Night vision group

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2ndArmament

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Hey all, might be a lost cause here but I started a Facebook group for my state MA Night Vision (MA-NV) and another for the surrounding area North East Night Vision (NENV). There’s no members and nothing going on. Just looking for like minded individuals to network with. Hoping for people to show off their kit, their spots, and photos/videos taken with night vision. With enough participation we could organize night hikes or Pews.

Here’s a photo from tonight’s rain ruck
IMG_1203.jpeg
 
I'm fascinated with NV.

10 years ago a set would cost $20,000.00.

Today that set is $2,000.00.

Today a better set is $20,000.00 with better technology.

In 10 years that set would be $2,000.00.

I'm afraid to get into this game due to the depreciation.

Who is the demographic for NV? Do these people just like to walk around in the dark?
 
Joker_114th said:
Well no 2Facebook here but I use my Pvs-14 WP all the time never tried to take pics with it but I've ridden my 450 with it
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I drove my car with them for the first time recently. Brother in law was in the passenger seat and unprepared. He said it was one of the scariest things he’s experienced in a while.
 
Reptile said:
10 years ago a set would cost $20,000.00.

Today that set is $2,000.00.
Click to expand...
This isn’t true. Night vision isn’t getting exponentially better because it’s an analog technology and it’s nearly at the limits of the materials. I bought a unit that came direct from Ed Wilcox in 2015, and I paid about 35% less than if’s sticker price 9 years with accessories. If you buy a new sig p320 right now and try to sell it next year, you’ll probably see the same kind of return on investment.
Reptile said:
I'm afraid to get into this game due to the depreciation.
Click to expand...
There is a bit of depreciation going on in the low end because china is producing tubes, but they’re pretty shit. Much like computer chips, it’s not something people can just knock off. It’s too hard to produce.
Reptile said:
Today a better set is $20,000.00 with better technology.

In 10 years that set would be $2,000.00.
Click to expand...
In a way this is true but not to the extent you’re saying. The better sets this applies to are thermal overlay and other digital overlay systems. They are expensive but not in the 5 figure range. They will depreciate pretty hard as tech gets better but thermal technology is pretty mature so I’m not sure it will be that bad. Regardless those are just overlays for the same analog tech. At its core, Night vision isn’t a bad investment.
 
Reptile said:
Who is the demographic for NV? Do these people just like to walk around in the dark?
Click to expand...
Preppers. Analog Night vision is a super power and a pvs 14 runs for 24-48 hours off one battery.

Larpers. Some people really just like pretending to be soldiers

Hunters. Thermal is the meta for shooting animals in the dark, but night vision is the meta for moving around in the night.

Star gazers. A who subset of the NV community is buying this stuff up just to mount it in a telescope or camera and take pictures of the sky.

Dog walkers. Plenty of people are just going on hikes with them 90% of the time. Ammo is expensive, batteries are cheap.
 
Star gazing with NV is the craziest thing. You see 1000x more things in the sky than you would otherwise. I could sit there for hours watching satellites or meteor showers passing through.

Also, once you view the world through NV then you'll understand how much of a force multiplier it is. Not having it means you're at a serious disadvantage especially in this day and age where NV and thermals are relatively affordable and accessible to the civilian world.
 
LakeTrout said:
That sounds awesome. If I could afford it I’d be out doing the same.
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It’s not as expensive as some think to get into. For a couple grand you can have a decent setup.

Over time it’s a cheaper hobby than shooting is.

gun is 500$ + let’s call it 50$ per hour to shoot

NV is 2000$ + 0.20$ per hour to use

Do the math, after 31 hours

Shooting = 2050$
Night vision= 2006$

Plus, the depending on your bedtime and proximity to the woods, night vision is easy to use every day. Just work it into your cardio routine or start a new one based off it.
 
F2386 said:
Star gazing with NV is the craziest thing. You see 1000x more things in the sky than you would otherwise. I could sit there for hours watching satellites or meteor showers passing through.

Also, once you view the world through NV then you'll understand how much of a force multiplier it is. Not having it means you're at a serious disadvantage especially in this day and age where NV and thermals are relatively affordable and accessible to the civilian world.
Click to expand...
Star gazing is mind blowing. I never understood how people came up with the constellations before I put on nods and saw through the light pollution.
 
2ndArmament said:
It’s not as expensive as some think to get into. For a couple grand you can have a decent setup.

