Josiah from United States, IN Public Profile

I had looked at a few devices along these lines. I chose this one because of the versatility in that I could run a, helmet mounted, co witnessed night vision monocular (in this case a PVS-14) with a thermal monocular. It isn't true fusion but it is a lot less expensive and opens up more then just the standalone NV. I mounted a ATN ODIN LT as well and so far have been pleased. I find a significant selling point is that you can swap things in the field, with an extra pod, so you could run two night vision units while driving to a location then swap to NV/thermal in under a minute to watch the area, or just slid off the second unit, until you need it, to run just a monocular. The mount is very intuitive so if you need to adjust something it is pretty straightforward, with a good range of adjustment. I haven't been able to work with the unit as much as I like before writing a review, but at this time I'd say it is worth the price.

I recently purchased this unit as an addition to my search and rescue equipment. After playing with it for a little while I found the controls easy to learn and overall the unit was easy to operate. It does seem to be a good entry level unit and I was pleased with the detection and identification ranges (at least in cold weather, still waiting for things to warm up). The resolution (with the 640 unit) is lower then what it would be on a third gen night vision unit, but it opens up what you can find with a quick look. There was a notable blemish in the picture but it didn't detract too much from the operation. It is sold as "best suited for stationary observation" but I was able to walk with it with a little practice. I did buy one of the helmet mounts and found it a little lacking as it didn't have the adjustment range for a perfect fit for me but really like having some head mount option. The mount locks in with a set screw, which wasn't my favorite and was the main reason I didn't give the product a five star rating, if it had a PVS 14 style adapter it would be a nice touch, that being said without the mount it fits very well in a padded belt pouch. The ability to use an external battery is wonderful and I like that you can also use CR123 batteries as a backup. The lack of extra features keeps the cost down (for thermals anyway) and the controls easy to use.