I have cobbled together a cheap but semi functional gen 3 helmet setup. During my testing I have found it is nearly impossible to navigate in the woods. Is the 3x lens on my ATN night spirit 3 the limiting factor? I am having real issues with a short  focal plane.I have searched everywhere for a 1x lens that fits the night spirit with no success.

Any advice other than selling it and dropping another $1000
I will be making a kydex j arm adapter to hold the monocular, super tactical electrical tape is for functionality testing.

Pasgt with upgraded pad/suspension and cover $45
Surplus mount set $50
Blem ATN night spirit XT-3 $720

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iPhone photo, actual image is very clear.
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First off, make sure you are using one of the later machined helmet plates and not an earlier cast one. The old ones shatter leading to dropping the NVD.

You could use a wide angle auxiliary lens to drop magnification but you will trade magnification for distortion (and add weight and length). Maybe the budget lens train already has bad distortion the other way and the wide angle lens will only correct it. You may need some spacer rings to get the focus right and it might not ever be perfect.

EDIT: Yes, magnification makes navigating at speed difficult.

Trying to navigate with a 3X lens is just asking to twist or break something

Have you tried contacting ATN for a 1X lens? I bought a gen 2 nvb3x a few years ago and was able to purchase a 1X lens for it directly from ATN.