I recently acted upon some good advice and sold a nice pre-‘89 ban Chinese AK for some stupid money(to me, anyway), in order to possibly finance some night vision. After doing a lot of reading here I’ve realized how little I know about the subject. I’m fascinated and more than a little humbled when I ask,

“How much night vision can I get for $3K”

And find out the answer is; “Not as much as I thought…”

The first step is determining what I want it for and what I’ll be doing with it. I’ve read several posts in other sub-forums of people having buyer’s remorse because they aren’t snooping-n-pooping with them all the time. Fair enough, so I need to honestly evaluate the why/when/where of NVG ownership in my area.

I asked a local Arfcommer if he had, or knew anyone, with NODs & he said that he did. He also discovered that the setup he wanted would cost him $9-15K, so he bought a Jeep instead, since he drives it all the time.

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Don’t get me started on thermal/not thermal.

I mean you can get a 14 which is honestly where someone dipping their toes in should start anyways for 3K

In my experience you will either be hooked or think its neat but maybe not find much value in it.

Ive showed some friends and most of them fell into the its neat but dont find much value in it. Most lose interest once the price tag is known.

I use my stuff often. Even more now that I have duals. I find it much more comfortable to use vs the 14.

I could go into a TLDR about what to look for but honestly just use JRH or TNVC and theyll land you into a good system for 3k.

All of this is spot on.

You have to want to use NODS or else its a huge amount of $$ for very little enjoyment/utility.  I get out in the neighborhood and go for night walks weekly. I participate in night shoots. I enjoy understanding NODS and all the gear/accessories that go with them (talk about spending BIG $$).

But, Im not a door kicker nor do I use them enough to buy the best of the best stuff.  I started with an ECHO spec pvs14 from JRH and after realizing how much fun I was having had my current tube turned into a set of rnvgs.

The best thing you can do is try out stuff locally if possible, figure out what you want to do with them and how much more that will cost, and if you even have somewhere to use your nods.

ETA: My own personal experience, but the people here in the NV forum are some of the best on arfcom.  So much information and feedback and actual discussion here about different approaches to NV/gear without egos getting in the way.

Its worth mentioning that largely NODs hold their value too compared to other electronics

Get a PVS14 and decide its not your thing? Just sell it and take a few hundo hit and think of it as a rental fee.

A friend of mine replaced his ‘14 with a set of PVS-7s because of vertigo issues when using one eye. He says that it wasn’t occasional dizziness, but ‘drop to my knees and vomit’ level. I’m not suggesting getting my own 7s, just that he’s the only person I know who uses NVGs on a semi-regular basis out on his land.

I started with a 14 and had no issues. I could run, shoot, walk, do whatever with no problems.  Its all personal.

In all the of the years that I have been using NV and reading in various places I have never heard of someone suffering from vertigo while using NV, any type of NV. There have been some who reported headaches and or eye strain to varying degrees but nothing beyond that.

A 14 is a great place to start. The reality is even if you do not wind up using whatever you buy all that often once the money is spent it is spent and you will always have it just in case.

I've almost fallen down stairs because of 7s, I would not recommend them under any circumstances. If you want to dip your toes in, there's places you can rent a 14 for a weekend -- A&A Tactical and Ultimate Night Vision come immediately to mind.

I’m doing a lot of reading at the moment & watching videos on YouTube.