I’ve been running a PVS 14 for years now and my current setup is a rhino mount on a Team Wendy bump helmet. I’ve never been satisfied with the stability of this set up. I see YouTubers talking about the set ups they’re running, being Wilcox or Norotos, saying they’re so much more stable. What is the most stable mount for the 14, break away and non-break away?
The answer isn’t to upgrade to a PVS 15 and the more modern mounts that go with it. I have a damaged left eye so I can’t see out of it anyway. Saved me a bunch of money that I can just go with a 14. See, anyone can be a glass half full person.
I attended the TNVC Night Fighter 101 course this last month. The consensus among the instructors was that the Wilcox 24 was the most versatile mount across the board but that the Norotos INVG was probably the Best mount if you only ever intended to run a PVS 14. I have limited hard use etc…experience with NODS, mostly I hunt pigs, never in the military. I own both the Wilcox and the INVG and I prefer the INVG for my uses, FWIW.
Another question since you all actually have experience with the suggested mounts. When I flip my 14 up, it seems like I have to readjust the J arm when I flip it back down. The J arm I have is the regular plastic one used with the rhino. Is this problem solved with the NOROTOS and Wilcox adaptors. It seems to me as if alot of the instability comes from the J arm.
There is. The Rhino 2 is a dang good mount. $70 on Ebay. If you mod. it with the Norotos wedge adapter and get the Noisefighter x14 Arm, it’s a very good system.
I’m just getting into NV, I went eith the Wilcox G24 and a Noisefighter AX-14. The AX-14 has a joint in the middle that alows it to have an extra pivot point which should be a step up from the original J-arm.
If you didn’t want that feature you could probably just tightened that joint up (uses and allen key bolt with nut on the back thats retained into the arm). This would likely give you the return back to original position you were looking for.
The lock up of the dovetail to the G24 seem solid.
I don’t understand why the lowly rino mount is so…lowly?
I never had one fail in almost 10 years, including 3 in the sandbox.
In and out of strikers/APC/blachawks and chinooks.
They don’t offer as much fine adjustment as a Wilcox 24 or a Norotos INVG. But, it’s questionable how much “fine adjustment” you really need, to me anyway.
Biggest improvement in other mounts is being able to ditch the bayonet-style mount in favor of the more secure dovetail as well as having vertical height adjustment.
The now-issued RHINO II is actually a cost effective mount that fixes the adjustment limitations of the RHINO. Personally, I also prefer a mount that stows goggles in a lower profile than the RHINO/Norotos AKA2/etc., but there’s nothing functionally wrong with them in that regard, just preference.
Every failure I saw with the PVS-14 mounting was the shitty J-arm. Before picking up my personal binos, my -14 had a Norotos Dual Dovetail Adapter which I greatly preferred over the Wilcox J Arm it replaced. The J arm is the achilles heel of the -14.
Better off with a converted to dovetail Rhino and a Noisefighters X14 or AX14 arm than going with a G24.
G24 is going to cost more than the converted Rhino and it has the stupid button release, whereas the Norotos Titanium mount is “force to overcome”- i.e, just push it up out of the way versus fumbling to find a button which new users can find difficult under stress.
It will also stow closer to the helmet then as well.
Also note that using any aftermarket J arm will make the auto shutoff flip up feature on your 14 stop working. Granted that feature sucks anyways and is the least reliable thing on a PVS14, but if you like that feature, know that you will lose it if you use anything other than the military J arm.
This is what I have (thank you @Lowdown3), I just got it but I like it so far. I like how the AX14 has the pivot point in the middle. Let’s you get closer to your Helmet when stowed up, or you can swing up as if it were half a set of binos.
