Picking up some L3 BNVDs and wondering if I should hunt for a COTI to clip on to one of the tubes. Any positive or negative feedback, or alternative options to add some passive thermal that is not weapon mounted?
Night Vision Any COTI fans or feedback?
- Thread starter NHPiper
- Start date
@wigwamitus is a fan and has lots of documented use cases.
I have one but haven’t had much time with it yet. Outline mode seems to be the best feature to me, but I’m a hunter first and foremost.
I have one but haven’t had much time with it yet. Outline mode seems to be the best feature to me, but I’m a hunter first and foremost.
The strength of the COTI is enabling you to shoot with the laser something which you can see with the COTI but not with the 14 (or 15 or otherwise). If you want head mounted thermal for detection farther out, the breach is a better choice. For head mounted detection and PID farther out, either the Patrol or the Skeet are a better choice. I have all of the above, use all the above, like all the above, but they have differences in terms of strengths and weaknesses. For me, I have lots of vegetation around my chicken coop and cattle pastures, so the coti help me aim with the laser, even though I am typically first detecting with skeet, patrol (or newly breach).
From top to bottom in the pic
skeet
14
coti
If you are not shooting with the laser, then I don't recommend the coti.
From top to bottom in the pic
skeet
14
coti
If you are not shooting with the laser, then I don't recommend the coti.
Wig's analysis is spot on with my experience also. However, I have never had the luxury to use a Skeet yet. 
There was a similar thread over on arfcom here, so I figured I'd copy-paste my response to that thread below:
Couple answers after using mine for about 4mo so far -
1. Looks like the battery life is 2 hours? That sucks but thermal battery life always sucks i can deal.
Yes the battery life using the onboard CR123 is pretty bad. It also starts giving low battery warnings quickly when it's real cold out. Ran into this while coyote hunting in the teens. Getting the external battery pack cable/splitter is really key, and I believe the only source right now that I've found is Night Vision Inc (Glynn). I was lucky enough to have someone reach out on Instagram with one and a -31 battery pack, as the going price for them is pretty crazy otherwise. I'll put a photo below of what they look like.
2. Ive seen in pictures there appears to be an eyepiece that may allow you to use the coti as a standalone unit, but it doesn't appear advertised with the units anymore. How does this work and is this even an option anymore?
I used the handheld eyepiece on one of Augee/TNVC's demo units at a class last year, so I'd assume they can probably source them. Very poor performance - super super tight eye relief that you have to hold just right to get to view clearly. I'd only use it attached to an NVG.
3. are they reasonably rugged? Do they appear noticeably less rugged than say a PVS-14? Would you be afraid to go certain places with it attached to a pvs-14 that you'ld feel comfortable going with the pvs-14.
Seems to be quite rugged and solidly built. I imagine the USMC will prove that out or not with their new fusion system lol. If anyone can break them, they will. The only complication that I find is the positioning - while wearing binos I rotate it slightly so it isn't hanging directly below the NV tube but rather between the two goggle pods. This lifts it up a bit higher so it doesn't interfere with my cheek or weapons. You could rotate it completely outboard as well, or further inboard if you just had a -14. It has a built-in rubber lens cover that I use pretty religiously, as germanium thermal lenses are expensive to replace if damaged.
4. Are they just as useful as say a 320 core standalone thermal? nearly as useful? It appears speed of id and location would be much faster but there could be other concerns. If i were to get a PAS-29 would i regret letting my ps32 (320x240) go or will i still want both? If i get a pas-29 i would probably recoup some cost by selling the ps32.
I'd say less useful for static spotting if you're standing in one place and have time to pull out a spotter and look around. More useful if you want to use it more dynamically where you don't need to come out of your binos or pull out and boot up a thermal device. Speed is a huge step up. I mostly leave it off and then quickly rotate the power switch/brightness lever when I want to check for thermal signature. It's very fast to boot up and great for just taking a quick peek in the thermal spectrum to check something. That sort of usage has meant the battery really does last a long time for me (many many nights), but it's not like I have it on constant through the evening. If you enjoy the PS32 and find it useful, I don't think the COTI would be a big step up - maybe just stick with the dedicated thermal if you're happy with its thermal image quality.
