See birds in a NEW LIGHT
Pulsar Axion 2 LRF XG35, £2629.95
Night-vision devices can open up the world of birding after dark – we tested one of the newest…
You can hardly fail to have noticed that night-vision devices have become big news in the world of birdwatching. As they’ve become cheaper, more portable, and frankly much better, they’ve been gaining in popularity, not least because they can help reveal birds that we just didn’t know were there previously.
On last year’s Winterwatch, for example, one local birdwatching group were able to show that not only were there more Jack Snipe and Woodcocks present at a wetland than had previously been thought, but that numbers of wintering Sky Larks and similar species had also been underestimated.
So, how does this new device from Pulsar perform? Let’s start with the technical side of things.
It features a 640×480, 12 µm, NETD <40mK thermal sensor, combined with a Germanium F35/1.0 objective lens, giving you 1750m detection range of a standard 1.8m object in total darkness, even in difficult weather conditions.
It has enhanced image processing algorithms to provide high quality rendering of both the object you’re viewing and the background, and there are three available levels of signal amplification, combined with a connected smoothing filter and fine brightness and contrast adjustments.
Easy to use
The high contrast VGA-resolution AMOLED display, with enhanced colour rendering, promises a clear and smooth picture while on the move.
There’s an 8x digital zoom with a base magnification of 2.5x -20x – you can change this either in x2 steps, or in continuous motion to get exactly the field of view you want.
That all sounds great on paper, but how did it work in the field?
Well, its compact design makes it easy to grip and operate. The design is symmetrical and the control buttons are arranged in line on top of the monocular, which the makers say makes it equally suitable for right and left handers (I’ll take their word for that). Certainly, for me, it was quick and easy to get used to the controls and use them without taking my eye away from the eyepiece.
There’s a choice of eight colour palettes, suitable for different uses and different conditions. In practice, I found White Hot and Red Hot best for simply detecting birds and animals, Rainbow and Ultramarine best for getting a bit more detail and identifying
what I was seeing, and Sepia and Violet best for extended viewing, for example of a family of Badgers as they rooted their way along the base of a hedge in a field where I’d been watching Woodcocks. That might be different for you, but it’s great to have all that flexibility.
Zooming in
I also liked the Picture in Picture (PiP) mode, which allows you to display a zoomed-in zeroing frame at the top of the display, in which the observation area can be magnified by x2 or x4, while still retaining visual control over the whole field of view.
You can take photos or videos of what you’re seeing, and then transfer them to computer using a USB-C cable, or the built-in WiFi module and Stream Vision 2 app, which allows you to use your phone or tablet as a second screen, to remotely control digital functions, and to view and share videos and still images, and which gives you 16GB of free cloud storage.
The build quality and design are excellent. It’s light, thanks to a magnesium alloy housing, but robust, and it has an IPX7 waterproof
rating, meaning that means that it’ll work in heavy rain or high humidity, and can even withstand immersion in water to a depth of 1m for up to 30 minutes.
The APS5 rechargeable battery is impressive. It offers up to seven hours life on a full charge, and is removed and replaced very easily. You can recharge it using a charging dock (supplied separately), or by plugging it directly into a power source via a USB-C cable.
The built-in precision laser rangefinder has a range of up to 1000m. You might not be planning to use it a great deal in your birding, to be honest, but it’s quick to use and seemed very accurate.
There are cheaper devices on the market, but this is very hard to fault for image quality, flexibility, ease of use and connectivity, so it really is a case of you getting what you pay for. It could change the way that you look at birds and wildlife entirely.