Posted on 12/13/2013 7:12:21 AM PST by varmintman
Could anybody here explain the thing about generations of night vision scopes for me, and why is anybody still producing a gen-1 scope? I've moved into an area in which hog hunting is plausible and any info would be appreciated.
Cost would be my guess. Sort of like why produce a Mossberg 500 when there are Benelli’s available?
I believe the numbers refer to the quality of the image resolution. The higher the number, the clearer the image will be. There are improvements with each generation that enable this, but as you may have noticed, the price goes up as well.
Gen 1 requires moonlight for the most part.
Gen 2 can hack it in mean starlight, but is subject to gaining down the whole tube for a bright light source.
Gen 3 starts to get into tubes with better discrimination of bright light sources. About 20/25 for visual acuity.
Gen 1 is like using the bottom of old coke bottles as glasses. If you are serious spend the money on gen 2 or 3.
I have a friend that works for a company which is fielding testing a new digital goggle. It is supposed to have 80% better discrimination of light sources in the field of view. It will also have a “wifi” capability to transmit the streaming image to a network, or to upload other imagery to the tube. In testing now with the military.
Thanx for the link. Now I know where the little monocular I purchased recently fits in the technology development process. The IR needs no battery, just a couple of pumps on a ‘bellows’. It has an IR light attached which does use a AA battery, but I seldom turn it on. Practicing navigating through the house in pitch dark has been a fun exercise I hope I never have to use ...
Google is your friend....
I have his big brother, the magnum field pod. It's a lot of gear to have to tote into the field.
Get in line.
You will see many black/white “digital” viewers for low prices, sometimes advertised as “generation 2.5”. These are OK but nowhere near as good as generation 3 or 4 in the green analog tube viewers. Gen 4 is going to cost you buck$.
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