I am looking to purchase some NVG goggles but am having trouble finding places to purchase them in Canada. Not sure what generation I want and would like some advice on that. I don’t want to spend thousands but I also don’t want crap either. I would like to have a head mounted binocular type as opposed to monocular as that just seems like it would be too hard to use since it’s only one eye. Any advice anyone is willing to give me would be SUPER appreciated!!!
NVG Goggles
- Thread starter Ditch Doc
- Start date
theBuilder
CGN Regular
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
check out alpha optics.
Monocular systems like the pvs14 are easy to get used to.
Binocular is better but twice the price.
And in all honesty, for most things, letting your eyes adjust in an outdoor setting you can see more than you would think.
So don't overuse NODs without good reason.
Binocular is better but twice the price.
And in all honesty, for most things, letting your eyes adjust in an outdoor setting you can see more than you would think.
So don't overuse NODs without good reason.
I want good night vision, I don’t want to spend thousands and make it binocular instead of mono so that’s two awesome tubes but again don’t want to spend thousands....
Maybe I’ll let someone else burst the bubble... nah
Gen 1+ $1000+
Gen 2 $2000+
Gen 2+ $2500+
Gen 3 $3000+
Gen 3+ 3500+
This is for basic low end of each, But wait you said Bino not Mono... times each by 1.5x-2 atleast and can go crazy from there.
(This was my edit) I forgot you said head mounted add $200-$1500 for a stand along head strap setup or $200(airsoft that will break) up to $5000 for a helmet setup... $5000 being a full bells and whistles next get Mtec helmet with full Jarm Rhino mount. $600 for a team Wendy bump helmet with basic flip up mount.
General(very general) rule of thumb for night vision is $1000 per maximum 100meters of view-ability with IR engaged per eye. Features like Autogated and White increase that rapidly.
Unless you find an extremely desperate or generous person (they do both exist) used that you can view for yourself is the best way to save and may be able to knock off about $500 from each of those numbers.
Updated my response as people were taking my numbers as the high side vs my numbers being absolute base to get into each Gen.
-5k for a decent (not amazing) Monocular full setup is reasonable to assume
-10k for a decent (not amazing) bino full setup is base for a Gen 3 or high end Gen 2
-If you are looking to get a setup for under 5k your best bet is the PVS7 they are outdated and old tech so can be found used for a lot cheaper and from retailers at 2-4K for a decent setup, however unlike the versatility of owning a monocular once you go this route your stuck with that option and no way to upgrade or change your setup outside of selling at a loss or rebuying something else.
- sold my PVS14 and regret it and now saving for a new bino system/deciding cost to options ratio at the moment.
Maybe I’ll let someone else burst the bubble... nah
Gen 1+ $1000+
Gen 2 $2000+
Gen 2+ $2500+
Gen 3 $3000+
Gen 3+ 3500+
This is for basic low end of each, But wait you said Bino not Mono... times each by 1.5x-2 atleast and can go crazy from there.
(This was my edit) I forgot you said head mounted add $200-$1500 for a stand along head strap setup or $200(airsoft that will break) up to $5000 for a helmet setup... $5000 being a full bells and whistles next get Mtec helmet with full Jarm Rhino mount. $600 for a team Wendy bump helmet with basic flip up mount.
General(very general) rule of thumb for night vision is $1000 per maximum 100meters of view-ability with IR engaged per eye. Features like Autogated and White increase that rapidly.
Unless you find an extremely desperate or generous person (they do both exist) used that you can view for yourself is the best way to save and may be able to knock off about $500 from each of those numbers.
Updated my response as people were taking my numbers as the high side vs my numbers being absolute base to get into each Gen.
-5k for a decent (not amazing) Monocular full setup is reasonable to assume
-10k for a decent (not amazing) bino full setup is base for a Gen 3 or high end Gen 2
-If you are looking to get a setup for under 5k your best bet is the PVS7 they are outdated and old tech so can be found used for a lot cheaper and from retailers at 2-4K for a decent setup, however unlike the versatility of owning a monocular once you go this route your stuck with that option and no way to upgrade or change your setup outside of selling at a loss or rebuying something else.
