Night Vision PVS-30 or ?

LakuNoc

Sergeant of the Hide
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Jun 13, 2018
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Mostly Target shooting at night and some coyote hunting at Night. Distances 200-1000 yards. Mainly interested in Night vision for now, is there anything better than PVS-30 for under $5000? Thank you for your input guys.
 
"Better" ?

The only other consideration would be the SIMRADs either the kn203 or the kn253. I've had 2 of the PVS-30s and one of the kn253s. The downside of the PVS-30s for me is the weight and bulk. The kn203 has about the same weight and more bulk. The kn253 has about a pound less weight and a little less bulk and the weight is farther to the rear on the gun.
The PVS-30 supports more magnification. Say 16x ... though you can crank more depending on your tolerance for fuzz.
The kn503 is the same.
The kn253 supports say 12x though I shoot dot drills at 18x with some fuzz. But in the field 12x is the limit for a clear image.
The SIMRADs have the gain and focus controls on the rear of the unit and they are much easier to reach than the PVS-30, which to focus, you need to come out from behind the scope, well I do anyway.
The SIMRADs are a bit harder to mount, more issues to work thru with larger scopes, but there is knowledge here on the Hide to help with those issues and several threads are laying around with tips.
The SIMRADs also have an "offset" since they are mounted well above the optical center line of the day scopes. But this can be dealt with either by holding for it or dialing for it. The manual actually says to dial for it.
The SIMRADS I've seen for between $1,200 and $2,200 and redneckbeamer is the man who is most likely to be able to hook you up.
Some of us like the SIMRADs ... after I got my SIMRAD kn253, I sold my PVS-30s ... but others prefer the PVS-30.

Now if I could find a PVS-22 for under $5k, I'd go for that, but none such have been seen by me. Small, light and inline mount. But given the trade-offs, for me I like the kn253.

==
kn253 on spuhr mount on L&S mk6 3-18x T3 with Luna ELIR-3 illum on the 3 o'clock forward.

43942101915_34bb784434_k.jpg


==

Same gun with the PVS-30 in front of burris 3-15x scr-mil ... and the luna same spot. This is 5.56(18).

3yN7glk.jpg
 
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I agree with Wig. After owning both PVS-30s and SIMRADs (KN203 model), I sold the 30. Don't get me wrong, the 30 is a great scope but if I can have a better passive image, weight moved further back toward center of gun, and focus actually within easy reach from shooting position for ~1/3 the price of a 30 then that is what I will do! No regrets.
 
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Hmm very interesting points you guys make. My concern is clarity of picture, is PVS-30 lets say at 15x or 12x much clearer and better picture at distance like 500 yards?
 
I ran PVS-30 FOM 1804 side by side with my kn503 and a buddies PVS-22 ... and could not tell any difference in image ... and we just happened to be looking at steel targets at 500yds :)

The magnification was different, but not the clarity of the image.

12x is plenty of magnification for me at night ... but if you want more, the kn203 or the pvs-30 will do it.
 
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"Better" ?

The only other consideration would be the SIMRADs either the kn203 or the kn253. I've had 2 of the PVS-30s and one of the kn253s. The downside of the PVS-30s for me is the weight and bulk. The kn203 has about the same weight and more bulk. The kn253 has about a pound less weight and a little less bulk and the weight is farther to the rear on the gun.
The PVS-30 supports more magnification. Say 16x ... though you can crank more depending on your tolerance for fuzz.
The kn503 is the same.
The kn253 supports say 12x though I shoot dot drills at 18x with some fuzz. But in the field 12x is the limit for a clear image.
The SIMRADs have the gain and focus controls on the rear of the unit and they are much easier to reach than the PVS-30, which to focus, you need to come out from behind the scope, well I do anyway.
The SIMRADs are a bit harder to mount, more issues to work thru with larger scopes, but there is knowledge here on the Hide to help with those issues and several threads are laying around with tips.
The SIMRADs also have an "offset" since they are mounted well above the optical center line of the day scopes. But this can be dealt with either by holding for it or dialing for it. The manual actually says to dial for it.
The SIMRADS I've seen for between $1,200 and $2,200 and redneckbeamer is the man who is most likely to be able to hook you up.
Some of us like the SIMRADs ... after I got my SIMRAD kn253, I sold my PVS-30s ... but others prefer the PVS-30.

Now if I could find a PVS-22 for under $5k, I'd go for that, but none such have been seen by me. Small, light and inline mount. But given the trade-offs, for me I like the kn253.

==
kn253 on spuhr mount on L&S mk6 3-18x T3 with Luna ELIR-3 illum on the 3 o'clock forward.

43942101915_34bb784434_k.jpg


==

Same gun with the PVS-30 in front of burris 3-15x scr-mil ... and the luna same spot. This is 5.56(18).

3yN7glk.jpg

What’s the tipod?
 
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Those are Manfrotto M190 and M055 tripods with 322RC-2 heads I used for 3 years. They are good tripods especially for the money. However, now I use RRS (Really Right Stuff) tripods. They are just amazing. Cut group sizes in half. 500yds is pretty boring now, 750yds getting boring but not in variable wind. However, they are not free .. Rounding up ... $1,500 ... different class of beast.

REM700/McReeG-10/Criterion Barrel 7.62(22)
44913233814_012b9cf87d_k.jpg


At 750yd FP
45538630072_b5ce5f51d2_k.jpg


Target
45588972341_3d195f1978_k.jpg
 
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