Night Vision Night vision goggles

T-Hoe

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Oct 25, 2010
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Marion, IL
I am needing some advice and guidance on which goggles to buy. I have been using a single PVS 14 for several years for navigation while coyote hunting. I think I want a set of goggles now but am unsure which ones. I have been researching them but there are many options to choose from. I shot a night two gun match in January and most of the other shooters were running goggles. I was able to look through a set of Katana's, and was very impressed. I want manual gain, white phosphor, and the ability to push one nod out of the way while on the thermal scope. I like the 1431's that I found at Custom Night vision. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I have the L3Harris 1531s. They meet your criteria and have been great for me. They are available as well at Custom Night Vision. I bought mine from Kosher Surplus (same people as Custom Night Vision). They could tell you differences between the two.
 
It all depends on your budget and/or what you're willing to spend.

Photonis echos are also WP, but of course "gen2+". Good comparison photos can be seen on YouTube.

From there you get to elbit xlsh and the price goes up from there.

The best way to get exactly what you want is to take the time and soak up a few weeks of research on this topic.
 
Are you in a hurry? Nocturn is going to be making manual gain housings soon. They offer lifetime warranty on their housings which very few manufacturers do.
 
Lots of options out there, narrowed a bit by requiring manual gain. PVS-31A’s at the top, but you pay a Gucci premium for them. Lots of light use used stuff in the PX that you can save some real coin on.

You likely already know this, but binos don’t get you any more FOV over a PVS-14, just the slightly more natural feel of using both eyes. You won’t gain much in terms of performance. If you don’t already have good thermal, you’ll be far better off putting the money toward that first.

Just my $0.02 in a world where pennies are worthless.
 
TheHorta, so the 31’ are at the top is the list? How does the 1531 and 1431’s compare? As far as the thermal, I have a Pulsar xp38 scanner and a rifle mounted Trijicon hunter 60. I have researched if it was for hunting only, I would be better off going with a helmet mounted thermal plus my 14. I have only seen white phosphor bridged with thermal. My 14 is green phosphor.
 
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I would suggest you communicate more with Horta--he does have a lot of knowledge with both thermal and NV.
Me personally I have used both single and double NV. Double being helmet mounted. If you are looking for people the duals work. If you are driving I use a single and it works great. Most of the time out of the vehicle I use thermal, and the 14 to walk.

There are a lot of gjuys who have various experiences..Looking for dirtbags is much different than critters.
Another person on here to contact would be SurgeonShooter. He can make whatever you want and guarantees his work.. You can sink a lot of money in this and find out you do not use it.
 
TheHorta, so the 31’ are at the top is the list? How does the 1531 and 1431’s compare? As far as the thermal, I have a Pulsar xp38 scanner and a rifle mounted Trijicon hunter 60. I have researched if it was for hunting only, I would be better off going with a helmet mounted thermal plus my 14. I have only seen white phosphor bridged with thermal. My 14 is green phosphor.
Helmet mounted thermal is convenient and you miss less stuff because it’s always on your face rather than scanning at random. Sounds like you have that mostly covered by your XP38 and Trij though, so it would be a noticeable, but nominal improvement.

I wouldn’t worry about your GP PVS-14 if you wanted to run helmet thermal. You won’t “merge” the images even if you had WP NV. It just won’t work that way. You’ll actively “choose” between which eye your brain is paying more attention to. Detect with thermal, navigate with PVS, kill with Trij/gun. Rinse and repeat.

That said, if you’re cool with the expense, getting a L3 WP set of 1431’s with RPO glass and using your current thermals as you are is just fine. You may want to consider an eCOTI of some sort for “fusion” capability. That’ll help inside 200-300 yards with helmet-mounted detection.