ELCAN Specter D Any-Good?

Here's a review from arfcom :





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Well, the good ol’ “white truck” arrived yesterday with a few Elcan Specter DR’s in tow!

As many of you know this is Elcan’s new entry into a switchable 1x – 4x via a throw lever. The first thing I noticed was the weight of the unit as I took it out of the box. It comes in at 1.3lbs! This is one HUNK of metal!! The unit comes standard with dual ARMS levers that fit fine with the Larue 12.0” rail on my Noveske, but was incredibly tight on my LMT as I could not close the levers to their full position.

Some specs on the unit are as follows,

FOV – 1x at 26deg and 4x at 6.5deg
MOA Click Adj. - ½ MOA
Weight - 1.3lbs
Aiming Dot – 6 MOA (1x)/1.5 MOA (4x)
Reticle Pattern – Compensated Crosshair based on the M855 and M4
Illumination - LED
Operating Temp - -40 to +150 degF
Water Proof – 2 hours @ 66ft.
Ruggedness – MIL SRD-810F (This thing is built like a tank!!!)
Battery Life – DL 1/3 N (3000hrs Avg.)
Eye Relief - 2.76”

The unit came standard with a Duracell 1/3N and I installed the battery that is located inside of the illuminated switch compartment via a knurled tethered battery cover. Speaking of this rotating illuminating switch, the ELCAN folks did their homework with this feature and many others. The knob itself is large enough to turn adjust easily with gloves on. I had no issue while wearing my nomex gloves to adjust the settings.

I mounted the unit on my Noveske upper with a Larue 12.0” rail via dual integral ARMS throw levers. I had no problems attaching the unit to the Larue, but when I tried to attach the unit to the LMT, I could not depress both levers to the full inside position. Gonna have to check into this issue.

I then looked through the unit at 1x and was of course simply amazed at the clarity and brightness of ELCAN’s famed glass! I then flipped magnification flip lever to go to 4x and WHOA! (I had to do this again to REALLY experience what I thought I just saw!)
I’ve heard all the hub-bub on this switchable 4x and 1x prism lens feature and I was a bit skeptical at first, but I am simply amazed at what they accomplised. A few special features to note;
-The tranisition from 1x – 4x is amazingly fast due to the smoothness of the lever.
-It will be very difficult for this lever to get broken n the field due to its position under the unit with the grip stem just poking out the side of the unit. They struck a great balance between durability and ergonomics, as I was also able to manipulate the switch with gloves on. Some might find this lever a bit too recessed, but with practice I think it will not be an issue.
-One of the best features of this magnification switch lever is a silent mode built into the unit. When going quickly from 1x – 4x with a flick of one’s index finger an audible click can be heard as the lever comes to its stops. One can also ease the switch into position with NO noise whatsoever! VERY nice ELCAN! Once again the ELCAN folks REALLY did their homework on this lever for real world field use in these regards.

The next thing I looked at was the reticle. Similar to the ACOG line of stadia markings, the ELCAN uses a cross hair with the 3, 6 and 9 o’clock post that are thick with the 12 o’clock post thin of course. The reticle is calibrated (I have not done a shooting report as yet) with the M855 ball ammo, with an M4 weapon. There are 4 ballistic lines under the main cross hair when using the 4x magnification, which provides drop increments of 100m per line. The 400 and 600meter drop lines are labeled. At each range, the width of the drop line represents a 19” wide target. The reticle itself also has 5 red LED illumination settings, two of which are NV compatible. The brightness level of the 1st illumination setting was visible to the naked eye so I was skeptical of a blooming effect. (More on the night vision testing below) The other settings allowed full view of the reticle including every line with a clear and impressive view at night.

The illuminated red dot was looked at next at 1x (6MOA) and 4x (1.5MOA). I have to tell you this is the most welcomed feature to me is to have a red dot super imposed over the center cross hair for CQB. I now have the best of three worlds in one optic for CQB (with both eyes open I might add), plus medium and long-range work based on the reticle selections I have available. The dot was clear and impressive at 1x and 4x with 5 illumination settings, two of which are NV compatible. The brightest setting was bright enough to see in severe sunny conditions with bright backgrounds with no visual issues to speak of.

