Posted: 9/26/2009 3:37:19 PM EDT
| Just curious, from a SHTF perspective, if any of you carry night vision in your BOBs? I don't own any night vision devices but was wondering if it was worth spending the money. |
| Really I think the money is spent better on other items! NVGs are nice but there low ranking on my list of need items! Also there are a lot out there that you can walk with but you really don't want to cause it screws up depth perception and suck if you have to shoot with them on. |
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If you go through the available threads you will probably find some still active night vision threads to look at.
I have a pvs14 but it is mostly for me to have as a toy and not something I bought to live in the bob and only be used in bad times. Kind of like a lot of my stuff. Most of my toys are darn useful when the power is out or mother nature is having a hissy fit or something else is going on. |
| If you have a reason to bug out, you probably don't have electricity. That said, your eyes should adjust to the darkness on their own. Natural night vision may not be as clear, but you retain depth perception, comfort and one less thing to have and carry around batteries for. |
| the listening to katrina blog by one of our members convinced me to save up and buy NV. it's one of those things that's painful to buy, but damn fun to own and when the chips are down, will be a huge advantage over peering into the dark wondering what's out there. |
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Even cheap night vision is better than no night vision, that said I have a bare minimum for performance if I am going to be driving with them. Gonna' have to disagree there. Cheap night vision does not provide an advantage that is worth sacrificing night adjusted eyesight for. I have owned cheap night vision. |
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Its on my list and Im getting close to dropping the coin, But it has waited until I get a lot more useful things in place first. 4k in food will get farther down the road than NVGs.
It has taken so long because If I get soemthing it will not be half assed. I will be shelling out the bucks to buy once, as I do with everything i buy. |
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the listening to katrina blog by one of our members convinced me to save up and buy NV. it's one of those things that's painful to buy, but damn fun to own and when the chips are down, will be a huge advantage over peering into the dark wondering what's out there. Yes indeed. |
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I did one tour, and had NVG's on at least once or twice every night we patrolled. I also had them strapped to my face every single night from March-May 2003 in Iraq. +1 I'm not saying you always need them. But having them gives you courses of action that aren't available otherwise. Even under high altitude clear skies in Afghanistan where natural night vision is about optimized, NVGs were worth their weight in, well, anything else we could have carried instead. |
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3 tours in Iraq and you never needed your NOD's (WTF)???
If you are going to BO then YES! Just keep in mind you have to attach them to your head some how and the skull crushers suck. Putting them on a ACH takes alot to get use to also but is way better then option 1. Its positive all around move faster and safer at night, have the ability see whats coming and have a better idea where your bullets are flying. If your pair it with a PQ-2 or 4 then its game on and just a matter of point and shoot. |
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Just broke bag for the TAMS-14 last week. Coupled with the PVS-14, it's the dynamic duo. http://i33.tinypic.com/2u8gmfo.jpg Nice stuff! But that's a breech in OPSEC if I ever saw one... Talk about the crow in the tree with a piece of bread in its beak and the fox below wanting it, fable... "Oh Mr Crow you have such beautiful feathers, you must have a lovely voice, please sing your IP addy to me..." |
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I am with those that believe that even a little is better than nothing- I have a 200$ Bushnell model-it lets me sit in the wood line and watch the whole backyard-if your looking for me , all you will see is deep shadows-I can see you-thats edge enough for 200$
Additionally, the unit is waterproof ( not just water tight) and rated for 60ft of depth- just in case you need to see under water I guess 
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I keep thinking in 10-15 years there will be much more useable, cheap night vision for civilians. Something for $200-$300 that works as well as the $1500 stuff does now. Do you think we will still be allowed to own NV in 15 years? I think we have another AWB in the future, and I could see some strange ammo laws coming, but I think NVG is off the radar. |
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Did three tours in Iraq and never needed them!! PAS-13 where nice but never really needed them also! Really? 3 tours in Iraq and never needed NVG's? And if you never needed a personal NVG, why would you ever need to use a thermal sight? 240G was a machine gunner they only gave me the PAS-13. But I never did use or get issued NVG's even as a Team leader I was behind the gun even then most of the time. |
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you don't think this would be an advantage? <a href="http://img148.imageshack.us/i/hk91b.jpg/" target="_blank">http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8430/hk91b.jpg</a> and i guess these would nopt come in handy in a SHTF night 
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Just broke bag for the TAMS-14 last week. Coupled with the PVS-14, it's the dynamic duo. http://i33.tinypic.com/2u8gmfo.jpg Nice stuff! But that's a breech in OPSEC if I ever saw one... Talk about the crow in the tree with a piece of bread in its beak and the fox below wanting it, fable... "Oh Mr Crow you have such beautiful feathers, you must have a lovely voice, please sing your IP addy to me..."  I'm pretty sure the zombies that I'll have to worry about when the SHTF aren't concerning themselves with my NV gear. If you can get one of my addresses via my IP address, as they say in Texas, "Come and take it." Your fable is cute. Now go tuck in your children and kiss them on the forehead.
