Pulsar digiex n450

[Bob90]

what is pulsar digiex 450 like folks?

looking at getting night vision with out spending masses.

was thinking pard but would need new scope so for extra couple £££ could get pulsar

What they like in daylight?

Thanks 

 

[phoenix]

It's very good, but won't work well on an S&B 8x56

No rear add-on will work well on a scope without adjustable objective/side parallax and particularly on scopes with lens coatings optimised for low light conditions

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

[Bob90]

Thanks Bruce 

edited my post 

[phoenix]

The "pecking order" for digital NV scopes from best to worst goes something like this:

1. ENV 10 (previously known as the Armasight Drone Pro)

2. Pulsar Digex 450

3. Yukon Sightline N470,  ATN X Sight 4K,  Pard NV008/NV008LRF

4. Sightmark Wraith

Prices pretty much reflect the position in the pecking order and their NV performance.

The ATN, PARDs and Wraith are all perfectly usable in daylight as well as for NV.

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

[Ross Jellyman]

Hi Bob,

I just bought one of these here in NZ a few weeks back, up until now I've used the Pulsar Photon XT units, both 4x and 6x and have had no problems with either, I use them in conjunction with a Pulsar Axion 30 to stalk (Red Deer) then use the Photon for the shooting. My limited experience so far with the Digex is that it has far superior distance and is a lot clearer/sharper image. I find the controls,being very similar to the Axion, are much easier to operate in the dark than the Photons although the front focus ring is VERY stiff, same also as the Photons,  I find this to be a proverbial PITA as with the IR torch mounted in close proximity to the focus ring it is nigh impossible for the fingers to get enough purchase on the ring to turn it, Pulsar need to address this, they say it is  to prevent the focus ring being moved inadvertently but it's just WAY to stiff. That's the only downside I have found at this stage, we're in 'lockdown' here since just over a week ago so my chances of getting back out with it are a big fat 0, and the stags have just started roaring to add insult to injury. Getting offtrack sorry, so far, very impressed with the Digex, it was a toss up between this and aThermion XP38 but with a $NZ6000 price difference I just had to give this a go first. Feel free to ask any questions, happy to help if I can.

[dave thorniley]

why did phoenix say its no good on a s/b 8x56 i thought the digiex was a  scope you dont need no add ons  ? dave

[Wsm]

Think Bruce was referring to the Pard 007 in his reply

The beauty of the digex is while having a similar image quality its other  advantages of being the same dimensions of a conventional scope so can use 30mm scope mounts and not have issues with needing cheek raiser

Its also very user friendly 

[phoenix]

5 hours ago, Ross Jellyman said:

Hi Bob,

I just bought one of these here in NZ a few weeks back, up until now I've used the Pulsar Photon XT units, both 4x and 6x and have had no problems with either, I use them in conjunction with a Pulsar Axion 30 to stalk (Red Deer) then use the Photon for the shooting. My limited experience so far with the Digex is that it has far superior distance and is a lot clearer/sharper image. I find the controls,being very similar to the Axion, are much easier to operate in the dark than the Photons although the front focus ring is VERY stiff, same also as the Photons,  I find this to be a proverbial PITA as with the IR torch mounted in close proximity to the focus ring it is nigh impossible for the fingers to get enough purchase on the ring to turn it, Pulsar need to address this, they say it is  to prevent the focus ring being moved inadvertently but it's just WAY to stiff. That's the only downside I have found at this stage, we're in 'lockdown' here since just over a week ago so my chances of getting back out with it are a big fat 0, and the stags have just started roaring to add insult to injury. Getting offtrack sorry, so far, very impressed with the Digex, it was a toss up between this and aThermion XP38 but with a $NZ6000 price difference I just had to give this a go first. Feel free to ask any questions, happy to help if I can.

Get a large cable tie and tie it around the adjustable part of the objective lens.

The bit where the cable locks into the tie gives a bit of leverage, making it easier way to rotate the lens

Cheers

 

Bruce

[Montey]

In my opinion the order of  Digital dedicated nightvision is this 

The Ward  Digital with rangefinder 

The mark two Drone with ten times mag ( Best day light scope performance) 

The mark one Drone with the doubler 

The mark three Drone with fifteen times mag ( just narrowed the field of view too much ) 

The Pulser 870 

The Ward sun ranger  illuminator greatly improves all the above  

 Or you can make a massive jump in money and buy a really good quality thermal scope. 

 

[blueroll]

7 hours ago, Montey said:

In my opinion the order of  Digital dedicated nightvision is this 

The Ward  Digital with rangefinder 

The mark two Drone with ten times mag ( Best day light scope performance) 

The mark one Drone with the doubler 

The mark three Drone with fifteen times mag ( just narrowed the field of view too much ) 

The Pulser 870 

The Ward sun ranger  illuminator greatly improves all the above  

 Or you can make a massive jump in money and buy a really good quality thermal scope. 

 

I guess you have not looked through a Pard 008LRF/ Dark Engine combo then ?????

[Montey]

No I haven't looked through a Pard 008lrf / dark engine 

 

[blueroll]

1 hour ago, Montey said:

No I haven't looked through a Pard 008lrf / dark engine 

 

I suggest you try a Pard 008/LRF and even better if its got a Dark Engine mounted on the side rail.

