We tested the company's new night aiming optics for you as a preview Konus Italia spa which, for several years, has been promoting innovative, high quality products on the market at a truly competitive price. For some time I had the curiosity to confront a 'aiming optics for use in the dark. I did several researches noting that the night vision sector, which until some time ago represented, due to costs and difficulty of finding, an exclusive and specific niche more than anything else for the military and professional sector, today is starting to be much more approachable, creating a lively market with interesting proposals. On the occasion of the IWA Nuremberg fair I had confirmation of this trend, being able to verify directly how the proposal by companies specialized in pointing systems and night optics has become decidedly more consistent. Me too'Italian company Konus, based in Verona, has started a development activity in this sense, and is present on the market with the KONUSPRO-NV 3-8X50, an aiming optic, with the use of digital technology and with characteristics of sturdiness, compactness and ease of use.
Directly at the Fair, in Germany, I contacted the manager of the company who, very quickly, organized the shipment of the sample to the editorial office, to allow me to test it "in the field". Already the first impact was pleasant, the product arrived well protected in an elegant and modern shockproof case. Inside are well housed the telescope main with all the accessories necessary for operation in the night environment (laser illuminator), the two batteries with the universal charger, the cables for connection to the PC and an 8 gig SD card for photos and videos.
From a technical point of view, we are talking about a 'rifle optics with metal structure, 220 mm long, with a weight of 1.102 gr. which comes already equipped with supports for mounting on Weaver and Picatinny rails. The lens is 50 mm and has a variable zoom from 3x to 8x, with a 30/30 reticle. The exit pupil is 8 mm, while the eye relief is 35 mm. The field of view at 100 meters. varies from 15,8 meters. to 3x to 13,1 to 8x. For adjustment, the click value is 10 mm at 100 meters. The maximum declared observation distance is 150 meters. For the firing test we used a rifle cal. 300 Win Mag and, the first operation, the assembly of the optics on the slide, was quick and easy, even if we would like to suggest to the company to include the two Allen screws for the fixings in the kit. We then inserted the rechargeable battery, turned on the instrument, and began our exploration.
We have moved on to the calibration phase, for which we recommend reading carefully, and keeping the instruction manual at hand, more than anything else to memorize the correspondence of the different buttons, cross-positioned on the central body, necessary. to move electronically on the vertical and horizontal axes, and in general to manage the different functions of theoctave. After a few tests, everything becomes immediate and we immediately had the demonstration with the test on target (100 meters), which did not require more than 4 adjustment strokes, confirming the precision of the software and the balanced sensitivity of the keys. Not satisfied, we further tested the alignment resistance to the stresses produced by the rifle. We fired another 8 shots (180 gr) in sequence, verifying that in the end everything remained perfectly unchanged. The first phase of the tests, assembly, calibration and maintenance of the settings, carried out in daylight conditions, was therefore positive, but, it is after a few hours, in the absence of light, that we would have realized the true potential!
We eagerly waited for the sun to set, we sat in front of a nice fire to exchange our first impressions on the result of the test. When darkness finally arrived, we prepared the instrument for the night mode, inserting the rechargeable battery in the laser illuminator, we turned it on and, as they say…. it was day, the woods in front of us suddenly unfolded leaving us pleasantly surprised! For the tests, we did not finalize the action with the killing of the wild, but we committed ourselves to stress the product, to adjust the different magnifications, to verify the sharpness of the images at different distances, and to capture images, taking advantage of the possibility of take photos and videos with the same telescope. At a distance of about 90 meters, it is possible to distinguish with a good level of detail the characteristics of the animal (size, sex), and in our case a probable state of pregnancy.
The images appear quite clear, obviously they look a bit grainy by increasing the magnification but, with the adjustment of the light intensity (electronic adjustment), as well as the focus (manual adjustment), it is still possible to restore the right balance, allowing a good contrast and thus allowing to operate, with relative certainty, a possible correct selective sampling, in compliance with the principles of ethics. At a certain point the wild boars, as they appeared, silently disappeared into the thick of the bush, leaving us a good feeling of euphoria. We returned, with a bit of regret because the show they offered us was really fun and we would have liked to observe them for another time, in front of our comfortable fire and, using the cable supplied in the kit, we downloaded the photos and videos. Scrolling through the images on the screen we were able to relive the most exciting moments and we truly realized the power of the instrument. Regardless of the reasons for which this product is purchased and the intended use, which in any case must be rigorously done in compliance with the uses and methods permitted by law, the night telescope KONUSPRO-NV 3-8X50 has definitely met our expectations proving to be a versatile and functional product, moreover proposed at the very interesting price of 990 €.
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