Over time it’s a cheaper hobby than shooting is.

gun is 500$ + let’s call it 50$ per hour to shoot

NV is 2000$ + 0.20$ per hour to use

Do the math, after 31 hours

Shooting = 2050$
Night vision= 2006$

Plus, the depending on your bedtime and proximity to the woods, night vision is easy to use every day. Just work it into your cardio routine or start a new one based off it.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of men who are going to need you to write this up and formally submit it to their wives as justification. This is good stuff.
 
LakeTrout said:
There are a lot of men who are going to need you to write this up and formally submit it to their wives as justification. This is good stuff.
Click to expand...
Did you know chase credit cards can take cash payment through ATMs? So say someone had a sneaky credit card, they could link it to a PayPal account, use that to make a goods and services payment to a third person for a used set of nods, then take “cash back” from the register here and there and make their minimum monthly payments on the device, then sell it a few years down he line and have a 50$ monthly cost basis between interest and depreciation.
 
FalArAk said:
.mil gen2 mafia checking in!
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Amen.

I did A LOT with nods back in the Day, and I know how useful they can be. I also associate them with excessive dummycords and endless walks across the drop zone with flashlights in the middle of the night because Joe dropped his mounting bracket or something.

So. I'm conflicted, lol.
 
2ndArmament said:
Preppers. Analog Night vision is a super power and a pvs 14 runs for 24-48 hours off one battery.

Larpers. Some people really just like pretending to be soldiers

Hunters. Thermal is the meta for shooting animals in the dark, but night vision is the meta for moving around in the night.

Star gazers. A who subset of the NV community is buying this stuff up just to mount it in a telescope or camera and take pictures of the sky.

Dog walkers. Plenty of people are just going on hikes with them 90% of the time. Ammo is expensive, batteries are cheap.
Click to expand...
you ever think about taking a course and trying passive/active aiming - if you are going to by this capability - you should be prepared to fully utilize it. I remember using the second generation PVS-7's and the old Dragon thermal sight - I thought that was the sh!t. Little did I know what was coming.

I just started night riding off road as well with a panobridge set up. too cool for words...

B0s017Z.jpg
 
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Reptile said:
I'm fascinated with NV.

10 years ago a set would cost $20,000.00.

Today that set is $2,000.00.

Today a better set is $20,000.00 with better technology.

In 10 years that set would be $2,000.00.

I'm afraid to get into this game due to the depreciation.

Who is the demographic for NV? Do these people just like to walk around in the dark?
Click to expand...
It's kind of like cornering the market on Noveske sh!t - you need to time it correctly. And in 10 years, 2K will probably be a down payment on a hotdog...
 
the performance of both thermal and IR NV degrades significantly under certain atmospheric conditions... and the technology to mask/detect/and defeat these tools is advancing even faster than the tools themselves... in future conflicts, everyone will have it and it won't be a superpower. Hell, even predators/hogs are adapting to it - but for whatever your civilian game is, it is a fun hobby.
 
Throwing up some PVS-14 sample pics from 25 to 35 yards out to the treeline. This was from a L3 Harris gen 3 WP commercial spec tube. The specs were pretty good. 28.2 SNR, 2030 FOM. It was only comm spec because one one large blem at the very top of 12 o'clock. It was great for around $3000. If I were in the market for another PVS-14 I wouldn't hesitate on these again from ultimatenightvision.com.

Manual gain is a nice feature on the PVS-14s.

This one was mid to high gain -
20240709_235620.jpg

This was low gain -
20240709_235711.jpg
 
Reptile said:
I'm fascinated with NV.

10 years ago a set would cost $20,000.00.

Today that set is $2,000.00.

Today a better set is $20,000.00 with better technology.

In 10 years that set would be $2,000.00.

I'm afraid to get into this game due to the depreciation.

Who is the demographic for NV? Do these people just like to walk around in the dark?
Click to expand...

10 years ago, a quality Gen 3 PVS-14 cost $3k-$4k. They still cost that much for a quality one. You’ll have to go back more than 10 years before you start seeing them cost $20k for a Gen 3 monocular.

I’m sure they’ve gotten incrementally clearer. But the cost isn’t really any different aside from inflation.

Wayback Machine to Dec 2014:

Night Vision Monoculars ‹ Catalog Categories ‹ Tactical Night Vision Company

web.archive.org web.archive.org

Current:
tnvc.com

Night Vision Monoculars Archives

tnvc.com tnvc.com
 

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