Guys

having a situation with picking which manufacturer.  ITT or ATN?  Does anyone have a preference?  If so, why?

Also, has the PVS14 gen 3 dipped below the $3000 mark?

thanks

I'm not an expert, but I do have a PVS14, ITT made.  It is wonderful military grade equipment.

As far as I know, last time I checked out ATN, it was Russian stuff, and not near as good as ITT's stuff.  However, maybe they have improved their quality.  I'm sure that other more knowledgeable folks will speak up.

ATN will be cheaper, all in all.

Once heard Russian stuff described as "One quarter of the quality at half the price."

I have a PVS14 that I've made good use of (mostly driving a boat at night and walking to deer stands) and am happy with.

Well can anyone tell me where I can get the ITT NEPVS14?  Any reccomendations.  By the way, I work with LE so if someone knows where a good dealer might be then I would be happy to contact and purchase.  thanks

Well I can think of two dealers right here on this board.  

Victor is one.  I've never bought anything from him, but he's pretty visible here. His torch has sold very well, and he has lots of satisfied customers.

I bought my PVS14 w/adjustable gain, excellent specs from IPSC-Guy also here on the board.  I can give him the highest praise.  Great guy, extremely helpful, great service, and he'll answer questions long after the sale.  good price too.

You'll find that life is too short to live with poor night vision.  LOL

Again, this might be stupid.  But I wanted to see if I could use the PVS14 along with an ACOG on an AR10 or other flat top long range.  Thoughts?  Can you use ACOG with PVS14?  or would it be better to just get a NV scope?  I dont want to spend money on buying 2 NV scopes if I dont have to.

thanks

Just to throw in some more info here ITT is a manufacturer of Night Vision Equipment. ATN is an importer, assembler, and reseller of Night Vision Equipment. ATN will also sell products made by ITT.

As for easily getting a workable day night set up Vic has shown the way with, either the aimpoint or EO thingy for 1 X day use. Then throw a 3X magnifier behind either for some distance work. comfortably 150 to 200 yards. lots of people will say 300.

Night time use you have again, either the aimpoint or EO thingy in front of your NVD and if ya need some magnification at night put on the 3X milspec magnifier. Works like a champ. If you need more range out of your set up than that, save your pennies for the D 760.

I know the expense is not chump change for most. I REALLY know this as I buy tubes and each time I have to lay out a couple large for something that just two years ago was a few hundred bucks, it KILLS me.

However... coma pause for effect,

Once you look through good gen 3 night vision, everything else of lesser quality will never do it for ya again, and this is just glassing around the back yard. If you need night vision for work (what ever work that might be) then it is a must.

I have had a LEO out in California tell me about his first felony collar he caught with his spiffy new ITT 6015. It was a high speed chase of a stolen car. Perp leads them out of town into a series of orange groves. It is WAY out in the country and it is very dark.  So the guy crashes the car into a field, then flees on foot. The only way they caught him was night vision. The LEO's partner kept watch as he directed him in on top of the guy who had crawled deep inside a bush.

I have known active duty military members who are going to the sand box buy thier own gear as they wanted better than what is issued, plus in one case, a guy's unit just didn't have enough to go around and he was a snipers spotter. Alas there are a ton of military PVS 14s running around with very spotty 45 LPM tubes in them.

So the moral is while this stuff  is expensive, in no other field of equipment is this statement more true, you truly get what you pay for.

Night vision equipment and it's use is something that is almost magical. During the first gulf war I was stranded in the desert for about three days and we had to move at night. We did not have any night vision and it was a moonless time of the month. It sucked on all new levels of SUCK. I would have given (and I am not kidding here) a body part for a set of PVS 5s. I still look back on that with dread. It ain't like the movies.

There are of course caveats as to what you buy and whom you buy it from but do your home work, ask LOTS of questions, and this forum is a great resource. Thanks again to Victor for getting it off the ground. This used to be one REALLY long tacked thread in the optics forum that was getting laborious to go through.

So save your pennies and get something you won't be disapointed in later.

IPSC_GUY
SIERRA II ALPHA

Great thread and great posts.  Good NV equipment is one of those things that economists would say has the "ultimate utility value".  In other words, if you need it, nothing else on earth will suffice.  That story by IPSC_GUY is the perfect example.