Gsci nvg?

[kudougw]

have any 1 tried one of those GSCI nods?
like
http://airsoftdepot.ca/store/product...fc0eq13pqll3r5
and
http://airsoftdepot.ca/store/product...fc0eq13pqll3r5

how do they compare to gen 3 pvs14s, huge difference in terms of image quality?

[Amos]

lol for that price you can get used gen3

[pestobanana]

GSCI is a Canadian civilian night vision company. I believe their gen 3 tubes are Katod tubes from Russia. I believe their gen 2 tubes are also Russian. Their optics are also inferior to US made optics.

They are useable for airsoft I guess, but why?

[kudougw]

because gen3s only pop up on the forum every once in a while, my friends were thinking of getting into the nvg world and i thought maybe $2400 for a new gen2 isnt that bad.

[FrostyFlakes02]

I had one before I sold it in Europe for a ITT PVS-14, housing feels ok, a little bit similiar to milspec housings, front lens will accept LIF filters, but rear lens wont accept aftermarkets amber filter. Don't know about the tubes inside for the gen 2 and 3, but you can pick the XR5 or 4G from Photonis, which are quite good but will run your wallet dry. Housing itself is the problem since I was running a dual bridge, but if you only plan on running a J-arm you should be fine. Price wise is quite expensive (GSCI kinda have the monopoly in Canada when it comes to NVGs...so they can put up any rice they want). Ill rather get a used milspec gen 3 if I were you.

[Canadian Psycho]

Are they decent NVGs? Yes, are they comparable to US or high end europan models? Not even close.

The tubes they use are inferiour, the housings are decently built but are still not the same. I have viewed a set of GSCI PVS-31's with the best tube they offer, 20 000+ were spent on the unit. And my US issue ANVIS 9s made the GSCI unit look like toilet paper tubes with green plastic inside. And the mount was god-awful.

If I could get one for a crazy low prices I would buy a set, but paying retail I'd wait for a better set on the classifieds, far more bang for your buck.

[BenG]

I have a GS-14 heres a breakdown:

its defiantly not a photonis tube, by any means. In a direct comparison with a D300 SHP the GS-14 was able to "see" a target in the same level of darkness as the SHP, the SNR is decent for what you pay and the image is relatively refined, optics have minimal fish bowling, and in this aspect the GS-14 was superior to the D300.

The housing is excellent but does require the use of a proprietary arm... the good news is the proprietary arm is of good quality and is much better then the US GI J-arm.

Its not gen 3 and its not a Photonis gen 2, its your average gen 2. Its defiantly usable for airsoft and you could be perfectly happy with it,that said there are obviously superior options, but its night vision, you get what you pay for. If you have any specific questions about it or would like pictures I am more then happy to help.

as far as there gen 3 offerings, I glanced through a GSCI pvs-14 at a game in BC a few years ago and put it side by side with my friends OMNI VI tube, and it was very similar, HOWEVER this was at the beginning of the night and any differences in SNR, gain and photo sensitivity would not have been obvious at this point. I did notice the resolution was slightly less, my guess is if i were to have compared them at the end of the night the omni VI would have blown it out of the water

as far as comparing your average (excluding photonis) gen 2 to gen 3 it really is no contest simply because gen 3 uses galium arsenide in the photocathode which has a peak sensitivity in roughly the 930nm range and gen 2 peaks at blue light. What this means is, at night when most of the available light is starlight which is in that 900nm range the gen 3 is much much more efficient at magnifying the light simply because of its architecture.

[ThunderCactus]

night optics ambia gen2 is going to be on par with GSCI and much less expensive.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

night optics ambia gen2 is going to be on par with GSCI and much less expensive.

I would second this, and bet the ambia is potentially a little better

[AnthonyG]

If you're budget is $4000 (assumption from the links you posted) you should be able to get a really good used US unit for that price, or with a bit of shopping around you should be able to find a new Gen 2+ with specs better than what you've linked too. I highly encourage you to do some research and ask questions.

The thing with purchasing through airsoft/retail stores is that they don't provide any guarantee of what you are actually getting. They say things like "up to 1000 FOM" or "1600-1800 FOM", but in reality you need more information to make an informed purchase. 1000 FOM doesn't tell you much. It's kind of like selling a vehicle on the premise of "horsepower" alone; it will give you a good idea of how powerful the vehicle is, but it doesn't tell you what it is capable of; is it a pickup-truck, a sedan, or a sports car? Yes, horsepower matters, but so does the number of cylinders, the height of your wheelbase, and your trunk capacity...

It actually astounds me that companies like GSCI can get away with selling "mystery" tubes to customers at such ridiculous prices. I still have yet to find another industry where that kind of behavior is an acceptable practice.

[pestobanana]

Canadian civilian night vision companies are generally horrible. They prey on customers that are clueless about night vision. GSCI sells garbage tubes at premium tube prices, they sell good tubes and astronomical prices. Alpha Optics in Hamilton is no different. I know a guy that bought an "OMNI VII" PVS-14 from them but it was actually a civilian PVS-14 style housing with a Russian Katod tube in it, though it did meet the minimum specs. He paid like 7 or 8k for that, which is about twice its market value.

[Orpheus]

Does anyone know where to get Katod tubes without going through these ripoff stores?

[BobbyDangerous]

The difference between Gen 2 and Gen 3 is a small margin. There isn’t a massive increase as there is between Gen 1 and Gen 2 where light amplification in 1000 Gen 1 and Gen 2 20,000. The difference between Gen 2 and Gen 3 is the photo cathoid. Different tubes will vary depending on quality and specification.

[ThunderCactus]

The difference between gen2 and gen3 depends on how much you spent on the gen2 and gen3 tubes.
Whereas with gen1, it's just differing levels of futility.

[BobbyDangerous]

Gen 1 is cool if you have moonlight or ambient light. If you don’t. Just throw them in the trash.