Night Vision 300yd IR Illuminator Comparison + Clip-On NV Side-by-Side

[jwramp]

Thanks to everyone that came out for the night shoot last week - here's some shots we did while we had all the illuminators and clip-ons out on the line. Bob from @LibertyArms put together the nice testing racks and we used a Razor 4.5-27 that Vortex sent out to demo, along with a re-tubed clip-on from Jay at @Surgeon_Shooter that also had one of his SNB filters tossed on the backside. I did a similar exercise earlier this year, but just out to 50yd. You can see that with the comparisons of downrange signatures here.

We started by running through all the illuminators on-hand (that made sense to light up at distance), and aimed them at the 300yd berm. Here's the units shown below:

Steiner DBAL-A3 (4mW Laser)
Armasight MSI8000 (1300mW LED)
Steiner DBAL-D2 (600mW LED)
Streamlight TLR-VIR II (600 mW LED)
NiteCore CI7 (7000mW LED 940nm)
Luna Optics ELIR-3 (Unknown output, Laser)
Airsoft DBAL (Unknown output, Laser)
BE Meyers MAWL-C1+ (130mW combined in Med, 50mW in Long, Laser)

Next up we did the same illuminators in their wide and narrow beams through the refurb PVS-30 and 4.5-27 at 4.5x. Figured that was one of the most common clip-on units guys run into lately. For this one we also shined at 300yd.

Lastly we stuck with the D2 and rotated through the clip-ons at 4.5x and 10x scope magnification out at the 1000yd target.

Figured most of the 'results' speak for themselves, but happy to chat below if anything was unclear. All shots were taken with iPhone 12Pro with 1x comparisons through a pod of my MOD-3s and the others with a PhoneSkope "Skoped Vision Rifle Scope Adapter" that kicks the image off to the side with a prism. Exposure was locked between shots on the clip-ons to maintain accurate brightness level comparisons.

EDIT - also cross-posted on my blog if for some reason you can't see the big images here - https://www.jwramp.com/news/long-range-nv-ir-illuminator-demo-clip-ons

 

[cschastain2]

Thanks

 

[upSLIDEdown]

Absolutely awesome work and content, as always. I expected nothing less. You're a gentleman and a scholar, sir.

 

[cschastain2]

What was you guys favorite clip-on of those used?

 

[TheHorta]

Just a small correction. MIN FOM on L3 kit is 2376, not 2476 (looking at your labeled photo on the 24LR WP).

 

[jwramp]

Just a small correction. MIN FOM on L3 kit is 2376, not 2476 (looking at your labeled photo on the 24LR WP).

Funny, I thought the same thing when I copied that from the L3 page. Must have just been a little loopy after having a few 4am wrap-up nights this week and misread it. Gotta love the fall for staying busy with NV activities.

 

[gthirteen]

Hey- the last civ MAWL I acquired (propeller cap, good clicks) seems to have a more squarish illuminator on the long and medium settings.

Your photos seems to show a more circular pattern. I had a couple of the older gen civ MAWL lasers and I think I recall the pattern being more circular.

No big deal either way, I’ve seems some comments suggesting that the earlier versions weren’t round, just wondering what some of the guys that were at this event and/or have seen in person would describe illuminating pattern

 

[jwramp]

@gthirteen most of the units I’ve seen have a fairly round illuminating beam. This was my personal one, an FDE unit with the EC2 but not the new RPC.

 

[Hoyter87]

Hey there,
Really appreciate this. Would it be possible for you to give a synopsis of what you think was the best overall performer, best wide beam, best focused beam, etc having seen the competition with your own eyes?
Were there any subtle differences/surprises/interesting points of note in the functionality/utility of each illuminator?
Just really curious before jump in on about 3 luna ELIRs. I know people would probably pay for this kind of consumer analysis so again your work is much appreciated!

 

[stefan73]

I like that Photonis Re-Tube.

 

[jwramp]

@Hoyter87 On the illuminators, I've said often that the D2 is a favorite of mine. If you need a zeroable aiming dot and solid long-range performance, I'd pick it over most other options. Only time I'd say to go grey-market high power would be if the 300yd and 1000yd performance shown here is not enough. A high power unit can neck down even tighter if you're zooming in past 10x at the real far stuff. This comparison was performed at quite low light levels, so when there's more moon or other urban environmental factors that you'd need to punch through, the higher power options may be preferred.

