I’ve written a lot here, but overall night vision is a lot of fun. It’s the only super power you can buy! But whatever you choose, actually get out and use it and learn its limitations and advantages. And you get to become the weirdo who your neighbors talk about when you walk your dog with NVGs.
First get training. We say it all the time with guns and people don’t do it, but spending $600 on a gun and finding out it’s not for you vs spending $10,000 on NVGs and finding it’s not for you are two very different things. Plus all the support gear - night vision is a whole new ballgame when it comes to cost.
Look at Greenline Tactical or TNVC. I think TNVC does a bit more on the west coast, so it might be easier for you to get into a class with them. There are a lot of similarities between the classes of TNVC and Greenline Tactical, but they are basically a masters level education on not only the specs of NVGs and what is important when you buy, but also how to effectively use NVGs. Both companies also offer rental gear, and sometimes you can try out different types on the same day (on my first class I swapped between a PVS-14 and a set of DTNVGs).
After the class you will be able to make decisions like: if someone is offering a set of NVGs at a fixed FOM, but two levels of resolution, as long as I’m not planning on using them with any magnification I will get the lower resolution unit because at a fixed FOM it means I will get a higher SNR and without magnification I probably won’t be able to see the difference in resolution. Or, in a high humidity environment (like Alabama) EBI is more important to me than some other factors and I want that favored when choosing tubes. Or that personally I’m ok with a few more blemishes if it means I get a better performing tube - because I’ve run drills with a blemished tube and I know it doesn’t bother me.
Not to belabor the point, but taking my first night vision class saved me over $5,000 in buying the wrong gear. Not that I was looking at bad gear to begin with, but just gear that I now know I would not have been happy with.
Anyway, back to the main point of this thread which is night vision. $12,000 is a little tight to get fully outfitted with top of the line dual tubes/ballistic helmet/etc but if you don’t include any weapon items you can probably get close.
I would recommend a set of DTNVS. They are dual tubes (not “two lenses”) with an articulating housing. The articulation allows for individual adjustment and lets you rotate one or both tubes up and out of your field of vision (they automatically turn off in that position). This lets you do a few things (like see what it’s like to be using a PVS-14) but one of the best benefits I’ve found is that if it’s raining you can stow the NVGs and have them off without the lenses being pointed straight up and gathering water. That means when you flip them down you still have a moderately clear view instead of a view of just water. It’s also helpful when in low clearance environments (like around vehicles).
PVS31s are good, but it’s much easier to adjust the diopter on DTNVS or pretty much any other NVG. IIRC the PVS-31 has swappable diopter lenses, so you have to know the adjustment you want and then order the right one. And that’s not always easy - for example the diopter setting I find works best for me is actually different based on if I’m wearing glasses or contacts. Also look into the availability of warranty work. Sometimes companies that contract with the military don’t like doing work for non-gov people.
Another plug for TNVC, but I would recommend buying from them. Really great customer service, and they’re all night vision guys with a lot of experience. So you can ask them really detailed questions and they know exactly what you’re talking about and will help guide you. Even off the wall stuff like will X, Y, and Z items work together in this specific use, and they’ll find someone who knows and has done exactly what you’re thinking about. When ordering you can even set specs for the tubes you get. So if you want a specific SNR, or EBI, or halo etc values, you can specify that.
On tubes, you’ll want white phosphor from either L3 or Elbit. Please don’t pay $12k for a Photonis… L3 is the only company that makes unfilmed tubes and they have an edge over the thinfilmed from Elbit, but they’re both good tubes and manufactures. The best would be unfilmed white phosphor from L3. In your price range you should be able to find tubes with SNRs in at least the mid-30’s.
TNVC (again, I know) has a new product called “super gain” tubes which are really cool, but they’re at the top of your budget if you’re getting dual tubes.
