Night vision w/ EOtech

[Emt123]

I have the EOtech EXPS3 which is Set up for NV. Question is.. What NV to go with? Looking to spend no more than 700 bucks. Also needs to be hands free obviously. I figure some of you military guys can give me some suggestions. Thanks in advance for your help.

[TKM]

Giggle, snort......

[Spaceghost]

Good gear is not that cheap.

[Emt123]

I'm fully aware that quality NV is very expensive. I thought maybe someone had experience with Yukon or other similar brands that are less expensive.

[dieselpower]

Thank you for that. I had a crappy day and needed to laugh for about 15 minutes...$700 will buy you a green colored beer bottle to look through. $2500 is do-able

[ExtremeX]

Weapon grade NV cost a lot more than night vision monocular you may be thinking of. I doubt anyone military can answer your question; they actually get to play with real NV.

$2500 is where you would want to start… it will just about get you into an entry level Gen2/Gen3

ITT PVS-14 units cost around $3800 for a 3rd Gen head mounted monocular.

EOTech M914 PVS-14 is available but with restrictions. (about 5k)

http://www.opticsplanet.com/l-3-infrared-products-m914-pvs-14-type-nvg-monocular.html

For $700 and under, save your money, whatever you find in that price range won’t live up to your expectations.

[joelogic]

If you wanted a head mounted nv unit then you have to use an IR laser.

[Emt123]

So say I spent the big bucks on legit NV. Can that be used with my EOtech? Or do I need something weapon mounted?

[glug]

So say I spent the big bucks on legit NV. Can that be used with my EOtech? Or do I need something weapon mounted?

To effectively use NV with your EOTech it would need to be weapon mounted. It would be possible to use it with a head mounted NVG but it would be pretty clunky. At that point you would be better served by an IR laser.

Also, keep in mind not all NV is weapons rated. Your average milspec PVS-14 will work on a 5.56 but nothing larger without risk of damage. L3 makes a PVS-14 tube that is a little more rugged but not much (still can't handle a 308). A true weapon mounted NV will cost even more.

I would recommend you check out tnvc.com and call them up. They will be happy to walk you through it. They recently came out with their own TNV/PVS-14 that is very well received. Their commercial spec unit was a great bargain but it was so popular they had to temporarily suspend orders on it: http://tnvc.com/shop/tnvpvs-14-gen3-commercial-spec/. But the pricier milspec versions are are still available.

The OPMOD from opticsplanet is also worth looking at: http://www.opticsplanet.com/opmod-pv...head-gear.html

Hope this helps.

[Emt123]

Thanks for the info! Correct me if I'm wrong.. Weapon mounted nv and ir lasers are illegal in CA? Or you need a special permit?

[glug]

Thanks for the info! Correct me if I'm wrong.. Weapon mounted nv and ir lasers are illegal in CA? Or you need a special permit?

I am not a lawyer so I would suggest you research on your own before making any purchases.

My understanding is that you cannot have NV, magnification and an IR illuminator (which most PVS-14s have built in, albeit a very wimpy one) all weapon mounted at once as that qualifies as a "sniper scope". A PVS-14 is basically 1x but I have read of some people being concerned that if it isn't *precisely* 1x then you could have a problem. I don't know if that is true or pure FUD. I did notice in the TNVC description it lists Magnification:
1X +0.03 so it's something you'll want to look into.

I am not aware of any CA laws around IR lasers as long as they are class 1 civilian legal. But again I would advise you to look into it on your own.

[jasonhcc]

Check out CA Fish & Game Code 353(i) & 2005(c), Might shed some light on the legality of using NV with a weapon.