It's getting to be that time of the year.

[robinhood33]

I usually hold off on coyote hunting until I've filled my buck tag, but I think i'm gonna make an exception this year. Got a killer deal during Cyber Monday on a scope and I'm ready to put it to good use. The scope is an ATN X-Sight 5-18x. It's a digital scope. It's actually more like a really fancy video camera with crosshairs to be honest. It gives you the ability to take pictures/videos of your hunt in HD. It also has wifi which allows someone to use a phone/ipad as a monitor and see exactly the same thing as the guy looking through the eyepiece. Several other gadgets as well: GPS,Compass, etc. Seems to have pretty good range (~150yds) at night with the IR illuminator that came with it, but I'm looking to upgrade it to a higher end one that is supposed to allow identification of objects/animals up to 400 yards. I've only played with it a little bit, but so far it seems to be a pretty cool piece of equipment. Old reviews indicate that it had some real growing pains with software/focus when it first came out, but it appears the current firmware fixed all of that. Also I have no experience with nightvision, but I have read that it is comparable to between a Gen 2 and Gen 3 true night vision scope. Only negatives i can say about it so far is that: A. It is HEAVY at almost 3lbs. B. It eats batteries. It has almost completely drained 4 low end AAs in about an hour and a half of playing around. Fortunately it does allow you to power it using an external battery via mini usb cable and high end rechargeables are supposed to allow 10 hours of runtime. C. The minimum zoom is actually closer to a 7x instead of 5x. That makes it difficult trying to pick up objects less than 35 yards away, but then again I don't plan on having any coyotes that close to me so we'll see. Looking forward to get some cool pictures/videos with it. Here's pics of it on the gun. Note that the TLR-1 HL (awesome light btw) won't be on there, and the bipod will be on it.

[clovein123]

Wow! I'd say the odds are in your favor. Can't wait to see some kills. Hope you are laying them down in Southern IN. We need more serious coyote hunters/trappers imo.

[robinhood33]

Dec 8, 2015 21:31:18 GMT -5 clovein123 said:

Wow! I'd say the odds are in your favor. Can't wait to see some kills. Hope you are laying them down in Southern IN. We need more serious coyote hunters/trappers imo.

I sure hope they are! I'm 4 out of what feels like 50 sits. I'm hoping this will help that percentage. I've also seen more.coyotes this year while deer hunting than ever before so I'm pretty excited!

[bullseye69]

After your first hunt with a kill I want a review of that ATN.
I have been looking at that one but haven't done it yet.

[robinhood33]

Dec 8, 2015 23:35:45 GMT -5 bullseye69 said:

After your first hunt with a kill I want a review of that ATN.
I have been looking at that one but haven't done it yet.

You got it. Here's an in depth review on it if you haven't seen it yet. 8 parts to it


ATN X-Sight Review

[robinhood33]

Update: Went out Saturday evening with no luck. We usually hear tons of coyotes right at dark while deer hunting there, but we never even heard a howl. It was warm and wind was swirling, so that didn't help matters. I bought a power pack for the scope so battery wasn't an issue. I will say the IR illuminator is a lot less impressive when scanning a 400yd field. Also, I'm not a fan of the 5x zoom. It makes the FOV a little too small for my taste. I should have another illuminator on the way within the week, so I'll try it again once it gets here. My 2 cents for guys looking into getting one is A. get the 3-12x. B. Order a better illuminator with it.