pork chop Posted May 12, 2014 Report Share Posted May 12, 2014 thinking of changing my pulsar 550 for one of the above.the drone and archer d grade are a similar price so has anyone used both units and what was your thoughts.would be used for foxing and may be the odd ratting session cheers pc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZ Varminter Posted May 12, 2014 Report Share Posted May 12, 2014 Drone pro, your used to digital so I'd go that route, if I had the funds I'd get one. Photon will do for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchking Posted May 12, 2014 Report Share Posted May 12, 2014 I have had a Drone for about a month now. Foxes out to about 200 yards are possible. It gives a nice clean image and easy to zero,10x mag is good, Also it isn't that bad in the daytime.Depends really if you want to tie a rifle up to dedicated NV. Cheers Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montey Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 Hi I've got both a gradeA archer and a drone pro with the doubler The archer is scope fussy and your warned don't get bounce back off the laser or any nm800 I've fitted as it will put holes in the tude(black spots).the drone is much cheaper and easy to use I've got mine on my 22 rim and its devasting The only down side is it eats battery's I haven't fitted to my 204 yet but I can see rabbits at 200yards no problem it's clear with the nm800 the T120 it came with is ok but not as good I've shot rabbits out to 160yards with the Archer on the 204 using the my mk4 Lup but struggle to se the cros hairs with £1400 for the Lupe and £3000 for the Arcer Ide go Drone every time mate Your welcome to private message me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyR Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 On a half decent night the Drone is capable than a lot more than 200 yards with good IR, I have shot foxes out to 300 with mine. As long as you have a dedicated rifle then Drone every time for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 going to get the drone now forsure,hopefully will be ordering later this week.pritty sure it wil be the 10 x what everybody else using Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grogblossom Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 going to get the drone now forsure,hopefully will be ordering later this week.pritty sure it wil be the 10 x what everybody else using Get the battery box as well,& don't bother with those 3v 123 things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 Get the battery box as well,& don't bother with those 3v 123 things. been looking at those.i must be missing something £130 for a battery holder not a power pack as i thought it was ,can you enlighten me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzbangwhallop Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 been looking at those.i must be missing something £130 for a battery holder not a power pack as i thought it was ,can you enlighten me It takes 4 rechargeable* AA's and includes a bit of circuitry to ensure the correct voltage is fed to the Drone - (*you can't use standard AA batteries in this unit). Whatever you go for, the Drone 10x is deffo very impressive and way, way ahead of a doublered Photon not only in it's build and quality of components but in it's ability to take whatever IR or lamplight you're throwing at the target. When I got it I managed to focus on the window frames of a building across town with just the ambient light from streetlights.... that's over a mile as the crow flies! It just wasn't fazed when either an HID or normal 170 Lightforce was on the subject.... just made the picture a bit better! Setting the focus to around 120m gives you a shootable picture covering 50 to 200m. I didn't need to fiddle with any of the settings in use.... the last thing you want to be doing when there's a fox that knows you're there. Up in Scotland recently I had 3 foxes spotted with the HD38S thermal and then followed up and dealt with using the DP...... they didn't have a clue. I understand there'll be a twin 18650 rechargeables unit along at some point. Cheers Fizz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 It takes 4 rechargeable* AA's and includes a bit of circuitry to ensure the correct voltage is fed to the Drone - (*you can't use standard AA batteries in this unit). Whatever you go for, the Drone 10x is deffo very impressive and way, way ahead of a doublered Photon not only in it's build and quality of components but in it's ability to take whatever IR or lamplight you're throwing at the target. When I got it I managed to focus on the window frames of a building across town with just the ambient light from streetlights.... that's over a mile as the crow flies! It just wasn't fazed when either an HID or normal 170 Lightforce was on the subject.... just made the picture a bit better! Setting the focus to around 120m gives you a shootable picture covering 50 to 200m. I didn't need to fiddle with any of the settings in use.... the last thing you want to be doing when there's a fox that knows you're there. Up in Scotland recently I had 3 foxes spotted with the HD38S thermal and then followed up and dealt with using the DP...... they didn't have a clue. I understand there'll be a twin 18650 rechargeables unit along at some point. Cheers Fizz that looks like a very expensive up grade by the time you get some batterys plus charger,that an awful lot of 3v 123's.on the plus side looks like i have sold my pulsar so should be able to order the drone tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grogblossom Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 that looks like a very expensive up grade by the time you get some batterys plus charger,that an awful lot of 3v 123's.on the plus side looks like i have sold my pulsar so should be able to order the drone tomorrow not really the cr123s last 2 hrs less in real cold weather and are a right pain to change with wet cold fingers,the rechargeable last 4>6 hrs well just as long as the n550 plus is you can leave the drone on & not have to switch it every time you want to use it,being a n550 man you're probably used to switch on and leave like I was. BTW it hold's 2x cr123 & you can't use the rechargeable ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 i run the 550 on AA's for a long time they didn't last long at all and never left it on.then found out i could run it off a 12v battery ,i used a pigeon flapper battery that would fit into a cheek piece bag and that would last hours.was hoping the drone would be the same but it's not looking so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzbangwhallop Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 that looks like a very expensive up grade by the time you get some batterys plus charger,that an awful lot of 3v 123's.on the plus side looks like i have sold my pulsar so should be able to order the drone tomorrow Yep..... that's why I ordered 2 packs of these the other day: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KVZRK2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'll think about the 18650 pack when that comes out. I just switch the Drone on as and when it's needed...... so far the warm up time hasn't caused a problem... just tried it and it was 3, max 4, seconds. You could run the DP on a 12v 1A battery pack with a step-down regulator set at 6v.....