Avoid aviation style tubes and setups. The housings use a different mount than standard ground use NVGs and the tubes also have other things (like coatings to minimize glare from green light) which works great while piloting an aircraft but sucks if your gun’s laser or dot is green. Aviation NVGs and tubes aren’t bad, they’re just designed for a different environment and those things that are benefits in an aviation environment aren’t necessarily the best choices for normal ground use.
Other gear - don’t cheap out on the other stuff that goes into properly using your NVGs. You can buy some really awesome, top of the line tubes but if your mount or helmet doesn’t also work well, you’re going to have a bad experience and never want to actually use your NVGs.
Mount - get a Wilcox, and get a real Wilcox. Yeah they’re $500, but you know the only thing worse than spending $12,000 on night vision? Having that $12,000 set of night vision fall off your head, never to be found again, all because you wanted to save a few bucks on a mount.
Also have secondary retention on your NVGs. Some sort of cord attaching the goggles to your helmet so that in the unlikely case your expensive Wilcox mount does fail, you don’t lose your really expensive NVGs. These can be pretty inexpensive or even DIY, but you want to have this.
Ballistic helmets are a complete topic unto itself, but unless you have a specific need for a ballistic helmet (shoot houses, etc) I would recommend a bump hemet. For a good ballistic, high cut helmet expect to spend around $1,500 - $2,000. You can save money and do an ACH but you’ll want to upgrade the pads and strap (it makes a huge difference).
Having ear pro that attaches to your hemet (and can be popped on/off without removing the helmet) is very nice when taking classes. It also provides a bit more stabilization to the whole setup which can be important when walking/running.
Also get a counterweight. NVGs make a helmet very front heavy and having a counterweight at the back of your helmet makes it a lot more comfortable. It is added weight to your head/neck, but it balances everything out.
For shooting you’ll want good optics with NV settings (when you’re stacking lenses together between both the optic and the tubes, light transmission becomes more important). You’ll also be more comfortable shooting if you’re using tall mounts. It’s certainly possible to use a lower 1/3 height mount (especially with something like a 30mm tube) but it’s kind of a weird technique.
Some people like eotech for the large window, but make sure you check the specs on battery life. Personally I’m a fan of aimpoints because I know they’ll always be on when I need it.
Laser units are again, a complete topic unto themselves, but I would recommend you get a good one. A lot of people are going with pure passive shooting (no IR laser/illuminator) but I still recommend one. There are lots of techniques where they are useful. In short, when shooting close range I find it’s a lot easier and faster to use a laser than passive (though you will have a laser offset to worry about, just like height over bore offset with using normal optics at close range). Long range you can illuminate a target with the illuminator while aiming through your normal optic so your regular zero and hold overs are retained (hitting steel at 400 yards in complete darkness is an awesome feeling). You can bounce a laser/illuminator to illuminate shadows inside a window/room when you can’t see inside through just your NVGs. And you can do fun things like blind security cameras should the need arise.
I would recommend the MAWL. It has a very intuitive button layout and in some situations the civilian power MAWL can outperform an unrestricted (full power) laser made by other manufacturers.
Also, depending on your use case, be aware that LED based illuminators can often have a bit of a red glow in the visible spectrum. So if your plan is to be sneaky with one, you might not want to use a LED based illuminator.
Finally, I mentioned it before, but get training and then actually use your NVGs. There’s a lot of competence that comes from just doing little things around the house or outside while wearing NVGs that a lot of people don’t get because they only use their gear once or twice a year at the range. Things like depth perception when reaching for a door knob, or how to walk up stairs, or how to scan so you don’t wind up walking into a ditch are really important things that don’t require going to a range to practice.
If you want to see something funny, watch 40 guys in a NVG shooting class try to move around. 90% of them don’t use their NVGs often and will spend the whole night bumping into each other while they try to walk around between drills.
Another (completely separate) topic is that different materials have different properties between the visual and NIR spectrums. You can see some camo gear that looked great during the day, and it’ll just light up like a reflective vest under NVGs.
Take one night a week and spend 10 minutes outside wearing your night vision and you’ll be miles ahead of a lot of other people.
