Advice before I buy. - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Advice before I buy.

Posted: 4/27/2017 2:46:14 PM EDT

Hey guys, after reading, reading and more reading I have a few final questions before I buy. The tacked threads have been very help but Im at the point were Im deliberating over details that may not be important. Please excuse me if I've got any of this backwards.

Here are the things that I could use some input on.

First, Im having a hard time choosing between the Harris and L3 tubes.

Do you guys think the additional durability of the L3 tube is necessary if it will never be mounted on a weapon?

I read the comparison posts from back in 2010 that Clasky did and the Harris tubes look brighter. Is this still the case or has L3 managed to get better in the last 7 years?

Obviously I want to buy from a site sponsor. The difference between a 5 and 10 year warranty seems like a big deal. What kind of stuff is normally covered under the warranty? Is this a big enough factor to go with one vendor over another considering the products are essentially the same price?

My buddy just bought the HP+ package from JRH yesterday but I was pretty locked in on the TNVC Harris tax return special deal until I talked to him. I assume the specs will be about the same but I just cant get over the hump. Im not a millionaire like most arfcommers so I want to spent this cash as wisely as possible. The sales ends tomorrow and I cant make up my mind...

Thanks in advance for any input or suggestions.

Posted: 4/27/2017 3:01:59 PM EDT

[#1]

nvm

Posted: 4/27/2017 3:20:10 PM EDT

[#2]

Here is the warranty info for our units manufactured by NV Devices (formerly NV Depot)-

10 year warranty

Warranty issues are few and far between, but I try to track them and I haven't seen anything yet that presented a major problem.

Recently I had a guy contact us about a PVS14 he had problems with. He assumed he bought the unit from us for some reason and sent the unit in and it wasn't even a unit we sold! It came from a different manufacturer (not TNVC or anyone on the site here). Data plate showed a manufacturer that we have never bought from.

Still not sure why he assumed he bought it from us??? (I couldn't find anything the dude had bought from us) But I pulled some favors and got the unit checked out for him. Unfortunately the tube was dead in the unit. He had just a 2 year warranty on the unit from the place that manufactured it, so he was totally SOL on it. Again, NOT some place that's on this site, some other place that builds 14's.

The moral of the story is that he was outside the short 2 year warranty he had on the 14 from the place he actually did buy it from. He would have had to drop $2K to replace the tube in the unit!!!!

Posted: 4/27/2017 3:31:00 PM EDT

[#3]

Quote History

Quoted:
Here is the warranty info for our units manufactured by NV Devices (formerly NV Depot)-

10 year warranty

Warranty issues are few and far between, but I try to track them and I haven't seen anything yet that presented a major problem.

Recently I had a guy contact us about a PVS14 he had problems with. He assumed he bought the unit from us for some reason and sent the unit in and it wasn't even a unit we sold! It came from a different manufacturer (not TNVC or anyone on the site here). Data plate showed a manufacturer that we have never bought from.

Still not sure why he assumed he bought it from us??? (I couldn't find anything the dude had bought from us) But I pulled some favors and got the unit checked out for him. Unfortunately the tube was dead in the unit. He had just a 2 year warranty on the unit from the place that manufactured it, so he was totally SOL on it. Again, NOT some place that's on this site, some other place that builds 14's.

The moral of the story is that he was outside the short 2 year warranty he had on the 14 from the place he actually did buy it from. He would have had to drop $2K to replace the tube in the unit!!!!

View Quote

Thanks for the reply. My friend got his shipping notification today on the one you sold him yesterday.

Posted: 4/27/2017 3:51:20 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:

Thanks for the reply. My friend got his shipping notification today on the one you sold him yesterday.

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Yes they are on it as far as quick ship 99% of the time. Worst delay I remember was about 4-5 years ago when Exelis got backed up on tubes on summer. Then it was a 2 week wait.

Normally they go out the door very quickly.

