I'm looking at something to shoot beavers and hogs at closer ranges.  Don't mind using IR and moonlit nights if I have to.

This popped up on my Amazon and the price has dropped way down.

Anyone using this particular model?  I know it won't be Gen 3 quality, but for the price.....?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018LH2QA?tag=vglnk-c102-20

Don't buy it.

At that price you are approaching the cost of a used PVS-4 which is massively more capable. This price tag is way too high for this.

How close can you get to the quarry? I don't know much about hogs but I have gotten really close to beaver - close enough that it seems more applicable to use a laser with a helmet mounted monocular. It's hard to keep critters in your magnified field of view for a followup shot when they are close - which Gen 1 will demand.

A Gen 1 helmet mounted monocular may serve your purposes in tandem with an IR laser - if the engagement distances are close enough.

You won't find much support for Gen 1 on this forum because most of us were sadly disappointed by its performance. Personally, I made good use of Gen 1 gear and I see its value in limited circumstances.

My vote is still PVS-4. A used Gen 2 unit probably has more life left in it than a Gen 1 has built into it brand new from the factory.

I have further knowledge we can discuss about using IR against aquatic mammals but that should probably be directed to a different thread.

That's a more realistic price for a gen1 scope. I bet with a t20 IR light it would get out to 100-150 yards.

$176 is approaching the cost of a used PVS-4?

I'd love to hear of options.  I'm not looking for tactical stuff.  Just want to be able to dispatch nuisance animals on the farm.

Where are you finding PVS-4s for close to $176?

The system must have hiccuped. When I clicked the link the first time I got something with a price of $650. Now I'm seeing about $175. Amazon is constantly reshuffling and this happens if you happen to drop on the link at the wrong time. I'm sorry for the confusion.

This is the probably the best you'll find in that price range.

Like norbs said, get one or two IR T20s to go with it and you'll be able to stretch your engagement distance.

I'm still on the fence.

I'm normally a "buy once, cry once" when it comes to gear, but I just don't see myself using this often enough to justify the cost of Gen 2 or 3, especially given that this NV stuff seems to have a fairly short lifespan.

If I could buy something and have it last a lifetime, sure, but when it's gonna be dead in the near future, $200 isn't a big deal.  $2K is.

Trust us. That's $176 towards something that works.

NV isn't the game you can play "budget". At least not with any results.

I'm seeing used PVS-4s for around $850. They last a long time and the 95mm objective lens collects a lot of light so it performs past what you'd expect for Gen 2. When it does die, the remaining parts have resale value. If you want to repair a broken unit, they are easy to service and repair parts are available.

If you do decide on something we can talk further about getting the most out of whatever you choose.

In my experience gen 1 not very good. But with some creativity it works.
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I honestly don't see a problem with Gen 1 devices. There is a market out there for them and to most people who are on a budget are not out busting doors and killing bad guys are their day off. I can agree on this 100%. Great setup by the way for a budget device and using simple issued equipment to work with what you got.

FLIR scout TK = miles beyond gen 1

its a great entry point to be able to see at night.
Ive had my pvs14 for a couple years and bought a TK just to try thermal out.

even the scout TK will outperform the pvs14 at 75-150 yards for detection.

but you cant shoot with it, hence why I bought the 14 and an IR laser

Thanks, I thought gen 1 was good until I got my hands on gen 3
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I don't disagree with anyone here at the fundamental level. I do think that if he jumps into anything that he will be dissatisfied. I would hope he asks more questions and gets more answers before he decides so he makes an informed decision. Gen 1 may work at close distance for some things but it is easy to expect a lot more than it can ever deliver. For $176, though, the Yukon will be tough to beat.

Where did you get "dead in a couple of years" OP?

Maybe if you're out every night for 8 hours every single day.

Exactly my experience.   I was disappointed but it did do ok in my apartment.

But when I got my gen three?  Pffff. Wow. Not even close.

With GEN3 and modern GEN2, you would have to do something really bad with it to kill it in a couple years time. You would have to use it for 9 hours every single night for 3 years straight to reach its MTTF.

So NV "wears out"?

I admittedly haven't done a ton of research on the matter.  Not something I've really been interested in until recently when hogs showed up on the farm.  I've gotten tired of fighting the beavers too, and they tend to work at night.

I was under the impression from talking to some of the local Bubbas (there's my first mistake) that there was a limited "shelf  life" on NV stuff, even if it wasn't being used.

Image intensifier tubes do wear over time. Gen 3 tubes are rated at 10,000 hours MTTF. Modern European Gen 2  tubes are close to the same. Earlier non-gated tubes for the PVS-14 were rated at 15,000 hours MTTF. Gen 1 tubes are typically Russian and MTTF is typically unknown, but probably around 1,000 hours.

