Pvs-14 To buy or not to buy

A

Aaawolfe1

New member
I am debating on purchasing a pvs-14 to compliment my night hunting setup. I already run a flir breach on mod armory bridge mount and use it for scanning. I purchased that setup with the plan of eventually running the pvs-14/breach head mounted setup but haven’t purchased the night vision side yet.

The main reasons I am wanting to add night vision is to aid in navigating as I walk in the dark to my hunting stands and use it for driving at night with all the lights out on lease trails and ranch roads.

I am wanting a white phosphor tube so it helps blend in with the picture from the breach. From what I’ve read l3 filmless tubes are the best and looks like they start at $4k and go up to around $6k depending on quality. My question is what is the difference between a 2100fom tube at bottom of the price range vs 2600+fom tubes on upper end to the eye. Will I actually see and need the extra sn ratio and is it worth it to spend the extra money?

For my use case I will be running the ir illuminator built in the pvs 14 when I’m on foot and I may add ir lights to my truck for driving blacked out so does 2600+fom help me much? When I look at the cost of these pvs-14’s vs upgrading my thermal rifle scope it seems like I will get a lot more capability out of getting another thermal scope. This is the debate I run into about twice per year when I decide I’m gonna get a pvs-14 then don’t because the price vs what you get is much lower with nightvision.
 
I would'nt sweat the FOM rating much on today's new white phosphorus NV as they are a drastic improvement over the old green phosphorus stuff that soldiers have been issued for decades, conducting operations.

For simply driving and walking in and out of a stand I wouldn't spend the extra coin on a crazy high FOM (3600 is the top now I think!!!), I'd get a nice film less white phosphorus and call it a day.
 
When I was using a PVS14 the built in illuminator was not bright enough for me. I added an EWT Piglet 850nm IR to my helmet. It made a huge difference for me but maybe the built in will work for you.
 
Is there a noticeable difference between low fom and high fom filmless gen 3 nv? I have never looked thru any gen 3 so I’m not sure what if any is noticeable. I have read that high fom mainly benefits you in extremely low light conditions when there is no moon or fully overcast nights. For my use I will be mainly using it with ir lights and illuminators so don’t know I would be able to tell a difference.

Thanks Trkyhntr for the recommendation on the piglet illuminator. I am sure you are right and I will need to invest in an ir illuminator.
 
Yes its noticeable, more so on a moonless night but IMO for your application its not needed.

The built in illuminator is really just for walking or in a structure in complete darkness. Its not designed to see a coyote at 50 yards.

With the new WP film less you probably won't need any Illumination for walking in an open field, even on the darkest of nights and if you put IR lights on your rig you will be GTG.
 
It looks like this is already been answered and covered pretty well and I would agree with what others have said about not worrying what the FOM rating is because with IR light, you’re never gonna notice the difference. I would actually suggest purchasing one of the Night Goggles XLSH tubes from Elbit as a cheaper alternative. Since you plan to use IR light, you don’t need a high spec/expensive tube. Especially for recreation.
 
Reading and researching about nv sounds like the autogating is supposed to help protect the tube from being burned by bright lights. How hard is it to burn a tube? If I’m outside and look at a street light will it damage it? If I was driving on a ranch road and encountered another vehicle with their lights on and passed them would it damage the unit? Just trying to get an idea of how fragile they are would hate to drop several grand on one and mess it up just not knowing any better.
 
None of the examples given would burn out the tube. Sunlight is the biggest threat or long light exposure. It would take a long time for a street light or head light to burn a tube.
 
Does anyone on here have experience with running a pvs-14/flir breach on a mod armory bridge? Any tips or info on how to successfully run them both at the same time would be appreciated.
 
Put the thermal on your left and the NV on your right that way when you are driving and scanning its easier to scan with your left eye looking out the drivers window...
 
Originally Posted By: Aaawolfe1Does anyone on here have experience with running a pvs-14/flir breach on a mod armory bridge? Any tips or info on how to successfully run them both at the same time would be appreciated.

I’ve tried this a couple of times and got a migraine each time. Your brain does not fuse the images together. If you close one eye and use thermal then close the other and use night vision, fine. But to keep both eyes open with both units powered on is not beneficial or even feasible.
 


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