Introducing the new AGM Neith DS324MP 2.5x20x (8x Digital Zoom) Day/Night Scope.

Here are my first impressions after spending the last couple days with it, both Friday night around the house, and after mounting it, and taking it to the range and zeroing it yesterday while we had good weather.

I have messed with other highend (at the time) thermals and NV scopes in the past that belonged to other people, but this is my first actual personal purchase of anything NV/Thermal related. I'm glad I waited, because technology has REALLY come a long way, and AGM just raised the bar in a HUGE way! This thing only costs $799, and it is the clearest NV I've looked thought, handsdown... Even though it gets a bit grainy on the topend of the magnification range, it is still noticeably better than the most expensive NV scopes (on their clearest and best settings) that I'd looked through up to about 10 years ago. And it has WAY more menu and reticle options and color options than I've ever seen on one in the past. Up until the last few years, civilian NV/Thermal technology was extremely watered down, and the really good stuff would cost you as much as a new truck. So it was really out of the average person's monetary capabilities.

Just to clear up a couple of things that also confused me at first because I wasn't thinking clearly after a really long week at work. At first I was like WTF is going on, it won't go past 8x! I must be doing something wrong??? Then it finally hit me like a ton of bricks... The scope is a 2.5x to 20x magnification scope. But the digital zoom multiplies at 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x settings. The scope has a base magnification of 2.5x (at 1x digital zoom). Which means you take the base magnification (2.5x) at 1x digital zoom, and multiply every zoom setting by 2.5 to get your actual image magnification.

So, the mathematical breakdown of Digital Zoom Setting vs. Actual Image Magnification is:

1x = 2.5x
2x = 5x
4x = 10x
8x = 20x

Here are the few cons I found after evaluating it:

1.) The only cons I can find (so far) is that I would really like to see the image quality tightened up in the higher magnification ranges for zeroing/sightingin, especially on a black ShootNSee target. I had to use a spotting scope because I couldn't make out the precise location of my shots. But with a good clear highmagnification spotter/binos/scope handy, sighting it in was a breeze.

2.) The factory 18650 batteries they sent with it do not last very long at all, and only last a few hours with the "SmartIR" feature on, and not putting it in "Standby Mode" in between shot strings.

3.) The Record button needs to be removed from the menu wheel, and recessed into the scope body as an independent button. It should be a Start/Stop record button that is recessed into the body of the scope, so it doesn't accidentally bet bumped and turned on. I set the rifle down on its side and every time I did, it turned on the recording because the button sticks out from the side, and got bumped. I think that part needs to be reevaluated and there should be an independent Record button on the top of the unit away from getting accidentally pushed.

In summation... I am extremely impressed with this unit for the price. There are a couple of things I would like to see tweaked, but overall, if you're wanting to get into the NV game for a really good price, or, you just need something relatively inexpensive for your "truck gun" that you tote around your property or woods, but don't want to drop thousands on a thermal, this would be a great option. And IMO, I haven't seen anything below twice this price that even comes close. AGM really knocked this one out of the park.

I got mine from Midway USA, but there's plenty of other reputable AGM dealers out there, like EuroOptic. I buy from both of them a lot. They're both excellent companies.