Night vision illuminator - what wave length to get for hunting?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
X27

X27

Member
Mar 30, 2016
886
19
Top Secret, United States
OK I have an xsight unit. The scope ships with a 850nm illuminator...

This is currently working good for me when I go pigeon hunting at night.

The birds don't react to the illuminator beam and it does an alright job lighting them up.

I was looking at the pulsar 805 illuminator which is a 805nm wave length beam but am cautious that the change to a more visible wavelength although just a slight difference will spook the birds..

My questions are:

Does any one have an idea what wavelength pigeons can and can't see?

Is the pulsar 805 any good - any first hand experience with it?

Can a human see an 805nm wavelength? 

Also,
If any one knows what wave length other nocturnal animals can and can't see?
Skunks, raccoons, Foxe, coyotes, Liberal Democrats who dislike the 2nd Amendment? 
(The first and last are pretty much the same so there beady little eyes should be similar.)
 
I don't know the xsight, but it ships with an 850nm unit that works for you.

850nm seems to be the sweet spot in terms of:
Animals' sensitivity. (Including us).
Chip sensitivity.
LED brightness. - the new 850nm LEDs are very bright and efficient.

Longer wavelengths, such as 950nm are less visible to animals, but are less visible to our sensors. The ones available are less bright. They also have focus problems when used with our scopes etc.

Shorter wavelengths such as 805 get a bit more visible to animals as well as our sensors, but the ones available are also less bright.

I would expect an 805nm LED would be good, though it would need to be of the correct brightness.

 
Upvote 0
I have a few of these now. My have one that is in the 900nm range and it works, but my problem with it is that there is no way to tell if it is on or off unless you're looking through an IR Camera. The ones with 850nm the LED lights up faintly red but it doesn't emit a visible red light, or not that I can see. On these I can at least tell that the light is on/off.
 
Upvote 0
"X27"OK I have an xsight unit. The scope ships with a 850nm illuminator...

This is currently working good for me when I go pigeon hunting at night.

The birds don't react to the illuminator beam and it does an alright job lighting them up.

I was looking at the pulsar 805 illuminator which is a 805nm wave length beam but am cautious that the change to a more visible wavelength although just a slight difference will spook the birds..

My questions are:

Does any one have an idea what wavelength pigeons can and can't see?

Is the pulsar 805 any good - any first hand experience with it?

Can a human see an 805nm wavelength? 

Also,
If any one knows what wave length other nocturnal animals can and can't see?
Skunks, raccoons, Foxe, coyotes, Liberal Democrats who dislike the 2nd Amendment? 
(The first and last are pretty much the same so there beady little eyes should be similar.)
Click to expand...
Hey Bud,

I don't have a Pulsar 805 but I do have a Pulsar N750 and it works great for me. Mine runs on 780nm which is slightly visible to my eyes if you look straight into it up close. I've never tried looking from far away. I've shot many critters and mostly coyotes without any issues at all! The good thing about the lower NM range is that you can see much more light with your device and much further. The higher NM range can limit your range and visible experience through your device. My advice to you would be to have the spectrum covered at both ends. Me personally, I started out with lower NM for long range and best experience viewing. If I had any problems with being detected I would move to something in the 900nm range. But that never happened..... Good Luck in your decision!

T.J.
Oldie but Goodie!
 
  • Like
Reactions: X27
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu