Spending under $1000 on night vision forces you into the digital realm.
Some night hunters are strictly IIT buyers and others find the versatile design of the digital scope a convenient platform.
Besides, they are cheaper, offer excellent quality night vision, and they have additional perks that IITs can’t offer because, well, they’re digital.
So, what does the new Yukon Sightline N450S and N470S bring to the table that sets them apart from all other digital scopes in the current market?
Let’s scope it out.
Update: Unfortunately, the Yukon Sightline night vision scope has been discontinued. Check out our list of the top night vision scopes for under $1000 for more great options in the same price range.
Quick Overview...
What We Like: Scaled-down digital scope
What We Don’t Like: Heavy
Best Uses: Night Shooting, Day Shooting, Tactical Use, Hunting, Scouting, Varmint Control, Digital NV, Close to Mid-Range Detection
- Sensor: CMOS 1280x720
- Magnification: 6-24x
- FOV: 4.1-degrees
- Display Resolution: 1024x768
- Eye Relief: 50 mm
- Color Modes: White/Black
- Battery: 4 hours
- Dimensions: 12.4 x 3.5 x 3.5”/2.53 lb
Our Verdict: The improved Yukon Sightline NV scope is a welcome addition to the market. When feature-packed scopes are overkill for your needs, you may as well spend less and pay for the features you actually need and use. This would be the Sightline N470S.
Who is the Yukon Sightline N470S Best Suited to?
If getting out there, having quality visibility, and shooting on-point is the goal, you can skip the gimmicks and go with a solid-performing workhorse, the Sightline N470S.
It’s been designed to be easier to use in the dark and has shed the features that most people don’t want to see on their scopes anyway, like WiFi and recording.
If you think you’ll miss the video recording or desire a color display, there are other digital options out there that includes the new, decked-out Sightmark Wraith 4K Max.
For everyone else, the simplicity of the Sightline is what attracts them. We’ve fallen for the streamlined and scaled-down version too.
How Does the Yukon Sightline N470S Perform?
The Sightline N470S may be simple because it lacks the extras that comes with digital scopes, but it lacks nothing when it comes to performance.
It’s a hard worker with its high-resolution sensor and imaging display. The type of night vision quality the Sightline provides is on par with some of the best night vision scopes offered by brands like ATN that is competitive in price and cheaper than Pulsar.
Even though it’s done away with video recording which is almost seen as a digital NV scope staple, it still has all the features you want to see like PiP (Picture-in-Picture), multiple reticles, multiple zeros, and more.
It’s user-friendly and intuitive to use thanks to the lack of a multi-button interface that has been replaced with a single button/controller navigation system.
Its battery life is somewhat of a disappointment, but with a DNV rechargeable battery pack, it won’t cost a fortune to keep this device juiced up. For the price, the N470S offers solid performance and value.
Features & Benefits
Scaled-Down Digital Scope
When Yukon decided to bring things down a notch and put the focus back into night vision essentials, it was a smart business and practical move. They didn’t have to fork out for the tech and the buyer doesn’t need to pay for features they don’t use.
The Sightline N470S embodies the simplified direction the company is taking with this series by leaving out the “non-essential” features that have been deemed so by shooters, hunters, and the brand themselves.
This means the N470S does not have video recording, WiFi connectivity, is not compatible with smart device apps, and does not offer a color display mode.
While it sounds like a long list of what it doesn’t have, it’s not without impressive digital features. This would include fixed, non-scalable, and scalable reticles, One Shot Zero, and more.
Quality Digital Night Vision
The Sightline has a CMOS 1280x760 digital sensor with an AMOLED 1024x768 imaging display. This amounts to excellent resolution and enhanced night vision performance. Although it may seem blasphemous to say to some, it’s not unlike the Pulsar Digisight Ultra N455 when it comes to night vision imaging quality. It’s crisp, clear, and definitely up there with the best digitals that are recently released to the market.
With this is mind, it’s not difficult to believe that it can’t reach the 400 m detection ranges it’s supposed to. It also has a built-in 850 nm IR illuminator for when there’s some good cloud coverage or minimal moonlight.
