The standard discontinued L3 dual cable for pas-29a can work for e-coti as well.  There is an adapter that safran makes.

I liked my COTI so much I bought another for my hunting buddy (generally son or daughter) to use.

With that said, it depends upon your intended use.  Mine is for hunting.  It works great as an enhancement to my NV while driving the ATV or hunting under tree canopy.  I see things with it that I never would have seen with NV alone.  The fusion of NV and thermal really improves detection and SA.  COTI allows me to get into position while monitoring contacts I cannot yet see with NV while staying on the move.  It is not, however, a replacement for a good hand scanner.  It is good for telling me something hot is out there.  It is not good at telling me what that something is.  I still use a hand scanner to "verify" many thermal signatures the COTI alerts me to.  For example, 4 raccoons under a thick canopy at 50 yards look a lot like 4 pigs at 100.  I can't tell the difference with COTI alone, but a good thermal can tell very quickly.

If your primary thermal use is stationary, a good hand scanner is a much better investment, imo.  If you're in a circumstance that you're on the move where your NV may be limited by ambient light, cover or distance, COTI is a great tool to add to the bag of tricks.  Without the external battery pack, I get about an hour of run time before a low battery warning on mine, then it runs for another hour or so depending on temperature before critical battery warning and shutdown shortly thereafter, so it chews through CR123 pretty quickly.  Most of my hunts are around 4 hours, so I go through 2 batteries a night.  Before I got the external battery, the battery warning/life was a nuisance.

I have not used an ECOTI.  The "obsolescence" of the COTI device isn't a concern for me, as there are still plenty of military 320x240 thermals in civilian hands doing a fine job.  I bought 2 COTI and 2 battery packs/cables and a 640 scanner for less than the price of 1 ECOTI with battery backup. I believe @TDunn has an ECOTI and loves his.  Theoretically, a 640 device should give 4 times the detection, so maybe it's worth the additional nearly $6K.  But my decision was to use that extra money saved and invest in other thermal/NV.  

Good luck with your selection.  I think you'll really like the DTNVS.  Very light, even when paired with a COTI.

The refresh rate of the e-coti is twice that of the standard coti also so it gives less of a rubber band effect when picking up thermal signatures.

Yeah, I wasn't complete in my description of E-COTI, and your point is a good one.  A couple of other big factors - it has a 30 degree viewing area vice the 20 degree view of the COTI and it weighs 2oz less.  It also has a lot more capability in networking (ETAL  which I don't have the equipment or training to use, so it is of no value to me).

As a hunter, the 640 detector, refresh rate, field of view and weight savings would all be nice to have.  But until the pigs arm up, my older model works well for me with a nearly $6K cost savings.  I hope I never look through an E-COTI and burn with the same regret I did after looking through duals....

lmao that last part will happen.  Ask me how I know.

This potential regret is exactly what I’m trying to avoid and is why I went with a dual even though the wallet hated me for it.  Thank you all for the detailed and honest feedback.  I think I’m going to skip this deal and just suck it up and go ECOTI.

More proof why the COTI is awesome

I would jump on the deal at that price. You’re not only getting a free eyepiece adapter but also about $100 bucks off of the normal package deal.

Personally, I find the COTI extremely useful. I don’t use it all the time but it’s very handy for the applications others have mentioned, especially for the price. It is NOT a dedicated handheld, even with the eyepiece adapter. But having that capability just in case is pretty sweet at that price.

I’ve never used an ECOTI, but I do have two COTIs that cost about 2/3 of an ECOTI. Personally, even given its “dated” capabilities, it’s still a very capable unit for what it was designed for and I can’t imagine that an ECOTI is soooo much better to justify 3x the price for most users. I have no concerns with the COTI being “obsolete” it’s simply not. It works fine.  

I have no regrets for mine, although if i could only have one thermal it wouldn’t be a COTI just because it doesn’t replace a true dedicated thermal. I’d use that much more if I had the choice between the two.

Of note though, if you care about warranty support they seem to all expire in July of 2021, even if you buy it today. The COTI itself isn’t fragile per-se but the roll pins on the mount seem to wear out fairly quickly, one of mine are already bent in slightly and may need replacing soon- that’s with very little and gentle use and I don’t crank them down tight either it just is what it is.

I can’t believe they are still in stock at this price. A COTI is an excellent addition to the tool kit when you have a thermal optic on a rifle.

Came out to ~$3200 with sales tax (booooooo) but at that price I can literally lose it and buy another one and still have money left over instead of grabbing one E-COTI.

Good points and perspective.  Thanks for taking the time to address my question and provide your thoughts.  

I hadn’t really been planning on thermal just yet, but this deal popped up again and now I’m trying to get up to speed quickly.  This kind of advice along with more thoroughly going back through this thread and some others has brought me to the conclusion that I’m a fool if I don’t jump on this opportunity.  For my needs I doubt a COTI would be insufficient and I’ll take a chance on warranty.  

