Night Vision Scope reccomendations please.

[BNE]

A friend of mine is a farmer and something is raiding his hen house at night.

He is interested in a night scope but didn't want to spend $1,000s.

Is this a possibility? I am looking for comments on night scopes that you have used good or bad. He is not looking for high definition optics, but he doesn't want to waste his money either.

Thanks for the input!

[tallwalker]

Boy, this is a toughie because the purists all lead you to believe that if you don't spend $3k-$4k on stuff that can see 500 yds it's not worth the money. I'll take some ridicule, but I decided that I wanted to find something that was reasonable, could tell a rabbit from a coon at least 100 yds away, and lights up their eyes so I know which end is which. That's good enough for me. Sightmark Photon, about $450, is IR digital and does what I want. Unexpectedly well. Great for south Louisiana hogs with 300AAC and can prove it.

[BNE]

Boy, this is a toughie because the purists all lead you to believe that if you don't spend $3k-$4k on stuff that can see 500 yds it's not worth the money. I'll take some ridicule, but I decided that I wanted to find something that was reasonable, could tell a rabbit from a coon at least 100 yds away, and lights up their eyes so I know which end is which. That's good enough for me. Sightmark Photon, about $450, is IR digital and does what I want. Unexpectedly well. Great for south Louisiana hogs with 300AAC and can prove it.

Thank you for the input. I should point out that he lives in the SC and most critters would be LESS than 100 yards away. Being able to tell a rabbit from a coon (or the family dog!) is really all he is after.

[Artful]

I have first Gen - comblock - stuff - is it as good as gen 2 or gen 3 - No but much less expensive - Best thing I could say is save up for a PVS-14
monocular and get head gear to mount it too for hands free.

What I have is enough for reasonable range that I would intend to engage in but what really helps with it is an IR Laser
- ID with headgear and put the Laser on and the dot on target and your done.

Gen 1

[Artful]

PVS-14 Gen 3

[Artful]

[Artful]

Thermal vs light amplification

[BNE]

Great, thanks Artful.

[Yodogsandman]

For night shooting, I just use a high lumen, tactical, red flashlight mounted on my barrel with a pressure switch taped to the stock. Switch it on to shoot. Total cost is under $25. Light-$13, Pressure switch- $6, flashlight barrel mount clamp-$4 all from evilbay/China. I use a red headlamp for locating and identifying. Splurge on the high output, rechargeable batteries and carry extra's, they're worth it.

[Artful]

Great, thanks Artful.

Your welcome - if I had extra money - I'd pop for one of these

http://www.opticsplanet.com/armasigh...t173wn2op.html

Armasight OPMOD Predator 336 2-8x25 Weapon Sight, FLIR Tau 2 Core, Tan TAT173WN2OP0022 TAT173WN2OP0022 w/ Free S&H


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Armasight OPMOD Predator 336 2-8x25 Weapon Sight, FLIR Tau 2 Core, Tan TAT173WN2OP0022
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Specifications for OPMOD Armasight Predator 336 2-8x25 Thermal Imaging

Weapon Sight:
Optial Magnification (NTSC/PAL): 1.6x / 2x
Objective Lens Type: Germanium
Type of Focal Plane: Array FLIR Tau 2
Pixel Array Format: 336×256
Pixel Size: 17 um
Display Type: LED VGA 640×480
Turn-on Time, max: 3 sec
Digital Zoom: 1x, 2x and 4x
Image Palettes: White Hot, Black Hot, Fusion, Rainbow, Globow, Ironbow 1, Ironbow 2, Sepia, Color 1, Color 2, Ice-Fire, Rain, and Custom:
Reticle Type: 6-Pattern Digitally Controlled "Dot 4 MOA", "Line Dot", "Cross Center Dot", "Cross", "Crosshair", and "No Reticle"
Reticle Color: Black, White, Red, Cyan
Boresight Adjustment Type: Digitally Controlled
Analog Input and Output: Format PAL / NTSC
Field of View - ang. (X / Y): 13 degrees / 10 degrees
Objective Focal Length: 25 mm
Objective F-number: 1;1
Eye Relief: 45 mm
Focusing Range: 3m to infinity
Diopter Adjustment: Manual
Diopter Adjustment Range: +/-5 diopter
Battery: CR123 Lithium 3V (2) or CR123 type rechargeable batteries with voltage from 3.0V to 3.7V (2)
Battery Life at 20°C (68°F): Up to 3 (optional up to 10 hrs)
External Power Supply: Optional Extended Battery Pack with rechargeable batteries (up to 7 hours) or 6 VDC/ 600mА external power source
Weapon Mount Type: Picatinny MIL STD 1913 and Weaver Rails
Operating Temperature: -40 to +50°C (-40 to +122°F)
Storage Temperature: -50 to +70°C (-58 to +158°F)
Environmental Rating: Water and Fog Resistant
Overall Dimensions: 194×68×78 mm (7.6"×2.8"×3.2")
Weight (w/o Batteries): 0.63 kg (1.4 lbs)

But I think in a couple of years it will be under $2k so if I start saving now

Only time will tell how it will deal with recoil - most electronic's don't like large bore (.308 / 7.62x51 NATO) recoil.

