Night Vision Knight's Armament AN/PVS-30 GRADE A 26807A (US Army Buy-Back)

[Nik H]

These are selling for what appears to be a great deal. They say slightly blemish or light usage marks, but do perform up to the system specifications as a new unit.

They are listed as Grade A (above average) condition.

I am sure there are many more experienced people here that have an opinion. Can you all let me know what your thoughts are. I have been looking for something I can use with my day scope for a while but don't want to spend $10K...won't spend $10K

 

[elwarpo]

old style battery compartment, but mine works well.

 

[Trailgomer]

Was on the fence for a year and a half but got one Sept. last year. Makes a heavy rifle heavier and that's ok. I am impressed with mine with FOM 1766.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

dude...there are tons of people with them and tons of discussions about them. look around. if you want a mil combat grade clip on then for a fair price this is your option.

 

[Nik H]

dude...there are tons of people with them and tons of discussions about them. look around. if you want a mil combat grade clip on then for a fair price this is your option.

Thanks...I found a thread on this forum that is super helpful. Got it through Google. Search here didn't pull it up for some reason

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

Definitely a good way to go if you're not treading thermal.

 

[Nik H]

Definitely a good way to go if you're not treading thermal.

I know optics pretty well but NV and Thermal is new to me from an operational perspective. I only understand how things work. I have no experience to determine which would work best from a shooting perspective.

I know I wanted a clip on NV so I could use my day scope but a LOT of people, not necessarily knowledgeable ones, are pointing me to thermal. The ones that I have looked through certainly can identify an image but the resolution of that image was not as good as what I have seen looking through a couple of day optic-clip on NV setups.

The issue is cost. I have no desire spending $10K or more for a NV setup. From reading the other thread on these refurbished units, they seem like a good deal but having no experience...I wanted to ask the question

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

I have one and it rocks, especially considering the price/value. To obtain similar high quality thermal resolution you would be paying in the $20K neighborhood. My experience is that thermal certainly has the edge in hunting situations, specifically in acquisition/locating and then for shooting moving targets. If there's any secondary lighting such as moonlight you'll love the 30 but you'll want to pick up an IR illuminator for really dark, cloudy nights. If you are only going to use it for hunting though I would recommend looking at a similar costing thermal product before purchasing NV, as you can buy some really decent hunting thermal for $5K.............................just my opinion and experience.

 

[Nik H]

I have one and it rocks, especially considering the price/value. To obtain similar high quality thermal resolution you would be paying in the $20K neighborhood. My experience is that thermal certainly has the edge in hunting situations, specifically in acquisition/locating and then for shooting moving targets. If there's any secondary lighting such as moonlight you'll love the 30 but you'll want to pick up an IR illuminator for really dark, cloudy nights. If you are only going to use it for hunting though I would recommend looking at a similar costing thermal product before purchasing NV, as you can buy some really decent hunting thermal for $5K.............................just my opinion and experience.

Thanks for the good advice. To be honest, this is a possible purchase and it will be difficult for me to justify it based on usage. Whenever I buy anything expensive for this hobby, there is always a price to benefit ratio. For me, the benefit is usage. I have an AI and it was expensive but NP..I use it. I have some high dollar day optics like NF, S&B, etc.....NP I use them. This...not so sure how much use it has for me other than I feel I should have one.

Appreciate your experienced advice...that is why I come to the Hide

 

[Crazy1323]

I have a thermal clip-on (SNIPE IR) and a refurb PVS-30. If I only had one it would be the PVS-30 and it is about half the cost.

The PVS 30 and a SPIR illuminator is tough to beat.

Thermal is great for locating, but night vision cannot be beat for ID’ing a target.

 

[sgtsmmiii]

I have a thermal IR Defense Mk3 and a refurb PVS-30. If I only had one it would be the PVS-30 and it is about half the cost.

The PVS 30 and a SPIR illuminator is tough to beat.

Thermal is great for locating, but night vision cannot be beat for ID’ing a target.

Slightly edited, but my sentiments, too.

 

[rockwind1]

i probably don't have as much experience as some but i agree with the above. night vision with good illum for id is best but once you learn how animals move, thermal is ok for id, great for spotting.

a lot depends on your purpose and shooting environment and rifle set up, which you didn't mention.

and if it is all about price for you, the simrad can't be beat pricewise for the performance and has other good features as well. i recently compared my simrad to a pvs30 and as most on here have already said, hard to tell a difference.

for just a relaxed session shooting steel at night with your day scope,, for as small investment as possible, simrad all the way (depending on your optic set up).

 

[Strykervet]

I think I got the whole PVS30 thing going on here last summer with a post I made about $4500 buybacks. There has been a new thread on 'em every other week since at least. A LOT of guys on here upgraded to these and we've got a lot of 'em to compare.

Yeah, I got a low FOM numbered unit but it's super clear, no spots, no blemishes whatsoever. I do need an illuminator to make full use of it, but that was to be expected.

These are easily one of the best deals going right now. And solid? It's solid alright, heavy as hell. You'll find out you'll probably want angled flip up sights if you use those or chances are you'll be putting the front sight in the middle of the handguard like I had to do on a couple. ARDs for 'em are on Ebay for $60.

Technically these are PVS26's that were converted to PVS30. They look similar but with different batter compartments and the on/off knob is slightly different (scalloped --if you insist on that, they'll put that knob on if you send it back but I think that's about all they do). They have a year warranty.

 

[STI 45]

How would a the refurbished pvs-30 compare to L-3/EOTech PVS24-M2124LR? Mainly asking about image quality.

Best place to buy a pvs-30?

 

[GBMaryland]

I’d love to
Know best source for PVS-30 too!

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

I would check with "Surgeon Shooter", Jay is a great guy to deal with and if he doesn't have them he can probably refer you.

 

[ptamim]

Agree... good guy to deal with or just get advice

 

[Zemperfi1971]

Don't understand the broo ha ha...over the refurbed PVS30. It uses a more expensive battery that will give more usage time but all things being equal down to the intensifier...they still use the same parts. Will still come down to luck of the draw, how good your intensifier is. Good thing is Knights QC is pretty decent. If I had to choose...I would stick with the PVS26 because AA's are easier to find and will still work with rechargeable batteries. The cr123's can get expensive. AND YES...like with all this type of gear there is battery drain.

 

[Strykervet]

Don't understand the broo ha ha...over the refurbed PVS30. It uses a more expensive battery that will give more usage time but all things being equal down to the intensifier...they still use the same parts. Will still come down to luck of the draw, how good your intensifier is. Good thing is Knights QC is pretty decent. If I had to choose...I would stick with the PVS26 because AA's are easier to find and will still work with rechargeable batteries. The cr123's can get expensive. AND YES...like with all this type of gear there is battery drain.

Uh, it takes 2 AA's. Like has been said, it's a PVS26 upgraded with the PVS 30's Harris tube (thus making it a PVS 30 as the tube is different).

They work astonishingly well, even with a low FOM. Since you need illumination anyway, the FOM becomes even less of an issue. What's more important is a clear image and I certainly got that. It operates every bit as well as a new unit in most cases.

Lithium AA's tend to work well and last longer but cost more.

 

[elwarpo]

I have one with a fov of 1990 and it is awesome, makes my other 3rd gen nv (pinnacle pvs 14, aurora 8010 day/night scope) look bad.

 

[Crazy1323]

I have one too and it is pretty awesome. I can hit steel at 600 with it almost as easy as day light. Mine is ~1800 FOM