ATN X-Sight II HD 3-14 Day/Night Riflescope Review - Page 2
The ATN 1500 laser rangefinder is worth a more in-depth mention by itself. Here is a link directly to it so you can investigate it further yourself: https://www.atncorp.com/range-finder-laserballistics-1500 I found it to work very well, accurately and quickly resolving range, angle and ballistic distance with a simple click. It easily paired with the riflescope to provide ballistic corrections for long range shots. Literally, just find the menu item to pair it and hold down the button on the rangefinder to pair it to the riflescope.
The ATN 1500 laser rangefinder can output data in yards or in meters. You can also pair it with your smartphone or device via the ATN Ballistics application that is available for free on either the App Store or Google play and provide ballistic solutions for your other rifles. Enter the ballistic profile of the load, MOA or MIL based turrets and their value per click. Then enter the weather data and take a reading with the paired ATN 1500 Laser Rangefinder and the click value to your target will appear on the screen of your device. This provides accurate solutions and can work with every rifle in your safe from your 22LR to your 50BMG. The rangefinder is a great stand-alone value and when paired with the riflescope it makes long range shooting a point, click, fire and get the truck proposition.
Now for some bad news. For some reason that I never found out, the optic suddenly would not calculate the ballistic information, and would no longer pair with the range finder or the remote controller. I studied the threads on the owner's forum, switched batteries out on both the rangefinder and remote controller, restarted the riflescope, restored it to factory configuration, and even reloaded the firmware to no avail. The riflescope was not functioning properly.
During a short phone call to ATN Tech Support, the representatives made every effort to walk me through several things that could have been the source of the issue over the phone. Once Tech Support determined that there was some sort of irreparable software glitch, they had tracking on a new replacement unit emailed to me before we got off the phone, and a return shipping label followed in a few minutes.
At this point I asked to speak with a manager. I informed the customer service manager that I was reviewing the product and gave him kudos for all the help their customer service representative had given, and how promptly and properly they had treated me. The new unit arrived at my door in four business days and has performed flawlessly in every instance since it arrived. I have fired several hundred rounds in several rifles with the replacement riflescope including a C-308, .30/06, .30/338 Winchester and can report no issues with the riflescope.
View attachment 81418
There are some things that could be improved upon to make the riflescope easier to use and enhance the ability of the-end user to manipulate it. First, an illuminated reticle for the ATN1500 laser rangefinder so it can be utilized more effectively at night. It is an accurate rangefinder that compared favorably to both of mine and several others of my shooting buddies. The riflescope has a night mode; so should the rangefinder. In that vein, don't forget to turn OFF the ballistic compensation feature at night, because you cannot effectively aim the non-illuminated reticle in the rangefinder so you cannot be sure that you have actually ranged your intended target. Therefore, the applied compensation may not work out very well when shooting sub-sonic cartridges at any range beyond 100 yards especially if you utilize a 50 yard zero.
Secondly, The extended battery life package should have been standard equipment. The four AA batteries that fit inside the optic run dead in about three and a half hours at 75 degrees. Buy the extended battery life package, as it allows about 24 hours of continuous operation. I wouldn't waste a trip to the woods in winter if all you have are the double A batteries.
Third, the ATN IR850 Pro is TOTALLY worth the extra cost if you intend to do any night shooting beyond about 70 yards, I did not like the standard IR light, I found it to be inadequate and quickly saw the utility of the IR850 Pro. Once the IR 850 Pro went on the riflescope the standard light was relegated to the bag.
Fourth, the remote controller, I have mixed feelings about the remote controller. On the one hand, it adds utility to the system. On the other hand, battery life is limited, and when the remote runs out of power there is no warning as there is battery level indicator. Carry at least one spare battery if you want to be sure it will work.
Fifth, this setup is not light. With the remote controller, extended battery life package, the IR 850 Pro and the scope, you're adding over five pounds to your rifle.
Lastly, this optic does a lot of things and therefore takes a lot of user input to make it do what you want it to do. It can be a bit fiddly to get through all the menus, choices and options. Unless you are very technologically savvy, it is going to take some time to get to know the riflescope system and make it do everything you want it to. The night before leaving for deer camp is not going to cut it. It is a computer that has riflescope features, not a riflescope with computerized features. Govern yourself accordingly.
