Sightmark night vision

[tomc]

The March issue of NRA's American Rifleman magazine had an interesting article on the Sightmark Wraith 4K Mini 4-23X night vision scope. Sounds good for $800. Opinions?

[Double Naught Spy]

In that price range, the Wraith 4k Mini is probably the best digital NV option available. Depending on conditions, it may be good out to 200 yards with the included IR illuminator. If you spring for something like a Coyote Cannon, you may stretch that to 300-350 yards. For normal 30-150 yard hunting, the included illuminator should work fine.

Sightmark is owned by Sellmark in Mansfield, Texas. Sellmark is the company that imports Pulsar. They are the folks that repair Pulsars and have a good customer service crew. With any electro-optic, you want to pick a company that has good customer service because they will all fail, just like all TVs eventually fail. The only question is whether it fails under warranty or lasts through the warranty period such that when it does fail, you will be ready for an upgrade anyway. This last thought applied to thermals as well.

I am not apt to return to the digital NV world from thermal, but if I did right now, the Sightmark Wraith Mini would be at the top of my list.

Why the Mini over the regular Wraith? Lighter, more compact would be the primary reasons. It is like they designed the Wraith, and then got feedback and created the Mini. Originally, the Mini only came in 2x which was limiting for some, but the 4K allows for a LOT of zoom without pixelation. They now have a 4x if you really want to hunt longer distances and have the illuminator to do so.

[603Country]

I have the Wraith mini. Took me a bit to figure everything out and aiming and focusing the illuminator, but all is good now, and I like it a lot. The feeder I hunt over is 150 yards away, and it works great at that range. I can see Ok out to 300, but might need to get a better illuminator if I planned to actually shoot at that distance, so I’ll say that 200 yards is certainly workable with the available illuminator.

But…seeing the videos that DNS has posted, I may eventually yearn for thermal. I just hate to spend that kind of money on something I won’t use too much.

[Double Naught Spy]

But…seeing the videos that DNS has posted, I may eventually yearn for thermal. I just hate to spend that kind of money on something I won’t use too much.

It took me a few years to get to that point myself. However, we are starting to see sub 2000 functional thermals, at least 384 resolution and decent lens sizes. As with any photography, lens size matters. We can do more with less lens now than 7 or 8 years ago, but that doesn't negate the fact that bigger lenses tend to produce better images, all other factors being equal. The bigger the lens, the more energy that can be channeled through the lens and focused on the sensor.

[FirefighterMedic03]

So I use ATN 4K 5x20 day/night scope with great success. I have spotted deer out to about 400 yards with their supernovae light. Very clear sight, easy to use. I took a hog at 205 yes at no moon night right behiend the ear.

[Double Naught Spy]

ATN's customer service has a strong history of being problematic. It would appear that either they take care of you, or kick you to the curb with your problematic ATN scope much of the time.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/atncorp.com
https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/south-san-fran...complaints

If you have one that works, it probably works fine. If you don't, ATN's binary customer service is a risky endeavor.