His dark materials
Patrick Hook sees the light and reappraises his dislike of digital night vision thanks to advances in technology and a new piece of kit
I’m a great fan of modern electronics but I have never really taken to digital night vision. This is for several reasons but mostly because I found that I just couldn’t live with the combination of flicker, lag, myriad buttons, poor head position and bad pixelation.
It was obvious that the technology would soon catch up though, so I simply bided my time. I keep an eye on what’s happening in the way of new shooting products, so I was aware that things had moved on recently. To this end, I decided to see whether my prejudices were still valid. The problem
I faced was which model to review. There are lots of similar ones on the market, so I plumped for a unit that is made locally to me. The device in question is called the Vulpine Mk3, and is manufactured in north Devon by Ludicrous Lumens.
There are basically two kinds of nightvision system that can be fitted on rifles – dedicated and add-ons. The former replace the telescopic sight, whereas the latter attach to the back of it. Having spent countless years using both, I can safely say that I prefer the latter, but since a lot of the cheaper ones had the eyepiece raised well above the optical centreline, they weren’t for me.
“When I see a fox I want to be able to turn on and take a shot, not faff around for ages”
Boxes ticked
The main gripe I have with night-vision scopes is that they appear to have about 100 different adjustments, every one of which needs to be perfect before a shot can be taken. By the time everything has been twiddled, the fox is long gone. I was therefore ready to criticise the Vulpine when it arrived, but instead I was pleasantly surprised. The first thing I noticed was a conspicuous lack of buttons. When I see a fox I want to be able to turn on and take a shot, not faff around for ages trying to get a usable image. Since this only has a master on/off and a pair for brightness up/down, it certainly ticks my boxes there.
The next major feature that floated my boat is it’s truly in line with the scope, leaving your eye position where it should be in the up-down direction. Not only this, but it’s also incredibly compact, being some 21/2in shorter than my ex-military add-on, thus putting your head in the correct place horizontally.
I decided to mount the Vulpine Mk3 on my Sauer 202 so that I could make back-to-back comparisons with the PVS-14 on my Kimber Montana. This was easy enough, as it simply clamps to the back of the scope – all I needed was a single adaptor sleeve (there are three different ones provided with the kit). I also fitted the Night Sabre Wraith illuminator together with its adjustable clamp that is designed to go alongside the Vulpine.
The latter features a ball mount at the top, making lining the infrared up with the night vision a doddle. One particularly nice detail is that the centre section of the unit has a quick-detach slide so that the infrared torch can be removed in seconds, something that’s especially useful if your cabinet has limited space.
Enough of the first impressions though – it’s how it performs out in the field that counts. Powering the device up, I was immediately impressed with the lack of start-up delay – the image is there straight away. Provided by a high-resolution 1024x768 OLED display, this was crystal clear, and even small animals such as rabbits could easily be seen several hundred yards away. This was made easier by the fact that being an add-on, you can simply wind the zoom up and down to suit the situation, and as the infrared has a rotary brightness adjuster, you can set that to your liking as well.
Fuss free
Setting up any night-vision device needs some care and attention, but I found that the Vulpine was simple and straightforward, with the minimum of fuss and bother.
Rated to cope with the recoil from anything up to .308 Winchester, it has a stated runtime of more than five hours before the on-board battery needs recharging – I certainly didn’t run out of juice when using it. The Vulpine Mk3 is available from Ludicrous Lumens at ludicrous-lumens.co.uk in both right- and left-hand bolt formats at a price of £669.98.