I thought it would be wise to mount the riflescope on a magnum rifle to see how well it performed on that class of rifle. I entered all the relevant ballistic information for my 30/338 Win mag that shoots the 230g Berger OTM tactical at 2,740 fps and headed to the range. This rifle is very similar in performance to a 300 Winchester Magnum, so it certainly is not a 50 BMG, but it does have a relatively stout recoil. Again, I zeroed it at 25 yards in one shot and then moved to the 200-yard range to fine tune it in three more shots. Over the course of an afternoon I sent 51 rounds out from 50 yards to 315 yards paired with the ATN1500 rangefinder, and the optic tracked the ballistic corrections and held zero perfectly fine. If I were permanently mounting the riflescope I would certainly utilize a medium thread-locking solution to absolutely insure that fact.
View attachment 81419
I then entered the relevant ballistic data for my 5.56 AR-15 and proceeded to fire off about 500 rounds over the course of a few weekends, all without any incident or even a hiccup from the riflescope. It was absolutely predictable and nearly boring to shoot at every range I used, from 25 yards out to 625 yards.
Click the rangefinder, verify the distance in the upper left of the display, steady the reticle and send out the shot and wait for the report of the bullet on the steel. It held zero and returned to zero flawlessly. I can't say enough about how smoothly the rangefinder pairs with the ballistic compensation feature. I pushed this feature especially hard and it came through every time. It is plain smooth to use.
The riflescope then was mounted back on the 300 blackout. I recalled the saved profile from the micro SD card and re-zeroed it at 100 yards. In two shots it was dead on again. The picture to the left is what could be seen of the 107 yard silhouette in day mode before I switched it to night mode.
View attachment 81420
I was then ready to test the night vision mode. After a few weeks of struggling to find a facility to test at night I was able to test the night vision capability at the DE Guns private range under the supervision of a range safety officer. Having never shot after dark previously, and utilizing a new optic, I wanted a controlled environment for the first time. I would like to give DE Guns a special thank you to them for opening up the facility and providing a safe place to test the night capability of the ATN X-Sight for this review.
Shows the capability of the riflescope without any IR illumination. We could readily identify the target and hit it, and you can select the color theme, white or green, and the light sensitivity of the riflescope. This is the only time I actually removed the sunshade and the light limiting device off the riflescope. The zero holds over from day to night mode and with proper adjustment of the sensitivity we were shooting targets at 107 yards easily in less than two minutes. As previously mentioned, don't bother with the rangefinder or ballistic compensation at night because you will be wasting your time and ammo until you manually enter the correct range into the riflescope and throw the rangefinder back in the bag.
On the evening that we shot there was a nearly full moon and the IR illuminator was not needed to be able to readily identify our steel targets even at beyond 200 yards when in night mode. The IR 850 Pro really sharpened up the images on longer range shots and helped make picking out and positively identifying targets. We were not able to shoot beyond 107 yards so I was not able to put lead on target beyond that range in the night mode.
After removing the riflescope from the rifle I was able to readily identify human size targets out to 600 yards in urban settings. Never point a weapon at anything you don't wish to destroy. With the IR 850 Pro, deer were easily spotted at 200 yards in dark rural environments. This riflescope would be a good choice for a night hog hunt. I am looking forward to some after-dark coyote shooting soon. Switching the riflescope back to day mode requires pushing three buttons and can be accomplished in less than two seconds.
In closing, the ATN X-Sight II HD 3-14 manages to fit in a ton of options that no other optic system at its price point matches. I found in testing that every claimed feature functioned as advertised. I have been watching this technology evolve for the last few years and I really like where it is at today, especially considering the price-point of $599 for the 3-14 optic.
Adding in the extended battery life package, IR 850 Pro Illuminator, remote controller and ATN 1500 laser rangefinder gets you to approximately $1,300 to your door. I recommend getting the rangefinder and extended life battery pack for sure, the remote controller not so much. When comparing features of similarly priced optics nothing else comes even close to the ATN X-Sight II HD's capabilities. If you were to price out similar equipment separately you would be approaching $3,500 and would be carrying a pack full of stuff that still wouldn't work together. If you are considering a new optic I would give the ATN X-Sight II HD 3-14 a long look. In my testing, it performed very well, actually better than I expected it to perform. It truly does represent the future of optics.
