ATN X-Sight HD Day/Night Riflescope Review
Part 4 - Potential Bugs & Issues Needing Firmware Updates
10/8/15

ATN X-Sight Review

In this part of my ATN X-Sight review, I'm trying to compile my views on potential firmware issues and opportunities for improvement that I think I have found during my reviews.  Since X-Sight has already had many firmware updates from the time I received my first riflescope, I'm not going to back track in time to document any past problems.  Therefore, I'm going to start with the firmware version 1.8.06.296 which is the basis for much of this review and then try to look at future firmware updates to see if these issues are being resolved.  As I believe issues are resolved by either firmware updates or a better education on my part, and I will show them fixed with a green check and try to give some commentary when possible.  The text shading below indicates; green - the issue is fixed, yellow - an opportunity for improvement still exists, red - an issue still exists.

 

Evaluation 1: Firmware Version 1.8.06.296

  1. GPS feature cannot be turned on and I believed it is intentionally disabled for this firmware version. Fixed, GPS can be enabled.
  2. Magnification indicator on the Info Bar shows the icon only and not the zoom power (i.e. 1x, 2x, etc.).   Actually, this is not an issue after all.  You must select the "Lens Type" under the "Setup" menu for the device to know which lens range to use for the calculations.
  3. Magnification indicator on the screen shows the field of view zoom graphic only and not the zoom power (i.e. 1x, 2x, etc.).   Actually, this is not an issue after all.  You must select the "Lens Type" under the "Setup" menu for the device to know which lens range to use for the calculations.
  4. When synced with a smart phone and streaming video via the "View Finder" mode, you cannot record video or take photos with the X-Sight riflescope.
  5. It is not possible to view videos or photos through the X-Sight view finder, although they have added a feature to allow you to view them with your mobile device when connected via WiFi.
  6. ATN is experimenting with a Ballistic Compensation feature.  At the moment, the input variables are muzzle velocity, distance, wind speed and wind direction.  I feel this ballistic compensation feature would be a fantastic feature, but the input variables do not cover some of the most critical data such as sight height, zero range and ballistic coefficient of the bullet.  This is one area where updating the firmware has the opportunity to add a huge capability to this unit as long as this feature meets certain ballistic calculation standards.
  7. When at the first screen menu, the camera feature allows you to turn the delayed photo feature On and set the number of seconds between photos.  When using this feature, you cannot decrease the number of seconds and you cannot turn the delayed photo feature Off.  You can now scroll through and turn this feature Off or start over at 2 seconds again.
  8. Video resolution according to the specifications is 1080p at 30fps & 720 at 60fps, but only 1080p could be selected in the Video Resolution selection menu. 720 at 60fps now enabled.
  9. Micro HDMI port is not operational in this version of firmware.
  10. If you play your videos using Windows Media Player, the default codex library that comes with this Media Player may not play the audio recorded in your video file.  You can hear the audio if you open the video using Windows Movie Maker which might be installed on your computer.  After discussing this with ATN, they recognized the codex issue and suggested using the VideoLAN free VLC media player.  I downloaded the free player and it worked like a champ.  Since this detail was not formally addressed in their manual and may be interpreted as an issue by the consumer, I feel like this represents an issue which should be corrected by firmware or a Operator's Manual update.  My guess is it will be in the manual.
  11. Many of the photos I tried to take when not taking video using the night mode came out as very dark images (nearly all black). It appears this may be fixed.  I was not able to reproduce the issue.
  12. The "Light Amplification" settings seem to always work with "Low" and "Medium", but sometimes the "High" setting produced a nearly all dark image.

Evaluation 2: Firmware Version 1.8.07.343

I have taken a look at the items identified in the previous version of firmware and updated the text in Evaluation 1 and shaded that text as needed.  If anything above is shaded red, it is still an issue. The below were identified when evaluating connecting a mobile device via WiFi when doing Part 8 of the review.  In fairness, I shaded some of these yellow because I'm not sure if this is ATN related or my mobile device related.

  1. If your battery dies with the WiFi turned "On", when you turn your X-Sight back on, you may have to go back into the settings and turn the WiFi "Off" and then back "On" again to actually make the WiFi signal broadcast.
  2. Sometimes the reticle would shift into the upper left corner when displaying on the mobile device.  It would always stay in the correct position on the X-Sight.  Typically this would happen during time of instability with the video streaming.  I shaded this yellow because I'm not sure if this is ATN related or my mobile device related.
  3. There still seems to be some instability using the WiFi features.  Usually the first time you start streaming video it will typically work because you go through a set of steps that ensures things happen in the right order (my interpretation).  If you get out of that order while trying to reset the system, you can still connect your mobile device to the X-Sight and use the GALLARY and SETTINGS modes, but the VIEW FINDER mode may come up with a "streaming" error.  To dependably restart streaming, I found the following steps were necessary.  There may be other sequences, but this was the one I found to regularly work.
    1. Close the app on the mobile device
    2. Turn off WiFi on the X-Sight
    3. Turn off the X-Sight
    4. Turn on the X-Sight
    5. Turn on the WiFi on the X-Sight
    6. Ensure your mobile device reconnects to the X-Sight
    7. Restart the app
  4. The reticle did not display on the iPad.

If you see an issue with your X-Sight that I have not already listed, please leave a comment below.  I will confirm the issue if possible and add a note in the above.  Please only identify issues with firmware versions listed above or higher.

For more detailed photos and commentary, make sure you check out the other parts of this review and feel free to leave comments below.  The following links are provided to help you see other parts of this review. 

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