Your image resolution and gain will fade over time. The MTTF numbers were based on a percentage of loss of performance, not total tube death. A tube is considered a failure if it fails to provide performance to a standard.

That having been said, Gen 2 and Gen 3 tubes last a long time. 10,000 hours is a lot of actual run time. An unused tube might last for decades. Eventually some components might age out even if unused. Dino could answer this better but I don't figure he'll have much interest in this thread.

I don't always discount Bubbas. Some of them have a lot of practical experience. I speculate that a lot of their experience is with Gen 1 gear, however, and I could imagine Russian Gen 1 gear aging out without use.

Tangent:

I had fully intended to test a polarizing lens in the "augmenting" thread that I was running but Northern rainwater has raised the water levels and turbidity at the location I had intended as my test site.

Even without testing, I would recommend a polarizing lens be used with your night vision device to help aid viewing the beaver under water. There is still glare on the water under NV.

A polarizer will cause some loss of gain so don't use it if you don't need it.

I picked one of those Yukons up today for $177.  My first so I will be interested to see how it works. I don't have any experience with NV so I don't think I can disappointed!

Just don't expect military spec images and you'll be fine. Even the advertising photos you see online are over exaggerated. I think I might jump on one of these too just for the hell of it. I've always appreciated GEN I for what it is even though it's not as great as the latest GEN 3+ devices we use in the military. By the way tell us how it is when you can.

Yep, post up a review when you get it.  

I'm always good to get some first hand info from someone else before I spend any money.

Ill try it out Saturday and post my thoughts as soon as possible.

Lol hey, someone's got to ask right? By the way the deal seems to be no longer available as they have jumped back up in price...

Solves my dilemma then, right?  

Amazon pricing is interesting to say the least.

I got an OEM remote start kit for my wife's Mazda 6 for $80.  MSRP was $350ish.  I figured it was a misprint, but tried it, and the kit arrived as advertised.  Price went up to about $150 right after I ordered, and then shortly after that up to MRSP.

Only thing I can think of is they drop prices on stuff to move old stale inventory, and as the quantities on hand go down, the price goes up.

Hope you're happy with it.  Looks like you got the last cheap one.

Luckily with Amazon if it sucks you should be able to send it back.

What's the verdict?

The Yukon came in Saturday. I was solo Dad this weekend and my daughter had a sleepover so I couldn't do much with it.

The unit looks sturdy and solid. I don't know how well it will stay mounted on the rifle so I cleaned the mount threads and added blue loctite. While I would prefer to have the nuts hand tight, I used a wrench to snug it up. Not too tight but I won't get it off by hand.

The instructions were very basic. It is made in Belarus.

The remote that plugs in looks cheap though.  Like a dime store kids remote wired car.  It didn't have a flex joint at the base. I would imagine it it got caught on a branch it would rip right out. I'll take that apart and see how it's wired.

I put in some batteries and powered it up in the back yard after dark. With the pin hole cap on I couldn't see much except the reticule. You have to adjust the eye piece to make the reticle clear. Once that's done you don't need to touch that again. I do wish the cross hairs were finer. You can adjust the brightness of thes from off to really bright.

Flipped up the lens cover and I could see pretty darned well. I live in a subdivision so there is a good bit of ambient light with street lights in the roads. Flipping on the ir it really lit things up. I could see really well a few house tops away. I have a fence so I have to look up.

My tube only has 3 small specks. I have seen other reviews showing a lot of these. Guess I'm lucky there. The glass and image are much clearer than I expected. It's not nearly HD but better by far than I thought it would be.

I'm nervous about exposing the tube to bright light but the lens cap snaps on with authority. You can also use the carry case that came with it to cover the unit while it is on the rifle.

The pin hole in the cover, I gather, is to allow the unit to powered up in daylight. I have read mixed reviews on whether this is safe or not.

Does anyone know if the tube can be damaged when it is exposed to light and not powered on?  I also don't know what level of light is dangerous and when it is ok or not to power it up, use the pinhole, etc. any clear advice is appreciated.

I have a Surefire 9p with a led drop in and an IR lens and compared that to the on board ir light. The Surefire was obnoxious with light and didn't seem to do any better than the on board light. Plus if anyone was looking at me, the Surefire is really visually bright while the on board ir is not. You can still see it with your eyes but it is not nearly as obvious.

I need to find a better add on light. There is a picatinny rail for adding just a thing on the side of the scope.

I need to get out to the county to sight it in and really see how well it does.

At this point I think it is really cool and well worth the money.

