New member

[Southeastpete]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I'm on the lookout for a night vision set up and so stopped by the obvious place. I would like to get myself a headset mounted night vision goggle(s). I want to be able to attach a fairly decent IR illuminati to them, with a wide spread or a medium range of about 50-60 yards. What gen are the ones the military use, as they were pretty decent.
Well anyway, I'm of to read through the site, and start learning. A lot of the stuff I've seen so far is very technical, a little above my competency level, but I'm sure I will pick bits up!
Cheers,
Pete

[Radagast]

Military goggles/monoculars are either Gen III (US made) or very high end Gen II (Photonis XR5 tube).
Neither need an IR illuminator if there is any moon or ambient light.

If you are going to use an IR illuminator then a good Gen II+ set up will do the job.

Resolution of NV tubes is measured by line pairs per mm. The more pairs the better the picture.
Gen 1 = 28 lp/mm
Gen II+ = 40-57 lp/mm
GenIII & XR5 is typically 64-72 lp/mm.

Next is signal to noise ratio - the amount of interference in the picture. The higher the number the better. Gen II+ is typically 12-18. Gen III/XR5 is typically 21 -28 with exceptional tubes going 32 or more.
Multiplying the line pairs figure by the signal to noise figure gives a number called 'figure of merit', its a good rule of thumb for quality. Gen II+ is usually 800 to 1000, stock gen III 1344 to 1536, aviation grade Gen III (for helicopter night flying) around 2304. As the number increases so does the price, generally at a faster rate!

American Gen III is a restricted export and any you find will be 'grey market' with limited or no warranty or spare parts support.

Photonis is European and available, but very expensive.

Most Gen II+ use a Russian tube and is readily available with spares and support. This includes supposedly "American" units.

There is a Gen III monocular in the for sale section at the moment. German Ebay will often have Photonis & Gen III units at inflated prices.

Gen I & Gen II+ can be purchased through Carl Moore, who sponsors this forum. Link at top of page.

[Southeastpete]

Thanks, I forgot to say, I am on a tight budget! I think I am looking at a gen 1 or super gen 1+ level really such as
http://m.uttings.co.uk/p102426-pulsar-c ... kit-74095/
http://m.uttings.co.uk/p103281-cobra-op ... -kit-1305/

Not necessarily from that vendor though will have a look at the sponsor in a minute. All I'm after is shotgun range with extra ir illumination.

When I was in raf the hmnvs we had used an itegral ir illuminator, as did the nv rifle sight, have they upgraded?

[Southeastpete]

I like the look of this one on sponsors site, but the head mount is seperate and an extra £140, putting it out of my reach for a while.
Unless it uses a standard mounting system and I could find a cheaper/second hand head mount..?

http://www.nightvisiongear.co.uk/produc ... /spark.htm

[Radagast]

G'day again, I'm in upside down land, so my work/sleep schedule is roughly the opposite of yours, hence the delay.
AFAIK all military NV has an IR illuminator - as a back up for use indoors, under forest or full cloud cover. Under moonlight or starlight it will not be needed for relatively close range viewing.

As for the stuff you encountered in the services?
Recent British issue NV would be relatively high end US Gen III, they have defense treaties that allow Australia & Britain to obtain the best - as long as we never ever ever let anyone else use it.

going back a few years the issue may have been early British made Gen III, roughly equivalent to current Gen II+.

Gen 1 will not be anything like what you encountered in the services. Check out some youtube videos before buying.

The Cobra Optics Merlin is actually the Dipol D125. Like the Pulsar Challenger, it is made in Belarus:
http://www.dipol.biz/en/
http://www.yukonopticsglobal.com/

The Yukon will have better optics, the Dipol housing may be a bit stronger.

The Spark is a major upgrade in quality on other Gen 1 products, but still not up to Gen II+

Seeing is believing:
Spark, no IR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrT1WGI-Lrc
Spark with IR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1JvWBXy ... lcmTCZFpaw
Spark compared to Yukon Gen 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ElUQ0O ... lcmTCZFpaw
Pulsar Challenger:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWMZOywisg
Cobra Merlin / Dipol D125:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJWzFb67mSU
Cheapest Gen II+:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-gapnvvjss
Gen 1 compared to Gen III:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7tQQJNBl64

The 3 watt P60 drop in the Spark video? Basically a primitive version of one of the IR torches made and sold by members of this forum. Marky610, Sika Stag, Some Bloke and Vaikeros can all do a better unit for roughly half the price of a commercial IR sources. Look in the sales section for more info.

Re the head mount, you can look at Airsoft helmet mounting systems, they may be cheaper, but not necessarily very durable.

[Southeastpete]

Thanks, that's really informative, and saved a lot of searching! I think I will have to save up for the spark and head mount. Will have to keep looking to see if one comes up second hand but I doubt it.
I will have to look into these IR illuminators. Do the member made ones attach to the google unit?
Thanks,
Pete

[Radagast]

They are normal torches. We attach them to rifles using weaver scope rings.
The Spark has a method of attachment to a weapon, so I'm assuming there should be holes to screw a short length of weaver rail to it, then mount the torch to the rail.

[Southeastpete]

Hmm I'd be wanting to wear it on the head mount, with the ir illuminator on there too. Would the head mount not use the hole you could screw the weaver rail to? Would the in built ir illuminator light up rabbits to 40-60 yards??

[Radagast]

Now we are outside my general knowledge.
I suggest you start a new thread in the General NV sub forum, possibly headed "Spark Core Questions". Hopefully Carl Moore the UK importer will answer, he's been answering Drone Pro questions for the last few days.

[Southeastpete]

Thanks!