Pulsar Forward F 155

The Pulsar Forward F (155) Night Vision Front mounted Add On.

SRP: £989 for the unit and extra £100 per mounting set FN 50 or FN 56.

Courtesy of Thomas Jacks Ltd, I am privileged to bring you the Pulsar Forward F155 that I have been testing now for a week or so.

The night vision world has come leaps and bounds in the last ten years and it is always exciting to get my hands on a new product that I think would help those night hunters with those pest control jobs that need done while everyone else is tucked up in their beds.

We will get the geeky bit over and done with before getting down to the nitty gritty of how well this unit really does (in my opinion) while out in the field.

Tech Specs:

Forward F155 (DFA)

• Magnification: 1.0x
• Horizontal Field of View: 4.8°
• Detection Range: 450m
• Sensor: 702×526 CMOS
• High Recoil Resistance
• Built-in Video Recording
• Wide Temperature Range
• Display-off Mode
• Long Detection Range
• Stream Vision Compatible
• Quick-Change B-Pack Power Unit
• Fully Waterproof
• Wireless Control
• Compatible with FN Cover Ring Adaptors

High Recoil Resistance

• The Trail features exceptionally high shock resistance, capable of handling high-powered firearm recoil, up to .375-cal., including smoothbore and airsoft.

Built-in Video Recording

• Capturing still images and video is seamless with the Forwards’s built-in video recorder. Image and video content is stored internally and can easily be transferred to PC/laptop via wired connection or Wi-Fi.

Wide Temperature Range

• With a frost-resistant AMOLED display, the Forward is designed to deliver flawless performance at an extreme temperature of -25° to +50°C

Display-off Mode

• During short periods of inactivity and better concealment, Display Off powers down the display without interrupting other operating functions. Using Display Off means a much faster restart time when you need it most.

Long Detection Range

• Depending on model, the Forward can detect up to 450 meters away

Stream Vision Compatible

• The highlight of the Forward is the ability to link via Wi-Fi the device with Android and iOS based mobile units using the free mobile application Stream Vision. The Stream Vision software connects the device with Android/iOS devices which enables you to receive footage in real time mode, to distantly operate the device with your smartphone and to stream the footage captured by the device to direct to Youtube.

Quick-Change B-Pack Power Unit

• All Forwards include a progressive autonomous B-Pack power supply consisting of a quick-detach, rechargeable IPS5, 5.2A-h battery pack designed to deliver up to 8 hours of operation. Higher-powered IPS10 battery packs, CR123A and AA battery cases are also available and provide a perfect off-grid power solution.

Fully Waterproof

• IPX7 waterproof-rated protection ensures the Forward performs perfectly in wet weather, even during intense rain, snowfall and submersion in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. (IEC 60529).

Wireless Control

• The ergonomic, wireless remote control, with encoder wheel, puts the full range of the F155 capabilities at your fingertips for comfortable, convenient, hands-off operation.

The Review

 

Well it was a long time coming and from what I gather (at the time of this review being written) there is still a waiting list to get your hands on this Pulsar Forward F155 unit.

I have to admit since the moment I advertised I was doing the review and finally had one in my hand social media has been alive with questions and unfortunately, until now, my answers have been limited and I can now tell you what I actually think about the product.

I have to admit, as with all my reviews, I have worked very hard on trying to address all the questions I have been asked by performing all the tests that I need to do to get the most informed answers to give you guys and it has been a bit of a challenge keeping up with all your concerns.

With the increased access of night vision products on the market and more and more people taking advantage of them people very quickly form their own opinion of a certain product and all I can do with my reviews is try help make an informed opinion.

There are critics in every corner and like most of the hunting industry many are very brand loyal no matter the cost. This genuinely is only my opinion of years working with and using hundreds of different night vision products as well as helping in the development of a few.

