Others First day with NV500

[AnEnemyAnemone]

I finally got to use my new Oneleaf NV500 Eagle today. I still haven't figured out how to protect the darn thing, but I just had to mount it up on my Avenge-X Bullpup .22, and give it a whirl.

Weight and dimensions

If you're interested in this digital scope, I'm sure you've watched the YouTube reviews. I have to say I agree with all the ones I've seen. Mind you I only have 4hrs on it, all daylight, but so far they check out. Mounting was easy, zeroing was easy, image quality was good.

I used it solely in daylight mode today, with the shade attached as instructed. My default POI was very low, which I suspect is the fault of my rifle -- I had the same issue with my Hawke scope. I was hitting about 13in low at 28yds, and had to move in to get it on paper. Once I did, zeroing took about 30 seconds. Today also marked my first use of a Lead Sled, and that is what made zeroing so easy. Hand-held at 10yds, it took me more like 90 seconds, trying to hold one reticle on the point of aim while adjusting the other to point of impact.

So far, I only have theee negatives. One, it doesn't handle low contrast well in daylight. I made up some NRA AR-7 targets (25yd smallbore). The inner rings are supposed to be black, but I printed them at about 80% gray with black circles. Looks fine to my eye, but it was all dark gray through the NV500. These targets were unusable. So I swapped them out for some generic Shoot N C splatter squares. Neon green background when you get a hit.
Issue number 2: the neon green looked mostly white through the NV500. Neither of these issues affected function at all. I spent more than 4 hours happily testing pellets.

Issue number 3: oh lawd he comin. This setup is a behemoth. The main body isn't all that huge, though it is a bit hefty. But the laser rangefinder mounts to the side, sticking out maybe 1.5 or 2in from the main body. Then the included illuminator attaches to the top of that. It's about 6in long, and has a deep reflector for long throw. It mounts to the top of the LRF. The whole assembly is something like 4.5in wide and 4.5in tall. I can't lay my rifle down on its left side anymore without the LRF becoming a structural element. And there's absolutely no way I can get my case closed around this setup. I'm looking for a solution now. It costs too much for me to be comfortable with a soft case, and hard cases are mostly about 4-5in wide... This needs at least 6.5.

I also noticed that finding a good cheek weld is a little weird. It's not quite like any scope I've used before (which is only 6 or 8). It got better as the day went on, so I suppose I'll get used to it. I did have to lower my cheek rest one notch from the Hawke's position.

I tried photographing the screen with my phone, but they didn't really get along. That rainbow effect is not visible to the eye of course. But those whitish rings and crosses do look that way on screen (neon green IRL). I took a couple snapshots and videos on the NV500 itself, so I'll see if I can share them after I hook it up to a computer.

I will update again when I get some night action.

 

[Cantona256]

I finally got to use my new Oneleaf NV500 Eagle today. I still haven't figured out how to protect the darn thing, but I just had to mount it up on my Avenge-X Bullpup .22, and give it a whirl.

If you're interested in this digital scope, I'm sure you've watched the YouTube reviews. I have to say I agree with all the ones I've seen. Mind you I only have 4hrs on it, all daylight, but so far they check out. Mounting was easy, zeroing was easy, image quality was good.

I used it solely in daylight mode today, with the shade attached as instructed. My default POI was very low, which I suspect is the fault of my rifle -- I had the same issue with my Hawke scope. I was hitting about 13in low at 28yds, and had to move in to get it on paper. Once I did, zeroing took about 30 seconds. Today also marked my first use of a Lead Sled, and that is what made zeroing so easy. Hand-held at 10yds, it took me more like 90 seconds, trying to hold one reticle on the point of aim while adjusting the other to point of impact.

So far, I only have theee negatives. One, it doesn't handle low contrast well in daylight. I made up some NRA AR-7 targets (25yd smallbore). The inner rings are supposed to be black, but I printed them at about 80% gray with black circles. Looks fine to my eye, but it was all dark gray through the NV500. These targets were unusable. So I swapped them out for some generic Shoot N C splatter squares. Neon green background when you get a hit.
Issue number 2: the neon green looked mostly white through the NV500. Neither of these issues affected function at all. I spent more than 4 hours happily testing pellets.
View attachment 13461
Issue number 3: oh lawd he comin. This setup is a behemoth. The main body isn't all that huge, though it is a bit hefty. But the laser rangefinder mounts to the side, sticking out maybe 1.5 or 2in from the main body. Then the included illuminator attaches to the top of that. It's about 6in long, and has a deep reflector for long throw. It mounts to the top of the LRF. The whole assembly is something like 4.5in wide and 4.5in tall. I can't lay my rifle down on its left side anymore without the LRF becoming a structural element. And there's absolutely no way I can get my case closed around this setup. I'm looking for a solution now. It costs too much for me to be comfortable with a soft case, and hard cases are mostly about 4-5in wide... This needs at least 6.5.

