What is a Night Vision Riflescope and How Does Night Vision Work?

A night vision device amplifies available light, whether from the stars or moon, or an artificial light source such as an Infrared illuminator.

This means that when the human eye can no longer discern detail in darkness, a night vision scope can enhance any available light to amplify the image and deliver a new brighter and increased exposure view of the scenario, allowing the human eye to view detail again, albeit with some image loss due to image noise etc.

This is viewed in green or white phosphor with traditional image intensifier night vision, and black and white with digital night vision.

Night Vision used to be big and clumbersome but the recent advances in technology mean you can buy a day and night vision hunting scope which looks and feels like a traditional day scope.

The big question you will want to know the answer for is what is the best night vision scope for hunting but firstly lets take a look at the tech 

Night Vision is commonly referred to as Gen 1, Gen 2 and Gen 3 but in a riflescope., is becoming now all but a distant memory as digital night vision is catching up with performance, but also considerably cheaper in price.

A few years ago a Gen 2 Night Vision riflescope would cost you £2k...but now you can purchase something for under £800 such as the HikMicro Alpex A50T, that not only delivers comparable performance, but can also be used in daylight.

Try using your Gen 2 NV scope in anything other than complete darkness, and you will quickly burn out the tube, where as digital day and night vision offers a true 24/7 performance solution.

Digital Night Vision

A digital night vision riflescope has the added benefit of being able to be used in all lighting conditions. Without a delicate image intensifier tube to "burn" you can use a digital nightvision scope like a camera, viewing in colour by day and night vision at night, aided with an IR illuminator.

An IR illuminator is basically a high power torch that is all but invisible to the naked eye, outputting an "invisible" beam of light, illuminating the surroundings, and enabling you to view wildlife etc as if it is day, albeit in black and white.

Can Night Vision See Colour at Night?

Until recently...no...but companies such as Sionyx, Pulsar and HikMicro have changed this with new sensors which not only are so sensitive they often dont need IR...but they also show colour at night. 

This video explains how this works and showcases what the human eye sees vs what the HikMicro Alpex sees.

What is the Best Night Vision Scope for Hunting UK?

HikMicro Alpex A50T

The all new HikMicro Alpex A50T looks and feels like a traditional 30mm tube day scope, delivering a colour image by day and in low light/twilight, with stunning night vision at night. With a 1920x1080 HD sensor the images are sharp and well contrasted, and the daytime image almost looks like a natural day scope. Used in daytime the Alpex shows a colour natural day time image, and as the sun sets it continues to amplify ambient light to deliver a bright colour image, and then switches to night vision in complete darkness offering viewing capability with IR in some conditions, and with IR in complete darkness.

With a variable magnification, video recording and wifi, Alpex has lots of modern features and functions but maintains a traditional day scope design.

Price £799.99

Pros - Traditional looks, 30mm tube, industry leading day, twilight and night performance, superb price

Cons - Supplied IR isnt brilliant but is capable enough for rimfire users.

Sightmark Wraith 4K Mini

The new Sightmark Wraith 4K Mini 4-32x50 digital day and nightvision riflescope is now available with 4X optical mag, bringing all the power of the 4K Ultra, in an ultra compact size.

The new Wraith 4K Mini 4X combines Sightmark’s rugged quality with the most advanced digital optic technology available to deliver the finest day/night riflescope known to the firearms industry. Boasting an incredible 4K (3840x2160) CMOS sensor, the Wraith 4K Mini detects objects up to 300 yards away in the darkest of nights and displays them on a flawless 1280x720 FLCOS screen.

Although it’s extremely light and compact, the Wraith 4K Mini features big-time capabilities. The Wraith 4K Mini’s built-in recorder produces .AVI-format videos in 1080p and/or 4K resolution, ensuring every shooting memory is captured and preserved in incredible detail. With 8x digital zoom, full-color HD imaging during the daytime and two digital night vision color palettes (green or black & white), 850nm IR illuminator and first-focal-plane reticle options, the Wraith 4K Mini enables shooters to locate and engage targets, near or far, with speed and precision. 

Price 4-32x50 £799.99 or 2-16x32 £749.99

Pros - Ultra compact and lightweight, tactical design suits air rifles, carbines such as S&W MP22 type rifles, superb night vision performance, slick design

Cons - IR included isnt great, the Wraith 4K Ultra offers comparable performance and is £200 cheaper.

Infiray Tube TD50L

Following the traditional 30mm day scope design, the new Tube TD50L delivers a full colour image by day, switching to night vision at night, with low light capability for twilight viewing without IR.  With variable 4x to 14x mag via a smooth rotary encoder, the Tube TD50 features incredible performance for long range fox and vermin control.

Provided with a fully adjustable IR illuminator, the Infiray Tube TD50 day night vision scope fits on standard 30mm ring mounts which are also included, maintaining the traditional look of your rifle with a superb run time.

Price £899.99

Pros - Magnification system is slick and smooth, comes complete with scope rings and IR illuminator, lovely performance

Cons - Little bit clunky menu compared to the Alpex and Digex, twilight performance isnt as good as the others

Sightmark Wraith 4K Ultra

The all new Sightmark Wraith Ultra 4K digital day/night vision riflescope features an all new 3840x2160 with Ultra 4K performance in full colour by day, switching to night vision at night. 

With advanced features including integrated video recording, 4-32x magnification, multiple zero profiles and more, the Wraith 4K Ultra delivers incredible performance and at simply unbelievable price.

The Sightmark Wraith HD was our best selling digital night vision riflescope, due to ease of use, superb menus, simplicity of operation, price and performance, and the new Wraith Ultra 4K encompasses everything that was great, in the same body style but with all new 4K Matrix delivering 4K Ultra high resolution clarity in colour by day and night vision at night.

Price £599.99

Pros - New 4K Sensor delivers stunning detail, super price, and great reliability.

Cons - AA batteries are a bit old skool, no Wifi or sound recording, bit dated design

Pulsar Digex C50 

The new Pulsar Digex C50 is a full colour digital day scope which switches to night vision, allowing 24/7 hunting day or night with crisp clear image quality, traditional day scope asthetics and ultra high performance Pulsar reliability and design.

The Pulsar Digex C50 offers visual asthetics on any hunting rifle, from the outside it resembles a classic day scope in a 30mm housing. This form factor provides flexibility for mounting the scope on hunting rifles using proven 30mm ring mounts, and maintaining a traditional day scope look and feel.

The Digex has the best sensitivity in its class for infrared spectrum (night time sensitivity) including a wavelength range of 900-950nm. It is highly effective when paired with invisible IR illuminators, this makes the Digex C50 the perfect tool for fox and vermin control with a detection range of up to 500m.

Powered by two rechargeable batteries Digex C50 guarantees a run time of up to 10hrs, with the ability to quickly change the turret battery for those extended nights hunting.

Price £949.99 without IR or £1089.95 with IR. (No Wifi)

Pros - Great design with crisp clear daytime, twilight and night vision performance. Lovely image and the best design and build around.

Cons - No Wifi, price is higher than competition, availability...hard to find.

We are often asked "Whats Better...Thermal or Night Vision?"

Thermal isnt cheap, lets get that out the way...but it has got cheaper over the last 5yrs and with products under £2k such as the new Pulsar Talion XQ38 thermal riflescope, you still get stunning performance, at a price you would have paid for decent night vision a few years ago.

Can Night Vision live up to Thermal capability....well on a decent clear evening, even a £599 Sightmark Wraith 4K Ultra will deliver a clear image out to 200m with ease, but throw in some atmospherics such as rain, fog or humidty and the performance quickly diminishes where as thermal continues to perform.