Ward-D-Vision Testing

[leadpig]

few more questions
price,buying british is nice,but at £200 more than a photon or a second hand n550 is the image quality that much better

battery cost,1 year is not that long,how much would it cost to replace it.

what is the usable range on these.ie 5-100 yards ect

the main problem on my challenger was the scope attachment,it would not fit any of my scopes properly and i ended up scratching one trying to get it on . will your unit fit most scopes ect

would a simple ir torch be suitable for airgun ranges,i have a surefire and you can buy a ir bulb separately

thanks dave

[Hornet 6]

That would be great
Having just spent a small fortune on 4x36 S&B mildot scope with single turn turrets I'm not looking to change again.

Neil.

[scotland rifles]

Hi Clive.

I like the look of this, i have had gen 3 (pvs14) in the past but i have a problem with nv glare, or whatever its called, does this cause the eye to have a darkened area after looking through it, i have been thinking of going back to some sort of night scope/attachment etc but what i have seen and had a play with is to be honest, not that impressive at all.

hope your keeping well and business is good,

regards

bob.

[Clive Ward]

Hi Clive.

I like the look of this, i have had gen 3 (pvs14) in the past but i have a problem with nv glare, or whatever its called, does this cause the eye to have a darkened area after looking through it, i have been thinking of going back to some sort of night scope/attachment etc but what i have seen and had a play with is to be honest, not that impressive at all.

hope your keeping well and business is good,

regards

bob.

Hi Bob,

Brilliant to hear from you again. Yes some of the PVS14's can be very bright. Being a controlled item their presence in the UK is through less official channels shall I say. This also means you don't really know what you are getting and a lot could have reject tubes or tubes tinkered with for a 'brighter' image. I've seen some that were just awful to use. Like sticking your eye up to a torch for minutes at a time.

We've preset the brightness on our screen to what we have found to be a comfortable and effective level for long term viewing. You will of course get degradation in your natural night vision looking into the illuminated eyepiece but it soon returns due to the low brightness level.


Cheers





Clive

[scotland rifles]

Hi Clive.

I like the look of this, i have had gen 3 (pvs14) in the past but i have a problem with nv glare, or whatever its called, does this cause the eye to have a darkened area after looking through it, i have been thinking of going back to some sort of night scope/attachment etc but what i have seen and had a play with is to be honest, not that impressive at all.

hope your keeping well and business is good,

regards

bob.

Hi Bob,

Brilliant to hear from you again. Yes some of the PVS14's can be very bright. Being a controlled item their presence in the UK is through less official channels shall I say. This also means you don't really know what you are getting and a lot could have reject tubes or tubes tinkered with for a 'brighter' image. I've seen some that were just awful to use. Like sticking your eye up to a torch for minutes at a time.

We've preset the brightness on our screen to what we have found to be a comfortable and effective level for long term viewing. You will of course get degradation in your natural night vision looking into the illuminated eyepiece but it soon returns due to the low brightness level.


Cheers





Clive

Hi Clive

I thank you for what is a fully explained reply, just what you need nowadays (no selling bull 5h1t) i hope all is well and its nice to know you are still gong well at work and the business is good, says a lot really .

well Clive i have been throught it a bit and thats life but im back shooting to a degree and its always nice to here that others are doing well.

again thank you for a nice informative reply and i wish you and the family all the very best for the new year,

regards

bob.

[Clive Ward]

Hi Dave,

Sorry I missed your post. I've bunged some answers below for you:

few more questions
price,buying british is nice,but at £200 more than a photon or a second hand n550 is the image quality that much better The Ward D Vision has far better resolution than the Photon and the N550, plus far greater magnification potential if you need it or desire it.

battery cost,1 year is not that long,how much would it cost to replace it.

