Yukon Digital NV Ranger Pro Binocular

I recently purchased the Yukon Digital Ranger Pro monocular with the intention of using it to glass and stalk feral pigs on family land. After using it three times there are some areas in which this tool REALLY performs well and others where it is not a replacement for low-or-zero magnification NV. THE GOOD: Once you figure out how to focus the monocular, you can resolve a VERY sharp and VERY detailed image from quite a long distance. For example, you can easily identify a feral pig from a calf at a distance of about 300 yards and you can pick out the shape of a license plate (not read it, though) on a vehicle from 400-500 yards. Both examples were on overcast nights without visible stars or moon, some ambient light from the sky but not much. The IR beam that the Ranger Pro casts is very powerful and can be used to BRIGHTLY illuminate a target for a hunting partner with a Gen 1 rifle scope on a dark night, which I think is VERY cool. I also like that you can connect this device to your digital video camera and record what you are doing, but that isn't practical unless you are hunting out of a blind or from a hide. So, in short, you get a very sharp picture with 5x magnification, an excellent IR illuminator (I can confirm that the beam is invisible to pigs), the ability to record to the digital camera you already have and a relatively small pricetag for the image quality (have to go over $2k for conventional phosphor tube NV to get the same quality). If you don't need to see a REALLY SHARP image beyond about 200 yards, you get the same thing out of the regular Yukon Digital Ranger for about 1/3 the cost. THE BAD: It would be very difficult to use this device while moving. You have to stalk, stop, glass, resume stalking. If you want continuous visibility in low/no light conditions, you need something other than this device. It eats batteries although you can stretch it's effectiveness by intermittent use, don't count on more than two hunts out of a set of batteries (leave the 12v charger plugged in when not in use because it disconnects the battery pack otherwise the small IR illuminator continually draws a small charge). I recommend feeding this thing with rechargeables. The LCD display in the eyepiece will blind you for a moment in the eye you use it on, I can see this being a major problem in some situations. This device has trouble quickly acquiring targets at different ranges if you have a set of targets at 50 yards and another at 100, it takes both hands and a few seconds to examine both. I really wish this device had a set or auto-focus and/or a push-button zoom capability like many digital cameras do either would make it a much better product.

All-in-all, I am happy with this product. It suits my needs and offers some unique advantages, HOWEVER, for

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