Night Vision I have 8000$ choose my NVG for me please

[VoinSaigon]

Hi, so long story short. I live outside US and I current own a photo echo tube very happy with it now. But I just want something even better.

The options I found within 8000$ are:
Photonis Echo Bino
Photonis 4G MONO
Harder digital 70LP min 28 SNR MONO
Katod tube with specs equivent to omni 7 MONO

Which one would you guys go for and the reason being? I was thinking keeping the ECHO too and bridge with a MH25

 

[tangloppen]

Bino for sure.
A good mono is Nice, but the bino is just way better, even though the tube performance is lesser.

what do you plan to use it for?

 

[VoinSaigon]

Bino for sure.
A good mono is Nice, but the bino is just way better, even though the tube performance is lesser.

what do you plan to use it for?

For Airsoft, Thinking what is the best combo that fit my budget. Might add a fusion later then it will be perfect. I also thinking about bridging mh25 to get the best spotting ability but also can walk and shoot in the dark with NVG

 

[RyanScott]

For air soft I think you’ll have more advantage with the binos than better tubes.

 

[NateSavannah]

easy to feel like a mono cuts it til you get behind some binos.
changes everything.
want to get an idea of the difference. just close an eye and use one eye during the day.
can you still get stuff done? yes. are you way more functional with 2 yes.

 

[WhereNow&How]

@VoinSaigon Bino's are much better, especially for moving quicker and will put less strain on your brain over the course of the night.

But I do it much different than some and capture all the available benefits.

I run dual 14's for several very important reasons, but here is one most people with dedicated binos do not know or have the ability to appreciate.

I am right eye dominate and run my left eye gain wide open and turn the manual gain way down on my dominate eye. Point being your brain is perfectly satisfied with both eyes looking through night vision so you have good depth perception and the world is all natural for your eyes and brain. However, by having the gain way down on my right eye I also preserve my natural night vision so am able to monitor ambient light very well also and if entering a high light environment can see very well also.

I also run a COTI on my left eye so having the right eye gain turned down makes the COTI outline image truly fused and pop out very well. All this is achieved while optimizing my right eye to always be ready to roll its pod and get down on a Red Dot or Thermal Weapons Sight if I choose not to use my MFAL.

The only downside to this system is it is slightly heavier than most dedicated bino systems but all of the additional advantages I get are well worth the price of a bit more weight. YMMV

 

[VoinSaigon]

That's some interesting idea that I have never heard about. Would be nice if I can try all those combo and options before I purchase any NVG.

 

[Mortalpawn]

If you are running and gunning inside, you also need to consider white light use by you or your opponents. Binoculars or even a PVS-14 and thermal combo can be an impediment if you suddenly go from night vision to white light. The IR will be flooded out by the white light and you have no free eye to engage with your own white light/red dot sight and also can't use the IR laser. Now you need to push the binocs or thermal out of the way before you can engage which probably means you get tagged. Even outside you can still get lit up by white light.

With the right bridge you could run a PVS-14 and MH25 combo, and still flip the MH25 out of the way if you are indoors or close, but again its a manual flip which could get you caught in the wrong state. The standard combo is to run a PVS-14 on your non-dominant eye with a laser illuminator and white light and red dot on your gun - this lets you make the transition very rapidly to white light (get a TAPS switch to manage both illuminators). Get a good laser illuminator (not just a laser) with some range such as the MAWL, DBAL-D2 or perhaps PEQ so you can clearly ID and engage targets with the illuminator.

Since you more bucks than needed for the PVS-14 and illuminator you could also consider adding a COTI thermal device. Its a thermal fusion device that clips in front of the PVS-14 and gives you a thermal overlay in the center of the tube's FOV. It does not have the resolution of the MH25, but it works quite well for highlighting hidden thermal targets which you can then illuminate and engage with IR. Also it still leaves your dominant eye free to engage with white light if needed.

No solution is perfect in all conditions - everything is a trade-off.

 

[VoinSaigon]

If you are running and gunning inside, you also need to consider white light use by you or your opponents. Binoculars or even a PVS-14 and thermal combo can be an impediment if you suddenly go from night vision to white light. The IR will be flooded out by the white light and you have no free eye to engage with your own white light/red dot sight and also can't use the IR laser. Now you need to push the binocs or thermal out of the way before you can engage which probably means you get tagged. Even outside you can still get lit up by white light.

With the right bridge you could run a PVS-14 and MH25 combo, and still flip the MH25 out of the way if you are indoors or close, but again its a manual flip which could get you caught in the wrong state. The standard combo is to run a PVS-14 on your non-dominant eye with a laser illuminator and white light and red dot on your gun - this lets you make the transition very rapidly to white light (get a TAPS switch to manage both illuminators). Get a good laser illuminator (not just a laser) with some range such as the MAWL, DBAL-D2 or perhaps PEQ so you can clearly ID and engage targets with the illuminator.

Since you more bucks than needed for the PVS-14 and illuminator you could also consider adding a COTI thermal device. Its a thermal fusion device that clips in front of the PVS-14 and gives you a thermal overlay in the center of the tube's FOV. It does not have the resolution of the MH25, but it works quite well for highlighting hidden thermal targets which you can then illuminate and engage with IR. Also it still leaves your dominant eye free to engage with white light if needed.

No solution is perfect in all conditions - everything is a trade-off.

What are u using the devices for? Just wondering. I find it useful to have one eye free to distinguishes IR light and white light. As airsoft people always use red light as a dead indicator in the games but some times they also use IR bacon which only appears to the NVG as same color. I haven't had enough experiences to engage opponent with white light but but I find it super hard to walk on uneven terrain and bush bashing with Mono. The main driving force for me to get a BINO is to rush behind opponent at night and raid. I wish I could try a BINO and MONO and see which one is better but unfortunately I don't have any mates own BINO.

Also how useful do you think the COTI is? I putting the new Chinese Jerry COTI in my shopping list.