- sold my PVS14 and regret it and now saving for a new bino system/deciding cost to options ratio at the moment.
Last edited:
I'll second Aplha Optic for pricing.
At a minimum recommend the Gen2+ Photonis Echo White Phosphor tubes they sell. Resolution, SNR, Halo and EBI are very good in these tubes. After that, step up to Gen3 for better luminescent gain. Alpha Optic supplies Harder Digital Gen3 tubes with excellent numbers.
Your other options for suppliers are GSCI and Newcon Optik. GSCI will not let you know who supplies their Gen3 Tubes (or wouldn't tell me anyway as of last week, only kept asking how much I wanted to spend), and prices are high. Newcon Optik supplies Gen3 Katod Russian made tubes which have some good numbers and image quality from pics I've seen, but prices are high.
Used deals can be had. I missed out on an L3 Filmless White Phosphor PVS14 recently.
At a minimum recommend the Gen2+ Photonis Echo White Phosphor tubes they sell. Resolution, SNR, Halo and EBI are very good in these tubes. After that, step up to Gen3 for better luminescent gain. Alpha Optic supplies Harder Digital Gen3 tubes with excellent numbers.
Your other options for suppliers are GSCI and Newcon Optik. GSCI will not let you know who supplies their Gen3 Tubes (or wouldn't tell me anyway as of last week, only kept asking how much I wanted to spend), and prices are high. Newcon Optik supplies Gen3 Katod Russian made tubes which have some good numbers and image quality from pics I've seen, but prices are high.
Used deals can be had. I missed out on an L3 Filmless White Phosphor PVS14 recently.
mr52359289
Member
- Location
- Upper North Commiefornia
I've finally received my NVG kits yesterday. It's BNVD-1431, and I'm using 2 Photonis XR5 as my tubes. Total cost is $12280 CAD. I made the order from China using app called "Xianyu"(kind like kijiji) , the 1431 shipped from China due to this special time, I've waited for a month until it arrived..Photonis XR5 is Mil spec(FOM 1800+, 69lp/mm, SNR 27-30), it similar to American's Gen 3+ Omni6. it's shipped from Europe, come from Polish army's inventory...I can tell you now, the BNVD is a good case, it's amazing！Most important is...it's cheap than some web in Canada...
Their housings are CNC machined in house I believe, and they use Harder and Photonis tubes. Photonis are high end Gen 2 tubes made in France, Harder is German but I believe they use Russian image intensifiers from Katod but have an improved power supply to deal with dynamic lighting situations. Unsure about optics.
The housing itself with no tubes or optics costs around 1.5k.
PesTo covered most of it. ActinBlack pricing by Canadian retailers is pretty expensive. On their Facebook page, they advertised a Garage sale on the Harder Digital 64lp/22SNR (minimums) White Phosphor PVS14 for about $5200 Canadian (they priced in Euros). Not sure about the Harder Digital tubes actually being made by Katod. Everything I've seen says they are made in Serbia. Katod is in Novosibirsk, Russia.
mr52359289
Member
- Location
- Upper North Commiefornia
https://alpha-photonics.com/wp-content/uploads/Basic_knowledge_of_night_vision.pdf
Some info you might want to know before make your purchase.
Correct, Photonis tubes are all Gen 2. But that does not mean that the specs are worse, necessarily. An Echo/XR5/4G will generally have a lower luminance gain than a Gen 3, but resolution, SNR, EBI, halo, etc., are equivalent/better than Gen 3, depending on the individual tubes.
I'm pretty confused by your "don't make true to spec tubes" comment. The specs on your spec sheet, are the specs you have. If you want to be really particular, some specs on a Gen 2 Photonis 4G will likely be about 10% higher, due to the difference in response of the light used in testing, vs. skyglow and what is seen in the real world. For more info on that, CJ7Hawk on ARfcom has an incredible wealth of knowledge on tubes, and specifically Photonis vs Gen 3.
Also, unfortunately we can't really get new L3 and Elbit in Canada, ITAR and all
Last edited:
