What is a good Night Vision Monocular

wachtelhund1

wachtelhund1

Member
I'm looking for a good night vision monocular for coyote hunting? Almost of my shots will be way less than 100 yards. I live in northern WI where it heavily forested and night vision is legal to use for hunting, but the IR iluminator must be turned off when shooting. However, a mounted flashlite is allowed for point of kill. I know strange laws. Anyways I used a mounted lite for shooting and would like a functional NV monocular. I have a real cheap Yukon 2X spirit monocular which stays home most of the time, as my 7X50 binoculars work better.
 
With night vision,there is no free lunch,you get what you pay for.
Bet we left a lot of N.V.equipment in Iraq,when we pulled out,to be used against us someday.
 
wachtelhund1,

I would suggest at least a Gen 3 NV device if you cannot use an IR booster. A Gen 2 will require good ambient light conditions and your range will still be limited to 100 yards and in (depending on the specific scope). Weather conditions are limiting enough let alone being forced to hunt only when the moon is at 1/2 stage or better. You may also have trouble positively identifying your target since Gen 2 resolution will give you a fuzzy looking target. I would not even consider a Gen 1 device....you will be returning it and paying a hefty restocking charge or it will go in the drawer with the other stuff you don't use anymore. On really dark nights you will even have some limitations with Gen 3. I don't believe a Gen 4 would improve the situation since there is really not that much of a difference between the two technologies (or the US military would have switched to Gen 4 several years ago). Gen 4 came out in the late 1990s. Give me a call if you have questions.
 
Forgot to really answer your question....can't go wrong with a PVS 14 or the MX-160 monocular. Both are designed to work on several different setups (rail mount with Eotech or other halo type sight, front or rear mounted day/night scope, hands free goggle mounts (helmet or harness), camcorder/camera mounts, and whatever else the military comes up with in the future.
 
Well after reading a lot about NV and equipment, I bit the bullet and ordered a PS22 CGT unit today. I liked the mounting on the front of the scope. The hardest decision was deciding what size adapter to order with it. I ended up getting one for a 50mm objective. Sorry HTRN, I got it from Bear Basin. I buy a lot of my scopes from them. But I still need an illuminator.
 
Originally Posted By: JB55Gen 4 ?? I thought that existed only in the imagination of ATN.
Actually, you are correct, the military does not recognize that there is a Gen 4 but commercial NV dealers use it. It is basically a Gen 3 tube with the ion barrier film removed. You sometimes here it referred to as "filmless" tube. I don't have any Gen 4 units but from what I hear you get about a 20% increase in tube brightness and clarity. However, you pay for it with shortened tube life. ITT's answer to Gen 4 was the Gen 3 Pinnacle tube. This one uses a significantly thinned film versus filmless tube. Tube life is still pretty decent and it performs nearly as good as a filmless tube. That is why the military still uses Gen 3.
 
Originally Posted By: wachtelhund1Well after reading a lot about NV and equipment, I bit the bullet and ordered a PS22 CGT unit today. I liked the mounting on the front of the scope. The hardest decision was deciding what size adapter to order with it. I ended up getting one for a 50mm objective. Sorry HTRN, I got it from Bear Basin. I buy a lot of my scopes from them. But I still need an illuminator.
No problem, can't win them all.....just glad you are out hunting at night with night vision. You will not regret it my friend !
 
I received my ps22cgt and Id rather have the pvs 14, but I have trijicon accupoints and several vendors are saying it will burn the NV. Results after one night of ps22 cgt: No IR used - Open field 150 yards max but only on 4 power. Cannot use this as a monocular. Its really small and there is really no focus using it as a monocular. It was a bright green NV but slightly fuzzy picture like looking at the surface of the moon. More you zoomed the worse it gets. the worse part is you must locate your target with something else like thermal or handheld monocular because looking through ps22 to locate game while on the scope/gun is going to be difficult and give you a big headache. Probably going to return it.
 
