Best Cheap Night Vision Rifle Scope Reviews

When it comes to night coyote hunting, one of the best tools a hunter can have is a night vision rifle scope. Any coyote hunter knows that coyotes move at night and having the advantage to be able to see them in their nocturnal element is an enormous advantage.

The next few paragraphs will take a look at some of the best cheap night vision rifle scopes available on the market today. One thing to keep in mind is that these are at the lowest end of night vision rifle scopes and are not the best that you can get. However, if you are shopping for a night vision scope on a budget, hopefully I can provide some direction and you can get the right scope for you.

ATN Aries MK 350 Night Vision Rifle Scope

I just want to say ATN makes excellent products and you can never go wrong when buying their night vision scopes. The Aries MK 350 goes for around $500 and while it is more expensive than some other brands, it is still a great buy.

The MK 350 is a first generation night vision scope with 2.5x magnification. It weighs in at 2.9 pounds and is 10.8 inches long. One neat feature of this scope is the red on green reticle which improves accuracy and makes it easy to line up your rifle on a coyote. This scope has an excellent battery life at 40 hours and, like most ATN night vision scopes, has a 2 year warranty just in case of a malfunction.

Overall I have to say this scope is a great product for the price. It is not going to give you great detail at long distances, but anything within about 100 yards should be descent clarity.

Yukon NVMT Laser

This night vision rifle scope is also first generation night vision technology, but with 3x magnification. It is compact, lightweight, and features a lifetime limited warranty. This is basically a monocular with a conversion kit to fit a rifle. It includes the mount to fit on a rifle and a laser pointer on the side to act as a red dot reticle.

The NVMT is another great short range night vision rifle scope at an affordable price. While it doesn’t quite match up to the ATN MK 350, it is about $100 cheaper and can still provide for great night time hunting. Like with many other cheaper night vision scopes, this one requires close range before the object can be seen with clarity.

Sightmark SM16012

Like the Yukon NVMT laser, the Sightmark is a first generation conversion kit for a night vision monocular. It has a 24 mm lens with a 2x magnification and also has a lifetime limited warranty. You can buy this scope for about the same price as the NVMT. The Sightmark has a mechanism that will automatically shut off in order to protect the intensifier tube when it senses light.

Once again, this is another great night vision scope for a great price. Like the other, you have to be in close range in order for this to be effective. Anything beyond about 100 yards is going to be difficult to make out.

Of the three night vision scopes above, the scope of choice for me for coyote hunting has to be the ATN. It has the best features and produces the image with the most clarity. If you don’t mind dishing out an extra 100 bucks or so, I recommend this product. However, the Yukon is an excellent product as well and can be purchased for quite a bit less.

Johnny Stewart and Other Electronic Predator Calls Reviews

What to Look For in a Predator Call

Before I begin a review of some of the popular predator calls, let’s establish an understanding of what a hunter should desire in a game call. Most of these traits are universal for any game call no matter what you are hunting. A few of them, however, do specifically apply to predator calls.

1.       In my opinion, realism is the most important trait in any call you buy no matter what kind of hunting you are going to use it for. If your call doesn’t sound natural, you are going to do nothing but scare away your game. The good thing about the Johnny Stewarts, Foxpros, Primos, and any other high dollar premium game calls is that you can bet they are going to have excellent realistic sounds.

2.       Simplicity is a big factor for me. How user friendly is it to operate when I’m out in the field? I am not a fan of gadgets that are difficult do understand and don’t always behave the way you want them to. Give me something that is easy to operate and dependable.

3.       How loud is it? I have used game calls in the past that you could barely hear past 100 yards. You want something that carries the sound several hundred yards away.  It is also nice to have the ability to adjust the level of sound. If you know a coyote is very close, you don’t want to blast its eardrums with a rabbit in distress. I don’t know of many calls that don’t have a volume adjustment, but then again I haven’t used every call on the market.

4.       The ability to use multiple sounds. Any experienced predator hunter knows that coyotes will eventually stop responding to your call if you don’t change it up. Many electronic predator calls give the option of using multiple sounds by switching the memory cards, probably the best feature when it comes to using electronic calls.

5.        Customer Service. Electronic calls are reaching upwards of $500 these days. The last thing you want is to drop that kind of money and not get help from the company when you are having issues. I won’t be able to comment much in this area, as I have not had technical issues with any of the electronic calls I have used. It might be worth your time to ask around with other users if they have needed customer support and if it was beneficial.

Notice I didn’t comment on the price of the call. I believe that if you can find the right call with all the features you want, it is worth whatever price they are asking. Most of the calls have competitive prices anyways, so you are better off paying the price and being happy with your product. It may be that the right call for you is one that is cheaper priced, if so, more power to you.

Johnny Stewart Electronic Predator Calls Review

This brand has been around for a while and in my opinion is one of the best quality items you will get. These calls have a very realistic sound with excellent clarity, you will be amazed. I have used the Preymaster digital, and not only is it great quality, it was also an excellent price. I think I paid around a hundred bucks for it. Ok, so let’s compare to my desirable traits I mentioned above.

As I already stated, it is very realistic and the clarity is excellent. Let me clarify something I failed to mention about realism and clarity. When I say does it sound real I mean is the sound something that a real animal would make, does a rabbit in distress really sound like a rabbit? I have heard calls that were very poor imitations of animal sounds. Clarity just means is the sound crisp and clear, or does it sound like a vinyl record from 1974. Johnny Stewarts are both real sounding and clear.

As far as simplicity goes, these calls are once again right up there with the best. There is an on off button, a button for each of the four sounds, and volume up and down buttons. That is pretty simple in my opinion, not a lot of confusion to be had there.

These particular calls also get the job done when it comes to volume intensity. In other words, they are plenty loud. I actually think the speaker is the only downfall to this call. The speaker for this model is actually quit big and awkward to carry in a backpack, which myself and a lot of other hunters carry in the field. I would prefer the speaker to be a little smaller, but then again, it might not be as loud. I guess you gotta sacrifice one for the other.

This call does in fact have the ability to use multiple sounds. When you want to change sounds, just slide out the memory card and slide the new one in. The memory cards hold four sounds each and run around 25 bucks. The nice thing about electronic calls is you only need one. You can buy enough memory cards with multiple sounds that you can use it for any kind of hunting.

One negative for this call is that it is not wireless. I am a big fan of wireless electronic calls. Then again, most of the wireless calls are 200 bucks or more and some are over $400. The $100 for this call makes not having wireless seem not so bad.

While I can’t comment on the customer service of Johnny Stewart, I can say that I have never had any technical issues with my call and I have had it for around four years now. It gets a lot of use and abuse and has not failed me yet.

Overall, I give my Johnny Stewart a 7 out of 10. It has great sounds, great clarity, and is very user friendly. If you are on a budget and not looking to drop 3 to 4 hundred bucks on a predator call, I highly recommend this one. The major drawbacks to this model have to be the cord and awkwardness of the shape and size, both are quite a nuisance. Other than that, it is a great product.

This post has become quite lengthy so I will save the other reviews for a later date.