First night out with pvs14

[Taco]

First time out with helmet mounted pvs14. Team Wendy ltp helmet was awesome. I could wear it all day. Once again the Zeus 640 shined. Didn't see any hogs but saw everything else.....everything. Ok, now on to the pvs-14. My observations, and I don't put these forward to you experts as a review, but more to help me manage my expectations. Outside its near full moon.

I could see cattle at 100-150 as black blobs. Absolutely no detail.
Could not see raccoons at a deer feeder at 60 yards.
It's good for driving the Ranger and walking around.

I can't imagine putting this thing on a rifle and shooting animals with it beyond 30-40 yards; positive ID isn't there. Even the IR laser option seems sketchy to me now. For shooting up a house, vehicle, or a guy you just want to hit I can see it. But, trying to cleanly harvest an animal, I don't see it.

I also had an ir torch from **** that I bought 5-6 years ago. The beam is very tight and concentrated, and to me seems nearly useless. It bloomed on nearly every object, rendering any discernable advantage moot. It seemed to hinder target ID rather than help it. It was like covering the target in a white out blanket to 100 yards. Beyond that it did nothing.

Is the pvs14 a 5 to 75 yard tool? It seems suited for cqb and maybe spotting blobs to 150 yards. I'm not unhappy with my purchase. I'm going to keep working with it. It is nice moving around with it. Any tips you can give me to wring out more performance from it. The display is perfect. There are no flaws in the tube that I can see. Thanks.

 

[dax2323]

Less than half moon... Top of hill is 465yds away. Could easily see deer and hogs out to 275yds.

 

[Taco]

You could tell a deer from a hog at 275? I don't see it bro.

 

[dax2323]

Get glasses?

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Yes something does not sound right I was easily seeing coyotes 200-300 yards.

Do you have it focused right? Look at the stars focus it to them by turning the front ring, then fine tune it with the rear diopter to your eye. That way you will be focused to infinity so everything past a few feet should look good.

Also your brain may need time to adjust to the green tint, the longer you use it and ID things the faster you will recognising them the next time.

 

[theblakester]

This might be a dumb question but Are u familiar with how to adjust the gain? That will dramatically affect how well u can see with it. Too high/bright and u start seeing a bunch of "noise"... Or those "flashy spots." Too low and it's too dark to see anyhing with clarity. I like to turn it up until I start really seeing those flashy specs all over and then turn it back down till they mostly go away. After 30 seconds your eyes will adjust to the dimness and objects in the field appear much clearer. Im not positive bout this part, but I think that also helps preserve the life of your NVG. Also like TLM said, adjust the focus on the objective lens and then fine tune it at the ocular lens...My experience has been this the past year with a pvs-14... I've used it to hunt about 2-3 nights a month for over a year.
I went out and sat in an elevated stand from 9pm-5 am a month or two ago and a deer was walking by at about 30 yards. There was a tree branch/leaves covering about 10-30 percent of the deer as it walked. I spotted it easily in the thermal but when I looked with my pvs-14 I couldn't see it at all... Even with there right amt of quality IR light. It just blended so well with it's natural background, even though it was slowly walking (tall grass, bushes/shrubs, small trees).
I've also been out on more open terrain and easily seen hogs at over 200 yds away. I used to have a digisight N750 and I've been out where they practically performed the same and neither had a distinct viewing advantage. And I've been out when the PVS was a CLEAR winner. When used right and wih a good IR light, it helps tremendously on darker nights.
I think the pvs 14 is prime for short range navigation and animal identification IF the terrain and geography of the land is right.
I'd suggest an Updated IR light that has an adjustable brightness and beam size like the Luna ELIR 3 or something similar.
Getting used to the pvs-14 (and supplemental IR lighting) and being able to naturally optimize how well u can see with it and work with it takes a fewhunting trips though.
It has also helped me in that having it has opened doors to new hunting opportunities.
It has also certainly advanced how I can and do hunt now (much more capable of being mobile at night).

 

[DaveABQ]

Yea something isn't right, my unit is a pinnacle tubed with a resolution of 64 lp/mm minimum. Would be curious to see what the specs are in your unit. As noted above, does your unit have a gain control? Some have no gain control and they are set to max.

Because of my thin filmed tube, I rarely need an illuminator when running without the magnifier. I can identify animals a long ways, easily past 300 yards.

 

[Taco]

I got pretty familiar with the gain control. The focus I guess not so much. Did not focus to the stars. I kept focusing on landmarks in the area I was scanning. I'm goi g out now to range find the distances I was scanning the cows.

