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Night Vision SNB Filter review

NFAJohn

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Minuteman
May 7, 2018
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East Bernard, Texas
Like all of my reviews I'll preface this with: I'm a regular dude. Nobody pays me for my thoughts, opinions or bullshit. Everything I review I've bought with my own money. My review is going to include a sample size of my stuff, unless noted. All pictures taken with an Iphone. Some of the topics discussed are going to involve subjective adjectives like best, brightest, awesome, fucking awesome or full bald eagles. I'm not a scientist or autistic enough to use all of the technical terms for NV related topics....but I know when daddy likey.

Recently I was hunting for a set of sacrificial lenses for my mod3s when I came across Sure Shot Night Night Vision/ @Surgeon_Shooter. Seemed like the kind of outfit that would have what I was looking for so I gave them a call. Jay and I spoke for several mins and unfortunately he didn't have any sac windows in stock. We BSed for a bit about the state of the union and right before we go to wrap up he goes, I've got some filters that just came in stock you might be interested in. To be totally honest my knee jerk reaction was, no thanks, I paid for good tubes, no need to put sunglasses on them. Jay advised me that these go on the back of the ocular and work very well to reduce noise. Jay also advised that they help clean up the image on thermals when the brightness is turned all the way up. This peaked my interest as I run a Halo Lr and I have my brightness turned down as I feel that it gives a cleaner image on the lower brightness settings. Price of entry was 80 a pop shipped, so I told him to send me three of em.

The filters arrived promptly and look well made.
Set up 2.jpg

Note the 20 sac baggies....so that is how Jay makes his bread

This evening was particularly humid and scotchy so I decided to stay in and do some side by side pics of my tubes with and without the filters.
Bar_1.jpg



The optic in use is a 2016 vintage mod3 bravo sporting Photonis XW3040YB filmless WP FOM 2521, Res 74, SN 34. The tubes are matched close enough you can call them twins.

Set up on a pig saddle in the back yard looking out over the pasture to the south.
Set up 1.jpg


Ambient conditions
Ambient 1.jpg


I focused the optic to infinity and set the manual gain on each tube to the setting that would allow for maximum brightness with minimal noise. Same setting I would use when driving the ranger. I took the following pics within 5 mins of each other and didn't fuck with the focus or gain.

Left tube
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Right tube
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Left tube with filter
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Right tube with filter
T-R-1A.jpg


It's hard to describe the difference the filters make with a still picture. There is less noise no doubt and the image is not nearly as bright when viewing it on the same gain setting as without the filter. Contrast is more pronounced as well. I took my science experiment and scotch into the garage. In the cave like conditions of the garage, noise was greatly reduced and when the built in IR was used the bounce back was much less. I tried to snap some pics, but none were really that great. Are they worth 80 bucks a pop? So far it would seem that the answer is yes. The image isn't drastically different, but it is improved enough that I'll continue to try them under different conditions. I've reached out to some homies with green tubes and will be trying to get images from them as well.

Overall my initial reaction is that these are pretty legit and I think they will kick ass in really dark conditions. I haven't had a chance to put it on my halo lr yet, but will give it a try here shortly. On dealing with Jay I'll say 100% deal with confidence, I was told if I didn't like them to send them back for full refund. I'm going to continue to test these under varying conditions and will report back as I go.
 
I’m glad your liking them so far! Like I said the other day, they are for low to high light conditions. If it’s pitch black dark they do reduce noise but with the sacrifice of some much needed brightness. In low light they reduce noise and the benefit of the lost noise trumps the downfall of the slight brightness loss. At least that’s how I feel about it....

Thanks for the kind words pal! Looking forward to your thoughts of them on the Halo.

Jay
 
Another SNB filter user here, on two green phosphorus 14's. Both thin filmed, one L-3 and one ELBIT (one of the newer tunes I suspect, remarkably clean tube...long story, but no data sheet).

Initially, my first tubed 14 (the ITT/ELBIT) came with this same type of filter. Since this was my first 14, I had nothing to compare it to, and wasn't sure if it made a difference or not. My second 14 came without the filter, and was a buy back L3 thin filmed green phosphorus tube. Initially I was surprised at how much more halo the L3 tube had over the ELBIT tube. The same with the noise and how much more the hex pattern of the channel plate stood out. But, after getting another SNB filter from SSNV, they are pretty much the same. They make a huge difference when the gain is turned up, or you're illuminating something close with an IR work light and such.

Well worth having in my book....
 
As you get older your eyes naturally do not let as much light through to your eyes due to thickening of the eye components and other factors.

That being said, I have needed my devices (NV & Thermal) turned up brighter such that I can see clearly. So anyway I decided to try Jay's SNB filters I guess about a year ago now (when they first became available) and here is what I have observed.

I put them first on a noisy set of Green Omni 7 overrun Contract tubes. Wow, what a difference. They turned that set of 14's into a completely new and much better set of 14's IMHO. What was really amazing to me was that they eliminated about 85 to 90% of the noise such that a much more clear and sharp picture could be viewed.

The also tone down the green into a more pleasing lighter green that I am sure is less fatiguing after being under NODs for hours and hours.

Now the next amazing thing to me was that they did slightly dim my 14's and as I said I have needed for my devices to be brighter to be able to see. In this case the slight dimming of the view I was looking at was NOT a problem for me at all. That was surprising.

The SNB filters also preserve your natural night vision very well. That is a huge bonus when wanting to monitor the ambient lighting conditions.

I have tried many other filters over the years. Nothing even comes close to what the SNB do at all. They are truly the only filter I have ever purchased that was worth the price paid. So many thanks to Jay for bringing a product to the market that does really make a difference.

