I've been asked several times for links to my original guide posted and updated over here:
http://wolverinetechnologiesllc.com/Nigh...on-buying-guide
And also to repost it here. So here goes.
People are free to add their own suggestions, or ask questions:
As for the links in the article, I've bought stuff from a few of the companies over the years but certainly not all of them.
Cheap NV buyers guide
One of the questions I frequently get asked about night vision equipment are recommendations for a “cheap” or entry level system. There are a lot of folks out there that don’t have the $3000+ dollars to invest in a modern top of the line generation3 system and this guide is written for them. I do gloss over a lot of technical issues in this document, but its purpose is intended to be more of an entry level buyers guide than a comprehensive technology review. I have limited the review to sub $2000 systems, with several that can be had for under $1000. Please note I am recommending the most commonly available systems that I have at least some experience with, and this is by no means a comprehensive list. Also, I don’t necessarily endorse all of the vendors listed, though I have dealt with some of them and found them reputable.
So briefly, night vision technology has existed in various forms since the 1940’s and has been in continuous use and improved since then. So if you can’t afford the latest greatest could one of these older ex-military system work for you? The logic being that world militaries being the pragmatists that they are tended to adopt systems that generally worked, which is also why I tend to suggest these systems. Even if they are old they were used to good effect for militaries for decades.
This is in opposition to modern commercial systems that are basically built to be cheap and “sort of” work for a commercial audience. The general advice floating around one the net and that I agree with is not to buy commercial generation 1 system since they have relatively poor low light performance, in fact commercial gen1 systems in my opinion are mostly comparable to the old military gen0 systems and actually inferior to them in several respects.
So what to expect from a basic entry level system.
So, since you cannot spend 3k+ for shiny brand new gen3 system, what can you expect from some of these older systems? The bottom line is you tend to get what you pay for, the cheaper you go the more compromises you will have to make. In this guide I will try to talk folks through a variety of systems ranging from a few hundred dollars to the sub 2k range of prices.
The major criteria I have for a usable system is that it gives you the ability to see further than your unaided night adapted eye in the dark. But there are several things to consider here.
Main considerations
The first thing you must do is to figure out what you want to use the unit for. General night observation? Navigating at night? Weapon mounted sight? Multipurpose unit etc. This is really the first you need to figure out as it will determine what you need to spend. Realize the more “versatile” a unit is the more expensive it will likely be.
The next thing to figure out is what your area of operations will be. One thing most people do not necessarily realize is that moonlight will largely be the dominant lighting mechanism for 80% of the time. Moonlight, can be quite bright, but weather/overcast can certainly affect light levels. And under most moonlight illumination levels most military Gen1 or Gen2 night vision devices will operate quite well. The other environmental consideration is if you plan to work under heavy tree cover, which will cut down on performance, sometimes significantly. The second point is that IR illumination is the great equalizer when it comes to NV performance, by utilizing IR light you will be visible to other NV users but at the same time if your device is not working well to begin with using an IR illuminator is a good method to extend the usefulness of the device. IR illuminators do have drawbacks, however for things such as hunting, or just run of the mill night vision use it’s a good choice.
A few overall considerations
Tube life:
When looking at a used or older night vision device tube life is important to consider. All tubes degrade with use or exposure to bright light, and tube life is defined as the amount of time before the tube reaches 50% of its original performance level. So for example a gen1 unit with 1000hrs on it will in theory work half as well as a brand new tube. And a tube with 2000 hrs will in theory work 25% as well as a new tube. Now realistically a tube that was good to begin with will in experience still work reasonably well with 1000hrs on it, and worst case you can always supplement performance with IR illuminators. In my experience most “surplus” tubes vary widely and it is best to be able to see through the unit under a known lighting situation to asses if the tube still will work for what you want it to do.
The general rules of thumb for tube life are:
Gen1: ~1,000hrs
Gen2 older: 2500-5,000 hrs
Gen2 newer/modern: 10,000 hrs
Gen3: 10,000+hrs
The units worth buying
Generation 1 commercial
Nothing that I am familiar with is really “worth it” in this category though I confess I don’t have much experience with Gen1 commercial units. Realistically the rifle mounted units with a strong IR light might be ok for short range hunting, but if that’s going to be the constraint, it is very likely some of the older military gen0 units might be a better choice since the illuminator will actually be invisible instead of giving off a dull red glow. If you go this route my suggestion is to buy the cheapest unit you can get that still fits your criteria. You can find cheap sub $100 viewers on ebay if you want to get an idea of the capabilities of these systems without spending a lot of money. Most of these units will have all of the disadvantages of gen1 triple cascade system such as distortion, low life, and poor high light response without any of the benefits of the triple cascade such as actual usable low light performance without IR illumination. And this is the main reason I don’t recommend them.
