What is the battery life on one of these? Is the battery pack add on necessary if you're not doing a ton of recording & wi-fi stuff?

https://www.opticsplanet.com/atn-x-sight-ii-day-night-riflescopes.html

When I had mine I could get 3-4 hours on lithium batteries. I never had any issues unless I had all the options on.

If you are sold on the ATN, get the battery pack. The "features" eat batteries.

Personally I am not a fan of the Xsight II. It's more stable than the first generation but still a high reported failure rate. If going ATN, and paying retail, I would go with the newer 4K.

I urge you to consider the Sightmark Photon RT as well. Much better night time picture. Draw back is its b&w all the time vs color during the day on the ATN. You can run the RT on 4 AA batteries for 3-4 hours or on a USB battery pack.

skelso said:

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If you are sold on the ATN, get the battery pack. The "features" eat batteries.

Personally I am not a fan of the Xsight II. It's more stable than the first generation but still a high reported failure rate. If going ATN, and paying retail, I would go with the newer 4K.

I urge you to consider the Sightmark Photon RT as well. Much better night time picture. Draw back is its b&w all the time vs color during the day on the ATN. You can run the RT on 4 AA batteries for 3-4 hours or on a USB battery pack.

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And the batteries are way easier to change out on the Photon

Thanks Skelso. I'm not sold on it. I will definitely look into the Photon

Isn't sightmark supposed to be bringing out a new upgraded model?

The RT is the newer upgraded model. XT is the older model. RT as better resolution screen, onboard recording, wi-fi, better battery compartment, better IR, and 2x zoom.

Here's the skinny on X-Sight vs Photon. If using it for night hunting only, the Photon is generally a better unit. The NV on it is better than the X-Sight plus it has historically had a smoother refresh rate at the expense of field of view/resolution (really the same thing, just depends on how you want to look at it) and day use. Can you use the Photon during the day, sure. Is it as good during the day as the X-Sight? Not by a long margin. Most of my customers like the features that are available during the day plus the amazingly better daytime picture so that's what I sell the most of.... we're talking about 5-1. Now, for the guys that are really into night hunting and want something dedicated for it, the photon is where it is at.

In regards to the x-sight battery pack... just get a cell phone recharge bar and use velcro and stick it to the side of your unit or the gun. Same freaking thing and 1/5th of the cost. Plus you can have several of them and hot swap them out as needed.

TheEyeGuy said:

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Here's the skinny on X-Sight vs Photon. If using it for night hunting only, the Photon is generally a better unit. The NV on it is better than the X-Sight plus it has historically had a smoother refresh rate at the expense of field of view/resolution (really the same thing, just depends on how you want to look at it) and day use. Can you use the Photon during the day, sure. Is it as good during the day as the X-Sight? Not by a long margin. Most of my customers like the features that are available during the day plus the amazingly better daytime picture so that's what I sell the most of.... we're talking about 5-1. Now, for the guys that are really into night hunting and want something dedicated for it, the photon is where it is at.

In regards to the x-sight battery pack... just get a cell phone recharge bar and use velcro and stick it to the side of your unit or the gun. Same freaking thing and 1/5th of the cost. Plus you can have several of them and hot swap them out as needed.

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This.

I used one of these in some cheap QD scope rings for nights I knew I was going to be out awhile. I used to just zip tie them, but this worked better.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L0I05I2/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?psc=1

Aaaaannnnndd.... not sure why I haven't done this yet, but I need to get on my china contacts and get some of these in to sell in store. Stupid not to.

Also, both units HIGHLY benefit from an upgraded IR.

I forgot to note that I had to line the rings with foam tape to keep it secure with the one I linked. Used to be able to buy one at Walmart that was exactly 1". Anything I find now is closer to 7/8" or 1-1/8".

As said above, get a cell phone rechargeable battery. Atn xsight ii eats four regular Aa in less than two hours. Also invest in a good cord to power the scope off of the external battery pack. I bought a cheap amazon one and it sucked. I finally bought one from fox optic and my scope works flawlessly now.

Edit: reading comprehension fail... I didn't see the link above

A rechargeable cell phone battery?? What size? The only thing keeping me from buying the external batteries is the added weight and cost. Is this cell phone battery cheaper than the external one ATN sells?

I have the first gen ATN X sight, and always use the lithium AA batteries. Last Christmas we went out I let my brother in law use it b/c he was thinking about buying the X sight II. He used it one evening hunt, then again that night trying to call in some coyotes over the gut pile, then again the next morning. I've had it out once since then at the range and I'm still running the same AA's that we're in at Christmas. Having said that I don't use any of the features, just the normal day sight and the NV.

To be honest I don't know which size I'm using now. Picked them up for Hurricane Harvey. I'll have to do some digging to determine the specs. I've never had this battery pack die one me. The batteries I used were regular Duracell. After less than one hour of use, it would never let me record, saying battery power was too low. I've never had that problem with the battery packs and a good cord.

Keep in mind, keeping an extra set of fresh batteries is still a good idea. You can't power the unit on with the battery pack but you can keep it running with it.

Also, I picked up a magazine holder on amazon and zip tied it to my stock. Battery pack goes into magazine holder. Cord goes from battery pack to scope. Like I said, check out fox optic. Very little added weight. Totally worth it. The battery pack I am using good four iPhone charges.

I run the kentli batteries in my XSight with no problems. I get at least 6 hours of operation with a fully charged set

Kentli rechargables are great for battery life but can cause issues if using the transmit feature. The voltage regulator board gives off some noise which can interfere with the radio signal.

I went ahead and bought an external battery for about $35 off amazon with a MaH rating of 20000. That thing things runs forever. I generally turn off all the extra stuff unless I need it but overall I'm happy with it. I needed a mix of day and night use and EyeGuy sold me on the ATN. The firearm was built for hog hunting and will only be used at night with limited daytime use. I have a Maxim brace that allows me to fit that battery (which is inside a pouch) inside the brace where my arm would normally fit. I bought a coiled cable off amazon that fits perfectly withno issues so far. I am able to power up just fine on the external battery only but have since added batteries as well for backup. I plan on ordering some of the KenLi batteries but I have heard a few quirky things about them as well. Overall, I'm happy with the ATN for what I'm doing: night hunting hogs with shorter range shots (nothing farther than 150 yrds) I have not upgraded the illuminator although I do have a Wicked Lights setup 3-in-1 light with multiple IR frequencies and a red light that I could use. As far as the IR goes, making sure you have the illuminator pointed and adjusted properly where you are aiming makes a ton of difference. Since I'm shooting a blackout subsonic round, a distance shot isn't something I can do much of anyways.