what's your experience with the UV3 XL?

[bigW]

interested in comments / experience wrt the UV3 XL - on paper it looks like it is a total game changer with a lot of features already built in, e.g. sun shades, light kit. It seems even to be reasonable priced (e.g. add a light kit to a scope, plus a retainer lens with a sun hood and a scope and you will likely cash out more).

I have one on the way (XL, target kit version I want to use for 3D - might get the hunter cartridge too if the target version convinces me), but....

...is the battery life really 6 hours? ....or only on the lowest light level?

...is there any rattling caused by the cartridge system?

appreciate your comments.

 

[Zac]

No rattling, never ran out of batteries either.

 

[wayoh22]

No rattling and a battery is a battery. It has an auto shut-off after 4min to preserve battery life. Unless you're shooting with the light on constantly it's not going to die as fast as many people think. Just carry another battery with you as a very cheap insurance policy.

 

[bigW]

scope (UV3-XL target kit without lens) arrived today - first disappointment:
before I ordered it I confirmed with the shop that it comes with the lens kit, but without the lens, which I got confirmed. However, the scope misses the white O-ring shown on the Ultraview website for the UV3-XL target kit - is this white O-ring part of the lens kit or comes only if you order the kit with the lens included?

 

[bigW]

...and while it comes with the dot-kit: a template included (like other manufacturers do) to ease the fitting of the dots would be nice....

 

[bigW]

...and the fiber kit is not complete (only yellow and orange fibres) while the website says 4 fibres (red, yellow, orange, green)...

...not happy

 

[bigW]

Seem like Ultraview changed the design from black rubber O-rings to a combination of black and white ones (for a much better contrast) during the roll-out???

distributor responded that he sent me a box sealed by Ultraview and seems to be very reluctant to solve the issues - I contacted Ultraview directly now, lets see how it works out.

 

[ZDR]

UV has great customer service - I'm confident they will take care of the fiber problem. The o-ring issue is another problem. I've never seen a UV3XL with a white o-ring and I have installed a few dozen of them. THe UV3 has it though.
I had an XL for a while but sold it for a UV3...not sure that was the right call now as the FOV is way better in the XL. The batteries seem to last forever and no rattling issues with either size.

 

[307]

...and the fiber kit is not complete (only yellow and orange fibres) while the website says 4 fibres (red, yellow, orange, green)...

...not happy

Yeah, that sounds pretty concerning. I'm very interested in the UV scope but this has me pausing a bit.

 

[bigW]

UV has great customer service - I'm confident they will take care of the fiber problem. The o-ring issue is another problem. I've never seen a UV3XL with a white o-ring and I have installed a few dozen of them. THe UV3 has it though.
I had an XL for a while but sold it for a UV3...not sure that was the right call now as the FOV is way better in the XL. The batteries seem to last forever and no rattling issues with either size.

the pics on their website (and the ones the distributors use) with the XL hunting and target / lens cartridges show all a white O-ring / retainer.

wrt battery life: on their website they state over 6 hours for 80% brightness...

wrt water proof: they also state on their site that the advanced light for the XL is 100% water proof - that might be valid for the LEDs itself, but never ever for the battery compartment (which IMO is part of the light kit, definitely part of the light cartridge). The battery compartment has the hole for pushing out the batteries and the apertures that allows to get the batteries in and out, both openings will let water / rain in! ....so if I shoot in heavy rain I might just use some chewy gum or similar stuff to keep the water out of this "advanced" light.

 

[bigW]

got a response from Ultraview that clarifies the issues - quote:

Hello there,

Due to supply chain issues and a shortage of white O-Rings, we were not able to include these with the launch of the UV3XL and their respective Cartridges. Our goal was to have this scope out as soon as we could as opposed to holding it back for a later date due to one small component.

We included the 3 black O-Rings in the UV3XL and the UV3XL Cartridges, which are the exact same as the white O-Ring aside from the color. If you would like we can add you to a list and we can send a one over to you once we receive some in very soon. Please let us know if you would still like us to add you to this list, by providing us with your most recent order number or best shipping address.

As for the Fiber Kit, we can send a kit over to you with the O-ring.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Best Regards,

quote end

I definitely give Ultraview a 10 out of 10 considering that it took less than 24 hours to get back to me and 0 out of 10 for the distributor as he should have known this respectively should have solved it without me having to contact Ultraview directly - I guess I will order future products from Ultraview straight from their website. (Interestingly Ultraview copied him straight in in all the trouble shooting emails).