Took a dive into my first set of goggles.  RNVG's just arrived today.  Looking forward to playing around with them.  While they didn't come with a manual, I noticed the on/off switch if turned counter clockwise has a "momentary on" feel.  Anyone know what that's for?

Also, are these good specs?  Total noob so give it to me.  Good specs for a beginner?  I have no idea what they mean.

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Momentary on is for the onboard IR illuminator, if you pull it out and rotate it to that position it will stay on.

Specs look good, nothing to sneeze at. Not going to beat high end super tubes but more than good enough or better yet great specs for personal use.

Signal to Noise Ration looks really good, FOM is good but pretty average, Resolution looks to be good, Halo is around average but good, Luminance Gain looks to be below average but I'm not 100% sure how that relates to performance when looking at your specific specifications.

Congratulations on a nice set of binos!

ETA: We're talking system gain here so your spec on Luminance Gain is actually really good! my bad haha

I am guessing these are Photonis tubes but not sure, I think I have seen the cd/m^2/lx measurement on US tubes too though. My guess is that is not system gain, but I could be very wrong. How many have the equipment for measuring it? The numbers fit Photonis tubes so from that and the difficulty of measuring system gain, I'd guess it's a tube spec.

If Photonis, then that's probably the measurement under 20ulx and 8000 is good. And then the SNR is definitely good too. Especially so for Echo tubes. For INTENS (or for some flavours of it at least) the luminance gain minimum is 8000, so in that sense it'd be on the lower side, but still inside the spec range.

Those specs are almost exactly what my Photonis echo tubes are. They perform a tad better than my very very nice Omni 7 green tubes.

Since I paid the same for both I’m extremely happy.

You’ll be happy.

So I took them out back and wow.  They are amazing.  Super clear, bright as hell.  So far, very happy.  Yes, they are Photonis Echos.

I do notice a tiny dot at 6:00 on the right tube, and another at 3:00 on the left tube.  Super tiny, but there.  Is this normal?

Pics coming.

Waiting for mine.  Thanks for you ur update.

Yup. I’ve got a small blem pretty close to the center of one of mine.

I've got the same tubes, and yeah, the small blems are normal. I wouldn't worry about them at all.

Blems are just something that can happen during the manufacturing process. I have had tubes with none, some with tiny blems throughout the field, one pair of Litton Goggles that had a small spot right in the middle which in an odd way worked out well for tracking animals, and one that had a blob sized one but off to the 2 O'clock.

As long as you are happy with it that is all that matters.

Those are great SN, FOM and lp/mm specs overall. While maybe middle ground for a L3 filmless tube,
It’s still much better than most of the ITT and L3 thin filmed systems your going to buy right now. Considering this is a 4G/ echo tube it’s pretty impressive to me spec wise.Tiny specs in the image are normal in any tube while big spots would maybe be a blemish grade tube selling for less money.

Be sure to follow up with a RNVG review after some use many of use are very interested in this new bino system.

OP, this thread needs some pics bruh.

Working on it.  Pics and review inbound.

Those specs look pretty damn good to me.. all better than my L3 gen 3 Omni VIII green tube anyways.

Okay, I've had a few weeks to play around with my new RNVGs, and wanted to pass along my assessment.  Please keep in mind, this is my first "civilian" jump into night vision, and the only thing I have to compare them to, are the NODs I used in the military.

My tubes are Photonis WP Echo Wide Spectrum HD.  I have the specs up in my original post.  The tubes are very clear, bright, with no spots.  I was apprehensive at first by going with the Echo's over L3 tubes, but not anymore.  The images are beautiful.

-The goggles themselves feel really solid when you hold them.  All connections are tight and there's no rattling when the goggles are moved around.  I'm using a G24 helmet mount, which works perfectly with the dovetail mount on the RNVG.  I wont go into whether ball/detent is better or not, don't care.  The dovetail works just fine and is pretty secure.

-Battery.  I haven't had them long enough to test the battery life.  They run off a single AA battery, with no battery pack option yet.  I hear that is in the works though.  So far, I see nothing that would restrict this from recreational use.  It suits my purposes just fine.

