I had a few questions about a PVS-14 I picked up last weekend at Knob Creek. It was kind of an impulse buy that I made without enough research. I bought it from Kenzie's Optics. They told me that Night Vision Depot builds them for them. It has Kenzie's Optics on the side. It came with a data sheet. I don't know how to tell if it is considered a good tube or not. I hadn't read much about these companies so i am a little nervous. They said it came with a 5 year warranty. I'm completely new to night vision and wanted to know what special care they require. I know you can't look at bright lights and the obvious don't drop it kind of things but didn't know if there was anything I may be missing. Can you remove the day lens cover if the unit is off with the battery out? Here are the data sheets that it came with. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I can't make out too much on that test form you have, but the 5 year warrantee is correct on the tube. The objective lens (not the eye piece) has a tiny hole in it. In the daylight leave it on and you can see with the NV. You can't run NV in the day light without the cover on, or you will ruin the tube. Use lithium batteries or the best you can find. Remove them if your unit will sit for any length of time.
I just use Akaline and remove them when I put the unit away.

You have 1 battery correct? That's the newer housing.

Yes it's the single battery. Are you familiar with either of these companies? Is there a list somewhere that say what specs are considered "good"?

Specs look good 72 LP/mm is above avg, 1900+ FOM is a good number. S/N 25+ good.  I have dropped mine off a watch tower 16ft with a 4.5x lens attaches on to sand and still working great The bright lights unit will adjust, laser or small bright point of light be careful so as to not burn the screen. These units are not indestructible, but they can take civilian use no problem.

enough with the tech talk,how does it  work for ya?

Really, get outside in the dark. Look up at the sky & count the satilights flying over. Or count the head of deer crossing the fields


These units are awesome.

I must say, I'm quite impressed with it so far. This is the only piece of night vision I've ever looked through and I'm very happy with it. Only problem is that it makes me want to spend more money on IR lasers and suppressors lol.

It has begun. Enjoy.

No kidding.

I get S/N and LPM.  What is FOM on a data sheet?

FOM is Figure of Merit, a government ITAR designation number to quantitate the quality of the NV image intenfier tube that consists of line pair per mm x signal to noise.

Is it just me or does anyone else think of this when the discussion gets technical?

Retro Encabulator

Thanks very much!  So if I understand correctly a higher FOM is a higher quality tube, all other items being equal.  Is the FOM only valid only on the test date (meaning the tubes degrade with age/use) or will tubes tend to degrade at the same rate with equivalent use?

Is there a place a newb like me can do research so I don't ask repetitive questions?  I've looked through the stickies in the top of the thread and don't recall this stuff being addressed.

TIA!

http://tnvc.com/faq/

http://www.morovision.com/terminology.htm

Thanks!

I looked at these units from Kenzies at a gun show this weekend.  Nice guys and helped me with a bunch of questions.  I left to get two of my rifles to see them mounted on my gear (first time NV buyer). I like the 5 year tube warentee as well.

I came back with my AUG with a Trijicon TA31 green chevron and my LMT AR piston with a Eotech 552 and a 3x mag.  The guys said I can mount the PVS145 IN FRONT of my optics (used the accessory : D Lock mount) and really don't need a NV Eotech if I run the PVS in front of the optics, but if you use the PVS behind a "red Dot" it must be NV compatable.

He set up the PVS on both my rifles and it was spot on. The D Lock allowed the PVS to sit much closer to the Eotech and the Trijicon much better than the bigger mount that comes with the PVS unit.

He then showed me the helmet set up with the DBAL on the rifle.  WOW. That was my favorite. Going to call TNVC tomorrow for avalibility.

I am trying to learn as much as I can, but am leaning on the PVS14 with the optional D-LOCK mount and getting the DBAL or other IR unit when I get my kitty built up again.

ANY THOUGHTS, Guys ??

To run the non NV eotech with NV, all you need is a 720nm ir pass filter. This will block the light below 720nm which the laser in the eotech I believe is around 650nm. The brightness will be much lower and work fine. I have been doing this myself, I use 2 filters together to lower the level to allow full range of just visible to nice and bright. But I have never used the pvs14 in front of eotech.

720 Ir filter 30.5mm

Thats a good price, however my first filter was a 30 mm and it threads to the optic just fine, is there that much of a difference on are the threads just a bit looser on the 30 mm version?

Interesting. I wonder how that filter would work in reducing a reticle illuminated by tritium? I have a Trijicon Tripower (which has a tritium chevron) on my AUG. I've mounted my PVS14 behind it and honestly it wasn't as bright as I would have expected. It is still usable. I'm curious if that filter would be worth trying. Anybody know?

Light is light, tritium, fire, electric light bulb, whatever.

Obviously, some light emitted by the tritium is visible, or you wouldn't see it, and it would cut that light out.

I held my filter up to the light, and all you could see was some dull reds.

The dull reds are light above 720nm. infrareds The 30.5mm is tight will not fall off even with full auto mag dumps