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Night Vision - Gen 1 worth it or not?


DannyG
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I have a Gen2+ and it's much better than my Mk1 Eyeball.. :)  I currently use it in Drakelow tunnels, it does not make me invincible or anything, but does help quite a bit. (Using IR illumination)  One problem is establishing friend or Foe.

 

I'd like to try it outside in a game, and I was going to play at Midlands Airsoft night game last Thursday, but due to bad traffic on M5/M6 in the afternoon I got stuck and just came home.  I'm on the fence about milsim as my mates are all skirmishers and not interested in it. (Trying to get them to skirmish is a challenge in itself sometimes..if it's raining, it's game over for them..pussies!)  :)

 

I can see the obvious benefits of Gen3's and a few guys let me try them out, Autogating, wider field of view and much better image quality etc...but the cost is just a bit too much.  I'm well happy with my Gen2+...

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4 hours ago, Monkman said:

I have a Gen2+ and it's much better than my Mk1 Eyeball.. :)  I currently use it in Drakelow tunnels, it does not make me invincible or anything, but does help quite a bit. (Using IR illumination)  One problem is establishing friend or Foe.

 

I'd like to try it outside in a game, and I was going to play at Midlands Airsoft night game last Thursday, but due to bad traffic on M5/M6 in the afternoon I got stuck and just came home.  I'm on the fence about milsim as my mates are all skirmishers and not interested in it. (Trying to get them to skirmish is a challenge in itself sometimes..if it's raining, it's game over for them..pussies!)  :)

 

I can see the obvious benefits of Gen3's and a few guys let me try them out, Autogating, wider field of view and much better image quality etc...but the cost is just a bit too much.  I'm well happy with my Gen2+...

Yeah NV is alot like cars in that you will pay alot more price for not alot more performance. You can buy a device for double the price but only get a 40% increase in performance, that is a massive generalisation and obviously depends on the devices in question but just wanted to get my point across.

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^not as dumb as it sounds, popping torches in trees to cover areas is a pretty good tactic, even funnier when they get hit with tracers followed by screams of "take your hits" as you lie safely in the darkness.

 

of course you'll want a tough torch- the enemy team are not going to be fond of it.

 

i did buy a bunch of IR glowsticks and some day i plan on trying to get them nicely distributed amongst the enemy team so they'll be lit up like beacons to nv users :P

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41 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

£1300 of 10W rechargeable work lights.

 

Distribute among your team, make the darkness your bitch.

 

 

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000084050449.html 

 

These look really good, going to get a few of them for when you come up against other NV users at milsims. Just handy for lighting up an area temporarily and forcing NV users to look away for a while.

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22 hours ago, GREG_BURTON said:

Mounted on my lid. That is what the COTI looks like mounted on a PVS-14. It just projects a thermal image to overlap the image you would normally see.

 

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Dare I ask how much that whole set up would set me back?

1 hour ago, GREG_BURTON said:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000084050449.html 

 

These look really good, going to get a few of them for when you come up against other NV users at milsims. Just handy for lighting up an area temporarily and forcing NV users to look away for a while.

I saw a video of one of them, they look pretty cool provided they actually work like the one in the video!

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1 hour ago, Adolf Hamster said:

not as dumb as it sounds, popping torches in trees to cover areas is a pretty good tactic,

 

I carry spare torches for doing exactly that in the dark places of the Depot, so it wasn't a completely flippant suggestion.

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1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

 

I carry spare torches for doing exactly that in the dark places of the Depot, so it wasn't a completely flippant suggestion.

 

yeah, 'twas just a lighter hearted opening to go with the lighter hearted suggestion of £1300's worth of worklights :P

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8 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 

I carry spare torches for doing exactly that in the dark places of the Depot, so it wasn't a completely flippant suggestion.

I'd imagine marshalls would tell you to turn it off seen them do that alot if someone is keeping their weapon light on.

 

 

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8 hours ago, BibbsOnTour said:

Dare I ask how much that whole set up would set me back?

 

US prices... About $7-8k depending upon the spec of the PVS14.  UK/EU prices, probably closer to £10k, unless you can snag a mega bargain somewhere.  The AN/PAS29 is the expensive part, you can get a reasonable PVS14 these days for £2-3k 

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23 minutes ago, Musica said:

I'd imagine marshalls would tell you to turn it off seen them do that alot if someone is keeping their weapon light on.