-On board IR illuminator.  Meh, it's okay.  it's more of a task light than anything.  Not powerful at all, and it throws a sort of "halo" effect in front of you.  Don't rely on this as an IR light source in low natural light conditions.  Definitely buy something better.  This isn't a deal breaker though.  (I'll try to grab a pic of the halo effect of the light)

-All controls are easy to manipulate.  From what I'm told they mirror the controls of a PVS-14.  Power is on the front of the bridge and turns it on/off, and turns on the IR light (momentary and ON capability).  All the eyepiece adjustments and focus adjustments are fine.  The "flip-up" button is easy to find and operate, along with the IP adjustments for each eyepiece.

Really cant think of anything else that stands out.  I'm very happy with my purchase.  I want to keep this a pure review of the goggles so I wont go into who I bought them from or how much.  Plenty of material out there to do your research.  But overall I have no regrets with my purchase.  I have yet to fully put the goggles through some aggressive training so when I do, I'll update pros and cons here.  I hope this review helps anyone who may be on the fence about the RNVG since it is a relatively new platform.

Here is one of a few pics I took with my Samsung.  I've posted elsewhere that it's a bit tricky to focus the goggles, with the phone attached to the eyepiece.  Still trying to perfect that.  Like others have said, the pics don't do it justice.  It really is impressive.  I let my FIL play with them yesterday and he was amazed.  So much so, I think he's going to get a pair of his own.

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Another pic:
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RNVGs. Only ambient light was from LED’s on radio chargers.

These tubes are legit af.

These pictures really excite me. I need a pair of RNVGs in the Spring.

You can't beat the price of WP Echo RNVGs. Had I not just bought blem( spot in zone 2 on right, honeycomb on left) green Sentinels for 4.5k right before these were announced, I would've been all over these. Excellent choice.

I’ll fire up some comparison pics between an Omni VII and the Photonis Echos tomorrow.

So photonis echos over l3 unfilmed?

RNVG is ABC; PVS-14 Riding the Lightning with gain at 11.

PVS-14 - Omni VII:



RNVG - Photonis Echo:



PVS-14 - Omni VII extremely low light:



RNVG - Photonis Echo extremely low light:

Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh, not sure I agree about not even close but the L3 definitely is better in very very low light.

It’s really up to the individual imo. What is your intended purpose? New pvs14’s with echos can be hard for well under $3000. I got mine for $2500. The cheapest blem L3 filmless I’ve seen is $3295. I’ll freely admit if that deal was around I probably would have spent the extra $800.

But the normal $4000(ish) price of a L3 filmless pvs14?  Noooooope. No way.

Definitely diminishing returns. You can spend another 1k-ish per tube, but is it really worth the extra performance when it's another 2.5k? I'm not kicking in doors or hunting bad guys that potentially have that equipment, so nope.

Agreed.

Don’t get me wrong, the L3 definitely sees more into the shadows. And I’ll definitely get l3’s sooner or later just because. But I’m just saying, it’s kind of hard to justify the extra cost x2 if you run bino, if you aren’t a pro.

Just my opinion of course.

Same here.  I'm not even a hunter, mine are just for having some fun.  Couldn't justify the extra cost, but still couldn't be happier with the Echos.

I have a couple L3 filmless WP systems plus couple echo and one full spec Intens system. Straight up the L3 filmless is alittle better extreme low light just a fact. That said the WP echo and Intens are hell of a tube and yes will run along side a lot of thin filmed gen 3 tubes I have which is impressive in low light levels. The image also seems very calm and easy on the eyes with the Echo/Intens tubes I like it.

I consider both professional level performance both are nice all around have their own strengths at low,mid and high light levels. Personally if price and warranty make since to buy the echo WP most users will be real happy with them. If you over pay for them you should have just bought a high spec L3 filmless WP because you would pick up a touch more low light performance and often 10 year warranty.

Basically just comes down to your budget and personal needs like stated above most hobby users, hunters and even some law enforcement types would be fine with higher spec echo or Intens. The guys that need the very best and are will to pay for small overall gains to get it then L3 filmless is still king. Don’t fool yourself I have both there is a difference extreme low light I’ve had all mine side by side same conditions. That said I still like the echo’s for duals myself much better value with great performance still.