(Double check that before you do... I wouldn't want to be giving you duff advice!) The unit comes with a 1m video out/external power cable but this splits a couple of inches out of the plug so that's a lot of cable to tidy up. Cheers Fizz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 Yep..... that's why I ordered 2 packs of these the other day: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KVZRK2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'll think about the 18650 pack when that comes out. I just switch the Drone on as and when it's needed...... so far the warm up time hasn't caused a problem... just tried it and it was 3, max 4, seconds. You could run the DP on a 12v 1A battery pack with a step-down regulator set at 6v.....(Double check that before you do... I wouldn't want to be giving you duff advice!) The unit comes with a 1m video out/external power cable but this splits a couple of inches out of the plug so that's a lot of cable to tidy up. Cheers Fizz there was something over on the nv forum about those batterys,you can get 6 v batterys off ebay for camcorders etc will have to look into it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swagger700 Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 The battery consumption is a bit of an issue but i only use mine to take a shot now, and totally agree with the drones ability to use whatever light available, i use mine with ir filter on a 170 roof mount lamp. shot vixen other nite at 298 yards could see it clear as day. A few batteries is offset by its performance, I'll upgrade to a battery pack maybe cos the battery cover is the only let down on the drone Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grogblossom Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 i run the 550 on AA's for a long time they didn't last long at all and never left it on.then found out i could run it off a 12v battery ,i used a pigeon flapper battery that would fit into a cheek piece bag and that would last hours.was hoping the drone would be the same but it's not looking so I could use mine all night or till I fell asleep thats the 550 & the 750, mind never used the onboard ir & made sure the sum light & extra contrast were switched off,Also made a pack up using 10 aa rechargeable but never really used it. The drone i made a voltage step down could put up to 24 volts in(I used 4 x 18650) steady 6v out But still waiting for a drone multi plug. As stated the battery come vid out lead is about 2 meters long so is a pain.I did this as no matter what I did with the onboard batteries every time I took a shot the thing flipped off n back on again,with external batteries it does not happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitewatch Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 fizzbangwallop are you saying that the actual dro pro will be available with twin 18650 batteries or just a power pack to take them? atb tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PESCA Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 I'm using one of the AA battery packs on my Drone Pro. With four Duracell Duralock AA rechargeables (2400mAh) I would reckon I get 5-6 hours use ( a rough estimate after totting up my on/off hours at the range for ammo testing and out shooting). George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visiter1 Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 i have a drone and i bloody love it the picture is so good i was watching rabbits the other night at 210 yards , and the lads at night vision gear are so helpful just pick up the phone and they will help u out if they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVGUK Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 At the moment there is an AA battery holder that takes 4 AA rechargable batteries. In a few weeks, there will also be an 18650 battery holder that will take two 18650 batteries. The run time on the 18650 (depending on quality of batteries that you use) will be up to 7 hours. The battery holders are expensive, but are being offered as a solution to the onboard CR123A batteries that the Drone normally uses, to make for longer run times and cheaper overall running. We could have packaged them with batteries, but this would have made the price even higher - and pointlessly too, because most people that are using this gear for long durations have their own opinions on what are the best batteries to use, and usually have them in their possesion already. The battery packs are machined from aluminium, and a small run leads to higher prices unfortunately. We are only selling these to our own Drone customers, because eben at the price charged, we are losing money on every battery pack sold. Regards, Carl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzbangwhallop Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 fizzbangwallop are you saying that the actual dro pro will be available with twin 18650 batteries or just a power pack to take them? atb tony It'll be a power pack similar to the AA one... I did exchange emails with Carl on the internal battery compartment along the lines that it was a shame it couldn't have been made to accommodate the slightly fatter 18650's with a screw on extension to the battery compartment but that would add another 35mm odd to the width. They had considered that amongst other things but decided against it for one reason or another. I use one of these offset mounts for my T20 Sunnranger on the DP: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25mm-Offset-Rifle-Flashlight-Torch-Laser-Mount-20mm-Weaver-Picatinny-Rail-/171245692968?pt=UK_SportingGoods_Hunting_ShootingSports_ET&hash=item27df09e828 There must be a double version out there and I know I've seen single to double pic rail adaptors somewhere recently....... which means that a Marky style torpedo tube holding 2 18650's with a drop down regulator attached could possibly be mounted under the torch. But this might start getting in the way of the bolt. It could go on top with the extra pic rail ring provided in the box but you might as well stick a box up there to avoid cluttering up the focus ring. Not too fussed about the DP's adjustment panel as I don't think I've ever fiddled with the brightness in use....... possibly switching the ret from white to black. (Other things holding my attention at that point! ). Another alternative might be flat phone or camera batteries stacked in a box on top? Or even under the focus ring on the top of the clamp mount? 's me, Fizz Lol! G'Afternoon Carl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 well my plans have been blown out the water for now as my buyer for the pulsar backed out at the last moment.looks like it will be going on ebay next week,at least by the time i order the drone the other 18650 battery pack may be ready and i have those and the charger already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzbangwhallop Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 well my plans have been blown out the water for now as my buyer for the pulsar backed out at the last moment.looks like it will be going on ebay next week,at least by the time i order the drone the other 18650 battery pack may be ready and i have those and the charger already Aaaaah, bugger. That's a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pork chop Posted May 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Aaaaah, bugger. That's a pain. your telling me, worst thing is the night before someone else wanted it and i turned them away as i thought it was only right to give the other chap a chance to get back in touch which he did asking for payment details then an hour later pulled out (what a cock).but it will sell on ebay as they all seem to have the last few weeks but by the time they take their cut its hardly worth it,hey ho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVGUK Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 's me, Fizz Lol! G'Afternoon Carl! Hi Fizz, Your signature here looks very bland in comparison ? :) - but much less distracting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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