I also noticed that finding a good cheek weld is a little weird. It's not quite like any scope I've used before (which is only 6 or 8). It got glbetter as the day went on, so I suppose I'll get used to it. I did have to lower my cheek rest one notch from the Hawke's position.
View attachment 13460
I tried photographing the screen with my phone, but they didn't really get along. That rainbow effect is not visible to the eye of course. But those whitish rings and crosses do look that way on screen (neon green IRL). I took a couple snapshots and videos on the NV500 itself, so I'll see if I can share them after I hook it up to a computer.

I will update again when I get some night action.

Thank you for taking the time to write that up…. The “oh lawd he coming” had me rolling haha…how heavy is the unit? And does you mount have any MOA to it? The most annoying thing on the barra has been having to shim the back of the scope(temporarily) to even get on paper.

Also with the contrast issues do you think it would be very hard to see a rabbit or squirrel at 150y or so?

 

[Pumacarl]

Thank you for taking the time to write that up…. The “oh lawd he coming” had me rolling haha…how heavy is the unit? And does you mount have any MOA to it? The most annoying thing on the barra has been having to shim the back of the scope(temporarily) to even get on paper.

Also with the contrast issues do you think it would be very hard to see a rabbit or squirrel at 150y or so?

You should not have to be shimming your scope on the Barra. Did you see my post [250z Design Heads Up] about the picatinny rail on the 250z? The rail does not keep spec through the magazine cut-out area between the front and back sections. Which means that if you mounted your scope on another gun with a full picatinny rail it could not mount correctly on the 250z if it had recoil bars that went down into the gaps. If rounded, they might work, might not, either way not good. That would be the only scenario where I would think that you might think that you need to shim your scope. What you need to do is to take your scope out of your scope rings completely, then remove your scope bases and place them on the rail correctly in the grooves and remount your scope. You should absolutely NEVER shim a scope! A really really bad idea, I don't know what idiot ever started that practice, or spread the idea as being acceptable, but it isn't. I don't entertain any discussion of its plausability. If you want to add moa to your scope you buy adjustable mounts to do so evenly which are designed for that purpose.

And by the way, this means that you can't take your scope off and just mount it on another gun without moving the rings on the scope again. This is what had me furious (still am) as I switch scopes around all the time because Picatinny isn't just a name but a standard, that the 250z doesn't keep.

 

[Cantona256]

You should not have to be shimming your scope on the Barra. Did you see my post [250z Design Heads Up] about the picatinny rail on the 250z? The rail does not keep spec through the magazine cut-out area between the front and back sections. Which means that if you mounted your scope on another gun with a full picatinny rail it could not mount correctly on the 250z if it had recoil bars that went down into the gaps. If rounded, they might work, might not, either way not good. That would be the only scenario where I would think that you might think that you need to shim your scope. What you need to do is to take your scope out of your scope rings completely, then remove your scope bases and place them on the rail correctly in the grooves and remount your scope. You should absolutely NEVER shim a scope! A really really bad idea, I don't know what idiot ever started that practice, or spread the idea as being acceptable, but it isn't. I don't entertain any discussion of its plausability. If you want to add moa to your scope you buy adjustable mounts to do so evenly which are designed for that purpose.

And by the way, this means that you can't take your scope off and just mount it on another gun without moving the rings on the scope again. This is what had me furious (still am) as I switch scopes around all the time because Picatinny isn't just a name but a standard, that the 250z doesn't keep.

Oh I ordered adjustable mounts the day I figured out the problem. I just shimmed it for the first few days cuz I was impatient and wanted to shoot. I have definitely learned the error of my ways.
I didn’t read the whole convo about the pic rails on the barra (haha pretty obvious right?) that would have saved me some heartache and probably saved me $60 on the 20MOA mount that I apparently didn’t need to order.

Don’t let me fool y’all. I’m dumber than hell sometimes haha.

