focus it for whatever zoom level you have it set on. You can change the value of the digital zoom to your liking, which makes it zoom in a little at a time or very quickly. It has the option to use different animal scales to approximate your distance so you can adjust for elevation. And my favorite feature is that you can save the zero on 4 different weapons, including my crossbow.

What initially sold me on this scope was reading through lots of reviews for many different NV scopes and this one seems to be the most reliable. All of the other features, including ones I didn't list, are a bonus to that selling point. Make sure you charge it fully and update the firmware when you first get it.