I have limited experience with NV, basically stuff at work on equipment owned by the government. All of it with the PVS14. I am looking for something I can buy, for use other than work. Essentially looking for the best bang for the buck with acceptable performance combined with LONGEVITY. I need something that will see only occasional use but I want it to last for years. About the only requirement is it needs to be versatile and capable of being mounted on a 1913 rail for weapon use and a helmet for navigation/surveillance. Not overly worried about signature, if that is a problem with any models (a problem with handheld thermal imagers imo).
I’ve been to the TNVC webpage and looked around, it appears the Gen 3 GT14 is in the price range I want to buy at. Anybody used these?
A -14 style optic sounds like the answer for your needs. You’re already familiar with it, it has parts and accessories available, it’s weapon and head mountable as well as cameras and spotting scopes. I would buy mine from TNVC as well so you’re on the right track.
I’ve got a ITT NQ PVS-14 I got 5-6 years ago and it has been excellent.
Although I prefer to use it helmet mounted with an IR laser on the weapon, I have had great success with it weapon mounted as well.
The latest 14s are the auto-gated pinnacle tubes which are even better than my unit. Make sure you get a pinnacle tube is my suggestion. TNVC would be your best bet from a purchasing standpoint.
I also have a D-760 6X GenIII scope which is a tremendous unit, and a OSTI AN/PVS-22 UNS inbound.
None of this GenIII stuff will ever be cheap, but buy once, cry once!
can one of ya tell me what your list would look like if you were just starting to purchase NV. im torn between what i should start buyin. should I get what type of NV optic Im lookin at first? weapon light and ir laser first? any advice will help
I’ve spent many hours running around in the dark with just about every combination you can think of. My first purchase was a 4x gen 3 night scope which taught me it’s hard to move around in the dark when your NV is attached to your weapon. Plus you’re aiming your rifle at everything before you know what’s there which is irresponsible. After playing with a 7 and a 14 I bought a used PVS-7B. Love it. For the money you can’t go wrong. Add a weapon mounted laser and you can shoot stuff 100 yards away. Add a laser to your sidearm and it works with that too. PVS-14 is versatile, but guys figure out the limits of having it weapon mounted pretty quickly, then realize in the dark your brain doesn’t like seeing with one eye very long. Plus your other eye could easily get a stick from a tree limb jammed in it which is never far from my mind. Whenever I take the PVS-14 off and switch to the 7B my brain screams THANKYOU!
+1 on the pinnacle tube if you can afford it, regardless of what you go with. You will be very happy without the pinnacle tube, ecstatic with it. My current favorite is PVS-15/BNVD-G dual tube goggle, pinnacle plus tube with a TACS-M clipped on to one of the channels. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried fused thermal over night vision. It ain’t cheap though. I borrow that combo whenever I can. Just wish it wasn’t so heavy. The rest of the time my personal PVS-7B does just fine.
If you plan to spend more than 20 minutes at a time using a head mounted goggle of any kind, get a nice helmet to mount it to. My only experience is Team Wendy because it was highly recommended to me. The flat lead weights they sell to Velcro on the back are well worth the price. I’d consider the helmet as important as the nicer tube unless you only plan to use this occasionally as a novelty to show off to friends then go back inside and finish the movie.
I had my sights set on a pvs-14 team wendy exfil carbon surefire m600v and dbal i2. would it be dumb to purchase the ligh and dbal first? I figured the surefire has white light and the dbal has a regular green laser. I guess thats my justification for purchasing before and NV optic
Take a look at our PVS-14’s. Honestly, they are the most versatile piece of NV equipment and can fill many roles as your needs may change. They can be helmet/head mounted, used in handheld fashion, and also weapon mounted on smaller calibers, depending on the tube.
I dont think it would be dumb at all. You can use visible lasers in practical applications, and you can certainly use the M600V in it’s white light configuration until you get NV.
More expensive mounting options as well, at least from what I remember back when I was looking. IMO PVS7s are only good for static use. Outside driving with PVS5Cs back in the day, I don’t have any time on a modern dual tube setup. PVS14 is a better for all around use. I used my PVS14 in a practical rifle match in the fall, much easier running around with a PVS14 than a PVS7. Depth perception with the 7s suck. If one has the scratch for a dual tube setup by all means, give it a shot.