[xacex]

For something cheap, but better than Gen 1 I would "and have" gone with the bring back ATN night spirit 2's. They are gen 2+, and under $500. Put a PVS J arm on it, a Computar 25mm camera lens for a security camera for 1x magnification behind a red dot that does IR and you got it. I can identify a house cat out to 100 yards with mine. They come with a 3x lens, and clean up good. If they have a dark spot or two it is no big deal as long as it is not in the center. Most of the civilian models come factory with dark spots, but the bring backs are from firefights in Afghanistan. Still work great for their intended purpose, or modified for weapons mount. They made factory head mounts and lenses for them, and a weapons mount. They still retail for over $1200 new. Apex also has used bring back PVS 7's, an 14's for under $800. I believe those were gen 3. You will have to just take a look. Type night vision in their site search, and the other night vision will pop up.

https://apexgunparts.com/product_inf...oducts_id/4503

[xacex]

Here are some example pictures of Gen 2+. There is one of the chickens in pitch black with IR, and with just ambient moon light bouncing in. The shot across to the next house is 75 yards, and if it seems a little fuzzy that is just me trying to get it focused with a camera on my phone. The picture is crystal clear when held up to your eye. Even the light in the coup is not picked up with a camera. I can see chickens in there clearly looking through the night vision. The shot across the street is no IR just ambient moon light. No fish eye at all with these and a 1x lens I mentioned.


By comparison this is the chicken coup with the naked eye "camera", and across the street without night vision.

[jmort]

http://www.jrhenterprises.com/PVS14-...sion-PVS14.htm

[Artful]

Wow xacex, smokin deals there! too bad they won't let you pick cr123 or AA battery power. - they should have $20 select option

[xacex]

Wow xacex, smokin deals there! too bad they won't let you pick cr123 or AA battery power. - they should have $20 select option

I wish they offered the option to pick the best of five, or a something like that. I did not get the cr123 adapter with mine so I can only use a AA battery. Seems to do well on it though. I have not ran one dead yet after quite a bit of use. These units work with both types of batteries, and just use an insert for the cr123. Not my pictures but these pics show the adapter that screws in that allows the use of the cr123, or take it out (mine didn't have it to begin with) for AA battery.

Here is one mounted to a firearm with the 3x lens( I would recommend using the 1x for weight and size reduction), and a helmet mount with a 1x lens using a pvs-14 j-arm rig. These are a little heavier than a pvs 14, and are best suited as a spotting scope.

A skull crusher kit that fits properly can still be found here, but reports have said the lens is not as good as using a computar lens. Computar lenses were used on the first gen PVS-14's, and are great 1x lenses: http://nightvisionsales.com/atn-gogg...cmnnsptgk.html

If you can (build) an AR-15 I would recommend researching building a PVS-14 if you can spare about $1200. You can have top of the line night vision, and they are easier to put together than an AR. All of the parts are available now, and you can pic your intensifier tube depending on your needs from gen 2 on up to the latest and greatest high omni rating current military hardware. You can save a ton of money that way as well. I intend on doing that myself with an even smaller housing than a pvs-14. You can find used parts for a cheap build, or new parts here. http://tnvc.com/shop/category/pvs-14-parts/ Personaly, I want to do a pitbull build, but the Night spirit 2 is suficient to get me by untill the PVS-14 is built. In some circles the gen 2+ is regarded higher than the gen 3 due to image quality. It has less light intensification, but does not compromise image quality to get the intensification it does gain. http://www.abnightvision.com/#!produ...lections/all/2

[Artful]

But I understand the current gen3 and gen3+ have a lot longer life span than Gen2 / 2+

True, I don't know but it's something to think about.

[xacex]

But I understand the current gen3 and gen3+ have a lot longer life span than Gen2 / 2+

True, I don't know but it's something to think about.

Yes, very true. Good thing to point out. Something to think about when making a choice. Remember, night vision is a force multiplier. Any night vision is better than no night vision. You have to go above gen 1 and digital to be able to make out objects without using IR. If you are using IR you will glow like a christmas tree to anyone else with night vision. Using no IR means you are invisible to all but those using thermal image devices. If money was no object that would be my choice.

[Gunslingerdoc]

Don't waste your $ on Gen 1. Gen 2+ can have unexpected GREAT images. I have 1 set of PVS-7's that has a 78lp/mm resolution tube and Signal to noise ratio at the lower gen 3 end. Awesome images and really only suffers in total darkness - think closet with a towel stuffed in the cracks dark. Gen 3 or gen 3+ is where you want to end up, but for the best deal, bang for your buck, go with a gen2 or gen2+SHP. Most of the time you'll have some ambient light, so I almost never use an illuminator, IR laser, different story...my coops have been defended with a suppressed 10/22 using an IR laser and a PVS-14. works just fine at 75-100 yards from the porch.

[popper]

Persistance bloom isn't too bad on the gen3 stuff, from the video.

[Artful]