#Photonis

Good evening! Perhaps I caught your attention with some nice white phosphor? In today’s installment of Friday Night Lights, I will show you something that is uncommon in the night vision world and in the grand scheme of things is relatively affordable – Sure Shot Night Vision’s PVS-27 retube. They take clip-on night vision devices (CNVD) and retube them with better tubes. It sounds easy but nothing could be further from it.

There is a common trope in the night vision world: 1 < 2 < 4. These numbers refer to the quantity of tubes used in different sets of NODs (Night-vision Optical Devices). Monoculars like the PVS-14 or Photonis Vyper-14 are inherently more limited than binocular devices like DTNVGs, and “ panoramic” quad-tube NODs like GPNVGs are heralded by many as the holy grail of seeing in the dark – hence, one tube isn’t as good as two tubes, which aren’t as good as four. Although in practicality, the four vs. two debate is a bit more complex than this somewhat trite representation, with factors like weight entering the mix, the fact remains that quads are a big deal (and come with the big price tag to match). Doubtlessly, there is something to be said for panos’ offering of a wider field of view and resultant better situational awareness.

The Night-Tronic NT940 Monocular (Mini-14) is a very compact light amplifier. The device is slightly smaller and lighter than the PVS-14 (NT920), yet it offers the same or better performance in darkness. Due to its small size, the device can be used hands-free, head-mounted or helmet-mounted, or paired with traditional sighting or aiming optics. The device can be connected to the camera for “digiscoping” type nature or star photography using the optional mounting adapter.