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Night Vision Devices


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Oh night vision, the one thing I've always wanted but could never justify buying : /

 

I owned a set of NVG for about a month before I sold it. We never played night games. Only thing I ever used it for was taking a ###### in the dark so I didn't hit the toilet seat at night :P. I had to fine some use for it.

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That's pretty incredible. I don't know if the IR/thermal overlays are the final finished product or just the prototype ... the syncing of the two looks like they need a little work, but as a concept, that's freaking awesome. Even using my Gen 3+ NVGs, I've found that it can be hard to clearly identify OPFOR when you're in deep woodland. Yeah you might see better than them, but the added thermal capabilities shown in that video can make a world of difference. If they sold those for under $8Gs, I'd buy a set. Though that's unlikely given most thermal scopes start at around $11Gs. On the plus side, most thermal scopes can be bought by the general US public, so there's still potential that I can someday afford one (legally).

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anyone know where to get an inexpensive NV rifle scope? i have had my eye on the ATN Aries MK390, which pretty much seems like the best option... opinions?

oh, and i got a chance to use some Anvis 9s the other day... pretty damned awesome, i must say. but they dont like ambient TV light, thats for sure.

-Joe

Edited by masakarijoe
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Avoid anything made by ATN like the plague. Horrible reputation for bad reliability and to be honest anything you buy that's Gen.1 is just going to be for the coolness factor and won't be of much use in any kind of skirmish setting without a massive amount of IR illumination... which will basically make you a lighthouse in the dark to any other NV users.

 

I'd say save up $1,500 for a D-300 Milspec Gen 2+ monocular and either helmet mount it or weapon mount it behind a NV compatible optic, or save up $2,000 for a D-740 Milspec if you like the idea of a dedicated NV scope and don't mind the 4x magnification. Either weapon mounted configuration (D-300 with a EOTech or Aimpoint or a D-740) is going to set you back around $2k.

 

But, if there's no way possible you could ever save up that kind for a good practical NVD and still reaaaally want one than a Yukon 1.5x42 Gen 1 NVRS can be fun to play around with and is one of the best Gen 1 devices I've used. But don't get me wrong here... the "Best" Gen1 device is still just a toy. If you seriously want something to give you an advantage in night games than save up $1,500 to $2,000 for some real NV equipment.

 

Edit : Forgot to mention, if you do decide you can't save up the $1,500 to $2,000 necessary for a quality NV device and must have some kind of cheaper Gen 1 device just to play around with I must make it very very clear that you never ever buy a used Gen.1 device. If you buy Gen 1 device buy it new, buying a used one is basically throwing your money down the drain. I wouldn't have any qualms about buying a used Gen 2 or 3 device from a reliable seller but never buy a used Gen 1 device. And remember, never buy ATN.

Edited by Jin15
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jin: not to show any disrespect to you, but... why? you have to explain why not to buy ATN, or any used Gen 1. i wont just "take your word" without knowing any facts.

either way, there is no chance of me buying real NVGs for any price like that. *fruitcage* no. i have better things to save up for.

if i did buy something along these lines, it would be as you said, a toy. its not like i would be bringing it to war! just airsoft. im not that serious.

-Joe

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I hear ya Joe, no reason to take my word for it about ATN. Just go read through the Night Vision subforum on ARFCOM for the skinny on that company.

To put it simply ATN makes extremely unreliable NV products that are way overpriced and made with the worst quality old cold war surplus Russian tubes they can find. It's not uncommon for someone to buy an ATN product, have it arrive with all manners of defects, then return it for another one only to have the new one arrive defective or break after a day or two, then they send that one back and get another one that arrives and breaks in a day or two. I believe there was someone here on Arnies who mentioned a month back that they had gone through 7 different ATN Gen1 NV scopes before getting one that actually worked and kept working... and even then the resolution and clarity is about the lowest end of Gen1 you could get.

 

Which is not to say that all Russian Gen 1 NV tubes are horrible. Infact, if you look a few pages back in this thread you'll see a couple different Russian cold war era NPSU and 1PN34 scopes that are leaps and bounds above anything you'll find from the commercial Gen1 companies like ATN, Bushnell, and Yukon. The reason for this is that these old Russian scopes, while gigantic, use a cascading tube system which is basically 3 of the higher quality Gen1 tubes like you'd find in a $600 Yukon scope stacked back to back, which as you can imagine greatly enhances the light gathering capabilities and resolution compared to the single tube Gen1 systems the commercial sellers put out. They're kinda halfway between Gen 1 and Gen 2, and certainly built to a military grade level of durability. The downside? They're gargantuan and can only be mounted on AK series rifles with the ubiquitous AK side rail.

 

 

But back to the point here. You want a fun little Gen 1 unit just to play around with and can't bring yourself to ever save up the $1500 necessary for a proper entry level quality NVD (no offense to those over the pond who can't have this kinda stuff) like the Gen 2+ MilSpec D-300.

So what are your options? Personally, there's only a few options I'd recommend for fun casual use in the sub-$1500 range. I'm sure there are some decent Gen 1 devices out there (although that alone may be an oxymoron) that I haven't tried, but from my personal experience I'd recommend Night Optics USA's Gen 1+ devices. The D-141 rifle scope and D-112 monocular fitted with a 1x lens and head mounted is about the best you'll find for Gen 1.

I also had a pretty good experience with Yukon's 1.5x42 NVRS Gen 1 rifle scope but I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending all of Yukon's products based on that alone. The scope was one of the best quality Gen 1 devices I've used though.

 

 

Anyway... just keep this in mind. The minimum you're going to end up spending for a new Gen 1 device, either a head mounted monocular or rifle scope, is going to be around $500. With Gen 1 you will have very poor resolution, light amplification, and overall viewing range. You will need to spend the money for a quality IR illuminator (about $100) if you have any intention of ever playing airsoft at night with a Gen 1 device. And then that IR illuminator will turn you into a giant honkin lighthouse beacon in the night for anyone else using a NVD.

 

So now you're up to at least $600, and that right there is already more than 1/3 of what you would spend to get a really nice D-300 that can allow you to play competitively with the PVS-14 users on the field.

My two cents says save your money for something of real skirmishable quality, but hey, that's just me ^_^

 

If you still want Gen 1 than check out http://www.auroratactical.com/ , they're a well known and reliable NV retailer. For the pricier stuff though I'd favor http://www.tacticalnightvision.com/

I've heard nothing but good things about this site and the guy who runs it, one of the best NV retailers in the US I gather.

 

 

 

 

And because this is a picture thread and we're on the topic of Gen 1 devices to casually play around with I might as well throw in some pictures so I'm not spamming this thread up too much :lol:

 

DSC00334-1.jpg

 

DSC00330.jpg

 

NVRSViewThrough1.jpg

Edited by Jin15
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