Hey great to hear you like it so far. You'll get a better understanding and final judgement once you bring it out to the field for its intended use. Do not shine or let the tube have direct light in it. Don't go waving flashlights in either side of the NVRS when either on or off. For us with the higher ended NODs we still avoid having any direct light shine into our equipment. Even in the military we don't do that but you still have stupid dumb-sh*t Joe doing it anyways. I'm not sure if your models have white light protection but always use caution. You can still expose it to light light working on it on a table or something along the lines of that.

Armasight, Burris, Pulsar and few other companies have good IR illuminators for you to attach on the side rail. I've never used GEN 1 personally but from what I hear you want to use an IR light that is 850nm because GEN 1 tubes pick them up better. The 940nm is less discrete and cannot be seen by the naked eye unless you look directly into within a few cm. 850nm Has a noticeable fain red glow but is norm with GEN 1 devices anyways so you should be good. Also you'll be alright using it during the day time with the cover to adjust and test but I tend to keep that practice at a minimum even with mil-spec equipment.

Glad it wasn't a complete POS.  I'll be curious to see how it works out in the country whenever you get around to making the trip.

Thank you.  That is every good advice!  I'll report more when I get it out in a better environment.

Looks like the price on this one is slowly easing back down......

I got a chance to hand test one of these yesterday at a local gun show here in Fayetteville, NC. It really wasn't a bad unit for Gen 1 but the FOV is really small. It almost felt like I was looking down a toilet paper roll. Now for the price the OP got it for, I think that was a great deal for budget minded users. Unfortunately like most gun shows now is that everything is over priced, filled with 50 million different AR's and what not I did not pick one up. A little off topic but I did get to test out the Armasight Spark which is supposedly one of the best Gen 1 monoculars you can buy for the money and I have to agree. The resolution was stupid awesome even when comparing it to my personal PVS-14 and the NODs I use in the unit.

The link in the OP now goes to the 2.5x50 NVRS-F with adjustable focus(price $431). If that's what you got for $176 then you did very well. These F's are very good for gen1. I've got two of them that I bought used for $200 and $250 and I'd buy both again. There's also a series of scopes made with a 42mm objective, both 1.5x and 3x, and they're pretty bad. Have one of the 1.5x and I wouldn't buy another. Resolution of all models is pretty decent but the 42mm objective has a very small FOV.

These scopes all need a bright moonlit night to work well or supplemental IR. Magnification limits them to 100yds in perfect conditions and your IR source probably maxes out at 75yds in less than perfect conditions. The onboard IR is probably good for half that. My first NVRS-F came complete with a 940nm illuminator and that's probably why I got the unit so cheap. The 940nm did absolutely nothing. I replaced it with a cheap ($8)Chinese 850nm light and it works great.

These scopes were my first introduction to NV and I'd read all the recommendations to go gen3 or at least gen2, but these gen1 units impressed me at the time. Now I have piles of gen2 units and a couple of low-end gen3 and the NVRS still serves a purpose. It's not nearly as bad as people want you to believe and it's probably just fine for what you want NV for.

One available from Amazon warehouse in "used, like new"  (likely an open box item) for $205 if anyone is looking for one.

Been reading topics in this forum quite a bit lately.  This is my first post.  Thought i would add my 2 cents to this.

I did a lot of research on these since i was looking for a cheap nvrs for hogs.  The cheapest i had seen them was $299.  As far as performance, the consensus is that they are brighter and clearer than your normal Gen 1. With that said, i decided to pass on it for a couple of reasons.  One was the coarse cross hairs.  Those big fat bright cross hairs are a distraction in the not so great gen 1 view.  Secondly, there is no warranty on it.  This is a discontinued model scope. Yukon states on their site that they don't warranty discontinued models. On top of that, Yukon doesn't warranty items bought of auction sites or from anyone who isn't an authorized dealer. They even discuss exports out of Europe as not being covered.  Enough to convince me to stay away from it.  You will be pretty much on your on if something happens.  

I decided to try the Armasight WWZ.  I don't care much for Zombie marketing, but everyone seems to be pretty happy with it.  It's got a 90 mm objective so should gather plenty of light.  It's also comes with a good ir illuminator.  Supposed to arrive tomorrow, so we'll see.  I may be a little biased on my opinion of it's performance since the only night vision device I've ever looked through is my Gen 3 Pinnacle PVS 14. It's got the manual gain and autogated, the whole nine yards. So I must admit I'm a little spoiled. I'm a pretty good photographer so i may snap some photos through each to compare.  Will probably be kind of humorous.

Edited to fix autocorrect errors.

Would love to hear your review on the Armasight.