Equipment I will be using for the tests

 

I have decided to test the Pulsar Forward F155 on the following rifle and scope set ups:

Cz 455 .22lr, Sak moderator with a Meopta Artemis 2100 3-12×50 scope mounted. Ammunition will be RWS HP SUBSONIC flying at 1033fps with a BC of 0.097

And

Browning A-bolt 2 .243, Atec moderator with a Delta Titanium HD 2.5-10×56 scope mounted on medium Warne rings. Ammunition is home-load Sierra Pro-hunter 100gr, 34gr H4895 powder, CCI B2 primer in Lapua brass flying at around 2900fps.

(I did try the unit on my Tikka T3 .270 with Swarovski 3-12×50 scope but my rings and mounts were too low to fit the mount properly and as it is my primary stalking rifle for work I could not risk changing the set up for now, however, I did manage to get an idea what it would be like to use with a high end Swarovski scope)

 

 

 

The Tests

 

To answer a lot of concerns that have been relayed back to me I chose to do the following tests.

1. Range test: The aim of this test was to find out whether your rifle scope kept zero with the unit on and off after switching between rifles.
2. Weather test and Field fitting test: With the weather being snowy this was ideal to test how easy it was to fit and mount in limited light and space as well as how clear the unit will be in adverse weather conditions such as falling snow. (you will see clearly it snowing and windy in the video footage)

3. The Field test: the most important test of all, how it performs when you need it too.

Test 1 results,

Firstly, with the .243 I took a shot without the unit being on to get an idea of what to expect and to make sure the rifle and scope were in fact zeroed which it was, I then added the Pulsar Forward F and took another shot and again (although visibility was poor due to bright sun) the round shot true giving a similar result on the 2” target as the first shot.

Secondly I moved to the .22lr and took a number of shots, without the Pulsar on, at a 2” target at 60 yards (rifle zeroed at 50) then like before added the Pulsar unit and took a number of shots and both had similar groupings although there were issues with 20mph winds and the bright light really effected daytime visibility through the Night vision unit.

And lastly I moved back and repeated the test with the .243 as before to make sure there were no issues and there wasn’t.

I do have to say although zero of the scope was not effected by any means and it did hold zero with the unit on and off you CANNOT use it in bright sunshine or really during the day.

Test 2 results,

 

This was genuinely a simple test,

The conditions were -6°C and snowing although not lying.

The wind was between 20 and 30mph at times coming Easterly making long shots harder with the .22lr.

Firstly, I mounted the unit with no hassles in the vehicle while sitting in the driver’s seat and it took 30 seconds maximum.

Unit powered on and was functioning as it should.

 

Test 3 results,

 

As before the conditions were the same as it was the same night and you will see the results on the video.

I started off the evening shooting rabbits, conditions were far from perfect with the weather and wind but that is normal in the Highlands and the reason why many like my tests as the conditions are rarely perfect.

With no issues, other than a few rider errors with brightness adjustments needed, the Pulsar performed great and I was shooting rabbits from 30yrds to 110yrds with ease and spotting difficult bunnies in long grass.

I then moved the unit to the .243 to start the foxing rounds and after a couple of hours of going between the farms I happened upon a vixen.

 

I spotted her originally with the Pulsar Xq30V at around 600 yards and by the time I managed to get close enough for a shot she had moved on and out of sight.

I decided to wait for a bit at the corner of the field in the truck and as I was waiting I could hear the cries of a hare in distress, the snow was coming down heavy and I carried scanning with the thermal with the rifle propped and ready against the driver window.

After a few minutes passed I caught sight of a fox walking up the fence line 200yrds away from my position (I know this as we have a steel plate on the fence that we use on occasion for long distance shooting) rifle ready and the forward on and recording I gave a short sharp squeak off the back of my hand to stop her, I aimed at the shoulder and sent the round and she dropped on the spot.

I had the magnification set at 10x (max) on the Delta and although the footage does not relate my visibility of the vixen was perfect.

Now throughout all the tests the rifle was being moved about and bounced about in the vehicle and on occasion used as a pillow by the dog and it still held zero for me and frozen fields are never smooth.

With the tests completed I was pretty chuffed that the unit performed as it should.

