With a flood of night vision optics hitting the market in the last two years it can be quite difficult to tell from the replicas and the real thing. You can break the bank and have nothing to show for it than a inferior pice of junk. It wasn't to long ago that night vision devices (NVD) looked like something out of a James Bond movie. However, today they are accepted as useful tools. They are continually being made smaller and more refined. The price has gone down too.

Like so many other things, NVD were orignal designed with the military in mind, but today many outdoorsmen are discovering there value. NVD's work by takeing the small amount of light such as starlight and converting the light energy (protons) into electric energy (electrons). These electrons then go through a thin plate containing millions of channels. As the electrons travel through, they strike the walls of the channels and release thousands more electrons. These multiplied electrons then bounce off a phosphor screen that converts the electrons back into photons. This provides an image to the ocular, allowing you to see in the dark.

If you were sealed in a dark room the best night vision would be blind. Basicly speaking, performance is directly related to the type of NVD in use. In this regard NVD's are classified by generations. the higher the generation, the more sophisticated the technology.

Generation 1: This technology dates from the 1960s. military units from this period are large and heavy, an example being the U.S. Army's AN/PVS-2. Currently a bewildering array of inexpensive commerical Generation 1 units. Performance speaking,  these units are not particularly impressive.

Generation 2: This technology dates from the 1970s. Commerical Generation 2 NVDs are noticeably more expensive than Generation 1 units. However, they do offer a good increase in performance. Gone is the geometric distortion of Generation 1 units, and the image is noticeably brighter. Performance is still less than optimal and degrades as the level of ambient light drops.

Generation 3: Dating from the 1990s, a brighter, sharper image was gained by adding gallium arsenide to the photocathode. An iron barrier film also increased tube life dramatically. Performance is stunning. The difference between  a Generation 2 and a Generation 3 unit is substantial.

NVD's come in a wide array of formats. These include monoculars, binoculars, goggles and firearms sights. when choosing a device consider, consider exactly what you will using it for. And remember, A RIFLESCOPE IS NOT A SPOTTING SCOPE.

I highly recomend saving your money untill you can afford at lest  a Generation 2 unit. while a Generation 1 is better than nothing I suppose, it's performance is relatively poor. If you do by a Generation 1 unit, purchase a high-quality IR illuminator, such as from SureFire.

For increased versatility I recomend a monocular that can be hand-held, deployed hands free via a head mount or mounted to a firearm. While a viewing monocular lacks a reticle for aiming, it can be mounted behind a red-dot sight (with night vision settings, such as an Aimpoint or EOTech), used with a laser or mounted to the ocular of an illuminated-reticle riflescope. This makes for a very flexible tool capable of accomplishing a variety of tasks.