CGN'ers with Night Vision Experience - Need Help

T

Turillo

CGN Regular
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Hi and thanks for reading.

I'm ready to make an investment in NV/Thermal optics and have been reading for the past 4 nights, but hesitant to make a purchase, because I don't have the option to look, touch and feel before I buy.

I was hoping that I can ask for some advise/input on what brand to buy, makes/models and a reputable place, both on, or offline where I can make a purchase?

My main use case is night time surveillance and very early morning scouts for hunting purposes.

Thanks again and have a good day.
 
I use them all the time at work. Last night in fact. My best advice is spend all you can. There is a real difference in the quality. Ones I use are in excess of $6G.

Moe
 
Moe said:
I use them all the time at work. Last night in fact. My best advice is spend all you can. There is a real difference in the quality. Ones I use are in excess of $6G.

Moe
Click to expand...

Hi Moe,

Thanks for the reply. How are you? What make and model do you use?
 
I own a few sets of night vision and I've built one. I also used to own an AN/PAS-23 aka Insight MTM.

Thermal tends to be more expensive than nightvision, but people are usually okay with handheld thermals whereas for nightvision it is highly recommended to have it helmet mounted, so you may have to account for that in your budget. 3-4k is enough to get you a mid level PVS-14 if you look in the right places. Don't buy ATN or GSCI garbage. That NVM-14 listing lacks important information. WPT isn't a generation. It tells you the resolution, but purposefully avoids disclosing actual technical information on the tube: manufacturer, generation, photocathode sensitivity, signal to noise ratio, etc. As for thermal, you're quite limited at that price but you may be able to track down a Leupold LTO, which is a decent spotting optic for the price.

One thing to note though, is that thermal and nightvision are different devices for different applications. If you are going to be doing more navigating in the dark, you will want nightvision. If you are solely looking for spotting animals, thermal is far better.

Feel free to send me a PM.
 
If you are willing to use active IR lighting to illuminate your observation areas then even a good Gen 1 device might work for you.

If you need to be passive with IR illumination ie. none, then you are really restricted to later model Gen 3+ and will have to go beyond your current budget.
 
AN/AVS-6 and 9's usually come with MX-10160A tubes or MX-10160C. A is older, standard film non gated. C is newer, thin film, autogated. If your system makes no noise, you have A. If it has a whine, you have C.
 
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