A ongoing look at a PVS-31a
I was blessed and fortunate to snag a near brand new PVS-31a and it has been killing me that I haven,t had much time to do any sort of review on it. Bear with me as I will add pictures and video over time, when time allows as I am and have been extremely busy.
My past experience wih night vision is a Gen III PVS-7, which was ok, a couple PVS-14’s some GP some WP, played with a PVS-15 for a few mins, a PVS-30, and now the 31a. I have looked through a 31 GP, it too was awesome, just green.
The first thing you notice is how light they are. It really does feel pretty much like just a 14 on your head. I run a BAE OASYS UTMx as my scanning thermal coyote and hog hunting and being able to rotate one monocular up and scan with the thermal while also using the NOD is just plain awesome. I know the politics, but to me the TW helmet has always been the most comfortable, so I checked my ethics at the door and got an Exfil. Also got a TNVC Mohawk for the battery pack. Thusfar I have not even used the battery pack, just have been running the single onboard battery.
Turning the unit on is a bit different than any of the other units I have used. The power button is the gain button and you just press it for a second or two and the unit comes on. It has pivot positional stops so once you get the correct spacing on the eyepieces, you screw those stops in and if you pivot the unit up and back down it stops right where you left it. The diopter adjustment is a clip on lens vs the dialing type on the 14. It comes wih a -0.5 I believe (which is the most common according to science and stuff:) but you can get replacements.
The tubes are just unreal. I am seriously struggling to figure out how to make good NVG photography like some guys can but trust me when I say, nothing I post even comes close to how these things look in real life. I am 100% sold on WP tubes. So much so I sold my GP KAC PVS-30 and have one of the FDE High FOM WP PVS-30’s on order. I have always had headache/migraine issues and the WP is so much easier on my eyes. Besides that the #1 thing that sold me on WP was looking into deep woods, brush, and pine thickets. I can see so much better into cover with the WP. This is extremely important coyote hunting in my area. I also personally feel I can see better into the windows and doors of a structure that is not lit. It also just feels more natural to me. From my house on the SC/GA line I can watch nearly all the planes in their decending and holding patterns at the Atlanta Airport. Luckily the supplied diopter seems to work well for me.
Driving, walking, running....is so much easier with dual tubes. I’ll be honest there are some situations in urban LE work where I can see a lot of big pluses for sticking with the PVS-14. Especially in not having control of the lighting of the structure you are in and needing quick access to using a white light and having a “free eye”, but if you are even remotely rural man the dual tubes kill it.
There are some great options for video recording with a NVG with a PVS-14 type eyepiece. The only thing I found for the 31 besides spending $5k with Wilcox was a Canadian company called Because Operator. A very helpful US L3 dealer turned me onto the product. He explained it was a startup company and these first units are more or less beta testing units. It was ~ $370 so I figured what the hell. So far it has been a pretty awesome little recorder. I have not had a chance to record any video during anything but little to no moon, so I am anxious to see how it does wih a full moon. Again bear with me as I will not have all the pics up tonight. You can google becauseoperator and they have a ton of videos on their facebook. They also make cams for other NVg Units.
It is had to say because the only video I have shot has been in the absolute darkest conditions you can use them in. I would say it’ll probably be good for making out being able to tell a hot on a coyote to around 200-300 yards. Looking at the camera you would think it will block your view by the way it mounts but in reality it is so close your eye really doesn’t notice it. It is extremely light weight snd compact.
Here is a video of me shooting at 200 and manybe 300 yards with a LA-5.
https://youtu.be/WTJYJlg6U40
