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.
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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.
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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.