The unit also has somewhat of a small set of iron ghost site atop the unit for emergency use in rain, adverse weather conditions, or just when a baddie pops up very close range. Interesting both sights are removable with small Phillips screws. I think in a previous posts here on the ARFCOM, I saw that SOCOM folks were mounting doc ops atop the units as well.

The DR long eye relief (ER) was looked at next and for me it measured close to what the manual states of 2.75” either at 1x or 4x. This ER was an interesting issue for me with this sight as I felt like a gofer who is in-between clubs on a shot. Let me explain…
I mounted the DR as you can see by the pics below appox. 4 slots in front of my 40L which gave me the option if the need arose to use my BUIS through the glass. The ELCAN manual stated this long ER facilitates use with most BUIS for this reason. For me personally, with the DR set in this position, to get the absolute fullest FOV, this put my nose over the charging and was uncomfortable to me. IF I moved my head back a bit (to my natural shooting position) the FOV, which IS quite usable in this position, was just a bit fuzzy on the edges. By positioning the DR back a bit (which will clear the ARMS 40L but I could not flip up the BUIS), I got a comfortable full FOV (sharp image edges) and my nose was just behind the charging handle and was a typical ACOG shooting position for me and is also my natural shooting position on AR platforms.

I did not get to do a live shoot as yet. But the elevation and windage adjustments are ½ MOA clicks. Once again the ELCAN folks were thinking about field use and located the elevation adjustment ring under the main body of the unit under the eyepiece. The elevation ring had machined notches on the wheel and can be grasped easily with grip, with either gloves or bare hands by using ones index finger and thumb to turn the wheel CW or CCW. The ring also has a special locking tab that lock out any movement in the field. The little locking tab can only be manipulated with a slim pointed object such as a round or pen tip, knife, etc. The windage screw is located on the left side of the unit and can be manipulated with a round, coin, screw driver, etc.

Since this unit was also made with NV use in mind (one of my favorite topics) I performed some NV tests with the unit via a Gen 3 PVS-14. The first thing to note as indicated with the eye relief subject matter above…The unit has to be moved forward to make room for a NV device and to achieve the proper ER for the NV device as well as to get a full sight picture. This will of course require the shooter to maintain and log two elevation zeros of dope and note each rail location for day and night use. Guess another reason modern rails come with numbers at each rail location. I feel this could be cumbersome in the field, as I usually do not like performing such tasks as moving optics around on the rail and maintaining different “zeros.” Regardless, I moved the unit up approx 15 rail slots to achieve 2.5” of ER for the PVS to get a full site picture. I first powered up the illuminated dot at 1x to the 1st intensity setting and the image was clear with a good FOV vs. an aimpoint and almost as good as an EO. Typical when looking through day scope glass, the NV brightness was about 30% dimmer vs. a stand-alone view through the PVS-14. Surprisingly going to 4x did not change the brightness level and the image was quite good at a chimney at 75 yards away. I tried the next dot brightness level and the dot bloomed in the PVS. Bottom line, with a Gen 3 modern device, there is only one usable NV setting on the illuminated dot. My concern with the intensity of this dot is with an introduction to any IR illumination would probably wash out the dot. (Going to test this out soon)

The next NV test I did was on the illuminated reticle. I was very cautious when I first looked through naked eye at the 1st reticle power (indicated NV setting) and I could see it! Indeed as I turned on the PVS-14 with it’s adjustable gain set to a VERY low level, the 1st power setting on the reticle almost bloomed the image at the highest NV gain setting. Either way in my opinion, the 1st reticle setting is too bright for NV applications and needs to be turned down. The next NV setting (2nd position) as you can imagine was not even tried; it was perfect for naked eye viewing at night and would have burned the reticle image on my NV tube if I had tried this for any length of time.

Conclusions:
Sorry for the long-winded post! I know I have probably missed a few topics but I hope I have scratched the surface a bit on this optic. Here are my pros and cons.

Pros,
- I feel this is the BEST day optic I have ever used PERIOD! We now have one optic sight that can perform CQB, medium and long-range applications with a flick of a lever that moves a highly precise ground lens/prism that is revolutionary in my book of things.
-The optics is superb with typical ELCAN glass that is incredibly bright and clean edge-to-edge.
-Ergonomically designed for field use with tethered battery cap, protected magnification lever location, silent lever movement, locking elevation adjustments, long battery duration (at 3000 hours) and all functions easily while manipulating with gloves. (Except for the locking mechanism which requires a sharp pointed object)
-Mil-Spec for ruggedness to say the least, built like a tank!

