Haven't seen a whole lot of info (any, really) on these out there but I figured I'd give it a shot and post up here if anyone was considering it. I ordered this setup from JRH and as usual, the communication was great. For ~$6500 it's hard to beat a factory built bino system with a warranty. I had considered the BNVD MK2 setup from Kosher, but The Katana housing is much nicer and lighter.

This is a complete assembly from Photonis Defense in PA directly. It's got a 5 year factory warranty and comes with either a 2000 min FOM option or a 2200 min FOM option. I ordered the 2200 min FOM option and got some pretty decent 33 SNR tubes. Overall the rest of the specs are good with gain at about 9000 (~27,000 converted to US gain measurements). It comes nicely packed in a printed box. Inside the box they are in a MOLLE case that has hard sides to protect the NV during transport. Probably the best packing I've seen short of coming with a Pelican style case. Inside the case you have your NVGs (with CR123), demist shields, eye cups, a Photonis branded neck lanyard, sacrificial lenses, and a quick start guide.

Talking on camera isn't my thing but I threw up a short video as well. Skip to 2 min for an unfilmed L3 vs Echo side by side.






The Photonis Vyper housing is made by Nocturn Industries - it's the Katana housing with a couple small changes, mostly aesthetic with metal dovetail. They use Carson lenses with their own ultra light weight diopter setup. Looks cool, but I do miss the markings on the Carson diopters.






The image quality is pretty good. The right tube has only a tiny bit of peppering, the left tube does have two tiny zone 2 spots.



Compared to my unfilmed L3 the image is definitely darker, but that's to be expected with half the gain. A little less scintillation but overall very good. Did a few comparison pictures - first pic is the L3 second will be the Echo. Pretty dark night all around - pics were taken Christmas eve. Clear night, but only 2% moon. I'll try and get some video here when I'm off in a couple nights.

Very cool.  Now send it to me so I can Duracoat it!

Cool review.
To me, it makes sense for most people to go with the Photonis tubes.
For the money, I think they're the best bang for the buck.
Just my opinion.
I'd love to get that housing and put my tubes that I currently run in it, but I don't know how cost effective it would be.
Thanks for the pics!

3D printed trash, no thanks.

Depends! Honestly though it would be easiest to sell them and buy a complete unit. But you can get the Katana housing for $1700 then sell the PVS14 housings when done.


3D printing is the future. If it passes drop tests, it passes drop tests. Who cares how it's made as long as it holds up when it needs to.

PVS-31As break if you look at them the wrong way. What's your point?

The owner of nocturne dropped the a set of katanas(fully built up) from 6 feet on to bare concrete. Multiple times, from different angles. Unit worked just fine afterwards.

I believe this is actually "harsher" that milspec, which is 6 feet onto a wood board over concrete. So they're definetly as durable if not more so than other offerings on the market.

I believe JRH still has some Katana housings. In stock and a better price than anyone else.

Hater
These aren't made the same way most think of 3d printing. You CAN'T get a $200 printer from amazing and make these

Edit for failure to proof read

Awesome overview.

I've been eyeballing a set of these for a while now.  Once the pennies are all in the jar i'll be heading to JRH to throw him some business.

What are the specs on your L3 tubes?  The comparison photos are impressive.  The Photonis really does see to punch pretty high above its price point.

The L3 is 64 res, 34.6 SNR, 1.0 EBI, and 0.7 halo.

The echo is 68 res, 33.15 SNR, 0.6 EBI, .73 halo

I do agree that the Photonis offers the best performance per dollar out there. I’ll take a well specd Echo or 4G over an average/decent elbit any day

Yeah it's pretty funny; you can get good binos for 6K and top of the line monos are 5K.  So...

Somebody M-F-ing 3D printing is like those dinosaurs M-F-ing RDS's.  

Are those 4G or Echos?

Edit: NVM I see they’re Echos on their website.

Correct, these are echos. I'm fairly sure the only thing keeping these from being 4G tubes was the gain being <10k.

Ok Boomer

The gain you're quoting (9000) is measured at 2x10^-5 lux

The gain for these tubes in imperial units (and as a direct comparison to US tubes) is somewhere between 30,000 and 61,000, you'll probably find the actual gain is around 45,000.

