Night Vision Panobridge

[JC0352]

Just saw this on Soldier Systems.

Noisefighters and its Development Partner Nightline, Inc. Introduces Panobridge, a 1.5 oz Night Vision Bridge Mount with Industry-Changing Adjustable Field of View Capability, Alongside Development and Distribution Partners Gamut Resolutions, Kinetic

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (14 MAY, 2021) NOISEFIGHTERS and its development partner NIGHTLINE, INC., and its product testing partners GAMUT RESOLUTIONS and KINE ...

soldiersystems.net

 

[Pbjunkiee]

Gonna have a bad time if you dont get your 14s collimated while on the bridge.

 

[adamjma]

I really can't tell if this is ground breaking or complete garbage.....

Very curious to head first hand impressions - like does the limited overlap mean that the depth perception is similarly limited?

 

[JC0352]

I have no idea... It looked interesting enough to share.

 

[Pbjunkiee]

There were a couple of foviated optics experimented with a while back but they had some very specific lenses used.

 

[Pbjunkiee]

 

[NHPiper]

@WillHugh these may be worth keeping an eye out for.

 

[tangloppen]

Guess this is gonna hurt your brain.

 

[Rerun7]

The guy leading the focus group loves them.

 

[TheGerman]

My neck already hurts imagining someone getting a bridge and using 2 of those.

 

[stefan73]

Interesting, I wonder how that would pair with a 14 and a NOX or a breach?

 

[Max_R]

Interesting, I wonder how that would pair with a 14 and a NOX or a breach?

See the picture above.

 

[stefan73]

 

[Totdoc]

I feel like this might be easy to test if you own a flat surface and a pair of 14s...

 

[BamaSE]

The guy leading the focus group loves them.

View attachment 7625479

This look perfectly describes the moment I recently pulled up to my local Dairy Queen drive thru and ordered a Cherry Dipped Cone and was told sorry.....we only provide chocolate and butterscotch.....wtf lol

 

[TheGerman]

So one problem I see right away is if you are a passive shooter.

I forget what its called, but when you look through your PVS/ANVIS/whatever and 'find' the red dot on your Aimpoint or EoTech and your head position isn't straight, the dot will have been 'moved' even though its parallax free.

It has something to do with the lens/tube in the PVS being angled and how/where it sees your red dot.

I've been able to recreate this many times and its always a reminder to shoot heads up/face forward when passive aiming and not try and tilt your head or rotate it like some people do even during the day when aiming down the RDS.

So with these, being able to angle them in/out is basically making that phenomenon happen. But if you're laser only, it'll be fine.

 

[tangloppen]

My first thought - besides hurting your brain - is, shouldn’t the pods be geared? So that when you turn one side, the other would follow? Turning one pod, even only a few degrees, seems like it would not be pleasant.

 

[Capt_Right]

I have tired these and they don’t hurt your brain. It works surprisingly well given what it is trying to do. Yes there is less depth perception, but better then a single 14 and the wider FoV feels significant. Passive shooting is definitely more difficult, but haven’t used it enough to see if there is a parallax issue or not.

 

[jeffl838]

Hot take: 99% of situations that will benefit from passive aiming will give the shooter enough time to ideally position his sight alignment.

I want to try this thing so bad. But man, 500 bucks. What I really want to do is make mh25 panos, or bino i2 going straight ahead, with thermal peripherals.

 

[Capt_Right]

Hot take: 99% of situations that will benefit from passive aiming will give the shooter enough time to ideally position his sight alignment.

I want to try this thing so bad. But man, 500 bucks. What I really want to do is make mh25 panos, or bino i2 going straight ahead, with thermal peripherals.

It’s “neat” but not $500 neat. The annoying thing is IPD is adjusted by a swing arm, so when you pivot them for pano mode you need to reset IPD for each position. That means transitions from each mode take a little more effort.

 

[WhereNow&How]

Well that's all cool beans but my big question is:

Will my dam COTI work properly with the thing.

 

[NHPiper]

For $500 if they work as a bridge and can adjust to pano mode, that is still a pretty good deal. The KVC bridges + shoes are close to a grand.

 

[Lowdown3]

"For $500 if they work as a bridge and can adjust to pano mode, that is still a pretty good deal. The KVC bridges + shoes are close to a grand"

That's the answer right there!!!

 

[NHPiper]

"For $500 if they work as a bridge and can adjust to pano mode, that is still a pretty good deal. The KVC bridges + shoes are close to a grand"

That's the answer right there!!!

Are these available to the public yet? Will you be getting some?

 

[Jong]

Are these available to the public yet? Will you be getting some?

They have them for sale on their website.

PANOBRIDGE MK3 | A 1.7 oz Night Vision Bridge with Adjustable Field of View

Introducing an entirely new way to see more of the dark.

noisefighters.com

 

[Dvlray6]

I’ll stick with my KVC.

