I went night hunting once several years ago, bought an ATN X-sight for that. Wasn't real pleased with the battery life on it, but other than that it did ok.
Now, I'm going again in April and I can't figure out what I should do for a night optic. Buddy is strongly recommending an AGM unit. Only thing in my price range would be 256 units, which from what I've seen have terrible image quality. That's just what you get with such a small sensor. The new V2 does have longer battery life @ 11 hours, which looks really good.
So, I started looking at ATN again, they have the X-sight 5 out now. Longer battery life, higher resolution, but when I dig into it more I'm finding that they are having real firmware issues and it's hit or miss on getting a good one. RAV doesn't always work, sometimes you they don't even store zero. ATN has actually offered customers an even exchange for an older unit! It also has an integral battery and some pretty sad waterproofing.
So...what else is out there? I've seen a little info on PARD, the units look pretty good even with the lower resolution. Sightmark Wraith? Are either of those good?
Thermal just seems out of my price range if I want a good image. So, I guess I could use some suggestions for a decent quality night vision scope. Replaceable battery, 8 hour or so battery life. Integrated illuminator sounds like a good idea, not sure though. Less than $1000 I guess.