_____________________________________________________________
About The Author:
Construction industry CEO and Commercial Pilot. Avid reloader, long time hunter, long range shooter and cigar aficionado. Fan of nearly every 6.5mm cartridge, owner of several, a budding glass snob and kit plane enthusiast.
The ATN 1500 laser rangefinder can output data in yards or in meters. You can also pair it with your smartphone or device via the ATN Ballistics application that is available for free on either the App Store or Google play and provide ballistic solutions for your other rifles. Enter the ballistic profile of the load, MOA or MIL based turrets and their value per click. Then enter the weather data and take a reading with the paired ATN 1500 Laser Rangefinder and the click value to your target will appear on the screen of your device. This provides accurate solutions and can work with every rifle in your safe from your 22LR to your 50BMG. The rangefinder is a great stand-alone value and when paired with the riflescope it makes long range shooting a point, click, fire and get the truck proposition.
Now for some bad news. For some reason that I never found out, the optic suddenly would not calculate the ballistic information, and would no longer pair with the range finder or the remote controller. I studied the threads on the owner's forum, switched batteries out on both the rangefinder and remote controller, restarted the riflescope, restored it to factory configuration, and even reloaded the firmware to no avail. The riflescope was not functioning properly.
During a short phone call to ATN Tech Support, the representatives made every effort to walk me through several things that could have been the source of the issue over the phone. Once Tech Support determined that there was some sort of irreparable software glitch, they had tracking on a new replacement unit emailed to me before we got off the phone, and a return shipping label followed in a few minutes.
At this point I asked to speak with a manager. I informed the customer service manager that I was reviewing the product and gave him kudos for all the help their customer service representative had given, and how promptly and properly they had treated me. The new unit arrived at my door in four business days and has performed flawlessly in every instance since it arrived. I have fired several hundred rounds in several rifles with the replacement riflescope including a C-308, .30/06, .30/338 Winchester and can report no issues with the riflescope.
View attachment 81418
There are some things that could be improved upon to make the riflescope easier to use and enhance the ability of the-end user to manipulate it. First, an illuminated reticle for the ATN1500 laser rangefinder so it can be utilized more effectively at night. It is an accurate rangefinder that compared favorably to both of mine and several others of my shooting buddies. The riflescope has a night mode; so should the rangefinder. In that vein, don't forget to turn OFF the ballistic compensation feature at night, because you cannot effectively aim the non-illuminated reticle in the rangefinder so you cannot be sure that you have actually ranged your intended target. Therefore, the applied compensation may not work out very well when shooting sub-sonic cartridges at any range beyond 100 yards especially if you utilize a 50 yard zero.
Secondly, The extended battery life package should have been standard equipment. The four AA batteries that fit inside the optic run dead in about three and a half hours at 75 degrees. Buy the extended battery life package, as it allows about 24 hours of continuous operation. I wouldn't waste a trip to the woods in winter if all you have are the double A batteries.
Third, the ATN IR850 Pro is TOTALLY worth the extra cost if you intend to do any night shooting beyond about 70 yards, I did not like the standard IR light, I found it to be inadequate and quickly saw the utility of the IR850 Pro. Once the IR 850 Pro went on the riflescope the standard light was relegated to the bag.
Fourth, the remote controller, I have mixed feelings about the remote controller. On the one hand, it adds utility to the system. On the other hand, battery life is limited, and when the remote runs out of power there is no warning as there is battery level indicator. Carry at least one spare battery if you want to be sure it will work.
Fifth, this setup is not light. With the remote controller, extended battery life package, the IR 850 Pro and the scope, you're adding over five pounds to your rifle.
Lastly, this optic does a lot of things and therefore takes a lot of user input to make it do what you want it to do. It can be a bit fiddly to get through all the menus, choices and options. Unless you are very technologically savvy, it is going to take some time to get to know the riflescope system and make it do everything you want it to. The night before leaving for deer camp is not going to cut it. It is a computer that has riflescope features, not a riflescope with computerized features. Govern yourself accordingly.
