GenII, Gen III, gen III+, be careful what you guys buy and from whom. The generation refers to the technology used to achieve light intensification, it doesn't mean that the end performance of the product that you bought is milspec. All NVGs sold to civilians in the US and exported to authorized clients have their performance lowered electronically regardless of what the night vision tube is capable of doing. In practical terms, it means that those tier one military clients will get close to full milspec performance. Tier two units will get somewhat downgraded performance and so on, until you hit the civilian and export market which will get the bottom end of the performance. You cannot legally get full milspec tubes released out of the US unless you do it through foreign military sales, regardless of what a dealer may say to you.
Photonis tubes out of Europe are indeed a good alternative, but again be careful about what you are buying. Keep in mind that tube performance is usually advertised for that light regime under which the tube performs the best, not the regime that is most representative of your situation.
If I'm out in the woods with a GENIII night sight goggle and an LEO stops me they can do what? Call the US and have me charged for an ITAR violation. This makes no sense.