 

[Billm]

You should not have to be shimming your scope on the Barra. Did you see my post [250z Design Heads Up] about the picatinny rail on the 250z? The rail does not keep spec through the magazine cut-out area between the front and back sections. Which means that if you mounted your scope on another gun with a full picatinny rail it could not mount correctly on the 250z if it had recoil bars that went down into the gaps. If rounded, they might work, might not, either way not good. That would be the only scenario where I would think that you might think that you need to shim your scope. What you need to do is to take your scope out of your scope rings completely, then remove your scope bases and place them on the rail correctly in the grooves and remount your scope. You should absolutely NEVER shim a scope! A really really bad idea, I don't know what idiot ever started that practice, or spread the idea as being acceptable, but it isn't. I don't entertain any discussion of its plausability. If you want to add moa to your scope you buy adjustable mounts to do so evenly which are designed for that purpose.

And by the way, this means that you can't take your scope off and just mount it on another gun without moving the rings on the scope again. This is what had me furious (still am) as I switch scopes around all the time because Picatinny isn't just a name but a standard, that the 250z doesn't keep.

Me too, wasted some money on a one piece mount for the Barra that obviously with hind sight I now know will not fit. I’ll use them on something else, but annoying as crap.

 

[AnEnemyAnemone]

Thank you for taking the time to write that up…. The “oh lawd he coming” had me rolling haha…how heavy is the unit?

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5lbs, I think. Enough that the 8lb rifle feels noticably more top heavy, but not enough to make it actually hard to handle.

And does you mount have any MOA to it?

It comes with its own mount. The scope has five screw holes in the bottom, and a cantilever mount with four holes. Lets you slide it back and forth a bit. I don't think it's angled. The downside is I can't just get a different scope mount. I think the NV400 has a normal tube body, but the 500 doesn't.

Also with the contrast issues do you think it would be very hard to see a rabbit or squirrel at 150y or so?

I haven't tried anything like that kind of distance yet. I'll check it out before my next update, though. I had to bring the ol' girl in to refill halfway through my afternoon, and I saw a bunny in the front yard... I took a shaky onboard video from about 14 yards. It looked fairly nice in full sunlight. I had it set at 4k 120Hz, and I don't think that's a good setting for video quality. It seems to have a low bitrate/compression artifacts. I want to see if it looks better at 60Hz or 30Hz.

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[MountainSportAirguns]

I was looking at this unit purely for the fact it supposedly records in 4k @120fps, on paper it looks like an excellent recording device. Unfortunately it looks as though they are still using the same bad quality IR rather than going with a slim design built in unit. I had the NV400 and was pleased with the daytime quality other than the fact it was so bloody heavy for what it was. At night I had constant issues with the IR getting bumped and would on occasion flicker and start overheating forcing me to turn it off. I'm curious to hear what you think of the unit for night use and if it's appropriate for beyond 100 yards shooting?

 

[AnEnemyAnemone]

I'm curious to hear what you think of the unit for night use and if it's appropriate for beyond 100 yards shooting?

100yds plus is beyond the capacity of both my property and myself, so I won't be able to give you any actual shooting reports there, but I'll see about unmounting it and trying it out at longer ranges.

 

[Cantona256]

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5lbs, I think. Enough that the 8lb rifle feels noticably more top heavy, but not enough to make it actually hard to handle.

It comes with its own mount. The scope has five screw holes in the bottom, and a cantilever mount with four holes. Lets you slide it back and forth a bit. I don't think it's angled. The downside is I can't just get a different scope mount. I think the NV400 has a normal tube body, but the 500 doesn't.

I haven't tried anything like that kind of distance yet. I'll check it out before my next update, though. I had to bring the ol' girl in to refill halfway through my afternoon, and I saw a bunny in the front yard... I took a shaky onboard video from about 14 yards. It looked fairly nice in full sunlight. I had it set at 4k 120Hz, and I don't think that's a good setting for video quality. It seems to have a low bitrate/compression artifacts. I want to see if it looks better at 60Hz or 30Hz.

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if my Zulus looks even 80% that good it will be worth the money imo… that looks really good bro! The daytime footage out of my triton isn’t nearly as good.

As for the weight I know exactly what you mean. The Starstrike is like 3lb which is just enough to make my barra quite unwieldy.

 

[AnEnemyAnemone]

Shooting clip

This is an onboard video of me testing pellets yesterday. These are the neon green splatter targets I was talking about. Video settings were 4k, 120Hz. Some of the OSD text is sometimes unreadable because of the compression/bitrate issues, though not in this clip. More of an issue with more motion on-screen. If anyone is interested in my shooting, those are 4" targets at 28yds. I bought nearly every .22 pellet I could find, to find what the Avenge-X likes to eat. I don't remember what pellet this was, but it wasn't one of the best, despite the first few looking promising.

This is a shaded area on a partly cloudy afternoon, using the specified and included daylight shade.