Con’s
-Some may not like the weight at 1.3lbs!
-ARMS throw lever issue on some rails? Does not close completely on my LMT, but does on my Larue and SIR system.
-Night Vision operations. This comes as a somewhat disappointment to me as it’s quite evident that this sight was built around day operations and night fighting capabilities was an afterthought as was with the ACOG NSN. Moving the scope way up on the rail to make room for a NV device and the appropriate eye relief is cumbersome and not very efficient. The night vision reticle setting for the dot is only realistic at one setting and will probably be washed out with the introduction of a med or high power illuminator such as “Da-Torch” or a PEQ-2A. The 2nd setting is also too bright and blooms the NVD. The illuminated reticle is too bright at any setting for use with an NVD. My recommendations are if your mission requires an optic for day AND true night ops is to stick with an EO Tech or Aimpoint. The EO or AP can use a 3x magnifier for day use and the PVS can utilize it’s own 3x mil-spec magnifier for night use if needed with no light loss or location change of the EO.
-Price? At $1449.00 retail, hard for some to swallow? I guess price is relative when I routinely spend a $1,000+ for good glass. US Optics, Night Force, Swarovski and some Leupy’s come to mind in a hurry.





 
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Had a chance to use mine at the range yesterday....
I agree with just about everything in the previous post...
Interestingly, the mount went onto my LMT rail no problem.
For optimum FOV, I had to mount the Specter so that it overrode my BUIS..as well, I had to have my stock set on the second shortest position...Seemed a bit close at first, but once you used it... no problem.
At 1X, with the centre dot illuminated and both eyes open, it was no problem to smoke a series of clays set on the berms at 25 and 50M...'Aimpoint easy'!
At 4X, it was also no challange to do the four corners and then centre of a 10" steel plate suspended at 100M...don't try that with your Eotech!
Once zeroed at 100M, I removed and replaced the sight several times and it seemed to go right back to the first group's placement...I'm really starting to like this thing!
At 3000 hours nominal, the battery life seems reasonable and although at first the weight seems a bit much, compare it to an Aimpoint + 3X magnifier mounted and now it seems to be in the ballpark.
The only question would be reliability and only time, and some 'field experience' in the real world will tell the tale.
At this point in time, it is the best all round weapon sight I have ever used....
It has advantages over the comparables...red dot only (no magnification)..
ACOG +/- Doctor Optic (cost/ease of use)..
I realize that a modified SpecterDR with co-mounted Doctor Optic is making the rounds in some trials, but I'm very happy with the current version.
http://homepage.mac.com/inmans/PhotoAlbum72.html
 
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Foxbat, you look different in the pictures than I expected. :D

Have you used an ACOG much? Just interested in the comparison. I realise they do some differnt things.

Thanks for the review.
 
The pictures are me with a ### change and 30 years younger!;)
ACOGs are great scopes... the fibre optic recticle is fantastic, but they just don't make it as CQB devices....
The units with the co-mounted Doctor Optic go a long way towards correcting that problem, and if that's all I could get, I could live with it.
In a back to back comparison with that setup versus the SpecterDR, I would take the Elcan hands down.
I had a bunch of people try both systems, and everybody preferred the
Spectrer.
Questions over durability and 'real world' testing will determine if it stands the test of time......
 
foxbat said:
Questions over durability and 'real world' testing will determine if it stands the test of time......

The FOV in an Elcan can't be beat, if it can hold up (need some mil test results) I think I will bite. I like the Elcan on the range...it works well when handled with care ;) :rolleyes:
 
Just picked one up today!!

The finish is less than perfect but that glass sure is nice. Going out shooting with it tommorrow
Here's a pic of it on the sig
471748.JPG
 
The second gen is going to be EVEN better. The ARMS locking lever has been relocated to the right side so there is less confusion with the magnification lever. With the eye relief set up properly at 4x, flipping to 1x is quick and smooth (much faster than the traditional tube dial IMO) and does not require for the eye relief to be readjusted. The version I played with at SHOT has "area of fire" circle for 3, 4, 500m BDC and they are very user friendly.

This scope has quickly become one of my favourite, now only if I can find some money to get one :p
 
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