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SOF veterans’ top reco*mendations for night vision goggles and binoculars

The post Best Night Vision Goggles of 2023 appeared first on Outdoor Life.

                   

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Best Binoculars		ATN BinoX 4K	SEE IT
Best Budget		PVS-14 Photonis Gen 2+ White Phosphor	SEE IT
Best Dual Tube		L3 AN/PVS-31A	SEE IT

 

Images of soldiers sweeping through a co*pound in the dead of the night have frequented national news for decades. American soldiers dominate the night thanks to night vision goggles—but that technology hasn’t always been available to the average person. 

Like many gear items that started in the military, night vision goggles and binoculars made their way into the civilian market over time, and now hunters across the country have taken advantage of their game-changing capabilities. Whether you are hunting pigs or coyotes, nighttime is when these critters are up and moving. The best night vision goggles and binoculars will help even the playing field.

• Best Night Vision Binoculars: ATN BinoX 4K 4-16x40mm Smart Day/Night Binoculars





• Best Monocular Night Vision Tube: Licentia Arms Co. L3 Harris PVS-14: Aviation Spot Spec 





• Best Dual Tube: L3 AN/PVS-31A Binocular Night Vision Device





• Best Quad Tube: L3 Harris GPNVG-18 Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggle





• Best Budget: PVS-14 Photonis Gen 2+ White Phosphor





• Best for Humid Environments: TNV/RNVG-A-SG Supergain Ruggedized Night Vision Goggle Articulating

How I Picked the Best Night Vision Goggles and Binoculars

I interviewed three SOF veterans who have deep first-hand experience using a variety of night vision devices and thermals. They’re also hunters and instructors. 

• Jamey Caldwell served in the US Army for 21 years, with the majority of his time spent at a Special Missions Unit. He now uses his extensive tactical experience to teach law enforcement and government agencies through his co*pany, 1 Minute Out. While serving in the military, he worked in his unit’s research and development section of the SMU and helped pioneer advancements in night vision and thermal. 





• Greg Coker spent 22 years flying for the US Army as a helicopter pilot—with 15 years in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. He has 6,200 hours flying under night vision goggles, and he’s trained many of the Army’s best helicopter pilots. He’s more co*fortable flying with night vision goggles on than he his flying during the daytime.





• Jon Dufresne, former US Army Ranger and owner of Kinetic Consulting, teaches various shooting classes for the general public, law enforcement, and federal agencies. He starts his students out with the basics of shooting before moving them to the more advanced levels of training. One of those advanced classes includes the introduction to shooting with night vision.

Night Vision 101

Night vision goggles, binoculars, and scopes all amplify available light. Night vision goggles are regulated by the US Government and each device falls into one of four designated generations: Gen0, Gen1, Gen2, and Gen3. 

Caldwell says each generation brought technological advances, but the attempted jump from Gen3 to Gen4 with the introduction of unfilmed night vision tubes met a lot of co*plications. 

Caldwell says after the issue was resolved, the technology was rolled into the Gen3 category. He says that some marketing campaigns will call the Gen3 unfilmed white phosphor intensifier tubes Gen3+ or Gen4.

Figure of Merit Rating (FOM)

An important aspect of night vision goggles that has improved with each subsequent generation is the figure of merit rating, or FOM. The higher the FOM, the better clarity your night vision device has. 

“The easiest way to explain FOM is [co*paring it to] when you go out and buy a TV. It’s like the difference between a 720, 1080, a 4k TV or now, an 8k TV. The higher that rating, the cleaner and crisper the TV is and the better the image is going to be,” Caldwell says. “FOM is like that with goggles.”

The current best standard is 2,376+ FOM. Manufacturers providing Gen 3 unfilmed technology allow for the best FOM ratings on the market. Anything under a 2,200 FOM will generally result in poor image quality and poor range. 

Field of View

Another critical factor is the field of view, or FOV. Both single-tube night vision like the PVS-14 and dual tubes, like the PVS-31, offer about 40 to 50 degrees FOV. Quad night vision tubes, or panoramic night vision, have an approximate 90- to 100-degree field of view. 

“The human eye has 200 degrees. So we’re losing a ton of our vision when we throw on night vision, but we’re gaining a superpower,” Caldwell says. “…We can see at night with this technology, it’s amazing.”

Night Vision Limitations

The simple fact is that night vision optics won’t provide the same optical quality as standard optics provide during the daytime. The sight range of night vision optics depends on how much light is present from the stars and moon (called illumination levels). The weather conditions can also adversely impact visuals at night.

Dufresne says that night vision user should also know about Equivalent Background Illumination, or EBI. This reading defines how much light is reflected back at the night vision device. Temperature and humidity can adversely impact your nighttime vision because of the dense water particles in the air that reflect light. In other words, your night vision device will have trouble seeing through the haze of particles. 

Because Dufresne lives in humid south Florida, he buys night vision devices with a good EBI rating of approximately 1.7 or lower. He reco*mends calling the manufacturer before purchasing a night vision device to see if the device will function well in the environment you are planning to hunt in. 

Night Vision Binoculars vs Night Vision Goggles

All the experts I interviewed for this story reco*mend avoiding night vision binoculars. Caldwell reco*mends thermal optics over night vision because, in his opinion, they perform better and help identify targets farther out than night vision binoculars can. 

Coker prefers night vision, but he hasn’t had much need for night vision binoculars. He uses his PVS-14 for spotting, shooting, and walking. He attaches his PVS-14 to a spotting scope, making binoculars irrelevant. He also suggested attaching magnifier lenses to your night vision goggles, essentially turning them into binoculars. 

Dufresne argues that night vision binoculars are a “one trick pony,” whereas a pair of dual tube night vision goggles has multiple uses.

“If you had a set of duals and you add magnifiers to the front ends of those, you have an actual binocular set,” Dufresne says. “You could also do the same thing with a night vision device attached to the front of a spotting scope. So you can do the same overall observational stuff.”

Best Night Vision Binoculars and Goggles: Reviews and Reco*mendations

Best Night Vision Binoculars: ATN BinoX 4K 4-16x40mm Smart Day/Night Binoculars

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