 

[Noisefighters]

Goddamn stupidest shit I’ve seen in a long time. LOL

Nitewalker's thoughts were just posted:


From the Tier 1 guys who helped evaluate the Panobridge:

I'm the inventor and tend to frequent the forum, as I served in 1/6 Scout Snipers back in the mid 2000s, though I don't post much on here. Happy to answer questions. S/F. -Neal

 

[WhereNow&How]

Well, Bob Keller is the real deal so his stamp of approval says a lot.

Might have to give this puppy a spin and see how it performs.

And to think, they used to laugh at us "Poors" Bridging 14's.

 

[WhereNow&How]

Well some folks used to say you needed them "alignment rings" on a Bridge so you could line them up all "collimated" or you would get a whopper of a headache.

I guess that must be wrong now.

 

[Noisefighters]

Looks like PRG defense has joined the chat also. I wonder how and when they teamed up with TNVC?!


moral of the story, the matriarch /monopoly in the NVG industry is sickening. I have established myself to the point I can speak up. I don’t need any of the USA commercial market to survive after all. Anyway. I’m gonna leave this thread before it gets too # spicy 🌶. Panobridge: Goodluck on your success.

EliteUAS, since I don't know you personally and definitely have no beef, I'll just say thank you for the luck. I'm not beholden to anyone, and this is not a TNVC-developed product. I asked Augee from TNVC to become a dealer since his company carried my gel ear pads for several years, and I separately asked Dave / Frank / Amy from PRG if they wanted to test it and possibly become a dealer since we have a mutual connection through 4D Tactical (they make one of my other products), and as far as I'm aware neither party knew the other was involved until the press release was finalized. Sad to hear you've been wronged in the past.

 

[WhereNow&How]

I love laundry day.

 

[tangloppen]

Yeah, you have to be careful when taking a swing at the bigboys of the NV industry.

I got perm banned from arf because I called out a FLIR shill.

 

[NHPiper]

Nitewalker's thoughts were just posted:


From the Tier 1 guys who helped evaluate the Panobridge:

View attachment 7627025

I'm the inventor and tend to frequent the forum, as I served in 1/6 Scout Snipers back in the mid 2000s, though I don't post much on here. Happy to answer questions. S/F. -Neal

Good to see innovation! Looking forward to trying some!

 

[aard3]

Interesting product.

When used in "pano mode"... do you end up with a "blind spot" where you can't see dead-center in front of you? Or is there enough FOV?

Any guidance on matching PVS14s? (How close to specs should they be?)

 

[Lowdown3]

@aard3 As close as possible but keep in mind even purpose built dual tube sets won't be "identical."

Also one advantage of two bridged 14's is if you end up with a slight difference in brightness levels between the two you may be able to calm it down a bit with working the gain on one to more closely match the view on the other.

Looking forward to getting some panobridges in soon.

 

[Noisefighters]

Interesting product.

When used in "pano mode"... do you end up with a "blind spot" where you can't see dead-center in front of you? Or is there enough FOV?

Any guidance on matching PVS14s? (How close to specs should they be?)

If you check out this video I posted late last night, I delve into most of the considerations one needs to take into account when using my new adjustable rotation mechanism:



To save people a click and their time, yes, there is a blind spot / zone in the direct center of vision that can extend up to approximately 2 feet, and it’s totally dependent on the amount of lateral rotation (panning) the user chooses to run. The width of the zone appears to be about 2 inches at most, and I believe it decreases linearly until the image appears to both eyes. It doesn’t appear to affect aiming with passive optics for most users since they naturally bring the sights up offset from the central zone and inline with their dominant eye.

Finally, I go into my recommendation for panning approximately half way or just further for the optimum balance of enhanced field of view with acceptable central resolution and depth perception, plus an almost imperceptible dead spot / zone.

My goal is to provide users with realistic expectations of the product’s capabilities. As I made clear in the press release and in a long-winded paragraph in the product description, this isn’t a direct GPNVG replacement. But, for those people who literally can’t afford $40k panos and / or want something with a simplified logistics chain and a smaller and lighter form factor, I am pitching the Panobridge as a possible alternative with a competitively wide field of view.

 

[jeffl838]

Having the blind spot in the middle makes functional sense to me for those guys that want to be able to keep the ability to shoot through their day optics. You can have your shooting tube straight, and have your non-shooting tube pano'd.

That's a big if though, it might end up feeling like a giant ass pain, or it might be unnecessary. I haven't tried anything like this before so for those reading take everything I say w a grain of salt

 

[Noisefighters]

Having the blind spot in the middle makes functional sense to me for those guys that want to be able to keep the ability to shoot through their day optics. You can have your shooting tube straight, and have your non-shooting tube pano'd.