 

[Pumacarl]

The barrels in those guns almost always like JSB JTS AEA 18.1ish grain pellets, pick one, if they are not the favorite they still end up in the top three of everything out there. If you want heavier faster the 22ish gr from JTS or AEA. More still, the 25.4gr from JTS or AEA, I wouldn't trust the MRD's from JSB at this weight for a while. There are niche pellets like Polymags and Hades too. I honestly believe all the ones I've listed are the only .22 pellets worth bothering with. No more plinking junk for me, I practice with what I shoot. Slugs are a whole other animal, they'd need their own thread, and there are several started already.

 

[AnEnemyAnemone]

The barrels in those guns almost always like JSB JTS AEA 18.1ish grain pellets

Hades did fairly well for me. Well enough to study properly at least. I also had good luck with H&N Barracuda Hunter Extreme, and Barracuda Power. JSB had a good showing with the Jumbo Heavy (18.1), RS, and Stratton. I only have one JTS and no AEA... I'll have to get a hold of some, thanks!

I tried a couple Apolo slugs (21 and 18 28gn I think) and they were all over the place. >3in groups at 28yds. I don't know if the Avenge-X is supposed to be good with slugs though.

 

[Pumacarl]

Hades did fairly well for me. Well enough to study properly at least. I also had good luck with H&N Barracuda Hunter Extreme, and Barracuda Power. JSB had a good showing with the Jumbo Heavy (18.1), RS, and Stratton. I only have one JTS and no AEA... I'll have to get a hold one some, thanks!

I tried a couple Apolo slugs (21 and 18gn I think) and they were all over the place. >3in groups at 28yds. I don't know if the Avenge-X is supposed to be good with slugs though.

I am not sure how or which slugs work in .22 for the Avenge X, but when you do your research know that the Avenge X uses the same barrel as the Avenger so you can check out results for those too.

I personally have never had a gun where the H&N pellets beat the JSB in a pcp. I just haven't. H&N are my favorite and best pellets in my FWB124D springers and the one H/W I owned. As far as slugs go, they have not worked out yet for me either. If I owned an FX I am sure the story would be different, at least it appears that way from everyone elses results.

Good luck!

 

[AnEnemyAnemone]

how heavy is the unit?

Unmounted her today for some experimentation... Weighs in at 1304g, or 2.87lbs with the larger 50mm lens and illuminator and mount.
She's 4-1/2” (114mm) wide including the lens cap hinge, and 4-5/8" (117mm) high from the top of the illuminator to the flat of the rail mount. Rail hardware gives it an extra 5/16" (8mm) when unmounted.
With the accordion eye cup and sun shield attached, she's about 13" (330mm) long. Without, 8" (203mm).

 

[Cantona256]

Unmounted her today for some experimentation... Weighs in at 1304g, or 2.87lbs with the larger 50mm lens and illuminator and mount.
She's 4-1/2” (114mm) wide including the lens cap hinge, and 4-5/8" (117mm) high from the top of the illuminator to the flat of the rail mount. Rail hardware gives it an extra 5/16" (8mm) when unmounted.
With the accordion eye cup and sun shield attached, she's about 13" (330mm) long. Without, 8" (203mm).

lol should we call her big Bertha?

 

[AnEnemyAnemone]

lol should we call her big Bertha?

I was thinking Large Marge.

 

[Luis Leon]

I was thinking Large Marge.

How about … Bertha Butt

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[Cantona256]

So I’ve been playing with the Zulus and I gotta say I really like it. Ran around all night last night calling coyotes and shooting jack rabbits. The standby mode is f***ing clutch! It’s super quick too so the scope is just sipping power until you bring it back up. No lag either… I posted so bad video of my rabbit kill but it’s blurry. That is not the scope! It’s me. I got a little excited and forgot to focus it. Haha I was on a little bit of a cold streak so eager to get some blood on the Desert Wraith’s new eyes.

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[AnEnemyAnemone]

I posted so bad video of my rabbit kill but it’s blurry. That is not the scope! It’s me. I got a little excited and forgot to focus it. Haha

That's at 40 yards? That zoom is clean!

 

[Luis Leon]

So I’ve been playing with the Zulus and I gotta say I really like it. Ran around all night last night calling coyotes and shooting jack rabbits. The standby mode is f***ing clutch! It’s super quick too so the scope is just sipping power until you bring it back up. No lag either… I posted so bad video of my rabbit kill but it’s blurry. That is not the scope! It’s me. I got a little excited and forgot to focus it. Haha I was on a little bit of a cold streak so eager to get some blood on the Desert Wraith’s new eyes.

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That “hoo” sound you made…? Made me chuckle, good shooting…