How many of you see NVGs as a needed element in your home defense scenarios if the need arises?
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I think if folks can afford some NVGs, they should have them. If a bad guy cuts the power to a home prior to entry, you might with you had some NODs. Good to be able to see bad guys hiding in the dark near the home too.
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Anything that helps one defend ones self, as long as we are capable and confident in the use of a tool, add it to the tool box. Me? I donāt have one.
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Flash bangs, Smoke grenades, night vision, in survival there are no rules.
Legally there are rules that need to be followed but those are called laws.
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I donāt have near the income to get night vision. I do want it, though.
Starting to wonder if I should go for thermal instead, though.
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There are advantages and disadvantages to both. There can be times where NODS might not let u see something camouflaged, where Thermal could point it out.
But in the same stead a space blanket laced with vegetation can be used to defeat thermal imaging, but you wouldnāt have as great a image for traveling on foot.
The best solution I think is Nods with a thermal clip on (COTI)ā¦
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I had NV up Till 2019 house burnt to ground, safe saved all guns but the electronic stuff in didnāt make it, when the fire department sprayed water in the safe so hot it melted the gasket and the water that ran in just turned to steam. And now raising grand children no $ to spend .
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I would really like to add some form of quality night vision/thermal imaging to my kit. Iāve gotten to try some cheap options and havenāt been impressed with their usefulness.
The problem is the cost of the good stuff is pretty high for the average person and I donāt feel it is completely necessary for inside the home defense when you know the layout and can make the threats come to you.
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I guess my way of seeing this is that he is sees first has an great advantage. Coupled with the notion you have of knowing the layout best is a viable option.
But lots of bugular incidents are not random. Sometimes they know the layout of the home, or have a good idea of how it might look.
So this is just my opinion. But if the power went out in you neighborhood for instance, would you still hold that advantage in the dark?
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Sorry to hear you goggles didnāt survive
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I hear you on the not acceptable stuff. There was a time when the digital stuff was being pushed as being just as good a Gen III Nodsā¦
Itās not even close to Gen II performance when there is barely any light in your environment. But there were those who were tricked and found out after their purchase that they were trickedā¦
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Iād feel pretty confident inside my home. It is pretty much never pitch black and my hearing is still good enough to be able to know when and where my wife and son or anyone else is walking. They also have distinct walking styles so I can tell who is walking as well even when they are trying to move quietly.
In the event of a home invasion our plan is to head to our safe area and wait for the trouble to come to us. The safe area has a locked door, sharp turn and funnel for the invaders to deal with. They will also be greeted by a very bright flashlight aimed at them and sitting several feet from my actual position. So I feel the advantage will be significantly in my favor.
If money allowed I would definitely like to have some good night vision but feel it would be most useful if I needed to go outside to help a neighbor or in a societal breakdown situation where the neighbors had to work together to keep the whole neighborhood safe.
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I think very few people have a legitimate use, let alone āneedā, for night vision for home defense.
Maybe if by home defense you mean out on large acreage in a rural area where you use NV to see your property at night?
IDkā¦I donāt see night vision being a part of āhome defenseā generally
If you need night vision because bad guy cuts power to your home first (which, letās be real, is extraordinarily rare), you should probably set your home up differently.
For example, I can see well enough to move around my house and positively identify home invader threats, even if my power goes out, without night vision. If itās just my house with power cut, there is light coming in from outside lamp posts/etcā¦and I have battery backup powered plug in night lights throughout the house that come on even brighter when the power is cutā¦and itās not like just one or two of them the assassins could go unplug right away (but none in master bedroomā¦no seeing into it at night from the other side unless you brought your own illumination source to shine in)
I wouldnāt want to limit myself to an 80 degree or so field of view anyway.
My HD firearms all have WMLās on them just in case
I saw this as the owner of a decent PVS-14, thin film white phosphor, mounted to a bump helmet, and training from a top tier trainer in the use of said PVS-14.
Owners of NVG will, at the top of the list of how-to-use, always recommend taking the batteries out when not in use/using soonish. NV just isnāt conducive to āhome defenseā
For most people, simple stuff they havenāt done should be at the top of the HD listā¦fortifying the locks on the doors/windows and installing a monitored alarm that is set religiously
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My favorite reason to own NVGs. 
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You say: āIDkā¦I donāt see night vision being a part of āhome defenseā generallyā
I tend to disagree with this, but to each their own. Iām just curious as to who here see NODS as a viable option.
