Nightvision Suppliers Digital Add ON???

[badsworth]

Geoffrey Davies of 'Nightvision Suppliers' (Used to be called 'Nightvision Supplies') is offering a digital add-on for £399 based on the Newton Hornet digital monocular. The price is very attractive and the only review I have found is very favourable - see http://www.riflesunlimited.co.uk/showarticle.php?id=30. I have read several very positive comments about Geoffrey by users of this forum and he does seem a very decent guy. Does anyone have any experience of using this digital add on intensifier? Or any other knowledge that will help me make up my mind about this piece of kit?

 

I know that £399 is peanuts as far as Nightvision equipment goes, but it is still a significant outlay.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

 

Badsworth

[Snowz]

He ripped me off over a rifle and I know of others who have had hassle with NV gear off him and he wouldn't give any money back then either.

 

His company went tits up from what I hear before over money issues and that's why it's now under a different name. DODGY

 

He is not to be trusted in my opinion an I know other on this forum who have had bad dealings with him so they might post a reply too.

[SteveW]

Geoffrey Davies of 'Nightvision Suppliers' (Used to be called 'Nightvision Supplies') is offering a digital add-on for £399 based on the Newton Hornet digital monocular. The price is very attractive and the only review I have found is very favourable - see http://www.riflesunlimited.co.uk/showarticle.php?id=30. I have read several very positive comments about Geoffrey by users of this forum and he does seem a very decent guy. Does anyone have any experience of using this digital add on intensifier? Or any other knowledge that will help me make up my mind about this piece of kit?

 

I know that £399 is peanuts as far as Nightvision equipment goes, but it is still a significant outlay.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

 

Badsworth

 

 

Hi Badsworth

 

I have had several dealings with Geoffery, all with satisfactory outcomes, so can only speak as I find.

 

Unfortunatly the NV world seems to be filled with many less than scrupulous characters, Geoffery in my experience is not one of them.

 

I cant help you out with the Newton Hornet digital monocular, seem's like a good price, so if you do decide to view/purchase let us know. To be honest I think the comparision to Gen 2 stuff might be a bit of a stretch on the truth, who knows definately worth a look.

What was you intending to use it for??

 

ATB

Steve

[badsworth]

What was you intending to use it for??

 

ATB

Steve

 

Mainly for Fox and Rabbits. It'll be on my .17 HMR most of the time and occassionally on my .223.

 

B

[PESCA]

badsworth, I wouldn't think that it will any good for your 223 and you're maybe pushing it for your seventeen.

 

To be honest, for your seventeen you'd ideally need GEN2+ upwards and certainly GEN3 for your 223. Really depends at what range you'll be shooting, but over 200 you'll want GEN3 so that you can safely check out your back stops too.

 

A lot more coin though, I'm afraid.

 

George

[garyw]

badsworth, I wouldn't think that it will any good for your 223 and you're maybe pushing it for your seventeen.

 

To be honest, for your seventeen you'd ideally need GEN2+ upwards and certainly GEN3 for your 223. Really depends at what range you'll be shooting, but over 200 you'll want GEN3 so that you can safely check out your back stops too.

 

A lot more coin though, I'm afraid.

 

George

as pesca states!

 

-for the sort of money you are talking about the kit wont be up to much past 50-60 yds limits you really to bunnys.

you really need upwards of gen2+ for charles with a cf rifle.i use add on[gen3] and can see way past my intended quarr,y knowing your safe is paramount with nv gear your field of view is a lot smaller than a scope.

on a personal note i bought my set up from Geoff ,i went to see him and got a full nights viewing through his nv gear

to compere kit side by side.save up your pennys and then save some more.buy the best -cry once.

[Foxshooter]

He ripped me off over a rifle and I know of others who have had hassle with NV gear off him and he wouldn't give any money back then either.

 

His company went tits up from what I hear before over money issues and that's why it's now under a different name. DODGY

 

He is not to be trusted in my opinion an I know other on this forum who have had bad dealings with him so they might post a reply too.

 

While I cannot comment about his rifle selling as far as NV goes he is a helpful guy. Give him a ring and have a chat.

 

His company did not go 'tits up over money issues' I believe this is bad feeling on your part.

 

Geoffrey and his then trading partner had a disagreement over his partners side dealings. Things became unpleasant and his partner left/was removed. Ownership of the company name was I believe part of the split.

 

Before you discount his digital set up I suggest you have a look at it. He did not bring this to the market without having a decent product. At a recent BBS NV meet up many were impressed by its clarity against comparable units (not to mention the price)

 

The only issue may be CF use. Rimfire and HMR should be fine but the eye relief may have some bearing on use with recoiling calibres.

 

Good things can be done with even Gen1 kit with appropriate use of a suitable laser illuminator. When the Cobra Merlins were the de rigeur NV I know of people who were shooting foxes out to 200 with long eye relief Gen1 Merlins with a laser on a .223

 

Look before you buy, why spend 2K if 1K or £500 would cover your needs.

 

Badsworth, are you sure about the name?? I'm not aware that it has changed from Supplies to Suppliers???

 

http://www.nightvisionsuppliesltd.co.uk/

 

Are you looking at the correct website.....

 

On a personal note I have tried digital its not my bag. I had a Gen2/2+ (dep tubed) D121 for a while but decided add-ons were not for me either. I ended up with a 6x mag 60lp/mm 'hypergen' dedicated scope which was the dogs. I have recently sold it to a member on here (Craig from Third Eye)

 

Mark

[CliveWard]

Geoffrey Davies of 'Nightvision Suppliers' (Used to be called 'Nightvision Supplies') is offering a digital add-on for £399 based on the Newton Hornet digital monocular. The price is very attractive and the only review I have found is very favourable - see http://www.riflesunlimited.co.uk/showarticle.php?id=30. I have read several very positive comments about Geoffrey by users of this forum and he does seem a very decent guy. Does anyone have any experience of using this digital add on intensifier? Or any other knowledge that will help me make up my mind about this piece of kit?

 

I know that £399 is peanuts as far as Nightvision equipment goes, but it is still a significant outlay.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

 

Badsworth

 

Badsworth,

 

Add ons of any kind have only 2 advantages over a dedicated NV rifle scope. They are that you can move one unit from rifle to rifle but unless it has a bayonet fitting like the Archer this will take a few minutes to to reset it all up. The other is that you can use higher magnification than most dedicated rifle scopes.

 

The drawbacks are (sorry it's a list) :

 

Add ons rely heavily on extra IR light due to the high losses through the day scope and until you get to the realms of XG or Gen3 your range is limited to the power of your IR.

 

On most tubed systems, the tube area only gets 50% filled so the tubes ABC and BSP doesn't function correctly and the tube will wear prematurely.

 

There is a very narrow field of view and depth of field so a lot of scanning and refocusing while scanning is needed to find targets.

 

The add on will take up all of your eye relief + 2 or so inches so you either have to mount your day scope well forward or use a butt extension on the rifle stock. Neither ideal.

 

Regarding a digital add on:

 

They have an even narrower field of view than a tubed system.

 

Regarding any digital sighting system:

 

This is the major flaw of any digital system. There is a delay between what comes into the system and then what is subsequently displayed on the screen. This means you are always shooting at something that happened in the past. I've done tests on this and anything other than a rock steady front and rear rest and completely static target will lead to misses whatever digital system (I've tried them all).

 

The digital add on isn't quite the good value it appears to be either as the system costs £399 but will not work on it's own at all. You will need extra laser IR. The preferred IR from that add on seller is an extra £250!

 

To put that into perspective you can get a Gen1+ tubed add on complete with a suitable laser IR out to 100 yards for £420 complete and it wont have a delay and poor field of view.

 

On my HMR and .223 I use one of our dedicated 6x XG tubed rifle scopes. I can swap between rifles day or night scopes using QR mounts and have the best of both worlds.

 

For safety you need to select a suitable system for your biggest calibre and work down, not try to push an unsuitable system up. Even with the HMR I've been out and seen people and livestock in my backdrop that I wouldn't have picked up with a lesser system or even a lamp! I'm not talking about seeing people out and about but being lined up on a target ready to take the shot and seen people wandering through my field of view in the scope!

 

Even with the very best add on system you may get the range but you won't get a safe field of view. Depending on the ground we all have a safe envelope where we would be happy to take a shot with something beyond and to the side of our intended target. An add on would not let you see this envelope, so unless you have a colleague with a wide angle spotter watching for you, you'll never see anything that leaves this safe envelope and wanders into the danger area.

