Night Vision For Beginners: An Introduction (PT 3 Added)

[rustyx]

This is such a good read. Thanks for putting this up and sharing what you know.

[CouchOperator]

*Reserving this space for Part 3 (Coming Soon), as well as opening up for questions which i can address should anyone have them.

Part 3 will cover duals vs monocular.

[HK Dave]

Great write up.

What's a setup like you talk about cost?

[robledo]

Great write up.

What's a setup like you talk about cost?

You are best off budgeting in the area of $3500-3700 for the Gen 3 PVS-14 itself (new). The OMNI VIIIs will typically sell for a couple hundred cheaper than the ITT Pinnacles. Whether that extra clarity is worth it is up to you. A mount will run you anywhere from $175 (basic Norotos Rhino for example) to $460 (for something like the Wilcox G24). Keep in mind that some mounts may require propriety J-Arms or other parts in order to work with your NOD.

A basic Team Wendy LTP or comparable bump helmet will be found for about $250 at best. More likely $275-300. A ballistic helmet will be triple that price at the cheapest. Stay away from Protec. I tried to go cheap and wound up flipping it weeks later. Watch out for sketchy mom and pop no-name helmet manufacturers.

Lastly the counterweight will run you somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-100 depending on what you get.

So altogether you're looking at a combined budget of *at least* $4100 if you don't want to buy used. Time to sell some guns! Got a car in the garage you never drive anymore you wouldn't mind selling?

[CouchOperator]

You are best off budgeting in the area of $3500-3700 for the Gen 3 PVS-14 itself (new). The OMNI VIIIs will typically sell for a couple hundred cheaper than the ITT Pinnacles. Whether that extra clarity is worth it is up to you. A mount will run you anywhere from $175 (basic Norotos Rhino for example) to $460 (for something like the Wilcox G24). Keep in mind that some mounts may require propriety J-Arms or other parts in order to work with your NOD.

A basic Team Wendy LTP or comparable bump helmet will be found for about $250 at best. More likely $275-300. A ballistic helmet will be triple that price at the cheapest. Stay away from Protec. I tried to go cheap and wound up flipping it weeks later. Watch out for sketchy mom and pop no-name helmet manufacturers.

Lastly the counterweight will run you somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-100 depending on what you get.

So altogether you're looking at a combined budget of *at least* $4100 if you don't want to buy used. Time to sell some guns! Got a car in the garage you never drive anymore you wouldn't mind selling?

This is accurate, and will cover all your bases. There is unfortunately no free lunch when it comes to NVG . The setup i now use is around $8500, and i will be still upgrading to external power ANVIS packs and ball detent mounts; an additional $2,050 however i will probably sell the G24 to fund part of it.

The duals im having built currently are an AB Night Vision Mod 3 ($2400 for the body with an AVS-9 focusing lens upgrade (about $640 per lens, 2 needed for the goggle). The tubes inside will be L3 OMNI VIII MX10160's, $3200 for those tubes and collimate/assembly/purge/etc. So, $6,880 for the duals. Is it worth it over a $3,500 PVS-14? Part 3 will deal with that.

AVS and ANVIS essentially stands for Aviation Night Vision Imaging System, designed to be the ultimate in lens quality for NVG. Next year i plan on an AN-PAS29-A COTI, however thats still in the air and id rather find one of those secondhand to be perfectly honest.

Night vision is freakin cool but can be soulcrushingly expensive at times. The nice thing is that once you have it you have it. Other than feeding it batteries, NVG doesnt require maintenance or constant monetary feeding to keep it running.

[Cbear758]

This is great information guys, thanks for taking the time to post this

[robledo]

Also, to add to the prices I states above you sorta have to add in the cost of an IR laser.

[HK Dave]

Nice.. do you guys know what the longevity on the NV is? $4100 sounds ok... $8500 sounds like a bit much but doable in chunks...

Well provided this is a one time thing for the next 10 years.

I've been thinking about wanting to get into NV for a decade now, perhaps it's time.

[CouchOperator]

Nice.. do you guys know what the longevity on the NV is? $4100 sounds ok... $8500 sounds like a bit much but doable in chunks...

Well provided this is a one time thing for the next 10 years.

I've been thinking about wanting to get into NV for a decade now, perhaps it's time.

You wont outlast the tube. There are tubes from the 80's still going strong. If you want, you can send me your number and we can talk a bit more casually about it

[HK Dave]

Hey Couch, yah would love to talk about it sometime. Can't this weekend.. it's family time. lol

[robledo]

There goes couchoperator again, absconding to his phone with all of the decent things to actually discuss on this website.....again.

