BushnellNight Vision_Equinox Z2 Monocular

Good for the price point... Other reviews are correct that (1) it's best for stationary use like a spotting scope, (2) it does seem to be a 1080p sensor with 640ish display in the eyepiece... but you can still get a good sharp image, and (3) the built in illuminator is remarkably bright. Overall recommended, good for spotting deer in the yard in the dark and such.

This Bushnell monocular (I bought the 6x50 model) will provide real easy identification of objects in total darkness.Using the inbuilt IR I was viewing possums among my pine trees at over 200 yards. Then I turned off the internal IR and mounted the monocular on a tripod. I shone my Coyote Cannon 850 nm IR torch onto the target area and the viewfinder was lit up like daylight - so much that I could make out details well beyond 600 yards in total darkness! This required a little digital zoom of around 1.5 times. I recommend this Bushnell monocular, either as a stand alone, or combined with a powerful IR torch for those extra long range observations. Only minor downside is battery life.

When other reviewers mention the tunnel vision, they are not exaggerating. I'm 61. My dad had Bushnell binoculars all my life. The design was perfect and the optics were the best around. So I trusted Bushnell. Not anymore.The Equinox Z2 Monocular is a perfect example of what happens when someone puts idiots in charge of a good name. The tunnel vision is not a result of the magnification. Some idiot put the screen you look at at the end of a long tunnel. It looks like you are looking at a tiny screen that is far away. There is no reason for such a piss poor design. Other optics do not do this. Other optics put the viewing screen at a reasonable, comfortable distance from the eye. It's not hard to do.I haven't evaluated the other features yet, but so far my impression is... this thing is a worthless piece of junk. The engineers for no apparent reason deliberately hobbled the basic usability of this device.I regret making this purchase.

The media could not be loaded. EDIT: For anyone having issues with battery life: I purchased AA style, rechargeable Li-ion batteries and they do not disappoint. Bushnell recommended these in the manual and what a difference. I've gone from either using a battery pack or getting 15 minutes to several hours on the LI batteries and still not even down to half a charge.I received this in the mail yesterday as a secondhand Amazon purchase. First, let me say, for the price, it's going to be hard to beat. I've seen mixed reviews but most negative ones were focused on the battery life, power of the IR beam, and the screen being too low of a resolution. I'll share what I found in just a few hours of messing with this:1.) The battery life with traditional batteries is atrocious. Then again, this thing is essentially a video camera with a light constantly running. And although our eyes don't perceive it, it's a bright light in terms of power consumption. You will be lucky to get 20 minutes on a full, new set of standard or rechargeable batteries.That being said, I ran this with a 10,000 mAh li-ion power bank for close to an hour without depleting a quarter. I have to wait for the rechargeable AA li-ions to get here before I can attest to how long they will last. Bushnell could definitely throw in a rechargeable battery unit for this price point and probably have a lot better sales for little extra cost.2.) Several people were complaining about distance of use. Using the on board illuminator, I was able to see and focus on objects around 400 yards on a cloudy, low light night, and hand holding the device. This device is a camera, and as such, to gain the maximum function, there are some trade offs. A slower shutter speed setting will allow more light into the sensor between opening and closing. The slowest "refresh" setting will allow you to see farther, but will result in a more "ghostly" look to the user. If you're viewing items that are closer, you can get away with using the fastest refresh of the three options and gain sharper imaging. This only allowed me to see around 100 yards with good brightness.I also added an IR flashlight clipped into a light holder for a bike. A pack of four was around $10 on amazon and you can use 1/4-20×1/2 inch machine screws to fit almost any female tripod mount. I bought the 940 nm light due to the fact that the onboard is an 850 nm. The 850 will give you a slightly brighter detail but the 940 nm allows more covert use, as it is presents as almost invisible even looking directly into the light.3.) The viewing screen is fairly low resolution and grainy but that is to be somewhat expected in a lower end night vision unit. The same goes with low end thermal units. It is a digital replication and presentation versus an optical one. It's not going to be perfect. Zooming about halfway on a subject will allow for better ability to focus. Since it is digital zoom, the focus will not change when zooming back out, given that you do not change it and your subject stays stationary. The diopter adjustment seems to be extremely limited, however.All in all, when used properly, it seems to be a great unit at this price point. It could stand to probably be built slightly sturdier but it can give some great quality viewing.

This is basically a CMOS digital camera with a switchable IR filter and IR-friendly optics. It is pretty sensitive to near-IR but not far-IR (i.e., heat) so it does not directly replace a true image intensifier. The image sensor has 1080p resolution but the eyepiece display is much coarser; it looks more like 640x480. The eyepiece diopter adjustment is very limited; I am 66 with age-related presbyopia and I could not get it to fully accomodate when wearing glasses calibrated for distance vision. The battery cap is difficult to replace: it has a strong spring force that must be overcome while at the same time attempting to start a fine thread and it tends to crossthread unless you are very careful. I bought the Z2 with the suggested NiMH rechargeable cells; these seem to work okay although the battery indicator never shows full charge since their voltage is lower than alkaline cells. There is no provision for an external power source. The IR illuminator is very powerful even at the low setting and uses the battery up quickly. The WiFi function works reasonably well with the Android and iOS apps although there is a 1/2 second lag with the live view; that makes focusing difficult. The processor locked up on a few occasions when trying to transfer a picture via WiFi or USB. Sometimes when attempting to record video to an empty, freshly formatted SD Card it would fail and required a power cycle to work again.