For camping, hog spotting, general night time stuff, etc. Anyone have a thought about one vs. the other?

Neither.

Tnvc pvs14.

Thermal is poor for nighttime nav. It is good for finding animals.

Night vision is WAY up on my list and I agree with IndianaBoy PVS14s is the way to go.

Ya’ll must have either been exposed to bad thermal, or have no experience with it at all. I’d take thermal over nv any day of the week, but be prepared to spend close to 10k for a decent handheld, as those 600 dollar units are garbage.

Best bang for buck is NV, and for your application it’s the direction I’d take, but it has limitations that thermal doesn’t.

quote:

Originally posted by David W:
Night vision is WAY up on my list and I agree with IndianaBoy PVS14s is the way to go.

is the depth perception as garbage on them as other units? We were playing with a set while camping a few weeks ago and something that looked 3-400yds away at night through NVG's was actually 50-100yds in the daytime

WOW. That is really cool. However, when the website has "FINANCING AVAILABLE," you know you are in over your head...

https://tnvc.com/shop/tnvpvs-14-itt-gen3-pinnacle/

That unit is in the "a boy can dream" category. Post-lottery win my first purchase.

I have a Pinnacle PVS-14 Gen3 from TNVC.

I also have a personally-owned Eotech X320 thermal monocular and a SIG Echo-1 on loan.

The answer is: it depends on what you want to do with the optic.

For hog spotting, or critter spotting in general, thermal optics have a distinct advantage over traditional NV. Something with a heat signature is going to stand out on a thermal, but not necessarily on night vision.

For navigation, both suck, but thermal is going to be worse because most thermals are monoculars, but a PVS-14 will give you ~14 degrees of vision while a thermal will give you ~11 degrees. Also, if the terrain is all the same temperature, you're going to have problems picking out features from the background.

If you are thinking of hunting with the optic, I would strongly recommend the Echo-1 (~$2500 last time I checked, might be less now). At its current price point, there really isn't anything like it on the market. I still plan to write a longer review of it, but I can give you the low-down here. It's a great value for the price, especially if you plan to be with other people because it's set up as a "socially accessible" optic in that there's a screen on the back where other people can see what you are looking at.

The X320 is a great monocular, but it cannot be weapon mounted so its application is limited. IMO, it's a better "viewer" than the Echo-1 because it's designed to be a monocular whereas the Echo-1 is designed to be a scope (and has eye relief issues, as well as light-leakage onto your face w/o an eye cup).

If you planned on operating in an urban environment, I would definitely go NV over thermal if you had to chose one. This is because 1) urban environments had more inanimate sources of heat (so a lot of things like electrical sources show up on your scan--distractions that you are not interested in and can't hurt you), and 2) urban environments tend to have a lot more glass, which reflects heat and effectively blocks thermal--someone could be on the other side of a window pointing a rifle at you and you'd only see your own reflection in the thermal scope).

Wow! Nice summary LDD.

Did you see the NVB SERIES from ATN? The NVB series of night vision binocular provide one of the most adaptable and customizable night vision experiences in the world of night vision binoculars. The NVB is available in a variety of magnification levels, ranging from 3x magnification, to 8x magnification, in order to suit a wide range of needs.

Most of ATN's night vision devices feature a built in infra red illuminator to allow the viewer to see even in total darkness by creating light invisible to the human eye, but used by the illuminator to brighten its image. The NVB series of binocular is unique in having two illuminators, a built in all purpose one, as well as a detachable long range one, resulting in an increase in illumination and brightness in the device.
Source: https://www.atncorp.com/night-vision-binoculars

I've never viewed thermal, and have no need in reality for 3rd gen night vision, but I like toys. I'll give my opinion but keep the above in mind.

I bought a "new" blem tube and a PVS-14 kit. Tube was 900-ish and the kit was 600-ish. I put it together myself so for the 1500 range I have a 3rd gen non-autogate PVS-14. I liked it so much that I did another build!

In non-firearms related situations (i.e. just walking around the urban/suburban neighborhood), the blem tube is fine and the 3rd gen 1x PVS rocks!

Because it's non-autogated, I get "blooming" with the lights, so I added a cheap chinese IR-filter (760nm+ I think, might have been 780). Helps with the blooming a lot.

I can see bats fly around the neighborhood (didn't know we had bats).

Anyway, my point for this was that you can build a PVS-14 yourself if it's going to be a toy.

I have some Gen 1 binoculars and a Gen 2 "NVS" monocular. The Gen 3 stuff blows them away (well, the Gen 2 is usable, but just lets resolution).

I was going to use AB Nightvision (out of TN?), but they seemed too busy.

James in Denver

I ride my dirt bike at night with my ANVIS goggles.


Critter spotting? Thermal has a distinct advantage.


I paired a good illuminator with a PAQ-4C IR laser and I can shoot stuff in the dark. Thermal has some advantages but it has some disadvantages as well.

Thanks for the additional info boys. Very useful as I travel down this exploratory path.