ATN 4K Pro Firmware Update

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

ATN released, what they call, a critical update to the firmware for the X-Sight 4K Pro scope series.  Here's what's in this update:

RELEASE NOTES:
New Features:
Smart MIL-Dot reticle
RAV Sensitivity Calibration
Fixed bugs:
Display Screen Optimization
WiFi Communication
Improvement Minor bug fixes

I successfully did the update and played with it a little this afternoon.  Here are my initial thoughts:

The Smart MIL-Dot reticle can be configured for MIL or MOA and the graduations can be changed to fit your needs.  They call it smart because as you zoom out the distance between the graduations increase.  It fills the entire viewing area and to me, the reticle was way too busy and distracting.  If they were going to add a new reticle, I'd have preferred if it was just a dot with no other markings at all.  If you're shooting rats like I do, I'm afraid they'd be lost behind the huge, distracting reticle.  I'm may play with it some and increase the graduations so there are less hash marks and that might help some, but I'm not sure how much.

They claim to have conducted tests to 22 Air rifles and 22 Long Rifles, successfully increasing the sensitivity of RAV.  I calibrated it per their instructions with the scope mounted to my Crown.  It activated maybe once or twice during a 10 shot string and when it does it's random, so it's not consistent, nor is it reliable.  My recommendation would be to just manually start recording prior to taking a shot if you want to be sure to capture it on video, because even though this is an improvement (it never activated while mounted to any PCP other than the Evanix Air Speed before), it's not consistent enough nor reliable enough to guaranty you will capture a video recording of your shot. 

So, despite all the hoopla surrounding this earth shattering release, I'm not all that impressed! 

[cootertwo]

Yup, ATN just does baby steps. Look at how many firmware updates, since the release of the product. Heck, they still pop out an update for the old X-sight ll, once in awhile. I've got one of the older ones, and 2 of the 4K version. They all work OK. Not at all like looking through a nice regular scope, but they work. Night is where they shine. Only problem I have with the recording, is remembering to turn it off! Ha!

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Steve, I have one of each, I wish they would come out with an update for the older X-Sight II and make the interface the same as on the 4K!  There are too many extra steps every time you have to re-zero the X-Sight II, they need to add it as a shortcut on the main menu like it is on the 4K Pro.

Have you upgraded yet?  Just curious if you'll have any better luck with the new RAV calibration than I did.  In its current rendition, I find it worthless since it's hit or miss if it will activate or not.  With rats you don't get a second chance, they are either dead or gone!  LOL!  If the video isn't recording then it's a video you'll never be able to review. 

What are you thoughts on the Smart MIL-Dot reticle? 

Also, I just read on the ATN Owner's forum that a guy who upgraded yesterday tried to use his today and it was trashed.  He says it turned itself on over night and locked up and after several attempts to turn it on and off it's still just a blank screen.  I'm almost afraid to go check mine this morning! 

[cootertwo]

Hi Paul, no, I have not done the latest update yet. I don't use the RAV thing, and I'm not interested in the new reticle. So I may hold off and see how others do.

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

LOL!  Probably a smart decision!   

[gendoc]

im glad i read this, i will wait also....

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

When I did initial the calibration the values were in the 2.5 - 2.7 FPS range. I’m not sure what it’s measuring, but the values that show up in the upper left corner while calibrating it were all over the place!  I have see values from .9 FPS to 30 FPS displayed.
 

I recalibrated it today and this time I only accepted the lower numbers. I think they were .9, 1.2, and 1.7 FPS. I tried it again, and while it’s not perfect, it was much better. It did activate the RAV on 4 out of 5 shots, but it also activated once when I cocked the rifle!  I probably should have passed on the .9 reading and just accepted 3 reading that were in the 1.2 – 1.8 range. I’ll keep playing with it. I did enjoy the RAV feature when I had my air speed, so it would be great if I could figure out how to get it working reliably on my Crown! 

[BackStop]

I don't own any ATN scopes, but I was just wondering if you can revert back to a previous firmware easily or at all?

Thanks!

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

I don't own any ATN scopes, but I was just wondering if you can revert back to a previous firmware easily or at all?

Thanks!

Yes you can, you just need to rename the file with a number that's sequentially higher than the current version loaded in the scope.  For example, the current version is 3.1.08.436 (xsight4k_3_1_08_436.bin), the last version was 3.1.06.386 (xsight4k_3_1_06_386.bin), so to revert from the current version to the previous version, just rename the previous version file name from xsight4k_3_1_06_386.bin to xsight4k_3_1_08_437.bin and upload it to the scope.  If you want to install the new update later, you just rename it from xsight4k_3_1_08_436.bin to xsight4k_3_1_08_438.bin.

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Played with the new features a bit more today, I'm warming up to them...  First, I recalibrated the RAV (Recoil Activated Video recording) and I think I nailed it!  The magic numbers for the Crown were 1.1 ft/s; 1.2 ft/s; and 1.3 ft/s.  It's now reliably activating the video recording with every shot!  Here's sample shooting the Crown with the short 380mm barrel, Huma 40 Compact+ LDC, off the BOG DeathGrip tripod from 35 yards with JSB Hades .22 pellets.



I also played with the Smart Reticle some more.  I found that when I use the MIL-Dot setting at 1.5, it's not as busy.  The problem is the reticle in the video (second shot above) is larger than the dot I like when shooting rats (reticle in the first shot above).  Jury is still out on the Smart Reticle, I like it for shooting, I just wish the image in the video was the same as what you see on the scope screen while shooting...

[Nathan36]

I've done the most recent update and haven't had any freezing issues. Before the update it would freeze if I tried to access the menu too soon after start up. I like the 4K Pro in the extended range mode. It gives me much more digital magnification, but the clarity goes way down. I'm still playing with which reticle I like best. I go back and forth between the T and the small circle most.

Nathan

[BackStop]

I've done the most recent update and haven't had any freezing issues. Before the update it would freeze if I tried to access the menu too soon after start up. I like the 4K Pro in the extended range mode. It gives me much more digital magnification, but the clarity goes way down. I'm still playing with which reticle I like best. I go back and forth between the T and the small circle most.

Nathan

That is the problem with "digital zoom" versus "optical zoom".

Digital zoom simply shows you a smaller amount of pixels, but the image size is the same, thus the loss of clarity/resolution.

Optical zoom actually enlarges the size of the image onto the same number of pixels.

I am not good at explaining this, but digital zoom "Electroluxes/Hoovers" and optical zoom is good.  (grin)