5. How are the ergonomics? does it make the pvs-14 too bulky or other?
Similar to 3 above, but I don't get bothered by the bulk. Looks like it's 5.8oz compared to the 12.4oz of a -14, so I'm sure you'd notice it. The weight doesn't bother me though and it clicks on and off its mount very easily and clicks in place securely.
Here's a photo of it in the hand - it's quite a small device overall -
Here's it setup on my helmet with the splitter cable and a LEO buddy's -31s. I think you'll have a tougher time with flippy goggles as it adds to the weight and pulls them down a bit (the 31s wouldn't stay rotated up and I don't know them well enough to say whether there's a way to tighten that. DTNVGs seem tighter though so probably not a big deal with them).
This is how I position the unit with my MOD-3s -
Shots through it in outline mode (screengrabs from video, so not super high quality) -
This was probably full thermal mode -
Here's a video I just took out on the porch through the bare device. No handheld adapter or NVG. So this is basically what the front of the NVG is looking at, a red LCD screen with an optic set so it's focused to infinity (the LCD display looks like it's a long ways off, rather than just being a bare screen - that way your NVG will see it sharply when you're focused at a distance). You'll see me switch between full thermal, patrol and outline modes. I mostly stick to outline, but switch to the others if I want to get a more 'full thermal' look at something.
Here's the standard view through with it in outline mode. This is an L3 unfilmed white phos tube in my MOD-3B housing recorded with one of the eyepiece recorders (tiny camera hanging down in front of your eye) -
Happy to answer whatever other questions about the unit. I think it's a pretty niche product for sure, and have a tough time saying "it's worth the money" especially at the prices they've been going for lately. It was a fun addition to my NVG setup after going through an overhaul last year (green pano -10s to L3 binos+thermal). It'd be great if someone tracked down the connector for the power connection, as it'd be nice to make up some more adapters. Here's what it looks like -
Oh, and here's a shot of a deer at 400yd exactly. Only saw it because of the COTI, so it definitely does pretty good at finding hotspots at reasonable distance. I flipped the goggles up and went to the PVS-30 to zoom in and confirm it was a deer not a 'yote -
EDIT - found one more video of it through the tube in Patrol mode - one of the things it excels at is highlighting good ranges of heat in that mode. So it excludes a lot of the extraneous thermal data and just lights up what you want it to. I believe these settings are adjustable if you dive into the software, but not something to mess with at a consumer level -
Couple answers after using mine for about 4mo so far -
1. Looks like the battery life is 2 hours? That sucks but thermal battery life always sucks i can deal.
Yes the battery life using the onboard CR123 is pretty bad. It also starts giving low battery warnings quickly when it's real cold out. Ran into this while coyote hunting in the teens. Getting the external battery pack cable/splitter is really key, and I believe the only source right now that I've found is Night Vision Inc (Glynn). I was lucky enough to have someone reach out on Instagram with one and a -31 battery pack, as the going price for them is pretty crazy otherwise. I'll put a photo below of what they look like.
2. Ive seen in pictures there appears to be an eyepiece that may allow you to use the coti as a standalone unit, but it doesn't appear advertised with the units anymore. How does this work and is this even an option anymore?
I used the handheld eyepiece on one of Augee/TNVC's demo units at a class last year, so I'd assume they can probably source them. Very poor performance - super super tight eye relief that you have to hold just right to get to view clearly. I'd only use it attached to an NVG.
3. are they reasonably rugged? Do they appear noticeably less rugged than say a PVS-14? Would you be afraid to go certain places with it attached to a pvs-14 that you'ld feel comfortable going with the pvs-14.
