What to look for when buying a Rifle Scope

 What to look for when buying a Rifle Scope

(Above image for illustration only)

Here's what to look for when you make your first purchase of a rifle scope, and it's not just the price. 

The key thing here is Do Not Be Suckered By Marketing Hype

Rifle scopes can easily amount to a much greater cost than a decent rifle but what should you be looking for?

Just quickly here is a list of things I look for but not limited to:

Eye relief distance (can only really be ascertained by "try before you buy" in a physical shop).

Ease of use of Windage and Elevation adjustments.

Now let's see the full lost of things Check this guys video out

Bore Kare Gun Cleaning Kit

 Bore Kare Gun Cleaning Kit

Let's start with a quick overview of what's in this kit.

Check it out

The big brushes

are for the chambers-my kit 30 cal and 22 cal but it can be customised when ordering. Impossible to damage your barrel as the rods are brass, the brushes are phosphor bronze and the wire holding the brushes together is made from aluminium along with an aluminium swaged and tapped adapter that screws into the brass rods. 

The brass rods screw perfectly together and the handle rotates freely. I found the combination of the phosphor bronze brush (for 0.22Cal) and the cotton brush cleaned my barrels of my PCP airguns perfectly!

The Bore Kare  gun cleaning kit also contains 2 very useful plastic tools which can help remove O-rings from PCP's

without damaging O-ring seating surfaces, since they are not made from metal. BoreKare say though that they are more intended fro removing gunk from within the firearm but of course be used for other purposes such as removing O-rings. I know from working with high vacuum systems for over ten years that it's foolish to remove or replace O-rings with metal picks etc as there is always a chance to damage either the O-ring or the O-ring seating surface.

The kit also includes a JAG tip so you can use your own swabs as well!

The Kit is very affordable, the brush materials did not fall apart, and the rods and other components were well made. 

Video showing the results of just using two brushes and zero cleaning fluids coming soon this Friday!

Rovy Von E5 Angel Eyes First Impressions and who this light is for.

 Rovy Von E5 Angel Eyes: First Impressions and who this light is for.

The Rovy Von Angel Eyes E5 (and E7) is a small EDC flashlight with an interesting design and several interesting features. The latter is somewhat customisable since there are 4 different auxiliary LED possibilities: White UV White; Red White Red; White UV White and White Red White. ie E5U, E5R, E7U and E7R models respectively. However, the operation of the E5* and E7* are identical.

Fig. 1 Note the small bit of yellow cord seen in the above image was supplied by the author.

***For the remainder of this article I will only be talking about my model, the E5U (which is shown in all images here).***

What is the Power Source?

The Rovy Von E5 features a dual power source, ie it has an internal high drain Lipo battery (the type that look like little "silver bag/s") and the capacity to take an AAA battery of the following specifications:

1.2V, 1.5V or 3.6V (rechargeable or otherwise).

Fig. 2 Above images shows battery compartment open for insertion of AAA type battery.

Fig. 3 The above image shows a "generic AAA rechargeable 1.2V NiMh battery inside the E5 unit.

Ok so how does one access the battery compartment?

Fig. 4 On one side of the E5 there is a small stainless steel latch. To open the light, firstly orientate the light so that the E5 lettering is facing you, simply press slightly downwards  on the orange anodized Aluminium flashlight head  and then stick a "strong" fingernail under that latch, lift upwards (with light pointing up); swing head away from you, so it will look like Fig. 2.

Provided the the internal battery has not been fully drained the AAA battery is hot swappable and thus allows for continuous lighting whilst changing the battery.

Some Cool Features

This E5 model of mine features a non- radioactive (and we tested it too with our Geiger counter LOL)  "Glow in the Dark" (GITD) polycarbonate housing of which the GITD capacity can be enhanced via activating the internal 365nm medium UV wave LED, as seen in the Figs. 5-7.

Fig. 5

A double click of the lower button activates the 365nm UV LED -hold same button to turn off!

Fig. 6

Fig. 7 

The above image shows how it is easy to locate the GITD flashlight inside of a rucksack, even in broad daylight.

A note about medium wave 365nm UV. This IS harmful for the human eye and one should definitely not stare directly into the beam/light emanating from the E5 as this polycarbonate is NOT blocking all UV emissions (we tested it and when the UV LED is activated, one can still excite external fluorescent materials which are within a 12" (30cm) distance away. Please follow all included safety instructions!