You Say "If you need night vision because bad guy cuts power to your home first (which, letās be real, is extraordinarily rare), you should probably set your home up differently.ā80 degree or so field of view anyway.ā
Itās actually 40-51 degrees with binos, annd quad tubes allow a 120 degree FOV. A dual PVS-14 setup on a PanoBridge can give you a 75 degree FOV.
You Say: āMy HD firearms all have WMLās on them just in caseā
I hear ya, and that is a sound position to have a Duty Rated WML. I have White light, IR Illumination, Vis and IR laser. I am also capable of commiting to Passive Aiming if I was to decide to not leave a signature.
I never said a bad guy cut you power but rather that you lost power via some mishap. Anyone of a half dozen things could occur where you lose power. and you would especially want to be able to see if you are in a rural location. The advantage certainly falls to you with NVGsā¦
You Say: āFor example, I can see well enough to move around my house and positively identify home invader threats, even if my power goes out, without night vision. If itās just my house with power cut, there is light coming in from outside lamp posts/etcā¦and I have battery backup powered plug in night lights throughout the house that come on even brighter when the power is cutā¦and itās not like just one or two of them the assassins could go unplug right away (but none in master bedroomā¦no seeing into it at night from the other side unless you brought your own illumination source to shine in)ā
Those light are a good option but I was waiting for you to say the first thing to do would be call 911. 
You say: āI saw this as the owner of a decent PVS-14, thin film white phosphor, mounted to a bump helmet, and training from a top tier trainer in the use of said PVS-14.ā
So youāve owned NODs at one point. You should know there is not an 80 degree FOV. Maybe you meant to type in 40 degreesā¦ All Good!!!
You say: "Owners of NVG will, at the top of the list of how-to-use, always recommend taking the batteries out when not in use/using soonish. NV just isnāt conducive to āhome defenseā
Granted a point well taken. I run a battery pack which only require connecting to the cable port. But you are surely correct that leaving batteries in forever is not a good thing.
You say: āFor most people, simple stuff they havenāt done should be at the top of the HD listā¦fortifying the locks on the doors/windows and installing a monitored alarm that is set religiouslyā
1000% in agreement
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Hahahahahahahaha!!!
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The reason you can see reasonably well inside your house with the lights off is because of all the ambient light in your neighborhood, the street lights, your neighbors watching late night TV. Even when the lights were out due to the fire, the fire itself created so much light that it was nearly like daylight ā although tinted red.
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Not a single street light in my little town. Sometimes one of our neighbors annoyingly forgets to turn their backyard flood light off but most nights the only ambient light we get is from the moon or the Milky Way. We do have a skylight and a couple of big windows to let all that starlight in though.
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In areas with no or little artificial illumination, it is surprising how much light there is from starlight and moon light. We had a Japanese student stay with us one school year and we took him up into the mountains to view a meteor shower. He had never been outside the city in Japan and he was amazed at how numerous the stars were. In his city of Kitakyushu, he could only see perhaps ten stars at night and the clear, mountain view just was amazing to him. And, with the occluded air in his city he had never seen a meteor either. Made his night for him.
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I own the PVS-14 right now, and have training in how to use it. It is not part of my home defense plan.
I am not the best at remembering numbers, I know that in using it the FOV is far lower than not using it lol. So then itās 40 degreesā¦very not good. A process as simple as walking without tripping is difficult/a learned skill (and is still inferior to being able to see the ground in front of you with the naked eye, of course)
Moving around in a structure under NV in lighting conditions which require NV is extremely difficult. Difficult to the point that intruders probably arenāt going to be doing it in the first place, there is almost surely going to be enough light for all involved to see where they are going either through existing light, or light being used by the intruders (and you have home field advantage of knowing the layout like the back of your hand, usually)
But again, for me, even if power is cut, even when the power in the whole county is out, at night, I can see well enough with naked eyes to navigate my home and ID intruders who donāt belong there. If I couldnāt, Iād still want white light, because I live with other people, and identifying who someone is, in the dark, really not comfortable doing that under NV personally. Iām going to need to look with my eyes using white light to ID who someone is even if I ended up in a cloud covered new moon power outage and all my battery backup night lights died at the same time because Murphy had a straight flush that night
I have a hard time believing many people out there are going to benefit from the setup requirements and donning time/limited FOV/total reliance on electronics and batteries, etc to benefit from NV as part of their home defense plan.
Now, if there is an extended major outage, a regional SHTF, etc, and you need to stay up at night and survey/keep eyes on anyone approaching thinking they are using the cover of dark to do bad things (and likely in a group)ā¦yeah the NV is coming out along with rifles and body armour but ānormal times random crime someone already broke into the houseāā¦no NV for me, and donāt see why Iād want to
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