Pard NV-007

NV devices, like thermal imagers, are constantly changing but one thing remains constant, people like a bargain! The PARD NV-007 has been lurking around these shores for a few years now and interweb types and forum buffs have been raving about them. My phone has a torch only and I don’t forum at all, so I came to it indirectly as Pard-Tech made in China have no official importer, so JMS Sporting had been supplying a lot to their customers.

Retailing at £399 for a rear-mounted digital device that can be also used as a handheld viewer too, I was to discover that you get a lot for your money and it’s quite surprisingly a well-made and durable little piece of night time kit.

Spec

The NV-007 comes in a case that holds the device, coupler, battery, cloth and charging cable, as well as instructions and insulating tape for fitment to your scope’s eyepiece! The only thing that is missing is an SD card for recording images or video. It’s a tough little piece of kit, consisting of a black polymer shell, rubber eyepiece and aluminium sleeve coupling. It weighs only 250 grams, so is light on the back of the scope you mount it to and does not strain it too much.

It measures 106x97x47mm, but does not have a waterproof or resistance rating, so take note. Its amazingly easy to mount to the eyepiece of your day scope and comes with a coupler made of aluminium that is a split sleeve arrangement and is tightened by two Allen screws. The scope’s eyepiece has to be less than 45mm diameter and some black insulating tape is provided to get a tight fi t. The PARD fits into the back of this coupling via a bayonet type fitment, a quick ¼ turn and it’s free to store away or use as a handheld device.

8-hours

It uses a single 18650 rechargeable battery via the supplied USB cable and is reported to last more than 8 hours but that’s dependent on how often you use the IR beam. The battery fits into the front of the unit when the screw cover is removed and sits below the IR beam and laser.

The laser is a small Class 3b type and not eye safe, so take care, as it emits a beam to aid range finding or fast target acquisition, which you don’t really need. However, I was told by JMS these are being phased out now, so the newer versions will be laser-free, so no real issue, but something to be aware of. One might assume they will probably do that for the larger 800 series too, which is good news for buyers. As I recall, one of the PARD retailers put a message on their website saying they were withdrawing all product due to the laser safety issues. Personally, I would not use this and tape it off at the front. Above this is the IR projector in the humped back form of the casing. It has a power of 5w and wavelength of 850nm with a maximum distance of 200 metres, which is sensible in my view. To the left of the casing is a USB port and SD card slot and below this is the large focus adjuster.

Parallax a must

When any rear-mounted NV device is fitted to a scope it is very important that the parent optic offers parallax adjustment. Otherwise, you will not be able to focus both the reticule and image. There is a large knurled thumb wheel underneath the PARD, which is easily operated from a shooting position and focusses the reticle to make it sharp. It’s very easy to use and better than some other devices I have tested.

Finally, you need to access all the parameters of the PARD and this is done by the simple push button array above the eyepiece and facing you. Behind the IR device is the ON/OFF switch, hold it down and it fires up in a few seconds and then with a single push and its OFF. There are also sleep and wake up modes that are accessed via the same button being pushed repeatedly.

Dinner menu

Below this are five buttons. The central one acts as an OK button when the main menu is accessed, and the others are navigation buttons as well as having their own functions too. To the right is the access to main menu button that that allows choice of the following:

1: Reticle centre position adjustment, which is really handy as when mounted to the rear of the scope invariably the PARD’s TV like screen that views your scope’s reticle is never truly central. So, you can adjust its position in the screen with the navigation buttons to a handy reference cross superimposed on the screen, bingo.

2: Colour: This is a colour or black and white viewer, so you can choose either, but colour only works in daytime and thus night-time images are black and white. IR Beam will only work with B/W selected.

3: Brightness of IR: This allows you to set up the IR to switch on automatically to either of the three intensities when the PARD is switched on.

4: Brightness: Adjustment of screen or image brightness.

5 and 6: Autorecording and loop recording allows recording to automatically start and continue in a loop if you select this.

7: Date stamp: A date is stamped to pictures for future reference.

Dessert menu

The second menu screen allows adjustments for auto audio, beep sound, wi-fi connection, language, exposure, date/time and format, which can all be adjusted once and then the first screen is used to modify quickly in the fi eld when necessary. It’s nice to have all these options but I just want to shoot the bloody thing; sometimes, less is more Of the five main buttons on the PARD’s body, to the left is the IR beam, which has three settings that appear in the top right of the screen as IR1, IR2, IR3 in ascending order of strength, then OFF. You can alter the beam width using the IR bezel, which is very easy and is great for close or longer range use. The top button is the laser ON/OFF switch. The central button is record or take a picture and the bottom button is the magnification button. It enlarges the reticle as well as the image.

In the field

Charging took about three hours from fl at and set up was very easy. I fitted the PARD to a Hawke 4-12 x50mm parallax adjusting scope, which was ideal. Being rear-mounted, it forces your head back on the comb, which is the curse of this positioning. I had to use quite a bit of tape to secure the connecting sleeve to the eyepiece. Once securely attached, the PARD goes on using the bayonet fitting, which is where you realise the sleeve is wonky and the screen looks tilted, readjust and get everything level.

The fitment between PARD and sleeve is tight, and it needs to be to maintain the rifle’s zero; otherwise, you will be looking down the scope at an angle, again common to all rear-mounts. After switching on, its really great, the image can be centralised and after the three adjustment stages as mentioned earlier the screen, reticle and image were sharp, with a screen resolution of 800x600 pixels. Nice is it will also focus down to 3cm! Close rats be aware.

IR please

As with all digitals, unless there is some residual moon light, sky etc you need to use the IR to get a decent image. By varying the beam width, you can adjust the range potential, as well as not bleed out the image without having to go into the menu and adjust the brightness. The range of the beam was about 150 yards+ when I used it will eye shine from foxes at this range easily. Regarding quality, which is the most important thing, I was impressed for such a small and cheap device; I can see what everyone was going on about. The view is surprisingly well defined, with good contrast and reasonable depth of field, which helps with ranging. To me, it’s a sub 150 yard device, so good for foxes and even better for 50 to 75 yard rabbits. It can also be removed and used as a handheld spotter or left on the scope and used in colour mode for daytime use.

The one thing I had to get used too was the slower frame refresh rate of 30fps, which gives a slow lag to the image, if the device is moved quickly whilst viewing. 50fps gives a smooth image but for the price I can put up with that. No change in zero, which is always a concern, but the Pard was spot on, slight frame lag but impressive NV capability with everything you need to get a good picture and on target and some you don’t. Mounted or handheld, the image is impressive and really worth the small outlay.