Posted: 11/12/2002 8:42:32 AM EDT
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Can someone please explain the meaning or differences in the various generations? For somebody who can not afford $1,000+ for a surplus US scope, would the AMT 258 be suitable for just general nightime plinking? Retail on these new is around $500-$900 according to my google search, I can pick up a new unit for $200 plus shipping. Can think of no real need to have a night vision scope, but at that price it might be worth it. Anybody have any experience with AMT? |
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There ar 2 standards, Russian and US. Gen 1 Russian = crap Gen 1 American = crap, no longer made Gen 2 Russian, see Gen 1 American Gen 2 American, good light amplification, 1,000 hour tube life. Gen 3 American, Slightly better light amplification, better to incredible resolution, 10,000 hour tube life. In large part you get what you pay for. I know people that have been quite unhappy with Russian low price systems, they require a lot of ambient light, or help from an IR source, and resolution is bad. |
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Some of the above info is slightly wrong. ITTs Gen II tubes have a life expectancy of 10,000 hours, not 1,000 and is ok for close up stuff. I don't know the specifics of the model you're talking about, but you want to look at a few major issues; Resolution, measured in Line Pairs Per Millimeter (lp/mm) and Signal to Noise ratio. You want lp/mm to be as high as possible with 64 being about the limit right now, and the signal to noise ration to be as high as possible with noise as small as possible, like 9/1. You also want the photoresponse to be very high, like 1600 and as wide a field of view as you can get. Remember that 20 degrees or less of field of view is considered legally blind. If you want a decent night scope it's going to cost you, and you won't be happy with anything less than American tubed Gen II. You can get a free catalog and video from ITT if you request it off of their websight, [url]www.nightvision.com[/url]. You know, I just realized a couple days ago that we have a night vision forums here. You might get some help there, but I don't think there's much traffic yet. Edit: Forgot to mention that ITTs video details the differences in the generations. It's short but well done if all you really want to do is compare. Of course they highlight their own stuff, but ITT is the best anyway so it'll give you something to drool over. [:)] |