Conclusion and my opinions 

I am going to be fully honest here, reviews like this one are hard, mainly because so many of you expect so much from night vision products these days and although different units have their different applications almost all do the same uniform job.

Firstly, The Pulsar Forward is not a dedicated night vision scope although the device itself is a night vision unit. This by all intents and purposes is an add on to enable your day scope to be used as a night vision scope so bare in mind my comparisons will be made with other add-on devices I have used and not dedicated units that are available as they offer a completely different facility.

How does this unit compare to its predecessor?

Well the DFA-75, for many, had its own issues and many users found it very hard to use and mount and most of all work out zero. The Pulsar Forward although still a DFA range has addressed these issues and has taken on board the concerns of the past, the flat in line mounting of the system means that the night vision unit itself is in line with your scope and not offset inches higher like the older DFA system. So issues with zero now are non-existent in my opinion, if correctly mounted you should be able (like I did) to take the unit off and on with no change to zero.

How does it compare to other Add on units on the market?

Pulsar themselves have a number of units available that are to the same design as this F155 Forward such as its thermal brother “The Core” but most other companies on the market tend to have rear mounted night vision units that use the eyepiece for mounting.

The clear difference between front mounted units and rear mounted units is the operation of the rifle. The Forward F155, and similar style products, tend not inhibit how the rifle is operated and how you look through the scope or effect your optimum firing position.

Products such as Nitesite, for example, tend to use an eyepiece mount for the camera unit that runs via cable to a monitor/IR unit that is mounted on top of your rifle scope with wires then running to some sort of battery pack taking up a lot of space and resulting in a bit of time setting up and a lot of wires to navigate.

Other rear mounted units that are more streamlined, mount the unit again to the eyepiece extending the length of the scope backwards over the stock restricting cheek rest or comfortable shooting positions.

So between the two styles of set up the front mounted units give a more natural shooting position thus making the navigation of hardware a lot easier.

There is a downside to front mounted units such as the Forward F, with units such as the forward your scope is zooming in on the camera footage restricting field of view to that controlled by the camera, this is the reason why your recording image on the Forward is less quality than what you see through the scope as the recording footage is being taken at the cameras 1x mag and not your scopes magnification.

With the rear mounted scopes the camera focuses into the scope and you have full control of the image you see and the footage recorded from such units is that of what the scope can pick up.

Now here is the twist in the whole set up, REAR mounted night vision add on units tend not to like good glass coatings, so rarely work well with top end manufactured scopes and this is a problem for a lot of people who like a good day scope for their day shooting and then want to use the same set up at night with their add on kit, but, with the front mounted units although they work well with very good glass they do tend to loose quality past a certain magnification.

The Pulsar Forward F155’s optimum magnification is 8x , however, I did use it on 10x and 12x mag on the scopes I used it on and it worked well but there was better quality at the 8x Mag if I am being honest. The “155’s” little brother “the F135” optimum scope range is 2x to 6x so bare that in mind when purchasing, I personally would go for the F155.

Also with this being fully waterproof compared to other add on devices I would say that there are distinct advantages to owning the Pulsar Forward F155

 

Does the scope hold zero? 

This has been probably the most common question , and as said before YES it does , if you have spent a little time putting the clamps on properly and your scope mounts are working as they should there is no reason why your scope should not hold zero off without need of adjustment.

What is the range of the unit?

Like most Night vision products distance and quality is down to the IR, now Pulsar have addressed two concerns with this unit, they have had to come to a compromise over distance and quality. With the 940nm you lack in distance but due to the increased sensitivity of the sensor for better quality imaging a really bright IR could cause issues at shorter ranges even up to 100yrds, So I have to say some people might want to use an external IR.

As it stands with the 940nm you can get fox clarity at around 250yards maybe more and rabbit clarity at around 150 yrds. The book says that it can clearly detect an object at 1.7m high at 450yrds but for fox I would say you will get eyeshine at that range and probably longer.

What is the battery life?

Now I have to say the battery is one of its strongest features, I had the battery running with IR on for 5 hours and still was able to use everything. You have no issues with battery life and if you get into the habit of turning off your unit after each shot during retrievals etc. like I do with the Yukon products then you will get two or three outings possibly out of one full charge.

