night vision??

[texasgunhand]

Iam looking to get night vision. Didnt see a night vision forum.

Whats a good brand etc. Without breaking the bank , gen 1 i guess. I live in the country and i need to be able to see what or whos out there at night.

Thanks.

[payj]

You want itt pinnacle tubes.

Learning the ins and outs of NV is difficult. While there are "brands" its more about the components as all the top brands use the same components.

Go to tnvc.com. The unit they make will be the best pretty much for the money.

It gets pretty cimplicated explaining the differences. Its not as cut and dry as brands for scope manufactures or the like.

Sent On The Fly

[payj]

You without breaking the bank.....well thats up for debate. You need to be more specific. 3.2k gets you argubably the best. And that is gen iii itt pinnacle tubes.

You can get gen 2+ in the low to mid 2k. Those can be good as well.

Word of advice, stay away from atn. There kinda like the dpms or rockriver of the ar world. They have steller ad campaigns, but there products have been known not to be that great. Hit or miss with them.

Sent On The Fly

[straitR]

If, by not breaking the bank, you mean less than $2000, then the only Gen 1(ish) unit I found worth even playing with is the Armasight Spark. There's a lot of reviews, both by novices as well as civilians and .mil users with Gen3 experience.

I bought a Spark along with a TNVC Torch a year ago for the sole purpose of hog hunting and I'm satisfied by its performance, for my uses, at the price point. I got tired of sitting in the dark unable to see crap while my buddy and his Uncle Sam sponsored Gen 3 monocular watched for all the game. If I were a more serious night hunter, I would have bought a more serious NV unit, but I normally hunt days with a bow and Glock 20. Also, If you want to see further than 20 yards on overcast nights or in the woods under canopy, you'll need to purchase a good illuminator.

It really boils down to your expectations. If you buy anything other than a Gen3 tube and expect the clarity and distance that you see in movies or on TV, you'll be sorely disappointed. Night vision is definitely a case of, "you get what you pay for", so decide for yourself if spending $600ish dollars on "so-so" gear is worth it.

Speaking from experience, there's enough information out there about night vision to keep you busy for months. Start at TNVC, they're a sponsor here and a link can be found at the top of this page.

[texasgunhand]

Thanks for the replys,i will start doing some research. The dont buy ATN comment is kinda what i was looking for. But i see theres more to it than that.

[payj]

First, have you ever looked through NV of any flavor? If not, and you really do not want to spend the top $ do yourself a favor and stay away from the Geniii :) Anything else won't be close. I have read gen ii + with good film can produce something damn close, but thats a different topic....

Oooookaayyy, so ITT makes tubes, tubes are kinda like the heart of these things. They make or break the unit in terms of optical quality. They have whats called filmed tubes in that there is film about 1/10,000 as thin as one of your hairs on your head. All these tubes have flaws. Not one is perfect. The flaws appear as black specs - something you wont notice right away looking through these. The first thing you will do is say holy Fukc this is awesome!!!! You kinda gotta concentrate to see them. ITT then came out with PINNACLE tubes which were a bit thinner and let more light in I *think* (its been a while since I went balls deep into this stuff). To date, these are the best money can buy....

MIL SPEC:

In order to have a mil spec unit it needs to be made by ITT or L3 (there are a few more too I think)....Do not get wrapped up on this like you might with an AR as it will cost you about $600-$800 more and will benefit you none.

ITT and L3 both sell their guts and other hardware to produce NV to third parties such as TNVC along with other boutique well known mfg's. These companies can then make their own units to mil spec or beyond specs. However, they can not officially be called mil spec. BUT they are the SAME (haha) confusing I know.

L3:

L3 uses a different technology. They use filmless tunes. What is that? Well, there is no film :) This is great because the film in the ITT tubes, can break under recoil. Which is why you can not mount ITT equipped NV on anything more than a 5.56.

L3 units are known to have their own flaws and are somewhat dimmer. Not to sure on the details(used to know), but there only real benefit when i was looking into this was if you wanted to mount it to a .308 rifle.


Note:

There is no officail Gen IV. Atn says so there is not. Gen III was ITT's filmed tubes Gen III+ is ITT PINNACLE thin tubes - letting in more light. Thats where it ends. L3 offering is compared to the ITT PINNACLE.