While the MAWL offers much faster switching between dispersion modes, it's definitely more of a CQB unit rather than one that excels at long range. Having infinitely adjustable dispersion is helpful. It also provides some mounting challenges on long range rifles (some people toss it up on a diving board above the scope).

The ELIR-3 is also a favorite, with its very high power output (once un-neutered), affordable pricing and zeroability. I've heard feedback from folks that it'll cut out briefly during recoil for them, which I would guess has to do with the spring in the battery housing needing to be stretched out a bit. I'll try testing that out next time I get to shoot in the evening rather than focusing on the photos. For a high power unit like that though, I'd probably use it off-rifle more so that the cloud from my muzzle blast doesn't blind out my clip-on. That's a technique that is helpful to use with most of the illuminators, getting them off on a tripod or spotting scope so you can avoid the bloom and get a bit of off-axis lighting going on to give your targets definition. The Armasight is a beast, lighting up the whole range if you want it to at the wide setting. Bummer they seem to be out of production now - I snagged a few at the beginning of the year for $90 a piece and thought that was a steal.

While the PVS24LR had the smallest form factor and optics (I'm pretty sure the objective was smallest), it had very impressive definition/clarity at 1000yd - you can see it in the target numbers there in the bottom right of that image. May have been a hair darker of an image overall. Really hope to see more of those hit the market at some point, as the caliber restrictions on them are probably completely doable for most folks. The 27 and 30 performed quite similarly, I didn't notice a big gap in performance between the two. I didn't get a chance to spend much time with the re-tubed 27 with the SNB filter on it - I believe Bob has more thoughts on it. The images show that it's a darker image compared to the milsurp 27, but not sure how much of that is the SNB versus the tube output itself.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Excellent content JW. This should be a NV forum sticky.

 

[Huskydriver]

Outstanding job guys

 

[TNVC_Will]

Awesome info JW

 

[Huskydriver]

Thanks to everyone that came out for the night shoot last week - here's some shots we did while we had all the illuminators and clip-ons out on the line. Bob from @LibertyArms put together the nice testing racks and we used a Razor 4.5-27 that Vortex sent out to demo, along with a re-tubed clip-on from Jay at @Surgeon_Shooter that also had one of his SNB filters tossed on the backside. I did a similar exercise earlier this year, but just out to 50yd. You can see that with the comparisons of downrange signatures here.

View attachment 7479297

We started by running through all the illuminators on-hand (that made sense to light up at distance), and aimed them at the 300yd berm. Here's the units shown below:

Steiner DBAL-A3 (4mW Laser)
Armasight MSI8000 (1300mW LED)
Steiner DBAL-D2 (600mW LED)
Streamlight TLR-VIR II (600 mW LED)
NiteCore CI7 (7000mW LED 940nm)
Luna Optics ELIR-3 (Unknown output, Laser)
Airsoft DBAL (Unknown output, Laser)
BE Meyers MAWL-C1+ (130mW combined in Med, 50mW in Long, Laser)

View attachment 7479292

Next up we did the same illuminators in their wide and narrow beams through the refurb PVS-30 and 4.5-27 at 4.5x. Figured that was one of the most common clip-on units guys run into lately. For this one we also shined at 300yd.

View attachment 7479294

Lastly we stuck with the D2 and rotated through the clip-ons at 4.5x and 10x scope magnification out at the 1000yd target.

View attachment 7479358

Figured most of the 'results' speak for themselves, but happy to chat below if anything was unclear. All shots were taken with iPhone 12Pro with 1x comparisons through a pod of my MOD-3s and the others with a PhoneSkope "Skoped Vision Rifle Scope Adapter" that kicks the image off to the side with a prism. Exposure was locked between shots on the clip-ons to maintain accurate brightness level comparisons.

EDIT - also cross-posted on my blog if for some reason you can't see the big images here - https://www.jwramp.com/news/long-range-nv-ir-illuminator-demo-clip-ons

Just double checking, jay put the tube in the 27 yes? And all the pics are with the snb installed?

 

[LibertyArms]

Yes. Jay put the tube in. Yes all of his 27 pics have filter on. Here's other i took with it. But the barn light was giving some glare.barn is 660 osh away its on another post