So I went ahead and bought one from EuroOptic.  I figure with the cost difference between this and the ECOTI I could add a decent, dedicated thermal like a Pulsar or something and a few boxes of CR123s.  I guess time will tell whether it was a smart move, but over the years I’ve rarely regretted jumping on an opportunity.  Usually it’s been NOT doing it that I’ve regretted.

You guys with the eyepiece adapter let me know if it is worth trying to pick up. Try it with just holding the bare device up to your eye and then with the eyepiece attached. I would be willing to buy one if you guys don't think you will use it.

Damnit, trying to save $, and was hoping to wait till some firearms of mine sold. I was eyeing used units on the ee, but this deal was too good to pass up.

Does anyone know where I can get another mounting bracket?

I might pull the trigger on another set of nods and I'd like to be able to easily swap my COTI between the two.

Eurooptic has them, but they are ridiculously expensive for what they are ($285 shipped, IIRC).  It took me 3 months to get my spare.  I'm still waiting on the bikini cover I ordered.

ETA - I think the mount works with the E-COTI as well, so TNVC might be able to source them.

They’re on Eurooptics website for like $350 which is insane. They’re hard to find on the site too since they’re listed by part number. I think it just says “mounting bracket” or something.

Here is a couple things a friend told me about on the vectronics, I believe him on all of it as he is very in the know as a business person. I wondered if anyone else has heard the same things?Here is what he said:


the vectronics thermal overlay device, that was issued by U.S. Military as the AN/PAS-29, and now available to consumers at a steal of a price.  

In my opinion, the higher 640x480 resolution is not needed for its function, which is to help detect thermal contrast, and apply them to the i2 night vision field of view in the form of highlights such as outline mode and patrol mode.  While it does have a full thermal viewing mode, in both block hot and white hot, those who expect to use it exclusively for thermal imaging will be disappointed.  These do have access to the firmware, but the access codes are still restricted by company policy to law enforcement and military users.  This firmware access allows extensive user modifications that unleash the full power of the thermal detection and presentation capabilities, which are only at 50% potential on its default settings.  One of the neat firmware upgrades gives the ability to put an aiming reticle into the field of view.

The thing to be cautious about is that these units have a trickle draw on battery power, which will cause CR123A batteries that are stored in them to run out over the course of a month or so even if the COTI is not used.  So, be prepared to remove the battery or replace it.  Use only lithium batteries or you will be sorry when the alkaline ones start leaking acid after they are exhausted.  The COTI battery life is short when in operations - you’ll run through a CR123A in just 2-3 hours of continuous use.  There’s an external power supply on a helmet mounted battery case, but those units and their interface cables are all sold out.

The cool thing about the COTI is that there used to be a version that has longer necks for the injector that were intended for use with PVS-22 and PVS-27 night vision clip-on scopes.  The one for the PVS-22 could be adapted to mount to the Raptor 6X to give it thermal overlay.  With the orange-red aiming reticle on the Raptor it is still really impressive.  

Once you use the COTI in outline mode or patrol mode on your PVS-14, you will see why there is a preference for the green phosphor displays on the host, NV device.

Interested in that last bit about the green being preferred. My tubes are white phosphorus xls from tnvc. Is this thing worth the $ on a white tube. I've had a couple drinks and my finger is hovering over the add to cart button... .

Just got back in from a walk with DTNVS 33SNR unfilmed WP and a COTI.  Yes, it works just fine.  I also use a YH tubed GP BNVD with a 27.5-ish SNR.  There is a little more "contrast" (for lack of a better term) with GP and the thermal targets that otherwise would have been unseen by the thin film NV show up well.   As long as you're looking for something living the COTI works well no matter the phosphor, IMO.  @Chase45 has some good videos in this thread showing how its performance over straight I2.

Here is a previous thread on COTI with WP/GP

Its purely for looking for living things while attached to a pvs14. My wife has poor vision out of one of her eyes so bridge mounting a thermal is not an option for her. We plan to do a lot of night hiking and this will give her the ability to spot animals or people at a much greater distance. We went hiking last night with thick cloud cover and rain and it was easy to walk down a fire road but it occurred to us that we wouldn't see a cougar or bear if it was a foot or two back in the brush.

Default is at 50%? Well then...I’d really like to know/see what >100% looks like.

Also, I had the question, is the warranty from time of purchase or time of manufacture?

You'll have to ask your vendor, but mine have July 2021 stamped on them and they were purchased in different months.

I bought the COTI at the last "ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE TO BUY WILL NEVER BE AVAILABLE TO CIVILIANS AGAIN ESPECIALLY AT THIS PRICE!!!" sale.  Then shortly after that, the ECOTI was released to civilians again.  And now this.

I mean I'm still not that upset at a $3k COTI, but it would have been nice to get the eyepiece included with it.  


Is it worth $400?  I have no other thermal and no real plans to get any other standalone anytime soon.

Probably not worth it. The thermal image is about the same either way, you might as well have I2 in conjunction with it. Can you think of a time when you’d need thermal but not night vision capability? I personally can’t for my uses, so I don’t see the point of the eyepiece.

Lol just stick the device up to your eye. No eyepiece needed.

