Night Optic Options...with price range

[Former11B]

Having been in the military, my only experience with night vision (or NODS) are the gen 3 monocular tubes that are very high quality.

With a budget between $800-$1200, what would ya'll recommend for a night optic? I'd prefer NV over Thermal, with something that can be rifle mounted and hand held.

Is there something Generation 2 of a decent quality available in this price range? Thanks

[UWone77]

Don't you think with your experience, that Gen 2 will be a serious step down and disappointment?

If it were me, I think I'd just save up a little longer.

TNVC frequently has sales on PVS-14's that make them sub 3k. I know that a lot of coin, but well worth it in my opinion.

[Former11B]

I WOULD be happier with the Gen 3 optic, but there is no telling how long it'll take to save that much with all my other projects going on and secondly, it's more for casual use, shooting at night a little and maybe for a coyote (if given permission to night hunt by our DNR).

I am definitely all for suggestions, like if there's a much much nicer rig $2-300 over my budget (like thats where a technology jump occurs), but saving up $3k and getting that version just isn't in the cards for me right now.

Most of my gun budget went into my kid's daycare ($8k a year) as well as diapers, clothes, activities, etc. I'm going to have to stick with the budget option at this point and wait to get the nicer unit til my kid's school costs go down or the VA decides to stop fucking with me.

[alamo5000]

I saw a little rail mounted NV optic that "cowitnessed" with my 1-4x Viper... It looked pretty interesting. I could use my exact setup as is and just QD that little thing on and off with no rezeroing. I will look and see what the specific model was....

I didn't get to run it out in the dark but it seems like it would be sufficient for the stuff I would ever do with night vision.

What kind of setup and rifle are you wanting to do NV on? I shot a friend's mp5 and a mp40 and those had NV on them behind Eeotechs. I probably won't spend the dough to get one myself anytime soon but it would be interesting to look around.

[SwissyJim]

check this out!
http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/view...?f=147&t=87490

not what you are looking for, but a fun project maybe?

[gatordev]

That's an interesting setup he built. Although it's not a true image intensifier the way NVDs are designed. His build is an IR receiver with an illuminator. While NVDs utilize some near-IR, a large part of the energy they get is from visible light and then intensified.

Still, it's impressive to see what he was able to do for a few bucks.

[Former11B]

Wow! Gotta love the ingenuity!


My little brothers got these "night vision" things for like $20 from the toy store for Christmas one year and they worked unbelievably well for something being sold as a toy.