The other point to note is the Echo grade tubes (Echo and Echo plus) are considered commercial grade tubes and are now the "lowest" quality tubes Photonis offer.

The PD PRO system in magnesium is worth a look............

I've seen some say Photonis gain x3.14 is how to convert and there isn't a direct conversion because of how they are measured. I will say my 8800 gain Echo is definitely not just half the gain of my 62k unfilmed. On the other hand that's just my back to back comparison. Idk that it's a lineir difference. Is 60k twice as bright as 30k? No idea

So that’s what I was looking at. The 4G info pamphlet specifies that the gain range is 10,000-20,000 then has the US conversion of 30,000-61,000 below it. So it looked like ~3x the 2x10^-5 Lux value.

Indeed they are. Just keep in mind that the 12oz they have been advertising (prior to a couple weeks ago when I brought it up to them) was a total screw up on the part of Photonis. Even the vendors followed suit with incorrectly listing specs. The magnesium PD Pros are 15.5oz without a battery.

Just as Photonis did with the rebranding of a Katana housing, the PD Pro is an existing system already made by Night Vision Laser Spain (NVLS) and is currently in use by the Spanish Army
https://www.nvls.es/goggles-minimus-bino-and-sumersible

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/digital-battlespace/spanish-army-will-acquire-new-optronics/

Size comparison next to RNVG:
Attached File


Attached File


It’s a great unit that is very well made, robust feeling due to its metal construction, and still light weight.

I wonder if the Mg was formed via this technique? I know Mg from Superbikes - sudden shock on wheels was a day ender.

No More Brittle Magnesium

Nice and light around 440 grams and with the 16mm 4G tubes.  The push is to smaller and lighter even tho there are tubes with gain up to 200k.   Most quality .mil are trying to minimise neck, back and hip injuries - particularly with the very highly (and costly) trained specialists.  Hence the very significant and ongoing improvements in boots, packs and helmets (+NODS).

Threw up a short video with a short set of comparison videos from an L3 unfilmed. It's really hard to make them look consistent since the diopter on the vyper is a slightly different size than the carson, requiring me to readjust every time I swap the NVG on the mount.

Great review, the Katana/WP tubes is a feature packed bino system from JRHENTETPRISES for the money.

There are uses and applications for 3D Printing, especially on high end production-ready printers. Even my $500 3D printer is quite capable of printing a functional parts. I would still like to see more hybrid type designs with all of the fine threads being milled for better tolerances. Since most of the manufacturers are offering lifetime warranties on the housings, I'm not really sure where you can go wrong, unless the failure costs you a tube.

Thanks for the review. Is there any reason to go with the Vyper housing over a Katana? Aren't they essentially the same-ish thing?

Yeah, they're essentially the same. I do like the styling of the housing better though. To be fair I also liked the Vyper 14 housing for a mono and these look very similar. I may be mistaken but I believe the dovetail is polymer on the Katana vs aluminum.

The newest gen Katana comes with the aluminum dovetail and aluminum arms that connect the back together and provide IP stops. If you have an older version I believe they'll update it if you send it in.

Good to know! Essentially just aesthetics and the factory warranty from Photonis then

No problems with either. The aluminum stops to provide a more pronounced stopping point. The printed one is a little soft so it's easy to push past it if not careful. No harm done other than pulling the pod back a little.

I'm glad the stops are aluminum now. I feel like I'd wear out the polymer eventually.

I threw these up in the EE though. I just wanted to try them out and see how the factory photonis stuff is. Now I want to build out a set with 4Gs instead of Echos.

Ordered a set of the 2000+ min FOM from @Lowdown3 yesterday. Hope I don't regret not ponying up the extra $600 for the 2200+ FOM ones.

Looking forward to getting these in a week or two.

Still loving mine! I threw them in the EE to buy a set of 4G binos but I still use them almost every night I don't work.

Been eyeing the Vyper binos since October-ish. This review sealed the deal for me and I sold off my PVS-14 and a laser to make these happen.

Of course I picked the one time of the year that everyone in the industry converges on Vegas to get these. Oh well. Patience is a virtue and the wait will be worth it.