The battery is also quick changing and rechargeable so if you have a spare then your more than sorted.

How much does it cost?

The unit sells itself for around £989 and some places it is £960 but you have to add around £100 for the mounting kit (FN50 or FN56) on top of that.

One of the things I would like to have seen is the mounting kit being supplied with the unit, I was lucky as Thomas Jacks Ltd provided me with both the FN 50 and FN 56 mounting kits allowing me to set up the kit permanently on two different rifles which for me was handy, but, if I was to purchase this unit I would have to invest another £200 on top.

Now to be fair though to Pulsar, you can use these mounts for some of their other products that take a “4 point” attachment, but the fact you need these mounts to mount the unit you would think they would at least supply you one mount of your choice and any additional mounts charge extra.

As far as cost goes to be honest it is a good price compared to other front mounted devices on the market that cost far more such as the “Blade” but it is priced around the top end compared to rear mounted units on the market such as the Nitesite Eagle.

The value for money is there though and it does do what it says with great effect.

I cannot compare this to dedicated scopes and their prices, for the money the Yukon Photon is still best value for money for day to day rifle to rifle dedicated scope allowing you to shoot out 2 to 300yrds easily as a dedicated scope so if you want to compare the price of that to this and want the hassle of changing scopes depending on the time of the day then that’s an idea but if you’re the man with one rifle for all then this is definitely the type of unit that would suit you and for the money you cannot complain.

What other features does it have?

 

Like most other night vision products on the market there has been a thirst for being able to record your footage.

Whether you are a blogger or a vlogger or someone who has to record your kills for work like most of all the new Pulsars and Yukon products recently the Forward f155 has wifi and built in storage that hold all your videos and still and through the Pulsar Stream app on your tablet or phone you can connect via wifi the unit straight to it.

The Stream app is a great little tool which allows you to operate the unit remotely as well as stream Live to Youtube, (not something I have been able to test yet properly due to lack of signal)

The recording functions are handy for me for doing reviews and videos but in general for just shooting purposes I hardly use it and I guess most of you will be the same.

The unit also comes with a remote control which you can (if you want to) attach to your stock so you do not have to reach down your scope to mess about with settings, but wither way it all works fine.

My final thoughts

 

What can I say that has not been mentioned before?

As far as my own opinion goes on the unit, I really like it. It has a lot of pros that would suit me perfectly, the main one being I that I would not need to keep changing between the NV scope and the day scope taking away the need for a dedicated night rifle.

One of the cons of the it is that it is difficult to use during the day to check zero etc. but to be fair that’s not what it is designed for.

Once you trust your system you wont need to check anything that you do not normally need to check from time to time.

The cost is always an issue for me but the fact that it is actually a very good price compared to other similar units on the market then for most people they wont complain.

I think this would suit those that have one rifle that is used day and night or for the pest controller who likes to work from day straight through into the night without carrying a dedicated night rifle.

I personally have thought long and hard about giving up my dedicated night vision scope to go down this road as it really would suit what I do.

Night vision reviews have become more challenging as I have mentioned before. A lot of people expect a lot from their standard night vision products when there is very little that separate medium and top end products. With the increase use of thermal, which have their own issues all together, people are looking for the world. The truth being told units of the Statute under £1500 is still a huge bargain.

Do I like this product?

Yes I do but I have to say there are alternatives for little or more money, are they better? To be honest that’s a decision for the user to make. I honestly would prefer this to a Nitesite and I do prefer this to a Nitesite style set up. If you put the two products in front of me I would choose this one.

Why?

Well simple answers really, The Pulsar Forward F155 is more to my style of shooting, I have no wires or have to look in a monitor to shoot my rifle and it is fully waterproof without stupid clamps that move about or don’t tighten properly or get blown about in the wind.

I am not putting those units down but they just do not suit what I like or what I expect from hunting.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review,

Have a watch of my accompanying video when it is uploaded on Youtube,

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