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Originally Posted By: HTRN57wachtelhund1,

I would suggest at least a Gen 3 NV device if you cannot use an IR booster. A Gen 2 will require good ambient light conditions and your range will still be limited to 100 yards and in (depending on the specific scope). Weather conditions are limiting enough let alone being forced to hunt only when the moon is at 1/2 stage or better. You may also have trouble positively identifying your target since Gen 2 resolution will give you a fuzzy looking target. I would not even consider a Gen 1 device....you will be returning it and paying a hefty restocking charge or it will go in the drawer with the other stuff you don't use anymore. On really dark nights you will even have some limitations with Gen 3. I don't believe a Gen 4 would improve the situation since there is really not that much of a difference between the two technologies (or the US military would have switched to Gen 4 several years ago). Gen 4 came out in the late 1990s. Give me a call if you have questions.
I am really looking for good information on night vision. My hunting will be from my elevated deck late at night into an adjoining forested creek bed. Even in day time 100 yards would be hard to make. So for one hundred yards and less, using likely a red laser for aiming and guns varying from shotguns, .22 lr, and a .22-250. With a .22lr I need to be able to make brain shots. I am trying to figure out the best deal that will serve my needs. An infrared emitter/source is fine. If there is any literature that will give me information on the above specifications please mention it. Baiting is possible as is calling. Animals out there can be just about anything. Bears and lions are protected, everything else is fair game. I have not the slightest interest in being sporting and the entire objective is to eliminate unwanted critters. Traps are fine, but not poison for obvious reasons. Appreciate any information you can direct me to.
 
Shooting less than 100 yards you would better of with a good gen 2+ gen 3 NV mono system. You can shoot with a system such as a Mum-14 or PVS-14 using a NV sight aimpoint/eotech or even a IR laser pretty well out to 100 yards. The mono's are cheaper, lighter weight, easy to scan with ,and just more mutli use vs a NV rifle scope. I have gen 2,gen 3,and gen 3 filmless systems it all comes down the how dark the area is you hunt on very dark nights IR illum helps even gen 3 look better with gen 2+ it may be a must have on no moon nights.
 
Agree with Phantom, a Gen 2 will get you the 100 yard range and you would need a good IR device for poor ambient light conditions. If you don't need to do much scanning then a dedicated NV riflescope would be ok. I however, prefer the versatility of a monocular such as the PVS 14 or MX 160. Kevin
 
Last night I tested the PS-22 CGT vs PVS 14 under the worst night time conditions you can get. light rain, cloud, no snow. At a gun range with no lights around anywhere.
And No ir. At 100 yards on 2.5 power trijicon accupoint the ps-22 could not make out the target, which was a sheet of plywood cut in half. The image was all a bright green. The pvs-14 attached to the rear of a cheap 3x9 scope, with a high tech redneck mounting device you could see the target but slight blur. We are using an old pvs-14 (im guessing a b grade tube) not the new pinnacle model. With the IR the ps-22 could see and identify the target out to 100 yards max. The new ps-22 cgt comes with an adjustment knob instead of a focus ring. I m not sure which is better, but ATn says the new models have the knob. So in the end the PVS-14 s worth the extra money and the ps22 cgt is worth (to me) about $1000.00-1200.00 range. The ps-22 reminded me of a less expensive $450.00 Russian monocular. For those always hunting less than 100 yards and with IR look around you can buy a ps22 cgt around $1700.00.
 
You forgot to tell everyone what you thought of HTRN's set up on a cheap Center Point Scope,mounted forward to recieve the PVS-14.You also forgot to say that at two hundred yards you could see the target,and when the IR was on,you where more than confidant that you could pull the trigger and 100% sure of your saftey and target, in the described conditions.
And you also forgot to say the the the HTRN set on your friends AR-15 had a confirmed one shot kill at 275 yards,no moon over cast night using the IR torch.
My opinion is that the ATN PS-22 is not worth the money at half what it cost.
I have a dedicated night vision scope,but my work horse is the PVS-14 with the HTRN scope mount.I can scan with it in my hand,mount it on the scope and shoot,and I mount it on a helmet with the rhino mount for hands free close quaters shotgunning.And I can put it on ten different rifles without any hardware or change to point of impact,including my air rifle for night rat shooting!! Three different applications for one piece of technoligy.Its a no brainer!!
 
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