Weirdest thing that happened to me yet on the road…

[Orion11]

wow!! i love the techie toys to!! wish i didnt sometimes. lol
and DOH on me! sorry i didnt realize that was from someone else...

that sounds like an awesome lil tool man.

and man... if that NV shot is from your yard...

can we bring our telescopes out? lol

do you own a telescope that you use out there?
if not... whyy nott?? lol

bet the views would be amazing!

Originally Posted by Orion11

wow!! i love the techie toys to!! wish i didnt sometimes. lol
and DOH on me! sorry i didnt realize that was from someone else...

that sounds like an awesome lil tool man.

and man... if that NV shot is from your yard...

can we bring our telescopes out? lol

do you own a telescope that you use out there?
if not... whyy nott?? lol

bet the views would be amazing!

This is Seattle where it rains all the time. That's why
it is so dark here in the country. The two days of the year the sky is clear the forest itself blocks out ambient light.

Gen 1-4 night vision takes available ambient light (the original gen1 units in Vietnam were called starlight scopes) and amplifies it on the screen. No light, no picture. In the above military video there is a fair amount of ambient light. The remedy for no or too low
light conditions is an illuminator which emits light in the
IR spectrum. Herein lies the rub. The human eye detects
light up to about 700nm and will see the garden variety
illuminator as a dull red glow. Bad news for someone in
a firefight. If the intended targets also have night vision
an illuminator is a big neon sign on your forehead that
says shoot here.

One work around is an IR filter above 810 nm to omit almost all visible light. It will still glow red, but you have to be within about twenty feet and know where to look.
You can buy such filters and add them to any floodlight to make an instant NV illuminator.

This brings me to the second work around. Emitting ANYTHING that reveals your position is a bad idea. If you are in a defensive posture and desire to have a look at the back yard without lighting up the world offset IR floodlighting is the way to go. This may be done with IR LEDs or filters over existing security lighting. Say two floods aimed at the front yard. One white, one IR. Just be sure you hit the correct switch! Most intruders will not be NV equipped. If they are it is an indicator of their level of sophistication. So when you flip on the offset IR flood and they shoot it out; #1 the game is on, #2 they have revealed their own position, #3 you are up against some serious hombres - possibly swat and your avenue of egress is most likely blocked by a sharpshooter. The pucker factor just went up by a factor of ten. But at least you know. If it is SWAT they are watching YOU through
the wall with the above mentioned hand held FLIR. Feel
better now?

The photo is not mine. It is just a lovely NV camera shot
through an Eotech holographic weapon sight. An eyeball
view is much brighter with higher clarity than the camera
is capable of. Yes, night vision star gazing is a wonderful
evening spent. Norval spoke of it in one of his threads. I never bothered with a camera adapter with other more pressing matters at hand.

There are two NV capable sighting systems, Aimpoint and
Eotech which are worth your time and money. Here is a
comparison of the two



Both are in active use by the U.S. military
The disadvantage to these units is they require batteries.
Bad idea to allow your life to depend on batteries...

The U.S. marines like the Trijicon ACOG which is low light
rather than NV capable. This tritium based reticle requires no batteries and is built to be "marine proof" tough. This reflects in the price tag....
but it will still be with you after your Leupold or Bushnell
has turned tango uniform and died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pux3ZkyxRbI&NR=1

Perhaps one day for the .308....but it is several items below body armor, concealed carry, and muirs perimeter alert....we are defensive, not offensive.

[Dantheman62]

Yeah, I could hang out with Baggy for awhile!!!

[Orion11]

we are defensive, not offensive.

perfect.



great info man, thanks!

Regarding NV itself.


Don't waste your time on gen 1 This is forty year old technology. It isn't much better then the naked eye.

Gen 2 would be okay in an urban setting. Plan on a very good illuminator.

For canopy covered rural environment you will need gen 3 or above. Under canopy on an overcast night you will
still need an illuminator for gen 3.

Within generations there are grades of tubes and the cost
varies with the quality. Basically there is grade A and everything else. Grade A is military spec. Grade B didn't make the cut but is still acceptable. If you are doing S&R
for a lost child in the forest you will want Generation 3 with a grade A tube. ($$$$) or gen 4 if you can find it and
afford it. Price ranges 200 & less gen 1. You get what you pay for. 300-1500 gen 2 variations in quality of the tube. 900-5000 gen 3 again with variations in quality of the tube. 4000 and up gen 4.

If you are considering NV (for christmas ) I recommend a monocular rather than a binocular. Besides looking like the serial killer in silence of the lambs you will be blind when you take the NV off. One
defense against NV is a flash bang or a simple camera flash to blind you and the NV. If you only have one eye in the tube at least you will still have one night adjusted eye to stumble about with!

The queen of civilian monoculars is the mini14
http://www.securityprousa.com/mi14mo3rdgen1.html

also known as the AN/PVS 14 A used by the American military.

I should add that this hardware is classified as a munition and is not available for export. If you reside
outside the U.S. there is hardware available but you will need to exercise your own due diligence
to see what is equivalent to what.

[Czymra]

Originally Posted by Orion11

perfect.



great info man, thanks!

Indeed, that was just what info I needed regarding that other IR Video Thread.

http://www.projectavalon.net/forum/s...6708#post96708

Thank you so much.