I am looking at getting some type of night vision. Any recommendations on something for les than 400.
Not for that price could I give any recommendation. If you go search Rawles' blog, he recommends some Russian surplus stuff ("Owl" comes to mind) that he says you can get off of eBay every now and again. I have notoriously bad luck, so I wasn't going to temp fate. If you get something, post back up. I'm extremely interested in NVGs, but, I've been saving for one of the $3k ATN jobs. My hopes is that it will be an investment that just might save my bacon when the lights go out.
I have no problems with pvs-14's, used them daily in the sand pit. If you don't have a helmet you will need a head mount kit. They are lighter than the older nods and can be run on AA lithium batteries, but some folks don't like a monocular design. To each his own. =) Expensive stuff.
I can't seems to find NVG that are light, worth while and inexpensive. So might as well go for broke...
At work, I use either an/pvs-9's or PNVGs... They're great, but unfortunately they ruin my perception of my PVS-7's. The 14 is not bad at all... I personally consider it effective to 200m.
Anyone ever buy and test the PVS 14 unit? I am looking to buy something other than my Night Owls. I have 3 of those which work very well. I can see my goat pen about 55 yards from the bed room window. Lions,Wolves&Bears, visit at times. As the US sinks deeper in $hit and Syrian refugees are moving in up here, there have been 5 ISIS threats to locate towns in Washington and Idaho. I understand we are getting 500 to 600 more up here. Thank you Governor Otter. Time to be ready to see in the dark. One thing I am proud to do is, we have reload our shot shells and hollow points with Organic Freeze dried Bacon bits. Straight to HELL the ISIS will go. RangerRick
I'm no "operator" but if I really really wanted to see in the dark I'd save my $ and go for a lower priced thermal sight. (Presuming anything worth observing in the dark might need shooting - worst case scenario only) Once people start talking about dropping 3K on NV it's not a far stretch to step up to thermal imaging. The advantage is thermals will "see" through foliage, fog, smoke and possibly also walls. You'll also know which vehicles have been running recently. Just my $.02 worth
ThOR-336 1-4X thermal weapon sight $3199. User video of the ThOR-336 from you toob; (turn sound down - annoying coyote call) Not much more than that PVS-14
Thermals are sexy, but even the best will run down batteries quite rapidly. This isn't s big concern for military with supply lines, but for the average Joe, it can get to be a hassle. If one bought a thermal sight, better get into recharging batteries alot or face a heck of an expense. The PVS-14's are lightweight, rugged, dependable and will run on the AA battery you place in it for a good long time. The next gen have thermal, too...but the price tag is hefty and as far as I know, not available to civilians.