ATN Aries MK440 Rifle Scope 4.5x Mag 2nd Gen

This is my second Night Vision scope. My first unit was a 1st Gen Russian made with a large catadioptric lens and it always gave a very clear and bright sight picture without the IR illuminator, (and still does after 10 years).

This ATN MK440 unit supposedly has a Gen 2+ 25mm american-made optic tube. It was not very bright without the IR illuminator and there was a lot of distortion in the sight picture anywhere away from the center of the image. I have no idea why this is, but I don't like it and I would not use this scope on my rifle. The fact that the IR illuminator comes on by default everytime the unit is powered on doesn't appeal to me either. If another shooter is out in the dark with you, the IR illuminator will look like a spotlight attracting attention to you. Honestly, I wanted to like this scope, but I won't settle for less than decent performance from any of my equipment. This thing is going back to ATN and I will see if they have something without the drawbacks.