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| There are some great gen1 cascade tubes that can be had for around 300 on ebay. The downside is that they will only reliably mount to russian weapons with that funky side-receiver configuration, but they are by far the best bet for the money. If I weren't already stretched trying to get some other, more urgent, preps in line (i.e. going from 1 to 6 months of food), I would definitely have one (and be working on a weaver mount for it). |
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OK. Guy 1 without NV goes into the woods at night. Guy 2 with NV goes after guy 1. Who has the advantage?
Guy 2 with NV goes into the woods at night. Guy 1 without NV goes looking for guy 2. Who has the advantage? Not saying that NV is the end all but I think it gives you a distinct advantage. And if I'm going into a fight for survival for me and my family I want every stinking advantage I can get my grubby hands on. If you can afford it then get it. Hell I'd even use this ghetto rig if it gave me an advantage. 
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Did three tours in Iraq and never needed them!! PAS-13 where nice but never really needed them also! As a cook? Many soldiers do tours and never leave the FOB. 18C and used my NODs a lot. They are a great force multiplier. Driving to an objective blacked out was SOP. Driving down the road at night was always blacked out unless right before a checkpoint manned by Iraqis. If you are having problems with using them it is because you haven't used them enough. I even drove Iraqi vehicles to objectives because they lacked night vision. |
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OK. Guy 1 without NV goes into the woods at night. Guy 2 with NV goes after guy 1. Who has the advantage? Guy 2 with NV goes into the woods at night. Guy 1 without NV goes looking for guy 2. Who has the advantage? Not saying that NV is the end all but I think it gives you a distinct advantage. And if I'm going into a fight for survival for me and my family I want every stinking advantage I can get my grubby hands on. If you can afford it then get it. Hell I'd even use this ghetto rig if it gave me an advantage. http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/POG926/nvd.jpg I know the guy who made that rig. It was a neat idea, he showed some photos of it indoors, looked alright for what it was. I give him an A for effort.
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Steyr aug had a nice thread after one of the hurricanes and night vision proved useful then as well. That would be in the archives if they go back that far, it has been a long time since I have seen that thread.
I agree that you can't just rely on technology but to dismiss technology like it is nothing seems a bit rash. Just being able to see what is going on with night vision and then taking it off to light someone up with a flash light might be nice as well. Then someone does not know what you have but you know what you are about to light up. I live on the 2nd floor of a building and as long as the town has power I can see into the alley with no problem using my eyeballs. During a power outage and cloudy sky I can't see diddly but I often hear people sneaking around. Being able to sit up on the blaconey and keep an eye on the alley and my vehicle is very nice. Kind of funny to watch people being sneaky when they don't know they are being watched. I have done this twice over a few years. It is not often but each time I was darn glad I had my toy. |
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I am with those that believe that even a little is better than nothing- I have a 200$ Bushnell model-it lets me sit in the wood line and watch the whole backyard-if your looking for me , all you will see is deep shadows-I can see you-thats edge enough for 200$ Additionally, the unit is waterproof ( not just water tight) and rated for 60ft of depth- just in case you need to see under water I guess Very handy for retrieving objects lost in a boating accident I guess. |
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Did three tours in Iraq and never needed them!! PAS-13 where nice but never really needed them also! As a cook? Many soldiers do tours and never leave the FOB. 18C and used my NODs a lot. They are a great force multiplier. Driving to an objective blacked out was SOP. Driving down the road at night was always blacked out unless right before a checkpoint manned by Iraqis. If you are having problems with using them it is because you haven't used them enough. I even drove Iraqi vehicles to objectives because they lacked night vision. Wow someone here does not know there asshole from a whole in the wall!! PAS-13 are thermal imaging to help you non military out its like seeing the way the Predator does in the movie! It's not wise to call a three time combat machine gunner Marine a cook!! You Engineer(Non combat) might have needed them for your job! But for my job not building but killing I did not need NVG's to do that I did fine with what I was born with!! They are great for driving as long as you have the IR lights to go with them! The only problem I have had with being blacked out was sleeping Army POG's asleep behind a M2 and shoots before he look through his NVG's I wish I could have shoot back at that P.O.S. If he would have killed anyone in my company I would have taken him out! |