Seems to be quite rugged and solidly built. I imagine the USMC will prove that out or not with their new fusion system lol. If anyone can break them, they will. The only complication that I find is the positioning - while wearing binos I rotate it slightly so it isn't hanging directly below the NV tube but rather between the two goggle pods. This lifts it up a bit higher so it doesn't interfere with my cheek or weapons. You could rotate it completely outboard as well, or further inboard if you just had a -14. It has a built-in rubber lens cover that I use pretty religiously, as germanium thermal lenses are expensive to replace if damaged.
4. Are they just as useful as say a 320 core standalone thermal? nearly as useful? It appears speed of id and location would be much faster but there could be other concerns. If i were to get a PAS-29 would i regret letting my ps32 (320x240) go or will i still want both? If i get a pas-29 i would probably recoup some cost by selling the ps32.
I'd say less useful for static spotting if you're standing in one place and have time to pull out a spotter and look around. More useful if you want to use it more dynamically where you don't need to come out of your binos or pull out and boot up a thermal device. Speed is a huge step up. I mostly leave it off and then quickly rotate the power switch/brightness lever when I want to check for thermal signature. It's very fast to boot up and great for just taking a quick peek in the thermal spectrum to check something. That sort of usage has meant the battery really does last a long time for me (many many nights), but it's not like I have it on constant through the evening. If you enjoy the PS32 and find it useful, I don't think the COTI would be a big step up - maybe just stick with the dedicated thermal if you're happy with its thermal image quality.
5. How are the ergonomics? does it make the pvs-14 too bulky or other?
Similar to 3 above, but I don't get bothered by the bulk. Looks like it's 5.8oz compared to the 12.4oz of a -14, so I'm sure you'd notice it. The weight doesn't bother me though and it clicks on and off its mount very easily and clicks in place securely.
Here's a photo of it in the hand - it's quite a small device overall -
Here's it setup on my helmet with the splitter cable and a LEO buddy's -31s. I think you'll have a tougher time with flippy goggles as it adds to the weight and pulls them down a bit (the 31s wouldn't stay rotated up and I don't know them well enough to say whether there's a way to tighten that. DTNVGs seem tighter though so probably not a big deal with them).
This is how I position the unit with my MOD-3s -
Shots through it in outline mode (screengrabs from video, so not super high quality) -
This was probably full thermal mode -
Here's a video I just took out on the porch through the bare device. No handheld adapter or NVG. So this is basically what the front of the NVG is looking at, a red LCD screen with an optic set so it's focused to infinity (the LCD display looks like it's a long ways off, rather than just being a bare screen - that way your NVG will see it sharply when you're focused at a distance). You'll see me switch between full thermal, patrol and outline modes. I mostly stick to outline, but switch to the others if I want to get a more 'full thermal' look at something.
Here's the standard view through with it in outline mode. This is an L3 unfilmed white phos tube in my MOD-3B housing recorded with one of the eyepiece recorders (tiny camera hanging down in front of your eye) -
Happy to answer whatever other questions about the unit. I think it's a pretty niche product for sure, and have a tough time saying "it's worth the money" especially at the prices they've been going for lately. It was a fun addition to my NVG setup after going through an overhaul last year (green pano -10s to L3 binos+thermal). It'd be great if someone tracked down the connector for the power connection, as it'd be nice to make up some more adapters. Here's what it looks like -
Oh, and here's a shot of a deer at 400yd exactly. Only saw it because of the COTI, so it definitely does pretty good at finding hotspots at reasonable distance. I flipped the goggles up and went to the PVS-30 to zoom in and confirm it was a deer not a 'yote -
EDIT - found one more video of it through the tube in Patrol mode - one of the things it excels at is highlighting good ranges of heat in that mode. So it excludes a lot of the extraneous thermal data and just lights up what you want it to. I believe these settings are adjustable if you dive into the software, but not something to mess with at a consumer level -
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