That's a big if though, it might end up feeling like a giant ass pain. I haven't tried anything like this before so for those reading take everything I say w a grain of salt

It’s certainly possible to do so, but the non-panned tube will be higher in view slightly than the panned tube. Hard to explain unless you watch the other video I posted about night vision mount adjustment with Panobridge.



I used to own a DTNVG and the tubes weren’t vertically aligned, either, when in use...so...I go back to the idea people can probably work through this kind of issue if they want.

Personally, I keep the tubes 60-70 degrees and don’t have problems with passive aiming.

 

[jeffl838]

Makes sense to me. Guys that fuss about IP stops are nerds. 6's are wobbly as fuck despite being on a fixed bridge with fixed IP. Clearly not perfect, and they're main use is for aviation

EDIT: sadface for optimal use being with mounts with quickly adjustable heights. I have an aka2

 

[stefan73]

It’s certainly possible to do so, but the non-panned tube will be higher in view slightly than the panned tube. Hard to explain unless you watch the other video I posted about night vision mount adjustment with Panobridge.



I used to own a DTNVG and the tubes weren’t vertically aligned, either, when in use...so...I go back to the idea people can probably work through this kind of issue if they want.

Personally, I keep the tubes 60-70 degrees and don’t have problems with passive aiming.

Have you tried it with something like a thermal monocular? Just asking for a friend.

 

[Noisefighters]

Have you tried it with something like a thermal monocular? Just asking for a friend.

A thermal monocular mounted to a scope, or handheld?

Regarding handheld thermals, here’s a video explainingone of the weirdest things about the angled tube concept:



Basically, you can slide a handheld thermal between the gap in the panned out tubes, use one eye to look through an i2 tube while using the other eye to look through the resulting gap between tubes and into the handheld monocular eyepiece, thus temporarily overlaying thermal over NV. Hard to understand unless you watch the video or try in person.

 

[SGT Fish @ChevTec Group]

Props to you for making these. After these were announced, it became apparent that a lot of people had this idea (including me) and immediately dismissed it as something that wouldn't work, primarily because of naysayers and pessimists that we brought the idea up to. You put the time and money into trying it out and then bringing it to market. I love the noise fighter ear cups (and need to order a couple more for my comtacs!) and was pleasantly surprised to see you in the NVG market.

Hope these work out well and i hope to try them out some day. Maybe someone will have them at the next SnipersHide east NV meet up.

-Jake

 

[Noisefighters]

Props to you for making these. After these were announced, it became apparent that a lot of people had this idea (including me) and immediately dismissed it as something that wouldn't work, primarily because of naysayers and pessimists that we brought the idea up to. You put the time and money into trying it out and then bringing it to market. I love the noise fighter ear cups (and need to order a couple more for my comtacs!) and was pleasantly surprised to see you in the NVG market.

Hope these work out well and i hope to try them out some day. Maybe someone will have them at the next SnipersHide east NV meet up.

-Jake

Thanks. That means a lot.

I will have to look into attending that event myself.

 

[WhereNow&How]

Guys that fuss about IP stops are nerds.

Could not agree any better.

Moma must have wiped their lips every time they took a sip of milk.

 

[stefan73]

So, I just want to run a NOX18 and a 14 together! Nox18 left eye (non-dominant and near vision), 14 right eye (dominant and far vision). So, how to make the magic happen?

 

[SGT Fish @ChevTec Group]

So, I just want to run a NOX18 and a 14 together! Nox18 left eye (non-dominant and near vision), 14 right eye (dominant and far vision). So, how to make the magic happen?

Then you'll probably want to do a little googling and find the correct mod-armory or knights or whatever bridge for your setup. This is a dual panoramic pvs-14 bridge.

 

[stefan73]

Then you'll probably want to do a little googling and find the correct mod-armory or knights or whatever bridge for your setup. This is a dual panoramic pvs-14 bridge.

Tracking the MOD Armory bridge. There is not a real good solution for running the NOX on the left and the 14 on the right while maintaining the full capacity/capability of the NOX from what it looks like. Am I wrong?

 

[Noisefighters]

Quick update, I just posted the first through-the-lens video on Panobridge:



As discussed in the video description, the actual image shown to the user is two complete circles. The ANVRS recorder can only pick up part of the view, and when attempting to overlap the images to show approximately what the user sees, the rectangular videos look really strange without cropping out the top and bottom. The experience in person is much better, but this video still accurately represents the concept.

 

[NHPiper]

@WillHugh can i borrow your pvs14

 

[WillHugh]

@WillHugh can i borrow your pvs14

I'm intrigued... order one up and we can run it with the two 14s bridged. Seems like it could be awesome for driving.