 

In my opinion a safe and useable scope should give you a wide field of view and also a useable image all the way to the horizon in the worst conditions (no moon and overcast) with no IR. This would be a 6x dedicated NV rifle scope. The downside is the cost. Ours are the cheapest scopes that can do this on the market and they still weigh in at £2500-£3000!

 

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[badsworth]

the tube area only gets 50% filled so the tubes ABC and BSP doesn't function correctly and the tube will wear prematurely.

 

 

 

Thanks Clive for taking the trouble to give such a detailed answer. That gives me lots to think about! I didn't understand the bit above - but the rest made interesting reading for me.

 

Yes I am sure about the name change - see this month's edition of Sporting Rifle. They use some of the same graphics as are used on the website for 'Nightvision supplies' (which is still on the Web), and Geoff uses the 'Nightvision Supplies' e-mail address. I have had a long chat with him and he seemed very helpful. I just wanted some objective opinions, which thankfully I have been getting.

 

Many thanks

 

Badsworth

[Snowz]

His company did not go 'tits up over money issues' I believe this is bad feeling on your part.

 

Geoffrey and his then trading partner had a disagreement over his partners side dealings. Things became unpleasant and his partner left/was removed. Ownership of the company name was I believe part of the split.

 

 

 

If you was to get ripped off by someone would you not want to tell others about them?

 

There was a thread on here before about him and a few long standing members commented on their bad dealings with him and others pm'd me about him too.

 

Also there was a thread on Pigeon Watch about the BBS and his name was brought up again by members with bad dealings.

 

So no not just my bad dealings with him but others an I'm sure if they saw this thread they would leave a comment about him.

 

As for his company change etc ut was only what I was told and info I got from Companies house as I was going to take him to small claims court over my dealings with him.

 

I have bumped into him since he ripped me off an he us a little worm who likes to wind you up and then threatens to ring your FEO an say he has been threatened by you and get your FAC questioned even his so called friends said he is a snitch and would lie to get your FAC In Trouble. when I explained to them my dealings with him and what messages we exchanged even they said he was in the wrong and unfair on me.

 

The end the day he ripped me off and I'm out of pocket

[CliveWard]

Thanks Clive for taking the trouble to give such a detailed answer. That gives me lots to think about! I didn't understand the bit above - but the rest made interesting reading for me.

 

Yes I am sure about the name change - see this month's edition of Sporting Rifle. They use some of the same graphics as are used on the website for 'Nightvision supplies' (which is still on the Web), and Geoff uses the 'Nightvision Supplies' e-mail address. I have had a long chat with him and he seemed very helpful. I just wanted some objective opinions, which thankfully I have been getting.

 

Many thanks

 

Badsworth

 

Hi Badsworth,

 

No problem. The ABC is Automatic Brightness Control and adjusts according to the ambient light so that the tube is not prematurely worn this adjusts up to a level called Bright Source Protection where the tube will power off to prevent damage.

 

These work on an average brightness over the whole surface of the tube. So on a 1 x add on with a 25mm lens, 50% is in complete darkness while the centre 50% is receiving light, this means the ABC and BSP will work, but at twice the light level, causing wear and damage depending on how bright the scene being viewed is. This is compounded by the fact that add on systems need very powerful IR to function, so most scenes are too bright unless you are very careful. If you can see the structure of the tube, it's too bright.

 

I had this discussion on another forum and even some of the other 'experts' couldn't understand it...lol. Luckily a very knowledgeable chap from Australia called David did a handy illustration.

 

 

 

David's got no axe to grind, unlike the add on seller arguing with us at the time...lol.

 

I've sent you a PM by the way in fairness, just in case you didn't realise who I am.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[Foxshooter]

I think you will find that Clive is one of the good guys when it comes to NV

 

The 6x dedicated scope I recently sold was one of Clives and in my opinion was the dogs danglies. I didnt want to sell it but needs must when the taxman calls and it was the least painful sacrifice to make. I had no desire to shot stuff at silly distances with it and the 6x mag was ideal for my uses

 

Snowz

 

As I said I cannot comment on his rifle sales or other dealings, only on his NV It wasnt meant as a personal attack and I owe him no particular loyalty. I speak as I find and have found him helpful in the past. To my knowledge he has never had me over. I am sorry you had a bad experience I hope you have some come back by whatever means you find necessary, what goes around deserves to come around.

 

I must admit I wasnt aware of the business name change if it is as stated correct?

 

MArk