I thought it would be wise to mount the riflescope on a magnum rifle to see how well it performed on that class of rifle. I entered all the relevant ballistic information for my 30/338 Win mag that shoots the 230g Berger OTM tactical at 2,740 fps and headed to the range. This rifle is very similar in performance to a 300 Winchester Magnum, so it certainly is not a 50 BMG, but it does have a relatively stout recoil. Again, I zeroed it at 25 yards in one shot and then moved to the 200-yard range to fine tune it in three more shots. Over the course of an afternoon I sent 51 rounds out from 50 yards to 315 yards paired with the ATN1500 rangefinder, and the optic tracked the ballistic corrections and held zero perfectly fine. If I were permanently mounting the riflescope I would certainly utilize a medium thread-locking solution to absolutely insure that fact.
View attachment 81419
I then entered the relevant ballistic data for my 5.56 AR-15 and proceeded to fire off about 500 rounds over the course of a few weekends, all without any incident or even a hiccup from the riflescope. It was absolutely predictable and nearly boring to shoot at every range I used, from 25 yards out to 625 yards.
Click the rangefinder, verify the distance in the upper left of the display, steady the reticle and send out the shot and wait for the report of the bullet on the steel. It held zero and returned to zero flawlessly. I can't say enough about how smoothly the rangefinder pairs with the ballistic compensation feature. I pushed this feature especially hard and it came through every time. It is plain smooth to use.
The riflescope then was mounted back on the 300 blackout. I recalled the saved profile from the micro SD card and re-zeroed it at 100 yards. In two shots it was dead on again. The picture to the left is what could be seen of the 107 yard silhouette in day mode before I switched it to night mode.
View attachment 81420
I was then ready to test the night vision mode. After a few weeks of struggling to find a facility to test at night I was able to test the night vision capability at the DE Guns private range under the supervision of a range safety officer. Having never shot after dark previously, and utilizing a new optic, I wanted a controlled environment for the first time. I would like to give DE Guns a special thank you to them for opening up the facility and providing a safe place to test the night capability of the ATN X-Sight for this review.
Shows the capability of the riflescope without any IR illumination. We could readily identify the target and hit it, and you can select the color theme, white or green, and the light sensitivity of the riflescope. This is the only time I actually removed the sunshade and the light limiting device off the riflescope. The zero holds over from day to night mode and with proper adjustment of the sensitivity we were shooting targets at 107 yards easily in less than two minutes. As previously mentioned, don't bother with the rangefinder or ballistic compensation at night because you will be wasting your time and ammo until you manually enter the correct range into the riflescope and throw the rangefinder back in the bag.
On the evening that we shot there was a nearly full moon and the IR illuminator was not needed to be able to readily identify our steel targets even at beyond 200 yards when in night mode. The IR 850 Pro really sharpened up the images on longer range shots and helped make picking out and positively identifying targets. We were not able to shoot beyond 107 yards so I was not able to put lead on target beyond that range in the night mode.
After removing the riflescope from the rifle I was able to readily identify human size targets out to 600 yards in urban settings. Never point a weapon at anything you don't wish to destroy. With the IR 850 Pro, deer were easily spotted at 200 yards in dark rural environments. This riflescope would be a good choice for a night hog hunt. I am looking forward to some after-dark coyote shooting soon. Switching the riflescope back to day mode requires pushing three buttons and can be accomplished in less than two seconds.
In closing, the ATN X-Sight II HD 3-14 manages to fit in a ton of options that no other optic system at its price point matches. I found in testing that every claimed feature functioned as advertised. I have been watching this technology evolve for the last few years and I really like where it is at today, especially considering the price-point of $599 for the 3-14 optic.
Adding in the extended battery life package, IR 850 Pro Illuminator, remote controller and ATN 1500 laser rangefinder gets you to approximately $1,300 to your door. I recommend getting the rangefinder and extended life battery pack for sure, the remote controller not so much. When comparing features of similarly priced optics nothing else comes even close to the ATN X-Sight II HD's capabilities. If you were to price out similar equipment separately you would be approaching $3,500 and would be carrying a pack full of stuff that still wouldn't work together. If you are considering a new optic I would give the ATN X-Sight II HD 3-14 a long look. In my testing, it performed very well, actually better than I expected it to perform. It truly does represent the future of optics.
_____________________________________________________________
About The Author:
Construction industry CEO and Commercial Pilot. Avid reloader, long time hunter, long range shooter and cigar aficionado. Fan of nearly every 6.5mm cartridge, owner of several, a budding glass snob and kit plane enthusiast.
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