Night Vision for a beginner

[yimpyomp]

Looking for some night vision to use for hunting, and don't really know where to start. So far everything I've seen is at least 2k, and am not really sure what I should get in the first place. I'm going to use it with my AR, with an EOTech HHS1, does anyone have any suggestions?


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[azkcr]

Subd.
I been wondering where to even start also

 

[grumper]

Probably a clip-on monocular if you want to keep using the EOTech but might have to play around with various set-ups to find a combination you like.

Holosight + magnifier + NV monocular sounds like it might be pretty clunky and take up quite a bit of top rail space and not sure if you will have eye relief issues or not when the NV is removed for shooting during the day.

Does the magnifier come off? Or is it 1 mount? I never much liked the view looking through a tube into another tube so opted for a helmet mounted monocular and IR laser.

 

[yimpyomp]

The magnifier comes off, and it flips to the side. I've heard a lot how when you use a magnifier, holo, and night vision you get really poor quality because of all the glass the light has to travel through.


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[grumper]

The magnifier comes off, and it flips to the side. I've heard a lot how when you use a magnifier, holo, and night vision you get really poor quality because of all the glass the light has to travel through.


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Yup, I was messing with an Aimpoint M3 and monocular and basically couldn't see squat through it. With another tube added between the red dot and NV I can imagine it'd be even worse.

For the PVS-14 there is a 3x lens you can screw into the front so you could eliminate the other magnifier.

 

[yimpyomp]

So I should get a pvs-14? I looked into those a little bit, I decided that if I got one I'd just use the head mount because for some reason, every adapter that lets you mount it to picatinney rails is 100+ dollars


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[grumper]

The PVS-14 Pinnacle Gen3 is top tier stuff just like our troops are using in the war zones.

Some packages come with mounts. The AN/PVS-14 kit I bought from TNVC came with the flimsy USGI weapon mount and the Rhino helmet mount.

You could give TNVC a call and see what they suggest, they always had time to answer my questions when I was buying.

 

[yimpyomp]

Just looked them up, their stuff looks like its pretty high quality, but much more expensive than other stuff I've seen.


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[grumper]

They had some great promos going on over the holidays. I think it was -20% off IR lasers and a few hundred off their PVS-14s.

Couldn't hurt to ask if they still got any of that going on. They got some Gen2+ devices too, if you don't need the latest and greatest gadgets.

 

[yimpyomp]

I think I'll check those put, and which would you reccomend, a head mount or a weapon mount?


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[grumper]

I got a helmet mount and IR laser. Was very disappointed with the tube in a tube view.

And if you want to check out the scenery with a weapon mounted monocular you have to point it at whatever/whoever you want to check out.

 

[yimpyomp]

That's what I thought with the whole part about you need to point a gun wherever you want to look. If you don't mind me asking, how much did that setup with the pvs 14, laser, and head mount cost you?


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[grumper]

It was the milspec PVS-14 kit on that website. I think it was the same current price. It came with more extras like the Rhino mount and couple other things.

But the civilian ITT Night Enforcer package comes with nicer looking tubes. Same unit but apparently the military doesn't care about black dots in the view as long as they don't obscure huge swathes.

Give TNVC a call, they explained all this stuff to me when I was shopping.

I think total was $3500 for the AN/PVS kit and I grossly overpaid for the DBAL-I2. Around $900 for the dual laser if I recall, wish I had gotten one of those -20% sale ones. ~$120 for the el cheapo Protec skateboard helmet and Ops Core VAS shroud.

 

[Dredens]

The PVS-14 Pinnacle Gen3 is top tier stuff just like our troops are using in the war zones.

Lol please don't ever assume that just because the military issues something to troops in a warzone, that it is top-tier. Though in this case, the AN/PVS-14 is definitely a very nice setup for someone without extensive experience with night optics (definitely not top-tier though). Generally, when someone is learning to use night optics for the first time, I recommend them using the binoculars instead of just a monocular, because moving around and identifying certain objects in certain light settings can be difficult if you have no experience with them, and also because the monocular can be confusing at times for beginners that tend to constantly switch between the two eyes in darkness.

 

[grumper]

Don't they cost twice as much though? Two Gen 3 tubes instead of one.

In b4 pics of Renegade's double MUM set-up.

 

[Dredens]

I should probably have clarified: Not full-on binoculars, single tube, but goes over both eyes. Such as the AN/PVS-7

 

[M. Sage]

Huge problem with mounting your (only) NV to your rifle - you can only look at stuff you point the rifle at.

If you want to go as cheap as possible, IMO that's a PVS14 (or a 7) and IR laser. If you've got the money to get two NV devices, it opens up your options a lot.

PS: Don't waste your money on the Gen 1 Russian garbage. It sucks. The good stuff is painfully expensive, but it's honestly worth it.

Where are you at? I might have someone for you to talk to.

 

[yimpyomp]

Huge problem with mounting your (only) NV to your rifle - you can only look at stuff you point the rifle at.

If you want to go as cheap as possible, IMO that's a PVS14 (or a 7) and IR laser. If you've got the money to get two NV devices, it opens up your options a lot.

PS: Don't waste your money on the Gen 1 Russian garbage. It sucks. The good stuff is painfully expensive, but it's honestly worth it.

Where are you at? I might have someone for you to talk to.

I'm in the houston/katy area, around greenhouse and Saums.


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[M. Sage]

Darn. I'll see what I can dig up, but Sean Cody on here knows his stuff and is in that area.

 

[grumper]

Check out the new FLIR RS24 on here

QD mounted thermal weapon sight that can withstand .308 recoil. Looks like the perfect pigkiller and it's cheaper than a Gen 3 device plus laser.

I'm thinking of getting one to mess with. Maybe the RS32 model. The RS24 is lower resolution and missing features like zoom and video output. Both units are still a lot cheaper than the $6000 ATN Thor sight and the fancy $10k-plus ones.

Prolly going to wait a while and see if the price comes down after the new-ness factor wears off.