[Montey]

Happy with the two Drones and The Ward digital plus the Ward Thermal mk2 Both the Drones have killed out too 300 yards although I consider this as far out as I ever want to shoot at night it's a proper  measured 300 yards not imagined at night that's more than enough  the Ward digi has killed at just short at 296yards all my long range kills I mark and measure the next day The thermal scope is very good at 240 that's as far as I've shot and killed it's still down to  The stability of the shooting platform all the longshots have been from a truck.

I have no  doubt that as things move on there are better NV platforms available 

[OSOK]

Everyone has a different need to suit their way of shooting at night .... As i shoot alone from the top of a truck i like positions where i can scan for several fields , 500 / 600 yards so i see them coming . To verify the thermal i find a 15x Drone and a Dragonfly is the best ive tried and i could open a shop with so called ' This is the best IR ever ' But again i always come back to the Dragonfly for distance and its never spooked  any .

As i'm stationary the 15x works well but not for people who either drive or limit their shooting distances as FOV is narrow so 10x's are better but still challenging . I have a Pard 008 LRF and trust me as nice and handy as it is its no Drone . NV is a trade off and digital IMHO is more practical than tube but for image quality my PVS-14 is a mile ahead but sticking it on the rear of my scope was a nightmare .

Again IMHO thermal rifle scopes are not good enough as yet for my needs as my XP50 is a 640x480 and dependant upon conditions night to night i need NV to confirm at distance . I have a feeling that the Military are probably blocking the sale of anything better than the 640x480  !

Just my thoughts

OSOK

 

[phoenix]

Nothing to do with the military and everything to do with physics and economics.

There are higher pixel count sensors available

This is an HD sensor from ULIS (Lynred) who supply all the sensors for Pulsar  https://www.lynred.com/sites/default/files/2019-10/Pico-1024Gen2-datasheet.pdf

The problem is that the market for sensors like that is very small (primarily military) and that means each sensor is very expensive.

The other problem is the physical size of the sensor.  A 1024x768, 17 micron sensor is a lot larger (about 2.5 times larger) than a 17 micron 640x480 sensor. If you put that large sensor behind a 50mm lens and used the same eye display and optics that Pulsar use on the Thermions then the scope would have a base magnification of x1.25 - which wouldn't satisfy many people.

To bring a scope with the large sensor up to the magnification of an XP50 would need an 80mm lens and the cost of such a lens would make the scope even more expensive., so sales would not be high

The way forward is sensors with smaller pixels and the current state of the art is the 12 micron pixels in the Thermion XM50.

However, 12 micron sensors with 640x480 pixels are not available in any volume yet, although ULIS do manufacture such a sensor https://www.lynred.com/sites/default/files/2019-10/Atto-640-datasheet.pdf and I'm sure these will start to appear on the top end Pulsar thermals with the next year or so.

Using a sensor with smaller pixels allows the manufacturer to use the same or smaller (and therefore cheaper) lenses.

A Thermion style scope with a  50mm lens and a 12 micron 640x480 sensor, and using the same display and ocular lens as the current Thermions, would have an optical magnification of around x2.8, which is a bit more than the x2 available on the current XP50 with a the 17 micron 640x480 sensor

Detection range with the 12 micron core would also be greater than with the 17 micron core by around x1.4,  since detection distance only depends on pixel size and focal length, the number of pixels in the sensor is irrelevant

Cheers

 

Bruce

[SwaggerR8]

Has anyone any experience with one of these, I'm after something that mounts conventional as it's going on my blaser 

Thanks Jon 

[miki]

On 4/3/2020 at 10:57 AM, dave thorniley said:

why did phoenix say its no good on a s/b 8x56 i thought the digiex was a  scope you dont need no add ons  ? dave

I guess Bruce was refering to near add-ons. S&B coat thier lenses to allow the blue/green spectrum to pass. The coating is specifically designed to let the visible spectrum of light pass so the sight picture is bright and vibrant. These coatings are detrimental to the IR end of the spectrum consequently NV add-ons perform poorly on these high end 'day' scopes.

Sightron, Delta and most of the other mid-range scopes as well as the Hawke range perform much better as thier lens coatings pass infra-red uninhibited..

[blueroll]

1 hour ago, SwaggerR8 said:

Has anyone any experience with one of these, I'm after something that mounts conventional as it's going on my blaser 

Thanks Jon 

If you are talking about the Pulsar Digex, then yes looking pretty good so far but limited testing done because of lockdown. Additional IR in the form of a LL 940nm Wraith with 2x lens makes it even better. Still waiting for DE`s to come from Clive Ward for comparison.

[blueroll]

On 4/19/2020 at 11:21 AM, blueroll said:

If you are talking about the Pulsar Digex, then yes looking pretty good so far but limited testing done because of lockdown. Additional IR in the form of a LL 940nm Wraith with 2x lens makes it even better. Still waiting for DE`s to come from Clive Ward for comparison.

DE`s are back from Clive and tested. Can confirm that 940nm is the way to go with the Digex and nothing between the DE and Wraith.

[SpinDrift]

I've been using the Digex N450 for a while now and I really like it. I've also got a PARD NV007 on another rifle, but I much prefer the sensitivity of the Pulsar. On a moonlit evening you don't have to use any IR. It's also a real joy having a 'normal' scope set up with eye relief exactly where you want it. Daytime resolution could be better but it's not a target scope.