Deleted...off topic.

dupe.

I cant say for sure, but I'm not sure I'd leave that post up... @lonewolf1369

Probably right...TMI.

You mean something like this: LA-5B/PEQ

Its listed in the 'consignment' shop and there's no mention of it being restricted to LEO/MIL only.

We appreciate the insight though. Thanks for posting it, but deleting it was the correct thing to do.

I’m not here to step on toes but I have pvs-14’s with echo tubes in them. WP, filmless.

They outperform my Omni 7 tubes which are very good tubes. The echo tubes perform better in both low light and lots of light.

Bonus: $2500 brand new. I feel for that price they simply cannot be beat. I also had a chance to look through a good L3 WP filmless tubes and truth be told.....maybe ten percent better maybe. Not worth an extra $1500+ to me.

Sure, on the battlefield, where not using additional illumination is key, and I wasn’t footing the bill?  Ok, give me the L3.

L3 tubes are the king. Not much dispute there. By I haven’t seen one that smashes Omni 7 or 8 or echo tubes.

Granted I haven’t seen a big sample size though.

I’ve had completely different experience. My Omni VIII L3 GP filmed tube is brighter to my eyes than my buddies echo tubes in his Sentinels. I have two Omni VIII pinnacle ITT tubes that are also better than Echo, but not as bright (to me) as my L3. The clarity, definition, and contrast is about the same, but the L3 smokes it in low light performance.

Night vision is weird. Within a certain range of specs, you can have one tube from one manufacturer beat out a competitor’s, but when you make the same comparison between two other tubes of the same type as previous, it can be completely different.

I’ve bought from Wills Optics in the past product was as advertised, priced fairly and shipped quickly. I was happy with the whole transaction. I won’t have a issue buying from them again if they have the product and price I am looking for.

There are also several great dealers around now several I really enjoy speakng with and trust. I normally buy from three or four retailers that focus on NV and thermal as their main business. Fact is most all the good dealers can get the same products now if you do your research plus know what to ask for spec wise. I do work for a living so have to shop price around and get the most value for my dollar. Thats nothing against any one dealer just sometimes I can’t make the deal I need money wise even with my favorite dealers so must go another route.

I’ve been buying and using NV since the mid 90’s so have a good practical working/field knowledge of NV. I can build and repair most normal NV systems just from hands on learning over the years. I hate to think of the cash  I’ve spend on NV/thermal over the years it’s well beyond 6 digits that’s huge money for me!

Tube wise high spec  WP L3 filmless is pretty well known to be king if price isn’t a issue. Please note that’s a broad statement Not every L3 WP sold is a 72lp 36SN.  My current  TNVC L3 WP filmless is a 64lp/ 29SN tube and really clean screen cosmetics love the system/tube. Honestly, I’ve used a INTENS 4G WP PVS-14 good spec sheet numbers with a 29Sn and it gave my 29SN filmless L3 PVS-14 a run for its money understar light rural skies. Yes, I think my L3 was still a touch better overall star light night  rural area, but not by much. It could have been a bigger difference for a 72lp 35+SN L3 filmless WP tube if you get your hands on one.  I only have two L3 filmless both 64lp/ 29 SN PVS-14’s right now though.

I always see a lot of talk about 4G to L3 filmless I guess it’s a big dog fight. I haven’t seen many folks comparing thin filmed Harris/L3 tubes to 4G. Seems like to me those should compare very close if specs are equal.

There’s been a ton of commercial grade gen 3 filmed/filmless tubes sold over the years. True Full mil-spec labeled tubes have always been a rare premium on the market and drive a much higher price. Having bought dozens of SLG pinnacle (commercial grade) tubes over the years buying a commercial grade “Echo” shouldn’t scare anyone off as long as price is within reason. Sometimes “value”wins out over higher price for average folks supporting a family. If 10% more performance is worth nearly twice more price for you by all means do it. I’ve dropped the extra cash for full mil-spec systems several times and also bought a heck a lot more  commercial grade tubes over the years. I’ve also had commercial spec tubes that out performed my full mil-spec tubes at the time ;)

I spoke with Glynn by email recently and I’m considering buying a Echo system maybe a Vyper-14 or PVS-18 myself first of Aug sometime. I really liked the image quality of the INTENS 4G Pvs-14 I demo-ed, but really don’t want to spend INTENS tube money. AT that price point I would  just buy another L3 filmless ( hopefully crazy high spec since every one I get is 29SN lol). Anyway the Echo sounds like it may do the trick for me I’m still debating the pluses and minuses both ways.

In the end buy the best you can afford and enjoy it be full milspec ,commercial, 4G,filmed or filmless tubes system. There’s always something a touch better for more money out there. At some point you just have to draw a line and buy something :)

I bought an Eotech from them. No problems. Woule buy from again.