The battery should be good for 1000 charge cycles. So even though the warranty is 12 months I would expect it to last quite a bit longer than that. Replacement costs would be around £20 including service and clean, etc.

what is the usable range on these.ie 5-100 yards ect

As close as your day scope will focus and as far as your IR will throw. With a NM800 IR we get a good useable image from 10-200 yards, further for spotting.

the main problem on my challenger was the scope attachment,it would not fit any of my scopes properly and i ended up scratching one trying to get it on . will your unit fit most scopes ect

Yes. We have a different mounting system where the reducing rings clip on to your eyebell and don't have those annoying steps like the pulsar / cobra DSA shims that stop you using it properly when your eyepiece adjuster is a larger diameter than the eye bell. I've been there and done that so this was made to work.

would a simple ir torch be suitable for airgun ranges,i have a surefire and you can buy a ir bulb separately

Yep that will work perfectly well.

thanks dave

Any other questions, just let me know.


Cheers





Clive

[Clive Ward]

That would be great
Having just spent a small fortune on 4x36 S&B mildot scope with single turn turrets I'm not looking to change again.

Neil.

Hi Neil,

I gave it a test on a 4x40 fixed parallax scope and to be honest even with a bit of fiddling it was OK but not great. The problem is that the IR wavelength focuses differently to visible so you really do need to be able to adjust your parallax down to 50 yards or so. Sorry for the bad news.

We are working on an accessory for fixed scopes though to cure this but will most likely start with the most common one the 8x56 Schmidt to turn a stalking rifle into an impromptu NV fox rifle.


Cheers





Clive

[Hornet 6]

That would be great
Having just spent a small fortune on 4x36 S&B mildot scope with single turn turrets I'm not looking to change again.

Neil.

Hi Neil,

I gave it a test on a 4x40 fixed parallax scope and to be honest even with a bit of fiddling it was OK but not great. The problem is that the IR wavelength focuses differently to visible so you really do need to be able to adjust your parallax down to 50 yards or so. Sorry for the bad news.

We are working on an accessory for fixed scopes though to cure this but will most likely start with the most common one the 8x56 Schmidt to turn a stalking rifle into an impromptu NV fox rifle.


Cheers





Clive

Thanks for that Clive, not great news, but at least your honest enough to say it isn't going to be great, top marks for that alone
I'll wait and see what you come up with that may work for me.

Neil.

[Clive Ward]

Hi Neil,

No problem I shall of course update you all here as and when this happens. It's a simple doohickey really just need to get it finalised.

Also got a whole raft of new stuff coming out very soon.


Cheers





Clive

[Hornet 6]

How does this compare to the new Starlight Arrow that has just been announced.
The two versions split either side of your price point by a couple of hundred £

The other problem I would have, if I was to use any rear add on, how would the adaptor cope with a tapered
ocular bell, like the Zeiss Victory ?
A victory FL is the only scope with PA I own, would any of them work for me ?

Neil.

[Clive Ward]

How does this compare to the new Starlight Arrow that has just been announced.
The two versions split either side of your price point by a couple of hundred £

The other problem I would have, if I was to use any rear add on, how would the adaptor cope with a tapered
ocular bell, like the Zeiss Victory ?
A victory FL is the only scope with PA I own, would any of them work for me ?

Neil.

Hi Neil,

From what I gather the Starlight Arrow is a conventional in line design add on so it will be a fair bit longer than the Ward-D-Vision. The WDV only adds 75mm which is less than most scopes eye reliefs so it doesn't affect your shooting position. The Arrow will. I also suspect that the Starlight Arrow uses a far lower resolution display than our WDV from the video sample I have seen. Another thing, if it bothers you, is that the Arrow doesn't have a video out function. The Ward-D-Vision has video out, plus we are about to launch a wireless AV transmitter dongle that plugs into the unit and a 5" wireless DVR remote screen with audio so that your driver / mate can see what's going on through the scope, hear your instructions / abuse and record your efforts

I would imagine the sensors / cameras used in the Arrow would be a generic imported day/night jobbie for the cheap one and a dedicated low light camera like we use in the WDV for the dear one.

I can't vouch for any other manufacturers, but if you go for the WDV then I suggest you come down with your scope and we can draw and manufacture an exact fitting tapered bush for you while you wait.


Cheers





Clive

[Hornet 6]

How does this compare to the new Starlight Arrow that has just been announced.
The two versions split either side of your price point by a couple of hundred £

The other problem I would have, if I was to use any rear add on, how would the adaptor cope with a tapered
ocular bell, like the Zeiss Victory ?
A victory FL is the only scope with PA I own, would any of them work for me ?