Generation 0
Generation 0 systems are otherwise known as active IR or image converters. They require a fairly strong IR light to function well. These were the primary night vision devices used from the 1940’s into the 1960’s. Many of these units are very old and clunky, however a few militaries did continue to use them and refined them somewhat. One good example is the Ferro51 binocular, it usually comes fitted with a strong IR illuminator and provides a decent crisp clear image at 6x power. Another unit perhaps a bit more common here are the M18 night vision binoculars, again active IR, but reasonably usable. As long as you don’t pay much for these systems and they fit your needs I think they fit the bill for a cheap usable night vision binocular.
Gen1 Triple cascade
This is the original Gen1 technology; it is essentially 3 generation 1 intensifiers bonded together in series to provide a useful amount of amplification. As an example how this works, if you have one gen1 tube, and lets say it amplifies light 50x, so 3 tubes in series will provide 50x50x50 amplification which is 125,000x ambient. So one can look at triple cascade system and see the difference between its performance and a single gen1 tube like you might find in a commercial system. Triple cascade units are usable down to low light levels such as starlight, and by all accounts under really dark conditions can outperform some of the early generation 2 devices that replaced them. The main problem is that 3 tubes bonded together means the device is really quite large compared to later generations.
From my personal experience I can say that the triple cascade units which were in good shape that I have used are fairly comparable to the early gen2 devices such as the PVS-4 in terms of light amplification, but do leave something to be desired in terms of some image distortion as well as reticle design, weight and mounting to weapons, though all of these issues tend to be unit specific.
Advantages of triple cascade are:
generally low cost,
good light amplification,
weapon mountability.
Disadvantages are:
Hard to find repair parts for, especially new tubes.
Limited tube life ~1000hrs on a new tube.
Poor response to bright light in the field of view (Will result in streaking, and may cause the unit to shut down)
Geometric distortion of the image, which can vary from bad, to almost nonexistent depending on the unit.
http://wolverinetechnologiesllc.com/Nigh...on-buying-guide
And also to repost it here. So here goes.
People are free to add their own suggestions, or ask questions:
As for the links in the article, I've bought stuff from a few of the companies over the years but certainly not all of them.
Cheap NV buyers guide
One of the questions I frequently get asked about night vision equipment are recommendations for a “cheap” or entry level system. There are a lot of folks out there that don’t have the $3000+ dollars to invest in a modern top of the line generation3 system and this guide is written for them. I do gloss over a lot of technical issues in this document, but its purpose is intended to be more of an entry level buyers guide than a comprehensive technology review. I have limited the review to sub $2000 systems, with several that can be had for under $1000. Please note I am recommending the most commonly available systems that I have at least some experience with, and this is by no means a comprehensive list. Also, I don’t necessarily endorse all of the vendors listed, though I have dealt with some of them and found them reputable.
So briefly, night vision technology has existed in various forms since the 1940’s and has been in continuous use and improved since then. So if you can’t afford the latest greatest could one of these older ex-military system work for you? The logic being that world militaries being the pragmatists that they are tended to adopt systems that generally worked, which is also why I tend to suggest these systems. Even if they are old they were used to good effect for militaries for decades.
This is in opposition to modern commercial systems that are basically built to be cheap and “sort of” work for a commercial audience. The general advice floating around one the net and that I agree with is not to buy commercial generation 1 system since they have relatively poor low light performance, in fact commercial gen1 systems in my opinion are mostly comparable to the old military gen0 systems and actually inferior to them in several respects.
So what to expect from a basic entry level system.
So, since you cannot spend 3k+ for shiny brand new gen3 system, what can you expect from some of these older systems? The bottom line is you tend to get what you pay for, the cheaper you go the more compromises you will have to make. In this guide I will try to talk folks through a variety of systems ranging from a few hundred dollars to the sub 2k range of prices.
The major criteria I have for a usable system is that it gives you the ability to see further than your unaided night adapted eye in the dark. But there are several things to consider here.
Main considerations
The first thing you must do is to figure out what you want to use the unit for. General night observation? Navigating at night? Weapon mounted sight? Multipurpose unit etc. This is really the first you need to figure out as it will determine what you need to spend. Realize the more “versatile” a unit is the more expensive it will likely be.
