NiteSite Viper Dark Ops

Ive been wanting one of these for year, since the original Viper was released, and finally nagged the wife enough for permission. I use this with my Browning T-Bolt in .17HMR for rabbit control.The unit works straight out of the box and really does only take a minute or two to set up. One issue is getting the video receiver bit to line up correctly with the back of the scope so you get a full picture. It takes a bit of fiddling and I recommend doing your first setup at home before taking everything out to the field. I leave the mounting ring on the scope permanently to make life easier when setting everything up in the dark. The unit is very light and I barely notice the difference in weight on my rifle. On my first evening testing I set up a target at my usual zero range of 50m and was hitting the center straight away.The furthest range of clear picture is about 60m. I found the more I zoomed my scope (Hawk 4-12x50) the worse the image got and looked very pixelated. The best I could get was about x7 before the picture was too grainy but this is due to the type of ir being different to the usual 850nm. If you're comfortable shooting the bunnies further away and don't need to zoom in much you'll be fine.I found when used alongside my mates Wolf using the normal 850nm my picture was much better, picking up his beam and givung me a much better picture zoomed up to 120m. His unit was not able to see any of the ir cast by mine. When turned up the ir torches on his unit are visible from over 100m away. Mine on full power are just a very dull glow making me a lot less visible.I've since purchased a separate ir torch to have on at the same time and my range is now easily 120m on bunnies in the pitch black. In daylight I wouldn't normally shoot bunnies at more than that anyway. The picture is still a bit grainy but that is due to the type of ir rather than the unit.The screen is quite bright, even with the brightness turned right down and I'm pretty sure it has given me away once or twice. I try not to sit with everything turned on all night to save battery, not give the game away and to preserve my night vision. It is a bit of a change of shooting position as most of us will be used to looking through a scope only a couple of inches above the barrel, this now has me lifting my head up away from the stock to shoot. It does make shooting from the hip or from a fence more comfortable.The battery will easily last me a month, I normally get out shooting for about 4 hours a week.Overall I'm really happy and was not disappointed. It takes a bit of getting used to if like me you've been lamping for years but once you remember that night vision doesn't make you invisible and how to get the best from the unit with your particular rifle you'll be fine.