Night vision. Silly question

GNU

Well-Known Member
Hi, I'm toying with the idea of investing in night vision.
Is digital in a completely different category to gen1, 1+, 2 etc..?
If so what's the difference? are they better of worse than the above or the same thing but different?
Like I said it's probably a daft question.
Cheers
 
Not a daft question. Digital is completely different technology - that came along much later.

Gen'x' is a reference to levels of semiconductor technology in the creation of image intensifiers (tubes) and the advances in light gathering as a result. To give you an idea, Gen 2 has a gain improvement of about 10,000x that of Gen1.
Doesn't make Gen1 bad - just means you need more (IR) light to get it to the same performance.

Gen 3 is a further extension. BUT - these Gens are US standards. European Gen 2+ has equal capability of US Gen3, but because of the classifications, can't be called Gen 3 - you can read about this on the net if you're interested.

Digital does not classify in this way, because the technology is totally different. Minefield? Oh hell yes.

What I would do is look for some comparables - lpmm (lines per mm) is a good one - 64-72 is the rough benchmark right now. You can look at lux figures - to see how little light a unit needs - and you can look at FoM (Figure of Merit) - which is a sort of convoluted index where the greater the number the better the light gain.

Better or worse - that's like asking for the best calibre on here....!! I would say you can spend whatever budget you have and get some form of NV - so I would look at use and capability v price and see if that helps you weed some out. I could go on, but I think I've answered your question. Feel free to ask more questions either in open forum or via PM....
 
A big thanks.
I think that's cleared that up 4 me.
All I have to do no is to put my hand in my pocket (& not in a mucky way)
cheers
 
To ad to the confusion. Digital tends to need more if than tube. The images are different and some people don't like the black and white I age of digital.
in brief I still think tubed is better than digital but digital has come along in leaps and bounds.

a better question now maybe,
I have x amount of £ to spend on an nightvision device. I want to use it to shoot y animals at Z range. What do you recommend to do the job?
:D
 
Always go and look through someone else's before buying if you possibly can. These things are incredibly difficult to describe.
I have one of the original Ward-D-Vision digital add-ons. By standards of some of the gizmos that you can buy it is rubbish. However, I have it on a cheap Hawk Sidewinder scope mounted on my Tikka 22/250 and it kills foxes out to 200 yards. It's fiddly to use and I frequently cuss it. But at £600 and the second-hand scope for £110 I am not going to complain too much.
Hell, it does the job I want it to do so that's OK.
 
Hi, I'm toying with the idea of investing in night vision.
Is digital in a completely different category to gen1, 1+, 2 etc..?
If so what's the difference? are they better of worse than the above or the same thing but different?
Like I said it's probably a daft question.
Cheers

Hi Gnu,

Tubed devices amplify available light in varying degrees and varying levels of clarity from Gen1 - Gen2 - Gen2+3 types.

Digital is a technology that is sensitive to infra red light.

Tubed benefits from additional IR, whereas with digital it's pretty much mandatory and the more the better.

In terms of our civvi use of NV where using some IR is not the end of the world then the abilities of both technologies start to get on par.

To put that into perspective when I'm out shooting there isn't really much that my top of the line tubed dedicated rifle scopes costing around £3500 can do, that can't be done with the new Ward D Vision 700 digital night vision add on at £695!

Plus I only need one Ward D vision and not 2 or 3 dedicated NV rifle scopes.


Cheers





Clive
 
Then there's Daves (some bloke on nv forum) scopeless digital that needs very little ir, and comes either complete or just parts to build yourself. In fact just building one now for the .17hmr.
 
To ad to the confusion. Digital tends to need more if than tube. The images are different and some people don't like the black and white I age of digital.
in brief I still think tubed is better than digital but digital has come along in leaps and bounds.

a better question now maybe,
I have x amount of £ to spend on an nightvision device. I want to use it to shoot y animals at Z range. What do you recommend to do the job?
:D

Okay. I want to be able to shoot rabbits out to about 150 yards max and that'll be it's main use. It'll also be useful if at the same time, there's the capability to shoot foxes which are a bit further. The rifle I'm going to use has a low spec 3-9X40 on at present, so I don't mind ditching that and either getting a medium quality scope and an add on, or a dedicated night scope, although one with day capability would be ideal. My budget as it stands is about £500, but it could stretch further, but that would take time. I appreciate a reasonable normal scope would eat up most of that £500 or even more before I even thought of an add on. What are my options?
 
wow its all a bit of a head f##k.
recommendations please.
was looking at photon xt got 800 ish to spend
primary use would be for for bunnies with .22lr out to arguably 100 yrds. my foxes at the mo don't seem too adverse to a bit of light.
thanks all.
 
GNU and Pedro - for different reasons - you should both get a look at the X-Sight. It may not be to your taste, but it gives both of you the breadth of ability you are looking for.
 
Ooh what's that?

You can either buy a kit or just the parts you need off him. he does an alloy tube that takes a bullet cam, it's threaded to cs mount so lenses screw straight on. he also does a project box that the screen just clips in to for the other end of the tube. What you end up with is a complete digital scope, not an add on, so needs a lot less ir (less glass for the image to pass through)

I'm building scopeless now with ej230 bullet cam and a cosmicar 75mm f1.4 lens. On a moonlit night should need no ir. I have the choice of either screen or near eye viewer for it, I'll try both and see which I prefer.
If you're in to nv you need to join the nv forum, you'll be amazed at some of the builds.
 
Hi rodp I have been on the nv forum but couldn't get a price for the somebloke dave unit or pics. Can you post any?
 
The ATN X-Sight is very good and the Night Arrow is one of the few sights where less IR produces a better result then more. Night vision/thermal is changing and improving at an amazing rate which is confusing for the newcomer to put it mildly!
 
Tell me about it! Every time I think I've made my decision I read or hear something else and I'm thrown back into confusion once more!
 
Tell me about it! Every time I think I've made my decision I read or hear something else and I'm thrown back into confusion once more!

You have to remember these nv devices aren't coming on in massive leaps, folk have been building them for years. If you were to just pick a current build of a type you want (bought, add on, scopeless etc) then sort it you would be happy. As a novice you probably wouldn't notice much difference between currrent builds and six months ago.

What are you looking for, what type and to shoot what?
 
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