What's Inside of the (Plastic) Box?

Fig. 8

Speaking of Instructions how are the ones that are included with this light?

Fig. 9

The English instructions are all perfectly understandable. As for the German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, I'm afraid we can not comment (yes I'm a non multilingual peasant who is learning Japanese). The instructions for the non-English do not include any of the diagrams which are present for the English instructions, although those diagrams of are of excellent nature and easy to understand with little effort (IMHO).

Fig. 10

There are several other accessories included; Some very strong looking split rings and a nicely polished pocket clip, of which there are 3 positions it can be mounted upon the lamp body.

Fig. 11 a

Fig. 11b (user installed pocket clip)

Also included is a small spare synthetic rubber USB C blanking plug for the USBC port, should you loose or destroy the factory installed one.

Fig. 12

Who is the RovyVon Angel Eyes light for?

ALL gadget freaks pay attention, you will love this small EDC light (I'm not a gadget freak and I love it anyway LOL!).

Fig. 13 

You should note everything I've circled in red. I think for such a small unit these specifications aren't bad at all. Plenty of light for general EDC purposes.

Fig. 14

Note: You can not have only one of the primary LEDs on, both are activated for ALL settings of the primary LED's. It's all or nothing!

What LEDs?

The RovyVon Angel Eyes E5 I own has X2 6500K cool white (70 CRI)  primary LEDs; X2 4000K warm white auxiliary LEDs and one 365nm UV LED. RovyVon state that the 365nm UV LED is ONLY for "charging the GITD case".  Ok, make of this what you want. It could be used for other purposes, use common sense! 

There is no mention of the brand of any of the LEDs in use.

There is a 4000K main (X2) LED option as well.

Fig. 15

The second button activates and toggles between the 2 auxiliary (they call it  "side light") 4000K LEDs, first click 0.3 Lumens (although it appears brighter to the naked eye?), second click both LEDs are activated and supposedly 30 lumens of warm 4000K light; note it is very bright -see Fig. 16 below. Hold button to switch off.

Fig. 16 

Run times for the above 4000K LEDs are 62 hours and 3.5 hours respectively.

The RovyVon Angel Eyes E5 is easy to carry and very much an EDC item

Fig. 17a

Here in Fig. 17, I used the supplied pocket clip to locate the flashlight to my EDC tactical Helikon Tex pack. 

Fig. 17b.

But wait there's more! I use a small 2mm static cord (Figs. 17 b &c) to loop a larks head knot around a plastic D ring in order to totally secure my E5 in the busy urban environment/prevent easy thieving fingers from "lifting" it from my pack whilst travelling in crowded underground metros and railways stations around the globe.

Fig. 17c

Fig. 17 d.

4000K X2 "Sidelight" activation 30 lumens 3.5 hr runtime (internal battery)

Pros and Cons of the RovyVon Angle Eyes E5

Let's start with the CONS** of sorts;

1/ It is NOT IP68 rated but only IP6 rated. That is it is dust proof ONLY. It might survive some light rain but certainly NOT a dunking in heavy rain.

Ok fair enough, to ask for such a flashlight of this size and rated at IP68 is going to be too much and also increase the price unnecessarily IMHO.

2/ You need a strong finger nail to open the locking lever (ok this is actually a good thing as you wouldn't want the thing to come undone every time it rubs against something!).

3/ Comes in an unnecessary plastic box-very ungreen if we have to be serious here; although the box could be used to transport the flashlight, it's not necessary as the E5 can be locked out, so little to zero chance of accidental activation.

4/ The charging circuitry can not charge an external rechargeable battery, only the internal built in battery.

5/ The GITD capacity of the polycarbonate body is not super long lasting but OK and is excited just fine by other light sources than the internal UL LED. Although the internal UV LED will definitely excite it very well.

That's about it for the CONs

The Pros:

1/ Appears strongly built (1.5m drop rated) EDC flashlight for pocket or keychain or even around the neck.

 Rugged casing made from Polycarbonate resin.

2/ Uses a quality stainless steel pocket clip-not flimsy at all.

3/ Hot swappable AAA battery, with a range of AAA types, ie 1.2 Ni-MH 1.5 Alkaline, 3.6V Lithium (and RovyVon just told me that as long as it's the AAA format then 3.7 V will also work just fine!)