I thought it needed to be projected on to something to be visible/a useful image.


ETA tried it.  Nearly impossible to get it into position to see, but at least gave me an idea of what it would be like with the eyepiece.  Not worth $400.

Great! Which bracket would you recommend to use with the BNVD1531s?

New to night vision buying
Recently picked up a Pvs14 white phos that's autogated and I'm wondering how the specs add up if it's a good tube or not
From what I see online it should be pretty decent besides the EBI but like I said I'm new to this game

Specs below

Luminous            2367
Radiant               258
Halo                     .72
EBI.                      1.02
Resolution /LP    64
FOM.                     2131
Signal to noise      33

Any feedback would be appreciated

Europtic COTIs are still in stock, just ordered one.

To back up what was stated above it works fine with WP tubes and its very nice mounted up with dual 14s. The eye piece isn't good for much but was free. I wouldn't pay money for it. I'm not sure I'd pay 3k for a coti but my wife likes it and its her only option for NV and thermal on one eye. The outline videos of the dog wow all her friends. Too bad the battery situation is such a cluster.

Can anybody confirm the number of contacts in the connector on the pas29a (euro optic purchased) battery pack? Pictures would be great. I might have bypassed one thinking it was the wrong pack. I had read on here that there were 2 different connections. I assume since my coti has 4 brass contacts on the connection point that the connector for it would have 4 contacts. I saw a post a page or 2 back that might've only had 2 contacts for the 29a. BIG mean critters are starting to come out where I live. I'd like all the advance notice of their presence in addition to the work component that I use this for. I really need to pick up a battery pack for this cause I only get about 15-20 minute run time off the internal battery in my climate. Hopefully it won't cost me any spare body parts to get one.

Well that's the one I passed up. I would've thought the connector in your hand would've had 4 contacts since the device itself has 4 contacts. Back to the search. Thank you.

It's to bad tnvc can't make a battery pack that has a connection like the battery replacements in their powered bridge mounts. I'd think there's enough of us around that would pick up an economical version of that to make it profitable. I'm completely ignorant on batteries and electrical stuff though so I could be way off base.

Copy. Thanks for the explanation. The price of the connector alone is enlightening- and more than a bit surprising.

I guess I'm in a bit of a unique situation due to climate and critters (2 & 4 legged) where the 15-20 minute internal battery run time is not sufficient and I'd like to have it constant on during certain activities. The search continues.

Don't know if it would work and don't have my coti in front of me but would an extended battery cap be a possibility? I think the nox and several others can use a cr123 or an 18650. I know the coti is older tech but just a thought.

Yeah the advertised battery life seem roughly accurate on mine; conditions depending.

He mentioned climate. I've definitely seen brand new CR123s flash low battery within 5-10min in the COTI when it was below freezing. The external battery pack solved that issue for me.

Last summer/fall when I got it, internal battery life seemed fine. Early December, I started skiing with it. Temps were in the teens to single digits at night. Within about 15 minutes of going outside the battery indicator came on in the viewfinder and would not go away. Within 20 to 30 minutes max it was shutting off. This happened over several nights with several different batteries. All batteries were hitting 3v on the multimeter later when I checked them so I'm pretty sure it wasn't them. I just assumed it wasn't useable on the internal battery in my environment during the winter. Is this off? Do I need to contact safran/optics 1 while it's still in warranty?

Yes but no one makes that

I'm aware of that but it seems a lot more likely to actually get made vrs new pig tails. An aluminum or if necessary steel spacer threaded male and female and reuse the coti cap. The spacer would need to be  machined for an oring on the male end to keep the whole thing waterproof.

I'm clueless on the electronic side of doing this. I had an old 18650 and it doesn't fit. I think the battery that would be needed is a 16650. The coti battery sticking out the rear doesn't seem like it would interfere with anything and won't add any length to the device.

Just remember that you'll need to ensure whatever battery you use has a maximum voltage of 3.7V.  Most 3.7V rechargeables have a peak voltage around 4.2V, which according to the manual won't work with the COTI.

I found Candlepower forums to be helpful when selecting rechargeables.

So a friend of mine made me some retention lanyards that allows me to hook up my COTI to my RNVGs:

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Seems to work well for my needs, as I pull the COTI on and off a bit to fiddle with my focus caps and to reduce the glare from urban lighting; I know some folks just use their Wilcox lanyard that they've put on their NODs, by running the wire through the battery cap loop, but I'm using the Ops-Core MBS's built-in bungees, and there's no way that thing'll stretch far enough to get the COTI. I've been using the bungee version, since it provides that slight bit of extra stability on the COTI and keeps the overlay a bit more synced during movement, haven't messed with the wire version much. I know a lot of the military folks rely on the battery pack for the E-COTI as a form of retention, but that's not as big an option here on the civilian side (I would love to get a pack and cable that I could split between my RNVGs and COTI, given how short the run time is on the COTI).

Haven’t been in this thread in a while, but I ordered a 31a to replace my 14. I assume I need a new mount for my Coti? I figure this is some bullshit $500 part that costs $1 to manufacture. Any other alternatives?