I guess when you are a real user of this equipment like Jay is, well you know what to strive for and build vs others that are just slinging something out the door.

The SNB filters are a must have now.
 
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As its been described to me: the filter works better on lower class units than high grade. Lower class units will have more noise so more the filter will remove. I also appreciate the slight dimming effect as it will now be less strain on my eyes.

i ordered 2, one for my halo and one for my old pvs14. My pvs has a lot of noise as it is old and not that great of tube.
 
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Just wanted to put up some examples of the SNB Filters in action. We have them in stock and ready to ship and do not anticipate supply issues any longer.
We did redesign the housing and are using Delrin now instead of Aluminum. We also replaced the metal retainer ring with a rubber o-ring to make it a little easier on the eye as well as opening up the I.D. a fuzz.
We hope you guys like the improvements, if you have any constructive criticism just let us know, we are always open to improving our products based on end user feedback. Thank you all for the support!
-James
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Hey guys, I wasn’t sure where to post this video but this seemed like an appropriate place. Let us know your thoughts.

We were recently made aware of comments and concerns with our signal to noise booster (S.N.B.) filter. Jay, wanted to make this video to address everything he has seen so far and hopefully clear some of the air with some complaints we have seen.

If you want to take advantage of the filter revision please contact Amberlie Crymes by email, text or call.

[email protected]
832.823.9397

-James

 
Hey guys, I wasn’t sure where to post this video but this seemed like an appropriate place. Let us know your thoughts.

We were recently made aware of comments and concerns with our signal to noise booster (S.N.B.) filter. Jay, wanted to make this video to address everything he has seen so far and hopefully clear some of the air with some complaints we have seen.

If you want to take advantage of the filter revision please contact Amberlie Crymes by email, text or call.

[email protected]
832.823.9397

-James


Dang that guy is handsome....
 
Still rocking mine, zeroooooo complaints. Was out last night under totally clear sky’s and never felt like it was too dark. 🤷‍♂️

in for the filter to convert my mod3s to thermal
 
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We’re making big changes to them as we speak. Should have some ready to go in the next month or so, sorry for the delay fellas.

Jay
Excited to hear that! Was actually going to call you about a set of these this week, but I guess I'll sit and chill for a bit and see what's up with the updated versions
 
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Cant wait to see what's up!

Still rocking these, don't make it out as much as I did since taking the new gig, but my duals still blow minds when I do go out.
You have some stellar specs on your photonis tubes... got my fingers crossed that mine will be that fancy!
 
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We’re making big changes to them as we speak. Should have some ready to go in the next month or so, sorry for the delay fellas.

Jay
I have a couple of 7s' and a pretty good 14 that could benefit from these.

I'll keep an eye out for your update Jay, looking forward to it.
 
You have some stellar specs on your photonis tubes... got my fingers crossed that mine will be that fancy!
Thanks man, scored them from @GBMaryland some time ago. Every time I start thinking about running a thermal on the hat I take the ranger for a ride and just can't part with them. I have hundreds of hours on them in the last year and zero complaints. The mod3s have been really rugged, lots of banging into the ranger ect....a worth while investment, they've facilitated the demise of manyyyyyyy pigs.
 
I was gonna grab one too. I think I'll wait for the updated version. I only have a single "poors" low-grade used pvs14. 😆
 
I was gonna grab one too. I think I'll wait for the updated version. I only have a single "poors" low-grade used pvs14. 😆
Soooo I didn't take pictures, but one night and many crown royals later at deer camp we took the filter off of my thermal and put it on a particularly crappy 14 that normally lives it's life in a pelican case, in a trunk, in a patrol car in zillion degree Texas heat...made a big difference. Side note you drink enough crown with duals they almost become panos.

If it can help crusty surplus 14s it should help a section 8 housing 14.
 
Soooo I didn't take pictures, but one night and many crown royals later at deer camp we took the filter off of my thermal and put it on a particularly crappy 14 that normally lives it's life in a pelican case, in a trunk, in a patrol car in zillion degree Texas heat...made a big difference. Side note you drink enough crown with duals they almost become panos.

If it can help crusty surplus 14s it should help a section 8 housing 14.
So these things work for thermals too? In addition to my crusty-14, I just picked up a NOX-18.
 
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So these things work for thermals too? In addition to my crusty-14, I just picked up a NOX-18.
C. I have one on my halo LR and it lets you run the screen brightness up without the eye fatigue. It makes the image pop a little more and reduces the super awesome holy fuck I’m blind expierence when you go from looking at the thermal to ambient or back in the nods.
 
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Best. Accessory. Ever. 👍
It's certainty the cause of and solution to a lot of issues.

See the thing is you got a few hydration choices when running around in the Texas heat at night.
Canned beer? Hard to drink without rolling the duals up
Bottled beer? Can drink with duals down, but bottles are prone to breaking in the bed of the ranger so gotta worry about making sure to clean that out before putting the pup back there
Crown? Yeti cup with a straw and a 6 pack of sprite...never have to roll the nods up to hydrate and cooler is a lot smaller
 
Is there any way to attach a SNB filter to a PVS-30, or to a leupold spotting scope? I'd love to add one of these to my 30, or at least to my spotting setup while combined with my 30...
 
I can cut you a custom circle of material that you can slide into a butler creek cap. That’s what I do, it’s not fancy but the 30’s don’t have threads on the output to make a fancy screw in housing.
 
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We’re making big changes to them as we speak. Should have some ready to go in the next month or so, sorry for the delay fellas.

Jay
How much different will the new filters be from your current SNB filter? What kind of benefits will there be between new and old?
What size/model # Butler creek cap is that rear cap to fit the 30? I'm looking to do the exact same thing as you. Thanks.

Nate