Night Vision Monocular --- Help buying a decent "cheapy"!

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Night Vision Monocular --- Help buying a decent "cheapy"!

Posted: 2/12/2006 12:34:16 PM EDT

I'm hog hunting out of tree stands at night. Hogs are usually within 100 yards. I have a good red lens spotlight mounted on top of my zeiss scope. Works good.

But a night vision mono would help determine if I want to take a particular hog.

Looking at the $175-250 range. Help!!

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:16:34 AM EDT

[#1]

The brand of the monocular I have is "Night Owl Optics" I don't see a model number on it.

What can I see? Everything. Quite clear too. The IR illuminator works damn well. I don't think I have used it in a really dark environment yet. It was dark, but plenty of ambient light.

This is it....

www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=878515

Okay...so it was $150 and not $100.

I should mention that I am by no means a night vision expert. I am sure that compared to Gen. III stuff it sucks, but for my purposes I like it.

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:19:19 AM EDT

[#2]

I bought one of the Israeli $199 models quit a few years ago. Still working great. Got it from kyimports.com I believe it was.

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:25:31 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Cheap and good rarely coincide when you're talking about Night vision gear.

More like never

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:36:22 AM EDT

[#4]

Okay, just for a little mini test I went into my upstairs closet and closed the door.

It was dark as dark can get.

Turned on Mr. Nightvision....and I could see...

Nothing.

Nada.

Jack Shit.

Flicked on the IR illuminator and everything was bright.

So, yeah...if outside with ambient light (stars, moon) and you are gonna see quite a bit.

I don't care, its good enough for me. There's lots of wildlife around where I live and every so often I like to go out on my deck to see if I can catch any critters wandering about.

Posted: 2/12/2006 3:01:09 AM EDT

[#5]

Zippy,
Remember the name of the monocular?
What can you see @ 100 yards on a dark night?

Posted: 2/12/2006 3:05:26 AM EDT

[#6]

Yeah Zippy, who makes it and what is the model?

Posted: 2/12/2006 4:07:00 AM EDT

[#7]

...Awaiting a reply.

Posted: 2/12/2006 4:17:04 AM EDT

[#8]

tag

Posted: 2/12/2006 4:23:20 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
I bought an el-cheapo Walmart one fer about $100 and I think it works pretty damn well.

I am amazed at the range of the IR illuminator.

Which one did you get?

Posted: 2/12/2006 4:41:04 AM EDT

[#10]

Cheap and good rarely coincide when you're talking about Night vision gear.

Posted: 2/12/2006 5:04:00 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Cheap and good rarely coincide when you're talking about Night vision gear.

Boy isn't that the truth.

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:41:32 AM EDT

[#12]

Thanks Zippy!

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:44:36 AM EDT

[#13]

Tag....because I need one too.

Posted: 2/12/2006 11:45:13 AM EDT

[#14]

Tagged for yote shoot.

Posted: 2/12/2006 12:08:34 PM EDT

[#15]

Here is the one I have.

Posted: 2/12/2006 12:17:35 PM EDT

[#16]

I have an ATN M0-21, cost was $220 or so, it's quite good for gen-1.

I've seen three different Harbor Freight ones, they didn't cost much but all were pretty useless.

Gen-1's would work since you're using an IR light anyway.
~

Posted: 2/11/2006 8:40:53 PM EDT

[#17]

I bought an el-cheapo Walmart one fer about $100 and I think it works pretty damn well.

I am amazed at the range of the IR illuminator.

Posted: 2/11/2006 8:41:56 PM EDT

[#18]

tag, i'm also looking for one for coyotes.

Posted: 2/11/2006 8:47:41 PM EDT

[#19]

I'd like to know too!

Tall Shadow

Posted: 2/12/2006 8:41:33 AM EDT

[#20]

I believe i said,"decent".

Posted: 2/12/2006 12:55:20 PM EDT

[#21]

so can your eye get damaged by looking at the IR illuminator of a ~150 dollar gen 1 monoc?