The next thing to figure out is what your area of operations will be. One thing most people do not necessarily realize is that moonlight will largely be the dominant lighting mechanism for 80% of the time. Moonlight, can be quite bright, but weather/overcast can certainly affect light levels. And under most moonlight illumination levels most military Gen1 or Gen2 night vision devices will operate quite well. The other environmental consideration is if you plan to work under heavy tree cover, which will cut down on performance, sometimes significantly. The second point is that IR illumination is the great equalizer when it comes to NV performance, by utilizing IR light you will be visible to other NV users but at the same time if your device is not working well to begin with using an IR illuminator is a good method to extend the usefulness of the device. IR illuminators do have drawbacks, however for things such as hunting, or just run of the mill night vision use it’s a good choice.
A few overall considerations
Tube life:
When looking at a used or older night vision device tube life is important to consider. All tubes degrade with use or exposure to bright light, and tube life is defined as the amount of time before the tube reaches 50% of its original performance level. So for example a gen1 unit with 1000hrs on it will in theory work half as well as a brand new tube. And a tube with 2000 hrs will in theory work 25% as well as a new tube. Now realistically a tube that was good to begin with will in experience still work reasonably well with 1000hrs on it, and worst case you can always supplement performance with IR illuminators. In my experience most “surplus” tubes vary widely and it is best to be able to see through the unit under a known lighting situation to asses if the tube still will work for what you want it to do.
The general rules of thumb for tube life are:
Gen1: ~1,000hrs
Gen2 older: 2500-5,000 hrs
Gen2 newer/modern: 10,000 hrs
Gen3: 10,000+hrs
The units worth buying
Generation 1 commercial
Nothing that I am familiar with is really “worth it” in this category though I confess I don’t have much experience with Gen1 commercial units. Realistically the rifle mounted units with a strong IR light might be ok for short range hunting, but if that’s going to be the constraint, it is very likely some of the older military gen0 units might be a better choice since the illuminator will actually be invisible instead of giving off a dull red glow. If you go this route my suggestion is to buy the cheapest unit you can get that still fits your criteria. You can find cheap sub $100 viewers on ebay if you want to get an idea of the capabilities of these systems without spending a lot of money. Most of these units will have all of the disadvantages of gen1 triple cascade system such as distortion, low life, and poor high light response without any of the benefits of the triple cascade such as actual usable low light performance without IR illumination. And this is the main reason I don’t recommend them.
Generation 0
Generation 0 systems are otherwise known as active IR or image converters. They require a fairly strong IR light to function well. These were the primary night vision devices used from the 1940’s into the 1960’s. Many of these units are very old and clunky, however a few militaries did continue to use them and refined them somewhat. One good example is the Ferro51 binocular, it usually comes fitted with a strong IR illuminator and provides a decent crisp clear image at 6x power. Another unit perhaps a bit more common here are the M18 night vision binoculars, again active IR, but reasonably usable. As long as you don’t pay much for these systems and they fit your needs I think they fit the bill for a cheap usable night vision binocular.
Gen1 Triple cascade
This is the original Gen1 technology; it is essentially 3 generation 1 intensifiers bonded together in series to provide a useful amount of amplification. As an example how this works, if you have one gen1 tube, and lets say it amplifies light 50x, so 3 tubes in series will provide 50x50x50 amplification which is 125,000x ambient. So one can look at triple cascade system and see the difference between its performance and a single gen1 tube like you might find in a commercial system. Triple cascade units are usable down to low light levels such as starlight, and by all accounts under really dark conditions can outperform some of the early generation 2 devices that replaced them. The main problem is that 3 tubes bonded together means the device is really quite large compared to later generations.
From my personal experience I can say that the triple cascade units which were in good shape that I have used are fairly comparable to the early gen2 devices such as the PVS-4 in terms of light amplification, but do leave something to be desired in terms of some image distortion as well as reticle design, weight and mounting to weapons, though all of these issues tend to be unit specific.
Advantages of triple cascade are:
generally low cost,
good light amplification,
weapon mountability.
Disadvantages are:
Hard to find repair parts for, especially new tubes.
Limited tube life ~1000hrs on a new tube.
Poor response to bright light in the field of view (Will result in streaking, and may cause the unit to shut down)
Geometric distortion of the image, which can vary from bad, to almost nonexistent depending on the unit.
