As a new player on the block, Pard Technology has most definitely made an impression on the night shooting crowd.
The NV008 is relatively new to market, but it has seen some upgrades that decks out its digital capabilities and is why it’s been coined the NV008 Plus.
This model is consistently being compared to ATN’s X-Sight and Sightmark’s Wraith night vision scopes.
What’s so great about it that it can be compared to big-brand scopes?
Let us hunt it out.
Quick Overview...
What We Like: Day & night modes
What We Don’t Like: Poor QD mount
Best Uses: Night Shooting, Day Shooting, Tactical Use, Hunting, Scouting, Varmint Control, Digital NV, Close-Range Detection
- Sensor: CCD 1080P HD
- Magnification: 6.5-13x
- FOV: 40-degrees
- Display Resolution: 1024x768
- Eye Relief: 35 mm
- Color Modes: Day & Night
- Battery: 6-8 hours
- Dimensions: 6.4 x 2.1 x 2.7”/1 lb
Our Verdict: If you’re prepared to deal with shimming the QD mount that comes with the Pard NV008, you’ll be more than pleased with it. Its performance, price point, and additional features outweigh the tediousness of its inherent mount design. If you have a varmint rifle that is perfect for the NV008, this is a must-have.
Who is the Pard NV008 Plus 6.5-13X Best Suited to?
The Pard NV008 Plus is an excellent night vision scope for beginners, rimfire rifle shooters, and varmint hunters.
With its price point of Under 1K, it’s also an affordable night vision scope that puts it right within budget.
If you want the bells and whistles of digital night vision that includes multiple reticles, One Shot Zero, high resolution photo and video, and dual color modes, Pard has kept up with the digital trend in the NV008.
How Does the Pard NV008 Plus 6.5-13X Perform?
Budget night vision that actually works! That about sums up the Pard NV008. It’s a fantastic, little scope that is well-priced for its features and performance.
It’s a favorite of the masses that beats out ATN according to critical shooters, and it even comes in lighter than the new ATN X-Sight LTV with its 1 lb weight! It’s extremely compact and yet rugged with its waterproof and 300G shock-proof build.
While it can handle recoil up to a .308, its design is more for rimfire rifles as it’s essentially a zero eye relief scope. It also needs to clear the action of a bolt action rifle because the mount puts this scope rearward a good distance.
It provides excellent detection for nighttime hunting, and since it’s a digital, it’s suitable for daylight shooting in color. The new Pard NV008 underwent upgrades in 2019, so newer models will be slightly different to previously released versions hence the new 6.5-13x magnification.
It also has an internal battery that is rechargeable and provides 6-8 hours of operation.
Features & Benefits
Day & Night Modes
Pard isn’t very transparent on the type of sensor that is used for the NV008 Plus, but it’s apparent that it’s a color sensor that allows for both Day and Night modes and is advertised by some as having a CCD camera.
To achieve a color display for daytime shooting and hunting, light filters through pixels that can filter wavelengths through three subpixels to provide a color display, essentially red, blue, and green. You can sight in for 50-100 yards and take advantage of the wide 40-degree FOV (Field of View).
Come low-light, switch into Night mode which is a Black/White display. Imaging is a little grainier at max magnification, but for the close-range distances you need within 200 yards, it will more than do. The reticle is illuminated and thin and allows for high visibility and accurate POIs (Point of Impact).
Close-Range Detection
With no IR on a half-moon light, you can see out to a solid 100-150 yards. With the built-in 850 nm IR illuminator, you can stretch those distances to an effective 200 yards. If you were to equip your own more powerful IR, you can likely get out to 250 yards.
With the on-board IR, there is little white-out, and it performs adequately for the job since it can also be adjusted for focus and intensity. For the low price of this scope, the Pard digital day/night scope offers superb performance and value.
Varmint Hunting Night Vision Scope
The Pard NV008 is excellent for varmint hunting from squirrels to foxes and is great for coyote hunting. It’s a great scope for rimfire rifles and can possibly be mounted to bolt actions up to .308 if you can get it seated to allow the action to clear.
While it may be able to handle the recoil of popular hunting rounds such as the .223, .270, and .308, they seem overkill for this little scope. It also has extremely unforgiving eye relief, so it’s better suited to air and rimfires anyway.
For varmint hunting, you may even be using an AR and the NV008 would make an excellent night vision scope for an AR-15. You can save up to five zeros.
Noteworthy Features
The digital scope also allows for WiFi connectivity for footage transfer to a device. It records video and automatically records audio. When you use the NV008 for photos, it takes very high resolution still images with 2592x1944 resolution.
Not only is it good for transferring footage, it also provides essential benefits such as firmware updates and access to additional digital features.
You also have an integrated Picatinny mount for attaching a laser rangefinder or external IR flashlight.
The night vision scope is also IPX7 rated, so it’s fully waterproof and protected up to 1 m for 30 minutes when submersed.
The Pard is likely one of the most compact and lightweight night vision scopes in the industry for a standalone model. It’s only 6.4” in length and weighs a featherlight 16 oz.
Limitations
Poor QD Mount
To be completely honest, the included Quick Detach mount needs redesigning. It’s high off the rail and the scope points too high above the barrel. You will need to shim the scope as it will shoot low. This is an interesting point because shims are included with the buy.
If you have a dovetail with adapters, shimming will be straightforward. For Picatinny rails, you will definitely need adequate shimming devices to lift the back-end up. But seeing as that is a temporary fix and not an ideal method, you may want to replace or add a higher quality one that also provides additional mechanical elevation and windage adjustment.
You also don’t want to over-torque the mount as it will snap under too much tightening. Once you have mount issues squared away, it will be a breeze to zero.
Popular Questions
The Pard NV008 has always had 6.5-12x magnification, but recently Pard released a new firmware update that upgrades the magnification to an effective 13x to provide both 1x and 2x zoom.
The primary difference between the two models is that the NV007 is a rear-sight night vision clip-on that mounts directly to the eyepiece bell of the daytime scope. The NV008 is a standalone scope and functions alone without use of a daytime scope.
The Pard NV008 Plus has a One Shot Zero feature with reticle adjustments via X/Y axes like any other One Shot Zero on a comparable digital scope. It really should be called 2-Shot Zero because you should always confirm you have zero with a follow-up round or two after saving the adjusted coordinates. Simply aim for the bull’s-eye, adjust the X and Y axes for the POI, save the adjustments, and shoot bull’s-eye to confirm.
It’s extremely lightweight and can be used as a handheld monocular. It’s lowest magnification of 6.5x also makes it appropriate for handheld use as it’s easy to steady and stabilize the image. The reticle can be switched off for monocular viewing.
Pard Technology provides no warranty information or online manual to retrieve any information. It’s known that Pard Tech provides a 1-year warranty on their NV007 model, so the same can be assumed for the NV008.
It would be wise to purchase a protective coverage plan from your vendor of choice or ensure they have some sort of return/refund window.
Conclusion
For those who have bought the NV008, they’ve learned the system, figured out its tweaks, and they are ecstatic with the finished result and its performance.
For an underdog brand, Pard Tech has brought some decent competition to the big boys like ATN, Yukon, and the rest. For a new scope, it’s attracted a lot of attention and is well-deserving of it.
There’s no doubt that it’s a high-performing scope for the money and is perfect for standard nighttime hunting distances.
Further Reading