 

[wigwamitus]

Of course we can't see through the eyes of others ... but I have experienced the phenomena that some people who first look through PVS-14 may not see the same things I do. Dipoter settings, and focus ring setting ... and iterate adjust first one then the other ... it is harder to get these right at night. In general, I try to focus about about 80-100yds. Usually on a tree in the open if possible. Gain I generally set at about 80% of the max with the hope that this reduces the brightness imbalance between the two eyes and hence headaches when only wearing one 14. Also I hope it extends battery life a little and I hope it reduces effective "hours on the tube" by a little. I only touch the gain then if I am returning to the house and am around white lights or if I am having trouble seeing something specific, then maybe I'll turn it up.
Somewhere, when I first started getting into NV, about 2 years ago, I read that it takes 2 years of training/practice to get it to the "second nature" level. And I am sure that the first time I went out at night (documented at the start of my "practice" thread) I was very distant in terms of what I was seeing than where I am now. So it is probably not an "instant on" type of activity .
Mainly, I would not give up, let there be a second night and a third and so on, hopefully things will improve!

I agree about IR-illuminators, in 97% of the cases I've turned them on, they reduced visibility. In full moon like we have now, you shouldn't need it unless you are looking into shadows. Another thing it can help with is seeing "green eyes" (critters) looking at you. I wouldn't worry about the illuminator at this stage, just work with the 14 and try to get it and you working together.

Good you got a TW helmet, so you won't have to fight discomfort there. It still make take a while to get the helmet and counter-weights adjusted to the best balance, but sounds like you're doing well with the helmet.

 

[wigwamitus]

Oh, I see deer at 400-500yds with my 14. I can lase with the LRF out to 300yds on average and if I need to go further with the LRF I slip on the 3x magnifier. I can see ir-lasers out to 800yds, the farthest I've tried with the 14 and the 3x magnifier. I have not seen a clearer image through NV/thermal than a 14 with a 3x magnifier.
The CO-LR in front of a day scope set to 3x is equivalent, but not better.

In heavy mist the 14 equaled the performance of the Apollo 336 in detecting hot buggy at 80yds. With the 3x magnifier, the 14 could detect buggy at 200yds, beating the Apollo.

 

[Taco]

Yeah the helmet is awesome. Counter weight is set, and have extra batts stored on it. I could wear it all day. I'm gonna ditch "da torch" for now. Something else I was impressed with was the Bog Pod tripod I got at Academy. Gives you a very solid rest that you can swivel and track side to side.

I'm not discouraged with the pvs. I'm going to keep playing with it and even if there ends up being a problem I know my vendor will back it up.

 

[wigwamitus]

If you bought this unit from Aaron, maybe get on the phone with him and have him walk you through checking this out. That way he can ask questions and get answers "real time" to make sure you're turning the right knobs etc. If I understand things correctly, there is supposed to be an "infinity stop" ring which prevents unscrewing ... but I'm not sure exactly what unit you have. Is this an NCS PVS-14? If so, then it is a mil-spec housing and should have this "infinity stop ring" feature. It is possible to loosen the infinity stop ring, but hopefully you haven't done that by mistake.

 

[wigwamitus]

The GOOD news is that you have made some progress in diagnosing the issue!

 

[FrankT]

Yeah the helmet is awesome. Counter weight is set, and have extra batts stored on it. I could wear it all day. I'm gonna ditch "da torch" for now. Something else I was impressed with was the Bog Pod tripod I got at Academy. Gives you a very solid rest that you can swivel and track side to side.

I'm not discouraged with the pvs. I'm going to keep playing with it and even if there ends up being a problem I know my vendor will back it up.

You will leave the bogpod in the truck if you get the new trigger tripod TLM reviewed here.

 

[Taco]

The GOOD news is that you have made some progress in diagnosing the issue!

All I've really done is prove I don't know my A from a hole in the ground and that I won't read an instruction manual.

 

[Taco]

You will leave the bogpod in the truck if you get the new trigger tripod TLM reviewed here.

Thanks frank I was all happy about my bog pod and you take a giant dump on me.

 

[FrankT]

Sorry but it is all manual and a PIA the trigger is not, for $114 or so what a deal! lol

 

[wigwamitus]

@Taco, is it possible you are unscrewing a filter screwed into the front of the objective ring?

I run 720nm filters on the fronts of my 14s ... maybe yours came with one?

(I'm trying to find an explanation for how you could be unscrewing something fairly benign)

 

[Taco]

@Taco, is it possible you are unscrewing a filter screwed into the front of the objective ring?

I run 720nm filters on the fronts of my 14s ... maybe yours came with one?

(I'm trying to find an explanation for how you could be unscrewing something fairly benign)

I really appreciate the help. I'll be home in an hour and get the sucker out. Thanks again.

 

[wigwamitus]

Can you take some pics and load them into a paint program and draw some pointers to the thingy you are unscrewing?