4/ The light could be used as a small table top photo/video light as it can be charged whilst using up to the low setting (10lm), I've found for certain photographic applications this is a real bonus! It's not a feature which RovyVon mention but one I have discovered for many such type of small USB lights.

Here the E5 is being powered externally via USB at the same time charging (green light, telling me the Lipo internal is fully charged) the internal battery. Note only the "moonlight" and the "low" settings are the only available settings during charging. 

 Note: The actual exposure using the "low setting"- perfect (the mineral sample I mean!)

RovyVon Angel Eyes E5 being used (see above images) to illuminate a mineral sample. eg the unit is perfect for the mineralogist working in the field, having to take pictures of mineral samples. The color rendition is very very good. 

5/ The light itself looks very cool, 

plus is easy to use. It's not clunky,  ugly or obtrusive in appearance. Could be carried upon a keychain, seen on an office desk, without senior management asking you to remove it as it doesn't "look the part"-yes this type of BS I've encountered many times in the corporate world.

6/ There is a generous 2 way lanyard hole/s for cordage (up to paracord thickness) to be used

and or the supplied steel split rings, to throw some keys into the deal.

7/ A USB C plug is used for the charging port for long life durability. USB type A is the stuff which  manufacturers wants to fail on you, trust me! So when I see a USB Type C being used i know this is not going to be an issue. Talking of durability because there are NO O-rings in service then there are also NO O-rings to fail.

8/ The RovyVon Angel Eyes E5 easy to find/locate in the dark due to the GITD polycarbonate case/body.

Summary

** These are NOT really "CONs" as there are limitations to all equipment as as supplied this E5 worked perfectly and I had zero trouble operating it. I noted some reviewers stating they found it difficult to unlock the head to access the external battery compartment, I had no such "finger trouble" I found the light durable enough to take with me on an all day hike to our "local uranium mine" LOL and back with the only thing glowing was the light and NOT me LOL. 

Seriously, in summary, it's a functional and versatile mini EDC flashlight, yes, it hasn't got SOS, or a strobe but if you're in the big smoke you shouldn't need an SOS function and since this is NOT marketed as a flashlight for the out of doors then that's perfectly OK. Time will tell (like everything) and let's come back and visit this page in a months time after carrying it EDC for another month around the globe.

@BCT
 

PS if you want to get this light and help me out

check here

The new 2024 ACEBEAM H30 A super bright 4000 Lumen headlamp with many great features! Check it out!

 ACEBEAM H30 A super bright headlamp with many great features! Check it out!

Recently I attended IWA 2024 in Germany and whilst there, one of my tasks was to look for innovation and cool products which I could bring to the channel in future reviews. There were many lighting manufacturer's present, among these, the big names etc but I was looking for something new, I mean really new and which could handle the pace of my activities.

I came across the manufacturer ACEBEAM. ACEBEAM is part of the Shenzhen Zenbon Technology Co. LTD.

The H30 headlamp revamped for 2024 , immediately caught my eye, lets have a quick look at it:

For those concerned about packing, plastic have been kept to an absolutely minimum. The main box is made from a sturdy cardboard which seems easily able to be used as a storage box and not some flimsy cardboard materials.

The next thing that my eyes fell upon was the "Number 5" in the top right hand corner. That's right, a FIVE YEAR warranty!

Ok so what does the "fine print actually say? (image below)

The warranty states that if a problem develops (it is defective) within the first 15 days of usage then the headlamp will be replaced. If a problem develops with 60 months after purchase the light will be repaired but there is a charge for replacement parts. Note there are two spare O-rings, they are both of the same dimensions. These 2 O-rings are for the battery seal and and charging port seal. The sealing ports appear to give a generous cover over these O-rings and this is important for the stated water proof rating of IP68 (ie 2m submersion-in this case they do not state a duration however, my experience this is usually around 30 minutes.)

What are the options? Yes, there are several options for this H30 model!

(refer to image below). As you can see, I requested for my "customised model", that the auxiliary LEDs would be RED and a 365nm* Nichia 276A UV LED.

(*more on this later-wait for my field review). The other requirement I was after was for a main LED which was NOT a super cool color temperature but one of around 5000K instead of 6500K because I want a light which is better suited for caving and provide less stress to my eyes and those of others during long trips underground. 

