Opinion
I have really been getting into hunting at night for the last 10 years. I do a lot of predator and hog hunting and that is when they are both the most active. So, if you want to be more successful, you’ll do best hunting at night.
Today, I’m going to cover a new night vision monocular named the ASAKO SIGHT-300. Even if you have NV or Thermal Imaging scopes on your rifles, you’ll want an NV monocular. Think about it a moment. You never go hunting without a pair of binoculars, do you? The last few years, while on night hunts, the guide has loaned me an NV monocular, or I had one that I was testing. I’ve been wanting to get one of my own.
AKASO Sight-300 Color Night Vision Sight
I recently discovered the ASAKO SIGHT-300, which is 2-4 times cheaper than many of the others I’ve tested, and yet it performs just as well. Before I get into the features, let me list out some of the uses that I see.
The first reason is to use if for glassing at night when hunting predators or hog hunting. That was my main purpose for wanting one.
A close second reason I thought of last week, while elk hunting. Elk hunting is tough and the ultimate hunt. They’re in rough country, hard to find, and there are not that many of them. A buddy of mine drives down a four-wheel road at 4:00 a.m. and blows his bugle. If he gets a response, then he knows that there is a bull in that canyon. He’ll then wait until daylight and hunt that canyon or draw.
Why not do almost the same thing and go along glassing and see where a herd of elk is feeding? They’ll leave their night feeding area and head to their high country to bed down at daylight, right? If you find some at night, you could hike up before daylight the next morning, set up, and hopefully intercept them at daylight as they move up.
Additionally, a third purpose could be to conduct nighttime surveillance on your property to alert you to any potential intruders.
Live Inventory Price Checker
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US Night Vision RNVG Gen 3 Night Vision Goggles - White Phosphor | Rainier Arms | $ 8695.00 |
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Digex N450 4-16x50mm Digital Night Vision Rifle Scope - Digex N450 4-16x50mm 1024x768 Digital Night Vision Scope | Brownells.com | $ 1199.97 |
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Equinox(TM) Z2 Night Vision 6x50 Monocular | Bushnell | $ 419.95 |
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AGM Global Vision UNVG Night Vision Goggles Gen 3 White Phosphor | Ammunition Depot | $ 10530.59 |
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The AKASO Sight-300 comes with an 18-page user manual, so it’s impossible for me to cover all its features in a single short Product Review. So I’m going to cover the features that interest me as a hunter. Realize that other features may interest a wildlife watcher who plans to set it up to film wildlife, etc., which I haven’t even covered yet. There are accessories to enhance your use. Such as a wrist strap to hold it, a tripod, or it can even be mounted on a helmet and record in 4K by day and 2K at night.
Now I’m going to pull some random specs out of the user manual that caught my interest. To begin it only weighs 260 g. Remember, a pound is 454 g, so it barely weighs over a half pound. That makes it easy to carry.
AKASO has introduced the Sight 300, which delivers color-accurate night vision in ultra-low light settings, down to 0.001 lux, without requiring an IR torch. It’s built around a 1/1.79″ low-light CMOS sensor and combines an F/1.0 lens with a quad-core processor to reduce blur and noise, so you get sharp footage day or night.
Traditional NV devices utilize image intensifier tubes, which produce grainy, green images, whereas the Sight‐300 employs digital sensors and AI processing to deliver nearly 99% accurate full-color vision.
(TOM’S SUMMARY-If you’ve ever hunted with NV or more likely seen them used in movies then you know that the norm on NV gear is that it is like you’re seeing green goblins running around. Not so with the ASAKO Sight-300. It gives a full color view. I tested it out more this morning and was again amazed at the vivid colors. The grass was bright green. A big contrast as compared to other NV monoculars that I have tested).
The Sight 300 combines the largest CMOS sensor currently used in night vision equipment with a sophisticated AI-powered image signal processor, delivering vivid, natural color even in near-total darkness (down to 0.001 lux).
As stated above, it’s built for mobility, weighing only about 260 g, and offers sharp 4 K or 2 K recording with real-time noise and blur reduction, both when stationary and in motion.
I have yet to get into testing the filming capabilities of the ASAKO Sight-300 but this is a great feature if you want to film your hunt or just like to film wildlife in general. It uses one of the small microSD Cards. I’d probably suggest that you’d want to buy an extra battery so you can make it through a night of hunting since one battery only lasts 4-5 hours.
I’m taking it on a Texas hog and coon hunt with DiamondBlade Knives in two months.
Can’t wait. Check them out, I think that you’re going to like the ASAKO Sight-300.
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
I’ll be interested in how well it works, especially considering the low price. I don’t hold high hopes because it will most likely have a low resolution sensor.
The link for the product is a Kickstarter! I’d think that would be something you might want to mention in the article. So many of these end up being pie in the sky proposals that take your money and then disappear. No thanks, I like spending my money in the real world.
BTW I’ve read that most hunters (that can afford it!) like to scan with thermal, then have regular NV on the gun, rather than scan with NV. I’d think that thermal would let you find more critters than something that theoretically makes the scene look just like daylight.