Ok, so call me crazy.

I bought one of those cheap Bushy Gen 1 monoculars w/ the uber-cool headgear. I tried taking it on a couple of yote` hunts. Worked ok once we were in thick brush. Walking around I had to have the built in IR on. Going hog hunting in Texas in May.

Here's what I'm thinking. It will probably be several years before I get into the Gen 3 stuff (simply a $$$/need thing). And so an IR laser for $500 now makes even less sense with the Gen 1 stuff. I was looking at getting a TLR-02 with a the infared filter for the light. That way I could use it as a light/laser on my AR for normal stuff, and when it comes to "night ops" (haha, I crack myself up) and nighttime hog hunting, I can use the IR cover and still have a visible laser.

Forgive my newbie questions but would the visible laser work ok with the Gen 1? WIll it appear as a beam or just the dot? Does this sound like on ok budget/multi-purpose plan?

Thanks all

The visible laser will be a bit bright, even for gen1 most likely..

If i were stuck with Gen1, i would do what the guys in the UK do..They use a 40-80mw IR laser illuminator ($125-$350). With that massive amount of IR it gives them about 60-75m range. Its also pretty dangerous...

I don't know how well the IR filter setup will work, maybe someone has tried that..

Thanks for the info. Never thought of the laser being that bright, but I could see how if you hit a wall close up the splash could be near blinding.

Other than the 'make your own' are there any "affordable" (i.e. $300 or under) IR laser options out there? It will see light duty as a varmint/hog rig a few times a year.

One point worth noting is that TLR, IIRC, is a led light. You can't use a led light as an IR light source.

We have cheap Russian IR-lasers in Europe. If there are no import restrictions that might be a possibility. I bought a TSUL IR laser for about $150. It didn't keep zero until some creative loctite use, but it is ok for me as I use it merely as a training example to show how IR laser looks and functions. (They are not military issue items here)

Here's some info on dimming visible lasers (accidental hijack)
Link

I read that whole thing and was real excited until I realized I can't justify a TNVC piece w/ my Gen 1 mono.

Might just get a crappy laser and mess with the dimming techniques. Seems like it would be easier to do to a stand alone unit vs. the integrated piece in the TLR-2.