Thread: Night vision for dummies

Can someone pls provide some real basic info on night vision equipment.

I am interested in it from a "hunting" perspective. So guys using it for pest control etc.

With all these gen-1/2/3 goggles etc, what sights do you use on the rifle ? Are you basically using open sights ?

With the goggles you can walk around and see your surroundings ?

Or alternatively you put a NV scope on a rifle, but then you can't really move around like normal ?

Where would you be using it?

My PVS14 weapon mount is set up for lower third cowitness height with an AR, ie the iron sights are in the lower third of the field of view, it might be possible to clip the NV behind the irons and use them through it. I might try it when I get a new NV unit.

Private land. It's a theoretical discussion anyway, coz I don't have that kind of money.

Just curious if the NV guys use both goggles and scopes, or scopes only etc.

If you are stationary, and for instance looking for poachers on your farm, would thermal be a better option.

Maybe some scenarios would help:

Stationary, wanting to see people / animals
Night time tramping / SAR etc
Pest control without a spotlight

I like a head mounted monocular with a quick detach weapon mount, NV compatible optic and IR laser. Clip behind optic or use laser for shooting, headmounted for walking around. Not possible to use iron sights really.


Best would be 2x devices, 1 for weaponsight 1 for walking around.

Other options include having it permanently weapon mounted and pointing your gun at all kinds of stuff you probably don't want to, just using IR laser with head mounted NV, or using head mounted NV to find <target> then 'going white' with a weaponlight and conventional optic

Originally Posted by ebf

Can someone pls provide some real basic info on night vision equipment.

I am interested in it from a "hunting" perspective. So guys using it for pest control etc.

With all these gen-1/2/3 goggles etc, what sights do you use on the rifle ? Are you basically using open sights ?

With the goggles you can walk around and see your surroundings ?

Or alternatively you put a NV scope on a rifle, but then you can't really move around like normal ?

Ok Im going to get shot down here!!! So I will be careful how I answer that question.

Speaking from personal experiance only: Way back in the 1990`s I hunted with Gen1 + Gen2 Russian riflescopes as the Russian stuff was prtty much all we could get. Gen1 Goggles were avaliable but crap... they still are.

Hunting with just a NV riflescope isn`t easy as you need to see to get around. Your Natural night vision kicks in and is at full operation after about 40 minutes without light. As soon as you look through a NV riflescope you have wiped the Night Vision out of one eye. Walking around with one eye only working properly is a bugger. With the Gen1 & Gen2 you need quite alot of artificial Infrared Light. Be it a spotlight or infrared torch in any conditions under about half moon. Gen2 is rated for about qualter moon - full moon. Gen1 realy only works in full moon. Digital Im not going to comment!!!!
Later I got Gen3 goggles and was abel to move around freely in conditions as low as no moon and some cloud cover without any added Infrared Light. The use of a IR torch for hunting is recomended as will show say deers eyes up out to around 500-600mts with a low intensity IR light. I don`t tend to hunt in moonlight at all but when I have can spot deer and pigs out over 800mts. We use Night Vision for Night not moonlight.
Remember the Deer or whatever don`t all turn and look at you as with a spotlight. They just carry on with their own business, head down bum up or whatever so pays to move slow.
My kit and it has been for years is a set of Goggles and a suppressed rifle with night scope. Not many have the that sort of outlay on kit I have been lucky and NV has paid of my setup.
Many of the guys I have supplied and myself on occasion use the Goggles and a dimmed laser either IR or red attached to a rifle. Find them with the goggles and hit them with the laser/rifle while viewing with the goggles. Thats the way the military usually do it.

Other way is a set of goggles. Rifle with a light say led lenser p7 mounted on riflescope. Find the deer with goggles get to where you want to shoot from. Flick up goggles switch on light and Boom.
When guys ask me I always advise if you can only afford one set then get goggles or head mounted monocular. Some will dissagree but they need to be gen2 or above. You spend alot more time looking for a deer and moving than you do shooting the thing.

Hope that helps answer the question.

Armasight have a neat mount you can quickly attach your monocular to and it projects a reticle into the FOV. So you can basically convert your monocular into a red dot sight

Originally Posted by Beavis

Armasight have a neat mount you can quickly attach your monocular to and it projects a reticle into the FOV. So you can basically convert your monocular into a red dot sight

Time can quite often be of essance and the less you move around and clank and bang in the dark the better. Alot of deer I get are only a few feet away when I see them. Other side of the bush stuff.

General use. Night Vision over thermal. Thermal for picking up heat signatures. Night Vision for getting around and identifing exactly what you are looking at.
I have not used the cheap Thermal all my experiance has been with $15`000+ units But I would take a $6K NV unit over a $16K thermal in most situations. More general purpose.... and cheaper to fix if you F&!k it.

Thanks guys, and yes Tasbay, that makes allot of sense

Hehe, welcome back Tim, yeah, kinda figured out this has more zeroes than I care for

I once was told to shoot a good Thar you climb as high as you think they are and then climb as high again. Same with this stuff but talking $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Originally Posted by Tasbay

I once was told to shoot a good Thar you climb as high as you think they are and then climb as high again. Same with this stuff but talking $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

No offence to who told you that about thar. But it's no where near accurate. I get your meaning tho.
Can anyone tell me from experience if the gen 3 civilian stuff is as good as the military issue pilkington kite site and Litton nvg's we had a few years ago in the military?

I was on the trial that tested that gear among others and although they were not my personal preference, they were pretty good bits of kit all the same.
I seen plenty of animals with both while doing army stuff. With and without IR assistance.
Has what we can buy now got better than that, is what I am asking?



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Originally Posted by R93

No offence to who told you that about thar. But it's no where near accurate. I get your meaning tho.
Can anyone tell me from experience if the gen 3 civilian stuff is as good as the military issue pilkington kite site and Litton nvg's we had a few years ago in the military?

I was on the trial that tested that gear among others and although they were not my personal preference, they were pretty good bits of kit all the same.
I seen plenty of animals with both while doing army stuff. With and without IR assistance.
Has what we can buy now got better than that, is what I am asking?



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Somewhere here I have a Pilkington Kite MK4 and a set of Litton PVS-7A goggles in Gen3. Yes the Gen3 I import is way above either of thoes units. Above the Litton and way above the Kite. The Kite is still my shooting night scope. Its had a hard life & came back from Bosnia ex someones army. But I have had it 10 or so years and it just keeps running so have never replaced it. Actually all the D-740 & D-760 Nightscopes I have imported in Gen2+ have been better than the kite. The photo shows a PVS-7B not ``A``unit.

Like the others said - there is quite a range of products out there - but like everything (to a point of course) the better gear will be more expensive - better performance normally costs
Plenty of deer shot with cheap rifles as expensive ones too - all horses for courses

NV Gen1 starts around $1500 ish (maybe less maybe more) and then goes up from there
Thermal - around $4000 to $5000 will get you into a good unit - Thermal is about detection really, once you know something is there - then work it out

The thing is to work out what you expect to do with the units and how much you will use them vs your budget

I think what some users of the gear could do is take some images (may or may not be easy with cameras) though the units and list the distances and light involved so you can see