Reviews & Ratings for Sightmark Photon Digital Night Vision Rifle Scope — 5 reviews — Page 1

Just installed the Photon Digital Night Vision Optic and have had excellent results.
Zeroing the rifle was easy and performance at night was better than I expected.I used this optic last night on a Hog hunt
and never needed to turn on the attached IR light in order to see clearly.( Full Moonlight )
Is this optic as good as the $1500 Digital Sights, no, but it is plenty good enough for my needs. I will buy another!

The scope works well in daylight with the included shade-cap. At nighttime the scope (as per its digital roots) will need some light, either a 3/4 to full moon, or you turn on the IR. The scope under both conditions will require some turning of the contrast control to get a clear picture.

As per the earlier reviewer, I also installed this on an AR and was getting 2" groups at 50 years with the red dot covering the 4" black circle on my paper target.

As a minor complaint, the unit can turn on relatively easily if the contrast control is rotated at all, which will then run the 2xAA batteries dry. My bigger issue with the scope is the shade-cap comes off far to easily, so that moving around with it on during the day is not advisable unless you run a strip of electrical tape around its edge to fully secure it to the scope. On one occasion I had to backtrack 200 yards down a path in the middle of the day trying to locate it, after it just dropped of the scope.

I also purchased the Sightmark CVR640 Digital Video Recorder which works with the Photon and Pulsar series of scopes. My review of this item for the high price that it costs, is not as glowing as the Photon scope. I would rate it 2 out of 5 stars, as its buttons are a bit finicky, build quality just seems cheap, a decent rain shower would likely destroy its internals (not waterproof), and its small LED's that indicate if its on and recording are just too small.

I just received the 3.5x version of this scope from Optics Planet.

The scope is basically a standard scope with an addon tube containing electronics, as you can see in the photos.
It looks great on a rifle, and the picture is decent.

The eye relief needs to be improved and it is okay, at best, in its current state.

There is a small LED on the back of the IR illuminator that tells you the display is turned on.
However, there is no indicator to tell you the illuminator is on. (why?)

The finish on the scope scratches easily, so you have to baby it a little bit if you want to avoid scratching it.

The focus adjustment is on the rear, and is smooth. However, nothing is ever in proper focus due to the low resolution of the LED screen. This is expected, but there is room for improvement.

The Reticle illuminator is cheaply made and lights up one side of the viewfinder (not properly sealed?), in addition to the dot in the middle of the cross-hairs. I believe this is due to quality control issues and only the dot is supposed to be illuminated.

There is what appears to be a picatinny rail on the side of the scope (this rail is plastic). However, you cannot mount anything on it because I believe it is a proprietary design only for Sightmark accessories. It really does look like a standard rail, but I could not get anything to mount on it.

It takes standard AA batteries for the LED screen and IR illuminator, which is nice! Thanks to Sightmark for this decision. Ho...
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