Thread: Night Vision scope

Originally Posted by Beavis

Is Gen 1 gear usable with an IR illuminator to help? Or is the resolution just terrible?

Now days I would consider Gen1 Toys ( my kids even refused to use gen1 as toys). I started with Gen1 way back in the early 1990`s when it was all we could get. The tube life of these units is very short and with out alot of IR illumination they are basically usless.
To get anything out of a Gen1 unit you are going to need a spotlight and IR filter to get about 100mts use. Some gen1 tubes have quite high resolution in the 50lp/mm range but light gain is poor.
the fish eye effect of gen1 also takes a bit of getting used to. Many gen1 sets of Goggles have very limited field of view at around 17deg opposed to gen2 and 3 with 36-40deg being the normal range.
You will find on sights like Trademe alot of Gen1 equipment with statments like used once or mounted to a rifle but never taken in the bush, owned 2 months selling as new........ there is a reason for that.
Rule of thumb is if you can buy it over the counter without having to get export approval to import it it`s probably not going to do what you want it to.