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Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

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Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby flintlok » Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:55 pm

Well, I went to the Springfield, Massachusetts gun show last weekend and in a purely insane moment I met a good salesman who convinced me that I needed a night vision device. I bought a Pulsar N500 digital night vision scope. I have absolutely no need of a night vision scope but one never knows when it will come in handy. About 23 hours after the purchase Hurricane Sandy blew through town and knocked out all of the local electric service. It was as black at night as it gets around here.

I have several Surefire flashlights as well as candles and oil lamps so we were never truly in the dark but it did give me a chance to play around with the night vision scope inside my home and outside on the street the without visibly looking like a neighborhood stalker.

The scope is really just a modified digital infrared camera that shows images in black and white. It works okay and I could see the black and white world around me. The scope has 4x magnification is provided with as IR light source (small flashlight type device) for pitch blackness otherwise it’s a passive light gathering instrument. When I use the light source I find that the IR light is reflected back off to leaves any other thing that’s prone to reflect light. It’s a bit confusing sometimes to figure out exactly what I’m looking at when the light source is on.

In pitch blackness with the IR light source I could easily identify every item in my kitchen. I also can use the scope during daytime as you could with any black and white camera. I don’t get the fine detail as I would with a traditional rifle scope but within 100 yards I could easily see and shoot a target. It’s different. However with my Swaroski 6X42 rifle scope and some strong moonlight I could probably do just as well at night and easily better during daylight hours. With the cloud cover and little to no ambient light that we experienced after the storm the scope would get me by nicely within a 100 yards or so if I were out hunting critters.

Have any of you fellows played around with Pulsar N500 scope and if so what's your opinion of it?
Last edited by flintlok on Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby plugg » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:18 pm

flintlok wrote:
Have any of you fellows played around with Pulsar N500 scope and if so what's ypu opinion of it?


They are crap David, send it over and I shall dispose of it for you ;)
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby flintlok » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:33 pm

plugg wrote:
flintlok wrote:
Have any of you fellows played around with Pulsar N500 scope and if so what's ypu opinion of it?


They are crap David, send it over and I shall dispose of it for you ;)


I would however there's a ITAR note that says that I can't. I find that strange since it's Russian made and the commies will sell anything to anybody. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby plugg » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:37 pm

flintlok wrote:
plugg wrote:
flintlok wrote:
Have any of you fellows played around with Pulsar N500 scope and if so what's ypu opinion of it?


They are crap David, send it over and I shall dispose of it for you ;)


I would however there's a ITAR note that says that I can't.



Sure you can...F@ck 'em :thup: :grin: ;)
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby flintlok » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:40 pm

plugg wrote:
flintlok wrote:
plugg wrote:
flintlok wrote:
Have any of you fellows played around with Pulsar N500 scope and if so what's ypu opinion of it?


They are crap David, send it over and I shall dispose of it for you ;)


I would however there's a ITAR note that says that I can't.



Sure you can...F@ck 'em :thup: :grin: ;)


Yeah...... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :thup: :thup: :thup: :thup: :thup:
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby jeff » Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:12 pm

flintlok wrote:I would however there's a ITAR note that says that I can't. I find that strange since it's Russian made and the commies will sell anything to anybody. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:



You're right....don't risk it for that. Go and buy me a Gen3 scope and send that over instead. :grin:
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby flintlok » Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:35 pm

jeff wrote:
flintlok wrote:I would however there's a ITAR note that says that I can't. I find that strange since it's Russian made and the commies will sell anything to anybody. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:



You're right....don't risk it for that. Go and buy me a Gen3 scope and send that over instead. :grin:


Now that's hard. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby Shootist » Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:45 am

In a moment of uncharacteristic spending, I bought a Pulsar 550 (Edit: I know, it's about the 500. didn't see till I'd writ all this! :mad: ) . I then spent God knows how long getting the adapter to fit a 1.5X converter, just because it's a gadget, and as every good man knows, the one with the most gadgets when he dies is the winner. It is also suplemented with an IR laser illuminator, which I think it a necessary item for shooting over 30 yards or so.