[CouchOperator]

There goes couchoperator again, absconding to his phone with all of the decent things to actually discuss on this website.....again.

Yo dawg, raise yer dukes and square up, hombre

[CouchOperator]

PART 3, INCOMPLETE EVOLVING POST

I recently completed my AB Night Vision Mod3 Bravos, outiftted with upgraded AVS9 lenses assembled/cleaned/purged by Glynn at Ownnight.com. For a while the idea of if it was worth the cash over a very good PVS14 was worth it. Two tubes? I already see fine with one tube. Is a $6,000+ goggle setup truly worth it over a $3,000 single PVS14? Yes and no. The benefits to a single will always be there such as reading surrounding light conditions, however when i dropped the duals in front of me and powered them up, it was an instant “yup, worth it” moment. Though i dont know if i actually have improved depth perception, it certainly feels like it. Its like watching a movie in the theater instead of on an iphone with one eye closed. My mind is put at ease and i definitely feel more confidence navigating unknown areas. I havent shot with them yet, however when i do i will update this post which should be in a couple days. But as far as general nagivational use, 100% worth it. If you can swing duals, skip the PVS-14. If not, you wont go wrong with a PVS-14, but IMO, its inferior.

[bug_eyedmonster]

As a total noob to NVG, NV in general, I have a few questions that seem to be overlooked. Please do not take these the wrong way, I really have no idea what to say here, and aside from tinkering with a few older models of monocles, I have zero experience.

1. OP, I read in your earlier post about once getting them, to spend an hour with them on to adjust. When I played with my friend's, I was told not to use in light. How can this be done when, say, walking down the street, with my dog and NOG on a casual stroll? Will I be blinded by the street lights and on-coming cars like in the movies? Will bright light damage the NV devices?

2. I have always wanted NV, but have not been able to justify the cost since I cannot hunt with them or mount them on my rifle in CA. Other than patrolling my neighborhood like a weirdo, what else can I do to justify to my wife why I need a set up?

3. With a helmet-mounted NV device, how is shooting? Can I use NVG with a pistol or long gun, or will the angles and such get in the way?

4. Can I make my own wide angle goggles instead of buying them for the price of my truck? The 40 degree field of view is tripping me out.

OP, thanks for the information here, along with everyone else. Long time luster for NV, but have always thought out of my realm. I guess if bought in chunks, it would be more doable. Hopefully technology will help lower the cost of entry too.

Jerry

[Kwikvette]

My own answers in bold.

As a total noob to NVG, NV in general, I have a few questions that seem to be overlooked. Please do not take these the wrong way, I really have no idea what to say here, and aside from tinkering with a few older models of monocles, I have zero experience.

1. OP, I read in your earlier post about once getting them, to spend an hour with them on to adjust. When I played with my friend's, I was told not to use in light. How can this be done when, say, walking down the street, with my dog and NOG on a casual stroll? Will I be blinded by the street lights and on-coming cars like in the movies? Will bright light damage the NV devices?

Bright light sources can and will damage tubes. Some have an auto-gated power supply, which means the device is turning on and off at a very rapid rate.

Autogated, as quoted elsewhere, "helps to keep optimum voltage during "on" cycles and helps with rapid changing bright photon input sources such as extending hours into brighter dawn or twlight before complete dark, bright light conditions, weapons flash, etc though a different function than Auto Brightness Control or Bright Source Protection. It also serves a function to help reject IONS to keep the thinner filmed or filmless designs from ION poisoning of the MCP that would rapidly decrease output quality and tube burn out would happen many times faster"

2. I have always wanted NV, but have not been able to justify the cost since I cannot hunt with them or mount them on my rifle in CA. Other than patrolling my neighborhood like a weirdo, what else can I do to justify to my wife why I need a set up?

You pay the bills and what you say goes; that's what I do in my household.

3. With a helmet-mounted NV device, how is shooting? Can I use NVG with a pistol or long gun, or will the angles and such get in the way?

The couch will have more experience with this in regards to recreational shooting.

My experience is however, similar to what was described by the OP; lack of depth perception is clearly present. It takes awhile getting used to, especially when chartering unfamiliar area. This is why it is recommended to use it around familiar areas; you don't know how far something is sometimes and your foot might come in a step too short when patrolling, etc. Engaging targets at a further distance is far more challenging than in the day.

This is why in the military, we trained with them constantly.

4. Can I make my own wide angle goggles instead of buying them for the price of my truck? The 40 degree field of view is tripping me out.

OP, thanks for the information here, along with everyone else. Long time luster for NV, but have always thought out of my realm. I guess if bought in chunks, it would be more doable. Hopefully technology will help lower the cost of entry too.

Jerry