For example: if you have ever been caving (way back in the day but somewhat limited now) using a carbide light you will have noticed that the warm temperature of the acetylene flame is very easy on the eyes, the higher the color temperature the more harsh it is to look at for long duration. This is not a problem when using the light outside with a Kelvin rating of 6500K because there will always be some ambient light no matter how dark but in a cave you will only be looking at this high temperature LED. 

So, from this company and this particular model, one can "Customise" their headlamp within 2 choices for the main lamp (CREE XHP 70.2 5000K LED)  and 3 choices for the auxiliary LEDs (see image below).

The product selection is clearly marked upon the packaging.

Construction Materials

ACEBEAM state that they are machining these bodies from "Durable aerospace grade aluminium" . Ok so this could be anything in the range of the following "aerospace" grades:

2024; 2014; 5052; 6061; 7050; 7068 and 7075 possessing strength equivalent to steel. So you can take your pick here LOL but generally many manufacturers use 7075.

Now all of that being said, the lamp itself is rated for a 1m drop test.

How about the manuals, were they easy to read and understand?

Check my preview video and I'll explain all!

Some technical parameters (shown below)

What accessories are included?

A plastic battery adaptor in order to use a 18650 battery.

The 18650 adaptor is a great idea for maximising the versatility of this H30 headlamp.

An elastic headband with a shape conforming plastic and silicone headpiece/mount to enable the light to be moved through 180 degrees is included. The silicone inserts provide a "sticky" gripping surface for helmet mounting (eg Petzl or any modern climbing helmet etc.). 

There is a spare lamp mounting bracket (this is good). The headband also feature highly reflective 3M type (not saying it is 3m but it does the same thing) reflective material with the words ACEBEAM -ok nothing wrong with some advertising LOL!

Very tough silicone type rubber rings holding the actual headlamp to the strap.

Some Practical Aspects at a Glance

The fact that the light is rated at IP68 tells me (in fact I'm only interested in lights which have this minimum standard for adventure activities), that it should be good when used for caving as the run time at 120 lumens (which in reality is very bright for caving) is over 23 hours- this is a "LOW" setting. 

This is a continuous run time and in my experience on caving trips of up to 24 hours underground, one simply does not have their primary light sources on continuously for the whole trip duration (only beginner cavers tend to do this). So in actual fact one has a pretty damn good "burn time" with this lamp using the supplied 5000mAH battery.

The ACEBEAM H30 can also function as a power bank and that's a good idea in this world where we seem to be tied to electrical devices 24/7. A special dual function USB cable is supplied in order to allow for this but any USBC-USBC cable would also work. The supplied cable will allow standard Type A to USBC charging (see image below).

I'm not going to rehash all of the stuff on their web site as it's easier if you just go there and check it out. I merely wanted to give you some ideas of what I consider important for this headlamp. Another feature I like is that they make a big deal about using constant current rather than PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the brightness etc. PWM can in some instances make it a pain for videography when using such lights and or one can see flickering if under certain circumstances- better to be regulating the current IMHO.

They say that at 4000 lumens it will run for 2 hours however, this will be totally dependent upon the ambient temperature and how often the circuitry needs to adjust the brightness to prevent the H30 lamp from overheating. 

Speaking of heat management, I noted that the body has been very interestingly milled in a sort of asymmetric design where the region closest to the LEDs is thicker wall diameter. 

Speaking of temperature, the ACEBEAM H30 is rated from -20C to 65C! So whilst we could easily stand -20C (with the right mindset and clothes approaching the South Col on Everest- we would be hard pressed to get to 65C without dropping dead.

The front port of the main lamp is constructed from toughened glass, NOT plastic- can't beat that. 

Plus I like the "orange peel" type reflector.

Now what is the business end? In my case (remember I said this H30 from ACEBEAM is slight customisable)

If you're into aesthetics, then the H30 lamp housing has been hard anodized (Type III, they state in the manual) and the ACEBEAM H30 can be locked out to prevent accidental activation from within a pack (6s hold down for the orange switch). The "key stroke"/button pressing/holding time is 6 seconds to lock and 6 seconds to unlock. This duration in my opinion is good because shorter durations can be achieved accidentally from within a pack.

Some marketing on potential (see image below) user applications: I'll be investigating these in the forthcoming serious video (as apposed to the "preview video" coming soon.

What does 4000 Lumens mean in terms of practical human interpretation?