So, how is it? I love it. For a hell of a lot less than a gen 2, I get a scope that i can zero in the day, in bright sunlight even, so no faffing about zeroing at night. (For those who think the pinhole in the lens cap of a conventional night sight will allow that, a> it's still risky and b> it can mess up the parallax).

It's currently on my S.1 FAC Falcon .22 running at 25 ft/lb and regularly knocking over rabbits at 50-60 yards, which I think isn't too bad at night. As with conventional night sights you are looking at a 2D representation of a 3D field, so there can be confusion over range when shooting at something like a rabbit. Big rabbit can seem closer, small rabbit further. It is an unfortunate fact that this increases the possibility of a miss, or a wound. Can't live with this, then don't shoot air with night sights at rabbits. On the ground where I use this I can only use air. One other shoot I've tried it on I used .17HMR, and that worked well too. I've also day zeroed it at 185 yards on a .223, but not used it in anger yet, although while on the Falcon I've spotted a fox at 200 yards that would have been an OK shot from the .223.

But, you do really benefit from an IR laser. As for the cost, that's as much as I ever want to pay for shooting rabbits, or the occasional fox. and the IR laser transforms my old Gen1 to at least Gen2 standard, so another win there.
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby flintlok » Thu Nov 01, 2012 1:13 pm

Cool, I really know little about night vision devices and it's nice to have someone's elses opinion on a digital scope. I may pick up another IR light source to give the scope a bit on range on super dark nights. If I were shooting rabbitsin the UK I definitely would get the Dr Bob's doubler. http://www.scottcountry.co.uk/products- ... 0-4687.htm .
Last edited by flintlok on Thu Nov 01, 2012 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby Shootist » Thu Nov 01, 2012 2:14 pm

There is a new, higher powered version available (here at least. A zoom scope up to, IIRC, 7X mag) About £200 more I think. An IR laser illuminator is definitely worth the outlay.
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby MrBarnDoor » Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:52 am

Hi, have you thought about the Nite Site system? My mate has just bought one and it's great! It simply converts your normal rifle scope set up to full night vision, so it's great if you want to switch it from rifle to rifle. He uses one rifle for foxing, a rimmy for rabbits and an air rifle for rats. It's a lamp/screen which attaches to the top of your scope, and a push fit camera to the eyepiece. Switch it on and the screen shows what the camera sees down your scope - reticule and all - and the lamp illuminates out to 200m in IR! you shoot in a head up position looking at the screen, it's simple and awesome! He got it from http://www.DSCtraining.org
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Re: Pulsar N500 Digital Day/Night Vision Scope

Postby Keef » Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:06 pm

MrBarnDoor wrote:Hi, have you thought about the Nite Site system? My mate has just bought one and it's great! It simply converts your normal rifle scope set up to full night vision, so it's great if you want to switch it from rifle to rifle. He uses one rifle for foxing, a rimmy for rabbits and an air rifle for rats. It's a lamp/screen which attaches to the top of your scope, and a push fit camera to the eyepiece. Switch it on and the screen shows what the camera sees down your scope - reticule and all - and the lamp illuminates out to 200m in IR! you shoot in a head up position looking at the screen, it's simple and awesome! He got it from http://www.DSCtraining.org





Please be aware that MrBarnDoor is Steve Lofthouse who designs the web site for and operates DSCTraining.

This is published on that site:

All of the items for sale here are being sold by individual sellers who we are pleased to offer this 'shop window' service to.

DSCTraining.org acts like sites such as Amazon where your purchase is made using our site but the sale is between you and the seller directly.

We only allow a few trusted suppliers to use this service, and we would welcome your feedback about the service they provide



Please look closely at the seller of each item to ensure that they are selling as individuals. If they are not then they are subject to the Sale of Goods Act and you have protection inlaw on you purchase which you do not have when buying privately.
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