Night Vision

Night vision is a VERY useful tool. Anyone who has it or has used it will agree, and will likely attempt to motivate others to add it to their equipment. The primary hurdle is always the price. No tax stamp to pay for, no NFA wait times, just a high barrier to entry, cost-wise. It is worth it. It expands your capabilities almost immeasurably. I have had a PVS-14 monocular for a few years now, but it has really only hit me hard in the past year, how important it is. If you read my other recent post, you know I recently completed a year's worth of shooting only with iron sights. It dawned on me, as my proficiency with fixed sights grew, that my go-to gun's real advantage lay in it's IR laser and light, combined with the PVS-14; not any kind of optical sight. It is dark half the time right now, where I live. Unless your "area of operations" is strictly limited to the inside of your house, and a flashlight's range from it's exterior walls, you are damn-near incapable of identifying and accurately engaging a target in the dark, if you don't have night vision. Everyone's context is different, and I understand that avoiding the expense of night vision is justifiable in certain potential self-defense scenarios. A flashlight is arguably enough in close quarters, and donning your NVD in a quick-reaction scenario is not realistic. I guess night vision truly shines in a more militaristic context. The ability to seek, observe, and identify targets in the dark without projecting white light is awesome. The advantage in range of observation and identification is awesome. And, ultimately, the engagement of said targets with an IR laser is far better than with a white light and optical sight, assuming we are inside the range of white light to begin with. I need not mention the advantage in engaging targets outside the range of white light.

I guess my bottom line is, if you can take the financial hit, and your context is one that could be improved by it's addition, get some night vision. Maybe just don't buy those next two or three optics or guns, and use those funds to give you an advantage none of those things can. A gun with an IR laser and fixed sights is far more capable than one with the fanciest optic in all the land, if you can see in the dark.

If anyone here has night vision, and has anything to add, please do. If anyone has anything to say against it, please do. As long as it isn't the price. We all know it's expensive.

 

Given the times were living in & all the uncertainty that comes along with possible upcoming changes, I think anyone with even the slightest "prepper" mentality or desire to just be prepared for any level of instability, that having some sort of NV capability should be essential. Especially if u live in a house with a decent sized yard & want to be able to positively ID someone or something approaching ur property from the street. I can't recall the brand right now, but my father lives in a raised ranch on about an acre, & just got a set of digital NV binos on amazon for under $300. They work impressively well for the price & are very clear for the range he needs to be able see out to. U can PID out to 200yrds easily with em. Paired with my surefire X300V IR light, they work even further. Def an extremely useful tool in the event we would have to defend the house in a disaster or lawless situation. Having NV capability that could mount to a rifle would be even more effective, but for now is out of our price range. But i def agree that having some type of NV capability greatly improves ur chances of being able to effectively defend ur home/family in a crisis situation. I'll post the brand name that he got next time I'm there. They're very affordable & effective.