 

 

 

Are we talking about proper night shoots or dark cqb? Because there's a pretty big safety argument for keeping torches on for the former especially outdoors, hell last shoot i was at nearly busted my knee on a rock (hence the bit in my original post about it ruining natural night vision)

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2 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

 

Are we talking about proper night shoots or dark cqb? Because there's a pretty big safety argument for keeping torches on for the former especially outdoors, hell last shoot i was at nearly busted my knee on a rock (hence the bit in my original post about it ruining natural night vision)

dark cqb. sometimes pitch black

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27 minutes ago, Musica said:

I'd imagine marshalls would tell you to turn it off seen them do that alot if someone is keeping their weapon light on.

 

 

Huh, I've never had that happen.  Oftentimes I'll just turn the torch on, hold the mag, and stick the gun out of cover to light up / troll folk.

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Just now, Rogerborg said:

 

Huh, I've never had that happen.  Oftentimes I'll just turn the torch on, hold the mag, and stick the gun out of cover to light up / troll folk.

I blind fire my torch to give others the vision without risking my own skin as the source of light too.  I have been told and seen marshals tell people to turn them off (after being on for long enough to see what they are lighting up) regardless of how the torch was held etc.

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Musica said:

dark cqb. sometimes pitch black

 

Seems a bit stupid then to make people run blind.

 

Strobing i can understand, but if theyre against plain beams to see by that seems a bit much.

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3 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

 

Seems a bit stupid then to make people run blind.

 

Strobing i can understand, but if theyre against plain beams to see by that seems a bit much.

it's people holding an angle not walking to be fair.

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Just now, Musica said:

it's people holding an angle not walking to be fair.

 

Suppose that makes a bit more sense if your static, sounded like it was more a general thing which would be worrysome.

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4 hours ago, jcheeseright said:

 

US prices... About $7-8k depending upon the spec of the PVS14.  UK/EU prices, probably closer to £10k, unless you can snag a mega bargain somewhere.  The AN/PAS29 is the expensive part, you can get a reasonable PVS14 these days for £2-3k 

Got a gen 3, 2100FOM min PVS-14 to put the COTI on. Both together cost less than £10k as i got a good deal on both the items. 

 

There is a UK company that makes a version of the pas29 COTI, just search ClipIR in google, but only a few places stock them for sale to civvies. https://actinblack.com/product/clipir/ is one of them but at that price defo not for everyone. 

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I got the mnvd qs brand new in the end for the same price as a new demon (had talks with cobra and they have stopped trying to get tubes now as its hopeless and they have no clue as to when they will be getting more... hopefully 6 months but could be years I was told) and I'm pretty pleased with how it performs... I know everyone hates on flir and I know they are 50/50 but if you do get one of the good ones then I think your pretty sorted for the money too... just a couple quick shots in the garden and in the field :) (why I had ir on I have no idea) 😂Screenshot_20190906-023934_Video Player.jpg

Screenshot_20190906-024121_Video Player.jpg

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I’m an arsehole to night players. I have a torch mounted on my gun rail, with duct tape(proper job), the torch has an extendable lamp, which twists, so I can pull it out about 1M and twist it left or right, and then turn it on. 

 

Imagine the abuse i receive about hit taking, last marshal who came to question me just laughed.

 

That and for the last night game I did, I made a few motion sensor light bombs. As you trigger the sensor, it turns the light on for a few seconds( I will attempt to make sound ones too) Never used them because no one turned up with NODs.

 

One of the best games I have played that.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Dusting off the cobwebs to say I've taken my Armasight Vega (Gen1"+") monocular, mounted on skullcrusher, to a couple of evening games now, some thoughts and AAR:

 

- It's shite for outdoor usage, even with IR - don't think I'm saying anything controversial there! You simply won't be able to see well enough to use it effectively. Takes too long to identify specific objects - and that's if you can see them at all.

 

- It's good fun for CQB at "standard" evening games - where you can expect few people if any to have NODs themselves. I took it to UCAP Gloucester a few weeks ago and was able to use it with IR without much issue - It's low FOV with fisheye, but the IR secures a level of clarity you simply won't get otherwise.

 

I had great fun running around in darker areas waiting for people to move in - only issue I had was the IR light splashing off the glass of my eotech - meant I had to point-fire a lot. Until I've got some juicier night vision I'll put an IR bulb in my RIF's torch.

 

I definitely wouldn't take it to a decent milsim, where the odds of the opposition having NODs is high.

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