Day & Night Scope
As a digital scope, it’s safe to use for daylight operation, so you won’t need to dismount the scope which is convenient since it doesn’t come with a quick detach mount. However, you only have a black/white display for day shooting and hunting as you do for night vision. This is because color sensors are limited in NV optics, so it’s not a unique shortcoming to the N470S
If you can get past the monochrome display for day use, you’ll enjoy the 6-24x magnification, multitude of reticles, PiP (Picture-in-Picture) mode, and more.
Obviously, the Sightline is built for night use. It has good detection performance in the dark, a built-in IR, and single button/dial controller for easy operation.
The dial is a big design bonus because it eliminates the need to try to the find the right buttons in the dark. You have the Quick Menu and Main Menu both with a simple layout and is easy to navigate.
Digital Features
As a coyote night vision scope or for whatever kind of night hunting you do, the N470 is up to the job. It has six reticles that includes both MOA and mil-dot types all with illuminated centers. One is fixed at 6x, others are non-scalable, and the rest are scalable.
You can also adjust the brightness and contrast display settings, use the Continuous Zoom feature, and take advantage of the Stadiametric Rangefinder.
The Sightline also has One Shot Zero and Freeze that makes zeroing in a breeze, and getting zeroed in at 100 yards is easily done thanks to the high-resolution sensor. Thanks to the digital tech, you can zero in during the day!
You can save up to 10 zeros per profile and there are three profiles for three different calibers or weapon systems.
PiP mode is a feature that shooters love. It magnifies a portion of the FOV (Field of View) and displays it in a window that is seen on the main screen. This allows you to see the target with magnification while simultaneously viewing the full FOV.
Recoil-Resistance
Go ahead and load this onto your favorite hog gun since it would make for a great hog hunting night vision scope. The Sightline N470S is recoil-rated to 6000 joules. It handles high-caliber rounds and even 12-gauge slugs.
Some of the best night vision scopes don’t offer this kind of recoil resistance as they tend to max out at around 3500 joules which is that of a 308.
Limitations
Heavy
The extra 20mm of aperture that the N470S has over the N450S makes a big difference in terms of weight. While the N450S weighs a light 1.85 lbs, this model weighs in at 2.53 lbs. That’s quite the heft when night vision scopes are losing a ton of poundage in recent offerings.
For example, take the AGM Wolverine-4 NL3 Gen 2+ IIT with its 108mm lens that only weighs 2.6 lbs. Heavy, yes, but it weighs as much as this smaller 70mm scope.
The weight may not be too much of an issue as it’s a standalone scope, but if fatigue does set in, it may coincide with the short battery life of the Sightline anyway. Hope you were productive in the short time.
Popular Questions
The DNV B-Pack is a removeable and rechargeable battery pack that requires 4x AA rechargeable batteries. With use of the built-in IR, it can provide approximately 4 hours of operation. If you opt to use an external IR, you can extend the battery life for longer operation.
As a side note, you can attach an IR to the integrated Weaver lateral rail on the left side.
Yes. The scope has an elevation angle sensor that can be programmed to activate automatic shutdown of the N470S when placed at certain non-shooting angles.
The Yukon Sightline N470S comes with a carry case, battery pack, charging and battery containers (w/charger), mount (w/hardware and tool), lens cloth, and the necessary paperwork.
Other than the physical dimensions and consequent optical differences such as lens size, FOV, and magnification, there are no feature and build quality differences between the Sightline N450S and the N470S digital rifle scopes.
Conclusion
The Yukon Sightline N470S should be a high-standing digital in the market rankings for having quality where it matters.
Build quality is proven with its high recoil-resistant rating, and its competitive performing sensor provides the type of night vision imaging we see in some of the best scopes around.
With great resolution, limited but quality digital features, and a good price point, what more do you need to get shooting in the dark?
Nothin’.
Update: Unfortunately, the Yukon Sightline night vision scope has been discontinued. Check out our list of the top night vision scopes for under $1000 for more great options in the same price range.
Further Reading