Neil.

Hi Neil,

From what I gather the Starlight Arrow is a conventional in line design add on so it will be a fair bit longer than the Ward-D-Vision. The WDV only adds 75mm which is less than most scopes eye reliefs so it doesn't affect your shooting position. The Arrow will. I also suspect that the Starlight Arrow uses a far lower resolution display than our WDV from the video sample I have seen. Another thing, if it bothers you, is that the Arrow doesn't have a video out function. The Ward-D-Vision has video out, plus we are about to launch a wireless AV transmitter dongle that plugs into the unit and a 5" wireless DVR remote screen with audio so that your driver / mate can see what's going on through the scope, hear your instructions / abuse and record your efforts

I would imagine the sensors / cameras used in the Arrow would be a generic imported day/night jobbie for the cheap one and a dedicated low light camera like we use in the WDV for the dear one.

I can't vouch for any other manufacturers, but if you go for the WDV then I suggest you come down with your scope and we can draw and manufacture an exact fitting tapered bush for you while you wait.


Cheers





Clive

A fair answer, so thanks for that, I will be thinking about it seriously
As a total newcomer to NV I find the lack of details available frustrating, and it would seem I'm not the only one.

The pics of both units would suggest the designs are very similar, so if yours is going to have little to no effect on scope head position
the Arrow should be the same, but I stand to be corrected on that.
The one thing that confuses me most is the camera that each unit uses, nobody says exactly which is used, so have to make assumptions
The most obvious thing we see is the difference in price ( over £300) and the same claimed detection/viewing range ?
As for a made to measure mount, that is great, but to start with it will just have to work on my 4x36 S&B on the .22lr, and the 3-9x36 Swarovski on my .22 Hornet.
I realise it will be less than optimal, but that is what I have, so they will have to be used until I am in a position to have a dedicated rifle and suitable scope.
(changing the scope I use at the moment is not an option)

The video out is of no interest to me at all, sorry

Neil.

[Clive Ward]

Hi Neil,

Looking at the photo / image of the Starlight Arrow I don't think it is of the same internal configuration as the Ward-D-Vision due to the distance of the main body back from the DSA so it will be longer by some margin. It would also be extremely unwise for them to copy the layout of the Ward-D-Vision as we hold the design right to this particular configuration. Incidentally we also own the design right to a certain type of the more conventional in line self contained digital add on, but that one does come down to semantics a little bit, but the WDV is obvious and unarguable.

You'll find most manufacturers will be guarded about exact components used, just due to the sheer time and cost in testing every last lens, optical component, coating, camera, display, battery, connector and even switch until you find what works best. However if we use something that is a known quantity already in the public domain then we will happily tell people what's in there.

Claimed range is very subjective and we choose to err on the side of extreme caution with known quantity IR illuminators such as our N1000 and the NM800.


Cheers





Clive

[Hornet 6]

Thanks for the reply Clive
I'm going to post pics of both here, I think I see what you mean, but would like a clearer explanation.
It is for me at least fairly important I can slip which ever unit on and use it with having to contort myself of use spacers etc.

So are we looking at the different dimension3 between the inner side of the adaptor and the eye piece ?
The Arrow appears to have what will be a fair size gap between the scope ocular glass and it's eye piece.
Or am I now hopelessly confused

Neil.

PS: Clive, pm incoming

[Clive Ward]

Thanks for the reply Clive
I'm going to post pics of both here, I think I see what you mean, but would like a clearer explanation.
It is for me at least fairly important I can slip which ever unit on and use it with having to contort myself of use spacers etc.

Ward-D-Vision LHS.jpg

arrowscope.jpg

So are we looking at the different dimension3 between the inner side of the adaptor and the eye piece ?
The Arrow appears to have what will be a fair size gap between the scope ocular glass and it's eye piece.
Or am I now hopelessly confused

Neil.

PS: Clive, pm incoming

Hi Neil,

PM replied to

Yes if you look at the Ward D Vision where the round of the DSA meets the square of the body...this is where your scope eyebell butts up. On the Arrow this would be somewhere within the first round section with the thumbscrew on the side.


Cheers





Clive