Looking for 3rd Gen Bino/Mono night vision

Tactical Gear Optics & Mounts
1

Looks like my chief is allowing us to each buy a set of night vision binoculars or a monocular for night patrol use. My patrol areas are urban and rural, so there will areas with street and vehicle lights, as well as areas with virtually no artificial light. There is also the occasional boat patrol at night, so it would be nice if the bino/mono was water tight and floated. Basically, they would be used to find LE contacts at night, and they would need to have enough brightness and clarity to figure out what they are doing and what they have in lighting that the naked eye could not see.

I’m looking for a good bang for the buck 3rd Generation set that fits the above criteria. It looks like the price range would be between $2500-$3000. Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated. :slight_smile:

2

What distances will you be using the unit at?

Sounds to me like a pvs-14 would fit the bill well and you can always add a magnifier if need be. That would probably put you at the high end of your budget though.

3

Most likely between ranges of 25-100 yards. Don’t really need anything for over 100 yards.

4

Most of the stuff using the curent crop of GenIII gated image intensification tubes will get you, unmagnified and under ideal conditions (call it half-moon, no clouds or significant point sources of visible light like streetlamps and such).

-up to 150m of usable visibility (dtetction of a human; saying no more than is perhaps a beter way of putting it), presuming a well-maintained device and a moderately experienced user.

-up to 60-65m of being able to establish realistic PID on a target. This is more situational; usually those distances are both shorter and more important to a shooter/observer than the distance of simply being able to observe a human.

-these also change according to terrain, available concealment, weather…the usual suspects

A member here, Victor of TNVC, is far more likely to have a read on commercial pricing of a PVS-14 or similar than I am, but they are available. So are lots of GenII-tubed stuff; only a slightly different range of light wavelengths and mostly doesnt have the auto-gate feature, less $$$ and very likely to fit your needs. Ping Victor, he can show you the path you need.

5

Your best bet would be between these two units:

http://tnvc.com/items/night_vision_monoculars/pvs14g3_lit.html

http://tnvc.com/items/night_vision_monoculars/gt14g3b_pin.html

Of course, these recommendations are based on your initial price point. However, we do offer some more advanced units. I would definitely recommend looking into these, though they will be slightly out of your stated price range. But, with the LE discount, the difference would be relatively little.

Anyway, for you stated mission, I would strongly recommend a Gen3 tube. That is a given. But, with the added urban environments with street and head lights, you would want to seriously consider an ITT PINNACLE tube. You can read about PINNACLE on our website, but suffice to say, it is an enhancement to Gen3 that diffuses excess light so the user doesn’t become blinded by too much illumination coming into the tube. It also greatly reduces the halo effect seen around light sources and allows you to maintain your vision if you go into a room and some jackass turns on the lights.

I would also strongly recommend autogated systems. Both the units I recommended have autogated systems in place. Basically, this protects the tube from damage if it is exposed to too much light.

The first unit I linked to is a PVS-14 with an L3 Gen3 Autogated tube. It is a very clean tube and the PVS-14 is the standard issue night vision device for US Forces. This means that there are way more accessories made for this type of system than other body housings.

The second unit is the GT-14. It has a less advanced body housing, meaning it lacks some of the features found on the PVS-14, but it has an ITT Gen3 PINNACLE Autogated tube. So, the tube is a bit more advanced than the previous one.

We do offer LE department pricing, so if you talk to your chief and get everyone together, we could work a bulk order that would save you all money in the long run while getting you better gear at a better price. Give us a call and we would be happy to talk to you in depth.

-Chip