- Location
- Newfoundland
What do you recommend for a guy who wants night vision but knows nothing about it and can’t spend a lot of money
Night Vision Chat Thread - Ask Us Anything
- Thread starter Cold Harbour Supply
- Start date
In the same vein do you guys ever do sales or open box items?
richmyster
CGN frequent flyer
Save your money
Battlerifleelitist
CGN Regular
- Location
- Annapolis Valley, NS
Head wearable NV just doesn't happen under 2k CAD.
East wave optics (the Canadian version) sells a viewer for 300, and they have a head mounted gen 1 ?dual tube? setup for 800$. However for the viewer it would be only for static viewing and both of them it's very old technology so you will be tempted to turn on the IR light (and be seen by everyone else with NVG). Those are the cheapest. Lord know if they're still in business after the Feb 26th incident and subsequent sanctions, because they're just an importer of Russian goods.
There is also "digital" style night vision that you might see for like 200 or 300 like the Bushnell units. They are very laggy, kind of zoomed in so only good for static viewing, and basically impossible to use without the IR lamp.
You can buy an optronics housing kit from CHS for ~$1200, then get lucky and find a used image intensifier tube on eBay for $400-$1000 depending on condition. Of course you'll have to spend more on mounting systems if you want to wear it rather than hold it.
But I've built a PVS-14 for around $1500 with CHS sales on their optronics kit and a scratched Photonis tube from eBay.
All valid tips and approaches.
I think ultimately it depends on your expectations of what you will receive. If you just want to see marginally more than your naked eye, then Amazon digital night vision is viable. If your budget allows for more, then piecing together your own parts and building a true analog Gen2 or Gen3 monocular could save you some money but you have absolutely no control over what intensifier you get, whether or not the intensifier even performs as it might be advertised as , and zero warranty support. Not withstanding that night vision terminology is already confusing as hell for most people, how do you even know or can verify that you're not getting somebody's failed garage experiment?
So that $800-1500 intensifier you bought off Ebay, if it dies, you're basically out that amount entirely. I'm not saying that this approach is short-sighted as lots of people buy grey market lasers like PEQ-15s, Persts, etc and they just eat the cost if the device dies, but you have to think about whether or not that's necessarily worthwhile for you. You could luck out and get something great, or you can really lose out.
We recently serviced a device that was a DIY and was essentially non-repairable. Ended up replacing the intensifier to get it back up and running.
On the flip side, we've launched multiple runs of sub-$3000 monoculars with quality components, after-sales support, and warranty. We assemble all of our devices with factory-new parts, and verify performance on our $80,000 Hoffman night vision test set.
We will have a couple of fantastic, new, budget options just on the horizon in about 2 weeks, but it will still hover around the high $2k mark for a monocular and $6k mark for a binocular.
Component prices are only going to go up as time goes on, so I would not be surprised if the new floor for quality analog NV goes to $3500 for monoculars and $7k+ for binoculars within a year.
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Yeah once I got my PVS-14 Pro from you guys I stopped using my DIY monocle completely lol.
But now my buddies who can't or don't want to drop the big money on professional built NVG get to come lurk around in the dark too
Thank you for the support
That's usually the best way to grow a local community of NV users. One person buys one, shows their friends, they trip balls, then end up getting into night vision. Then you have a small group of good guys hang out and shoot under NV.
Tons of little pockets all over Canada now.
RancherBriggs
CGN Regular
- Location
- Southern AB
Is there a huge difference between these 2
Echo WP 4081 | FOM: 1770 SNR: 26.42 Res: 67 Gain: 9122 EBI: 0.06 - Unavailable
Echo GP 3198 | FOM: 1729 SNR: 24.01 Res; 72 Gain: 12642 EBI: 0.11
Should a guy wait until the other is in stock for the extra $100 ?
Echo WP 4081 | FOM: 1770 SNR: 26.42 Res: 67 Gain: 9122 EBI: 0.06 - Unavailable
Echo GP 3198 | FOM: 1729 SNR: 24.01 Res; 72 Gain: 12642 EBI: 0.11
Should a guy wait until the other is in stock for the extra $100 ?
WP = White Phosphor
GP = Green Phosphor
So anecdotally, yes they will be quite different because the screen colour is white (more like light blue) vs green.
Typically green phosphor Photonis tubes will have higher gain and appear brighter to the eye (as shown by the Gain value)
Specifications-wise the WP 4081 will have less image noise but appear slightly less "clear" because the resolution is lower, whereas GP 3198 will appear brighter, appear sharper but may have more image noise in lower light environment due to the lower SNR.
For a full breakdown of what each spec really means, check out our article regarding intensifier specs here:
https://coldharboursupply.com/blogs/news/tube-selection-and-specs-a-beginners-guide
Or give us a call and we'd be happy to walk you through the whole process.
GP = Green Phosphor
So anecdotally, yes they will be quite different because the screen colour is white (more like light blue) vs green.
Typically green phosphor Photonis tubes will have higher gain and appear brighter to the eye (as shown by the Gain value)
Specifications-wise the WP 4081 will have less image noise but appear slightly less "clear" because the resolution is lower, whereas GP 3198 will appear brighter, appear sharper but may have more image noise in lower light environment due to the lower SNR.
For a full breakdown of what each spec really means, check out our article regarding intensifier specs here:
https://coldharboursupply.com/blogs/news/tube-selection-and-specs-a-beginners-guide
Or give us a call and we'd be happy to walk you through the whole process.
RancherBriggs
CGN Regular
- Location
- Southern AB
Thanks for the quick reply, I'm thinking I will wait for the WP to come in stock.
Budget but feature-rich monoculars have arrived:
https://coldharboursupply.com/products/infiray-jerry-14-night-vision-monocular
Use Code : BF2023-NV for $250 off
https://coldharboursupply.com/products/infiray-jerry-14-night-vision-monocular
Use Code : BF2023-NV for $250 off
Great question.
Few reasons:
* import taxes will vary by region
* we disassemble the device and replace the o-rings and clean the device of any debris from the factory. The factory o-rings break easily and will compromise the water seal
* we have a custom collimation plate and will collimate to Milspec standards or better
* the factory off-spec dovetail is replaced with a Milspec dovetail made in Canada
Nothing stopping you from exploring the lower priced options but you will likely have a tough time getting it serviced when it can and will fail for failure to address the issues outlined above.
what this guy said
If going the clip-on route, you'll want a lightweight rifle, preferably with a short, light barrel. Clip-ons add a lot of forward weight and are tiring on the arms so you'll also want to use a light, short-bodied scope behind the thermal and keep it mounted as far back as possible.
Leupold Firedot scopes work well with thermal. The illuminated reticle really stands out against the black and white picture and they're the shortest, lightest scopes around. Pick one with low power settings like a 3-9x or 2-10x. Any higher magnification causes pixellation of the screen.
Also, thermals are a bit of a pain to sight in because it needs to be done after the scope is sighted in, and it should be done on a heated target.
Leupold Firedot scopes work well with thermal. The illuminated reticle really stands out against the black and white picture and they're the shortest, lightest scopes around. Pick one with low power settings like a 3-9x or 2-10x. Any higher magnification causes pixellation of the screen.
Also, thermals are a bit of a pain to sight in because it needs to be done after the scope is sighted in, and it should be done on a heated target.