Posted: 2/12/2006 2:43:44 PM EDT

[#22]

...so can your eye get damaged by looking at the IR illuminator of a ~150 dollar gen 1 monoc?....

-The chances are extremely small. The FDA reports are online somewhere.

Over the span of a few years, like 1992-1996, the FDA siezed around 150 imported Russian NV scopes total--but the reasons were not all the same. (the online data lagged a few years) About 120 of them had been manufactured with IR laser illuminators that had no safety interconnects as required by US laws, and so those units were rejected for that reason alone--but they are included for "exceeding radiation limits". The rest (about 22 individual units) were rejected after failing radiation testing.

In total, only a very very tiny percentage of any Russian NV devices have been rejected for FDA violations. The biggest argument against buying a Russian gen-1 NV is still just that they just don't work real well.
~

Posted: 2/21/2006 1:35:26 PM EDT

[#23]

Any reports on Weaver's offering? SWAT mag said it delivers gen 3 quality images....

Posted: 2/21/2006 2:36:55 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Any reports on Weaver's offering? SWAT mag said it delivers gen 3 quality images....

Was a thread about that some time ago.
Everybody who tried it said that it was terrible, not even close to Gen 3.

Posted: 2/21/2006 3:21:40 PM EDT

[#25]

The post about Russian NV having radiation leaks has gotten me a bit worried. I picked up a scope about 5 years ago off a guy. Definitely Russian as the only markings are some cyrillic lettering on the front, that's it. I'll have to post some pics of it. Would explain why my right eye now glows green

Posted: 2/21/2006 7:15:27 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Any reports on Weaver's offering? SWAT mag said it delivers gen 3 quality images....

Weaver makes a nice Night Vision Monocular. Check this link, he has one of the lowest prices I have seen. If you order from him tell him you are from ar15.com and Frank from NY gave you the link. He will ship right away.

link

Posted: 2/22/2006 7:34:59 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Any reports on Weaver's offering? SWAT mag said it delivers gen 3 quality images....

Was a thread about that some time ago.
Everybody who tried it said that it was terrible, not even close to Gen 3.

Hmm....would you have a link? Thanks!

Posted: 2/22/2006 7:35:30 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Any reports on Weaver's offering? SWAT mag said it delivers gen 3 quality images....

Weaver makes a nice Night Vision Monocular. Check this link, he has one of the lowest prices I have seen. If you order from him tell him you are from ar15.com and Frank from NY gave you the link. He will ship right away.

link

Thanks!

Posted: 2/23/2006 12:27:33 AM EDT

[#29]

Here's the archive.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=131&t=375592.
It's archived so if you want to see it, pony up a membership

I cut and pasted a review as a teaser

Got mine in, took it out tonight....
Not impressed, however it could have LIMITED use, particularly for counting deer in the front yard. I had trouble determining if those little objects at 35 yards were bunnies or rocks....
It does in fact have a tripod adapter at the 6 oclock, but putting it behind an AimPoint was fruitless. You can see the dot, but the quality of the Weaver is'nt there.
I'll post pics tomorrow.
Useful range is not farther than was the IR LED's will illuminate, which is not far. The picture is grainy, and I have no idea how they got that picture of the lion on the advertisements. The thing is basically a video camera, a low budeget video camera. I would imagine it will be extremley popular with tweekers. More tomorrow.

Posted: 2/23/2006 1:38:03 PM EDT

[#30]

Oh, you tease!

Posted: 2/23/2006 1:48:16 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Cheap and good rarely coincide when you're talking about Night vision gear.

Boy isn't that the truth.

+1 on that

ATN makes some decent stuff. I bought a scope from them for around $250. (Had the weaver rail mount.) If you are looking at gen1, look for a gen +1. Also get one with a good IR illuminator.

Posted: 2/23/2006 3:26:37 PM EDT

[#32]

Partly inspired by this thread, I bought the $150 Night Owl from Wal Mart. I did a quick review of it in this forum.

Check it out.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Night Vision Monocular --- Help buying a decent "cheapy"!

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