In total darkness such as a cave, and normal healthy eyesight, one can easily "see" at 10 lumens, their surroundings possibly as far away as 10m! 

At 30 lumens output, (in the same environment), it is possible to move freely within a cave, albeit, not with any rapidity.

At 100-120 lumens, it is easily possible to cave freely but not necessarily illuminate objects clearly at a distance of 50m and beyond.

200 Lumens and above is way more than enough for expedition caving activities. I use a cave as an example because one can not get any "darker' than zero light and thus one's iris will be exerting it's maximum effect upon the pupil in order for the maximal amount of light to enter the eye, hence the eye will be at it's most sensitive.

Anything above 200 lumens, especially if focused or the lighting system possesses the capacity to focus an output into a beam will be able to highlight distance features which can enable better logistics of travel underground to be obtained.

So now let's discuss 4000 lumens.

Outside of a cave, super bright lights could be disadvantageous because of unwanted reflections from surrounding vegetation or using such brightness levels during fog. So it really depends upon where one is trying to use 4000 lumens. Bear this in mind when considering purchasing a headlamp purely based upon light output. Run time is paramount IMHO along with IP68 rating as mandatory for any extreme sports or activities.

What don't I like?

Well I think if one wants to reduce the chance of damage to your O-rings on this unit then they should be removed BEFORE installing the headlamp holder.

AND, that the shore hardness could be harder. i doubt they are like 60-70 as they feel very soft. The softer they are the more prone to damage over time.

So if these features interest you, then you had better stick around to hear what I have to say about this H30 Headlamp from ACEBEAM, because the specs on it certainly interested me.

The lamp was supplied with a only partially charged Li ion battery (this is completely normal for shipping requirements)

Red light battery charging.

Charging time for their supplied ACEBEAM 5000mAH rated 21700 battery was of course over 1 hour using a 2A USB mains charger (completely normal for a 5000 mAh 21700 battery from basically flat status).

 Green light showing fully charged battery status.

STICK AROUND!

BCT

Preview!!!! Caving test**

Ok initial findings after caving with my new ACEBEAM H30

Did it pass or fail the 2m water test?

Yes and No.

Whilst this light performed flawlessly for all functions, at the end of the day when we removed the cap covering the charging port, there was a very small amount of water inside of the cap. The only way water could have got on the threads was to pass via the O-ring seal. 

We carefully examined both metal sealing surfaces and they were perfectly made. The next thing we examined was the O-ring itself and found that there could have been the tiniest defect within the moulding section. 

Seen here:

Why did I say NO?

Because there were zero signs of water having entered the light whilst it was submerged at 170cm precisely for just under 2 minutes and the light itself was functioning totally normally for ALL functions for the next 3.5 hours of caving and filming underground. In fact the light was functioning totally normally even when we returned home. It was not until I removed the cap the next day that I detected that a very small amount of water had entered the inside of the charging port.

ALL lights purporting to be IP68 rated to 2m have at their weakest point any seals whether these are: permanent seals or those meant to be changed by the user, such as battery cover O-rings or charging port O-rings. The cheapest of components within the design and structure of such lighting apparatus. The manufacture of such components are subject to faults and thus if "mission critical"  such as is the case for caving applications and or diving applications/mining applications, then the system will have a high probability of failure during adverse but not over excessive operating conditions.

We have now changed out this O-ring and will re-test the light down to 170cm for just under 2 minutes and see if this indeed the problem and report back.

Stay tuned.

** Here at @BushCampingTools we go to great extremes to thoroughly test out manufacturer's equipment and as such when a product is listed by a manufacturer as being IP68 (an international standard) we aim to really prove this. So in the interests of "fairness" I'm not yet prepared to "fail" this product as the installed O-ring may have been the problem (there could be another slight issue but i must conduct further tests).

Finally, I'd like to point out the ACEBEAM H30 performed flawlessly in an extremely harsh environment-you will no doubt see this footage of some extreme caving. So if it's just an O-ring then let's not be ridiculously harsh as O-rings are vital for diving lights as well and i ask; how many of you actually check the O-ring/s on your brand new dive light BEFORE diving with it for the first time?

How about caving photography? Q: How is the 4000 Lumen Turbo-Max setting for stills photography? Camera ISO setting 200.

A: Pretty damn good I'd say!

This image taken from a fairly large cavern. The 5000K light shows good rendition of natural colours. There has been zero photoshop filters or color corrections applied.