Budget NV options, suggestions?

[wanneroo]

I like that description - and that was the vibe I got just looking over the packaging.
There's no way I would spend $200 on this - I didn't even buy it when it was $100.

Honestly, as someone who knows nothing about any of this, it's easy to confuse the TYPES of "night vision".
This isn't a thermal device that will show "hot spots", it's basically just like the IR camera in a trail cam, so you see everything - not just heat signatures".
I watched a few more videos on this exact unit and everyone seems to say "for the price, it's not bad" - and they are talking full price.

I'm not supposed to get my associate discount on clearance items, but I swipe my card anyway at the checkout "just in case", and lately it's been working nearly every time. I got it for $44.10 ($47.18 with tax), so YAY!

I haven't opened it yet. Started wondering if I could even use it being that I wear glasses, but it looks like the "shield" may be deep enough to use it while wearing glasses. Crossing fingers.

Yes pretty much it will be like a looking through a live IR trail cam, probably with a noticeable delay. For $44 for a thing to play around with, why not if you are curious.

[Emptymag]

Yes pretty much it will be like a looking through a live IR trail cam, probably with a noticeable delay. For $44 for a thing to play around with, why not if you are curious.

I opened it up, stuck batteries in it, and pressed the power button.
I looked into it, and laughed. I was looking through a "box" contained within the housing, with an LED view screen at the end.
My wife asked why I was laughing and I tried explaining it - "It's like I'm holding an infrared camera about six inches away from my face and watching what's on the screen."

I took it out on the deck and looked into my back yard. No critters. Ha.
It's slightly annoying that it's always at 3x magnification. Pressing zoom bumps it up to 4.5x and another press takes it to 6x.
I swung my gaze to the neighbor's yards... RABBIT at twelve O'clock! LOL
Two backyards away was a rabbit - eyes glowing. I would estimate it to be about 40 yards away. I could sort of see it's ears, but mostly just the glowing eyes and the body shape - the mind filled in the blanks and positively identified it as a rabbit, even though it wasn't visibly clear.

I mean, it does work. It was "black" out there and I could see everything - fences, lawn decorations, trees.
I'll probably keep it. Want to watch the deer at night without shining a light into my neighbor's yards.
Will be fun to shoot video and snap pics as they nibble on all their flowers and shrubs, and then send the pics to them. LOL

[wanneroo]

I opened it up, stuck batteries in it, and pressed the power button.
I looked into it, and laughed. I was looking through a "box" contained within the housing, with an LED view screen at the end.
My wife asked why I was laughing and I tried explaining it - "It's like I'm holding an infrared camera about six inches away from my face and watching what's on the screen."

I took it out on the deck and looked into my back yard. No critters. Ha.
It's slightly annoying that it's always at 3x magnification. Pressing zoom bumps it up to 4.5x and another press takes it to 6x.
I swung my gaze to the neighbor's yards... RABBIT at twelve O'clock! LOL
Two backyards away was a rabbit - eyes glowing. I would estimate it to be about 40 yards away. I could sort of see it's ears, but mostly just the glowing eyes and the body shape - the mind filled in the blanks and positively identified it as a rabbit, even though it wasn't visibly clear.

I mean, it does work. It was "black" out there and I could see everything - fences, lawn decorations, trees.
I'll probably keep it. Want to watch the deer at night without shining a light into my neighbor's yards.
Will be fun to shoot video and snap pics as they nibble on all their flowers and shrubs, and then send the pics to them. LOL

That's about what I expected to hear, but for 44 bucks or whatever who can complain? 50 years ago people probably would have been thrilled to have such a thing for the money bought off the shelf at Wal Mart. You can probably see though it's not practical for walking around with. But from a fixed position, sitting on your deck, it will allow you to see things in the dark you might otherwise not be able to see.

These days though, PVS 14s are right on Amazon and including helmet, regular folks can get onboard the ground floor with decent helmet mounted night optics for around $3k. You can walk, drive and shoot with PVS 14s. To me that is pretty good for the money, considering PVS 14s cost about $7 to $8k over 10 years ago.

Keep in mind with that IR light it is using if I am looking at you with passive night vision, you will stand out like a lighthouse radiating from your forehead.

[buckengr]

Analog is king when it comes to head mounted. Digital has improved, but truly doesn't compare with the dynamic range and instantaneous feedback of analog for moving around. The delay you get with digital will give you a headache eventually and make everything harder than it should be.

Yeah, it's expensive, but it is a superpower you can buy. PVS-14s are the entry level standard. They work great.

Also, you can shoot passive with a quality red dot (Aimpoint) or holographic optic (EOTech with night vision compatible mode) and save a bunch of money rather than buying a laser. Don't bother trying to use a head mounted NOD behind a magnified optic though. The eye relief always ends up sucking.

Expect to spend 4k+ though on a PVS-14, helmet, mount, and j-arm, minimum.

[HanzMcFeely]

Analog is king when it comes to head mounted. Digital has improved, but truly doesn't compare with the dynamic range and instantaneous feedback of analog for moving around. The delay you get with digital will give you a headache eventually and make everything harder than it should be.

Yeah, it's expensive, but it is a superpower you can buy. PVS-14s are the entry level standard. They work great.

Also, you can shoot passive with a quality red dot (Aimpoint) or holographic optic (EOTech with night vision compatible mode) and save a bunch of money rather than buying a laser. Don't bother trying to use a head mounted NOD behind a magnified optic though. The eye relief always ends up sucking.

Expect to spend 4k+ though on a PVS-14, helmet, mount, and j-arm, minimum.

Thinking i should have bought that surplus 1st gen analog one i saw on local craigslist 3 weeks back for $50 now lol

[raxar]

Thinking i should have bought that surplus 1st gen analog one i saw on local craigslist 3 weeks back for $50 now lol

Gen 1 is kind of like the Chinese stuff in that it needs ambient light to be very useful, and its pretty IR dependent.

[Ronin]

[Ronin]

[Ronin]

[Ronin]