Posted: 4/27/2017 4:55:22 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Hey guys, after reading, reading and more reading I have a few final questions before I buy. The tacked threads have been very help but Im at the point were Im deliberating over details that may not be important. Please excuse me if I've got any of this backwards.

Here are the things that I could use some input on.

First, Im having a hard time choosing between the Harris and L3 tubes.

Do you guys think the additional durability of the L3 tube is necessary if it will never be mounted on a weapon?

I read the comparison posts from back in 2010 that Clasky did and the Harris tubes look brighter. Is this still the case or has L3 managed to get better in the last 7 years?

Obviously I want to buy from a site sponsor. The difference between a 5 and 10 year warranty seems like a big deal. What kind of stuff is normally covered under the warranty? Is this a big enough factor to go with one vendor over another considering the products are essentially the same price?

My buddy just bought the HP+ package from JRH yesterday but I was pretty locked in on the TNVC Harris tax return special deal until I talked to him. I assume the specs will be about the same but I just cant get over the hump. Im not a millionaire like most arfcommers so I want to spent this cash as wisely as possible. The sales ends tomorrow and I cant make up my mind...

Thanks in advance for any input or suggestions.

View Quote

The comparison we did many years ago showed the older L3 tubes which are literally a night and day difference present day with the L3 Omni 8 Mil Spec tubes we build in house and routinely out perform the Harris Tubes nowadays. We used to move more Harris (ITT) over L3 several years back, this is not the case any longer with L3 which they won the whole Omni 8 contract for the Military. Needless to say, we move a huge amount of TNV-14 L3 Omni 8 units with a huge customer base who are extremely happy with the units. We build these in-house so any warranty work is done in-house as well. With that said we have under a 1% return rate on any of these units.

We've also have never been happy with the Harris NE line, that takes 4 months min for warranty work. Yes they make it easy to ship back to Harris with the mailing envelope etc. but it's no joy to our customers they have to wait this long for any warranty repair. If we break open those units to fix or replace, we will void their warranty.

Another reason building in-house for us is such a huge advantage for our customers.

To the OP, please feel free to PM me. Btw, our sale runs until the 30th.

Posted: 4/28/2017 8:39:35 AM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:

The comparison we did many years ago showed the older L3 tubes which are literally a night and day difference present day with the L3 Omni 8 Mil Spec tubes we build in house and routinely out perform the Harris Tubes nowadays. We used to move more Harris (ITT) over L3 several years back, this is not the case any longer with L3 which they won the whole Omni 8 contract for the Military. Needless to say, we move a huge amount of TNV-14 L3 Omni 8 units with a huge customer base who are extremely happy with the units. We build these in-house so any warranty work is done in-house as well. With that said we have under a 1% return rate on any of these units.

We've also have never been happy with the Harris NE line, that takes 4 months min for warranty work. Yes they make it easy to ship back to Harris with the mailing envelope etc. but it's no joy to our customers they have to wait this long for any warranty repair. If we break open those units to fix or replace, we will void their warranty.

Another reason building in-house for us is such a huge advantage for our customers.

To the OP, please feel free to PM me. Btw, our sale runs until the 30th.

View Quote

Thanks for the reply. I'll be in touch today.

Edit, I called and spoke to Martin. He was very helpful.

Posted: 4/28/2017 11:24:15 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

I read the comparison posts from back in 2010 that Clasky did and the Harris tubes look brighter.
snip

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A lot has changed in the NV industry in the last couple of years. ITT/Exelis (now Harris) now has just one sole tube distributor which is NV Devices (formerly NV Depot). When it went to just them, it raised prices for everyone and made tubes more expensive. So a lot of places started offering other tubes to stay competitive.

Posted: 4/28/2017 4:17:30 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:

A lot has changed in the NV industry in the last couple of years. ITT/Exelis (now Harris) now has just one sole tube distributor which is NV Devices (formerly NV Depot). When it went to just them, it raised prices for everyone and made tubes more expensive. So a lot of places started offering other tubes to stay competitive.

View Quote

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