Introducing the Personal Night vision 57E Gen 1+
I bought these more for collecting/curio and playing around with then for airsoft. At a price tag of $250(shipping from Poland is another story) I couldn't complain. Ex-Polish PNV-57E Starlight Night vision goggles, are a evolutionary step up from the Active gen 0 PNV-57. The American equivalent to the PNV-57E would be the AN/PVS-5 night vision goggle.
The PNV-57E is a Gen 1+ Device designed for Helicopter, tank and Boat crew. Weighing in at 2.5Kgs they are lighter then they appear. The goggles draw power from the transformer in the back of the head(12-14V). The Power supply also doubles up as the counterweight.
The goggles are normally powered by the electrical system of a tank or helicopter but have been adapted to run off a 9v battery. Included in the carry case is a adapter to run off a vehicle 12v cigarette lighter. The unit came with defect free tubes and a clean image with minimal fish eye. Automatic brightness controls allow accidental exposure bright lights from damaging the tubes. Lacking any form of macro focus, Internal IR source the PNV-57E is useless for low light level CQB.
In the Near future I will be possibly acquiring the next generation to the PNV night-vision family the PNV-10T expect a review.
And maybe one day some gen 3
As a reward to anyone with enough patience to read through my long spiel about old soviet night-vision.
http://www.robertrtg.com/feronightvision.html sells German made Starlight scopes at good prices. Although not as effective as gen 3 night-vision, they will blow any gen 1 rifle scope out of the water. Using a cascade system of 3x gen 1 tubes connected by fiber optics. These scopes will give gen 2 performance at the cost of slight distortion. Being Military grade scopes they come with Automatic brightness control standard. Don't waste money on Cheaper gen 1 devices not designed for military roles.
