Is there a thread with side by side pics of the Gen I - III optics? I looked around and couldn't find one.

Any help would be appreciated. I currently have a nice set of PVS 14 but lo and behold I get to give them back when I get home. Damn that Army.

I can certainly see the need for Night Vision and am wanting to know what the difference in quality is between the I - III before I decide to save up and fork over the cash for anything.

Any help is appreciated.

The difference is ENORMOUS.  I haven't ever seen a good picture comparison of gen1 vs gen3 viewing the same scene on the same night.  I have gen3, a bushnell gen1, and a recently acquired pvs-2 (old US gen1) and will be doing a comparison like this over Thanksgiving since I'll be back home.  If you do find a good comparison online somewhere, please share, if not I'll have one posted in a couple months.

That would be cool. Hopefully someone that has access could do one real quick. I would be curious to see the difference.

I might use it to eliminate a coyote problem that my mom is having on her farm.

Coulda done a Gen 1 and Gen 2 but sold them. I see Iraq in your profile, gen 1 is no where close to the pvs14 you have probably been using. After recently looking through an anvis I think the pvs14 I was using was a little gimped. Anyway, unless the coyotes are within 25 yards go with at least a gen II.

Here's a quick image I did a while ago - It's not great but shows the difference between Gen1 and Gen2 (AN/PVS-4 type tube). It's a pretty fair comparison for what it shows though.

Gen1 Vs Gen2

David

DAMN!!! That is a huge difference. I had no idea that it was so distinguishable. I'm kinda doubting that the dif. between I and III is as pronounced as that.

Great pic review, I've had a set of low end Gen I's for years but after playing with a friends 7's I've been on the hunt for a deal on a set of Gen III's. I now have 7's and 14's and the difference is HUGE

Actually, It's far more pronounced.

The problem is gain... If you go out on a bright moonlight night, Gen1, Gen2 and Gen3 all look similar... Then you get down to 1/4 moon and Gen1 looks terrible while Gen2 and Gen3 look about the same (maybe Gen2 looks a little grainier).

Then you lose the moon altogether and get a long way from the city and Gen2 starts to look a little dark. (Gen1 stopped working long before the moon went away completely)

Gen3 is more sensitive than Gen2 in the region of starlight and Sky-glow ( near infra-red ) so works better in these conditions.

So basically, although I'm simplifying the argument, Gen1 doesn't work on a dark night - and if you use an illuminator, then you're basically using an invisible torch - with associated range limitations.

Gen2 will work on most nights and Gen3 will work the best. Unless you're considering high-end DEP tubes, which have similar performance to Gen3. (eg, XD-4, XR5)

If you want cheap Gen1 that works on dark nights, then you want a Cascade (3-stage) Gen 1 tube... Think something as large as a pringles can... The AN/PVS-2 is a good example of that. But you're going to have trouble finding one, so have a look at those Dragonuv (SVD) scopes in the other thread... They are a russian 3-stage tube. Old, but reasonably recent. Or get a tube from the UK - they are still selling a few there.

The difference between Gen1-Cascade and Gen2/3 is not all that different. They are "Starlight" scopes by then.

If you PM me and send a normal email address, I'll send you a Gen1, Gen1 Illuminated, Gen2 comparison sheet in high resolution - taken over 5 nights (urban) with different lighting levels.

Regards
David