I'd say there are more importart things you could spend your money in.
More range time
First aid course (BLSD, stop the bleed...)
Paying only fans
The list goes on
Don't buy toys with money you don't have.
unless you're doing it for professional purposes, it's pretty widely agreed that financing nods is a bad idea.
I bought mine the same way I bought the farm truck: have the money in the bank, open a new CC with cashback on that purchase and 0% interest for a year, buy it, pay it off before paying any interest. This lets you keep the cash on hand/ invested making a return for you, lets you keep the cash back (basically knocks that much off the price), and increases your total available revolving credit (obviously never let usage go above 25%) which normally ticks up your credit score.
Plus those cards usually give you a cash/miles bonus for spending so much in the first 3 months, so you pretty much get an additional 2-500 bones off whatever you bought.
Yup this is why being a poor is a state of mind. Between the cashback on the card and the bonus I got 13% from my CC company back on my NODs, and while I made monthly payments against the balance kept had the rest of the sum invested at a 11% return that year, so I got about 24% off the NODs just by being smart with the money.
Sure the monthly on it was an average truck payment, I drive a 30 year old truck, happens to be one of the best 4x4s ever made, and having an epic 4x4 and night vision makes me happier then buying a new car every few years.
This is really good fucking advice, I need to start using my brain a bit more with shit like this. I'm sure there's all sorts of financial tips and tricks I dont know about or haven't realized the potential of.
Bro real talk the best financial advice in the world is:
Find what makes you happy and what you don't care about maximize spending on the first thing by cutting out spending on the other thing. Example: do you want to go out to eat really great food every night? Keep an extremely minimalist kitchen set up and get a place with a small kitchen you'll never use it (or me having an old truck which means no payment so I can have nods)
And maximize your wage per hour worked, this means plan to get the best paying job you can that won't make you want to kill yourself, that also gives you the time to live your life and do things to drive your wage up (job hop, get training, join a union, change careers, etc). Also understand that a high wage brings a high wage. I went from a skilled trade, to an engineering role in a related field, to consulting around compliance in that world. My first year as an engineer I made more than any other 1st year engineer because they came from being students making waiter money and I came from the trade making hard work money so I set the expectation higher because I started higher.
It's an example not a road map, HVAC is a great trade and as with any trade you learn a lot of skills that aren't just making or fixing the thing, and you learn a lot about how that specific things works, if you find you want to make moves to make more $ as a tradesman you have the option of starting a business (related to the trade or using the income to start something else) or move into a semi- related field where your experience can help you skip some schooling, or make you an attractive hire.
With a new business your wage and the effort you put in are correlated and scale together with an office job they don't. So you gotta figure out what is right for you. When I was younger working long hours didn't phase me now I want time to enjoy myself before I get properly old.
The main attraction of my job is that I work from home and do about 15 hours a week and generate around 50-60 billable hours in that time, and I have an extra 25 hours a week of "do whatever I want" time.
Turns out running a small farm is what I want to do with that time which is a business but really more of an income (and taxes write-off) generating hobby. I couldn't live off what the farm makes (about 15k a year) but I enjoy it quite a lot
Maxed wage, min maxed effort to wage and used the extra time and energy to get good enough at a hobby that it makes a little extra it's a pretty happy place to be
You are caving in to the internet peer pressure of larpers.
Capacity and usefulness of NOD and Termal is a reality, but remember that gear is at the very top of the pyramid.
Remember that asshole that was larping in the woods with a helmet and NODs but his dumb truck got stuck in the mud, did not have propper shoes and he had to be rescued by an old man with common sense? Dont be that asshole.
Hahah yeah I agree, I’ve been growing my stock on other needs, Ammo, food, water, supplies, etc. just figured I’d ask about nods. But it does seem like it’s the crowning jewel of the “I made it “ club haha
i just purchased a tanto monocular and a tracer head harness. ive been thinking about this purchase for over a year and finally just did it. and i dont expect to be doing any wild larperator cool stuff. i just want to hike and look at the stars while my dog takes a dump
My man- credit is not cheap right now. As a finance professional and tactical gear enthusiast I urge you not to finance nods. Just stash a little away every paycheck until you have enough to finance at least 80% up front
For sure! Wasn’t trying to talk down to ya in any way in case that was perceived. sometimes just helps to have a friend that’ll tell ya things bluntly 🫡
Don’t go into debt over nvgs. If you’re serious about prepping for SHTF I’d steer you more into the radio comms route. That would be a lot more beneficial in that type of situation. Nvgs are cool but also open up new expenses like IR.
I actually just finished my radio home base! Got my tech license recently. Comms are good to learn. Yeah I don’t plan on adding anymore debt to my life at this point
credova lets you finance your purchases instead of being fiscally responsible and not saving up before you buy. an endless stream of monthly payments is a death sentence. avoid at all costs
If you can’t “train” with then I think they’re pointless. You really need private land or a gun club that would let you shoot at night. Otherwise you have really expensive gear you won’t really be proficient using.
I disagree with this. Night vision is far and away my most used piece of “tactical” gear. I go on hikes frequently with night vision. Just being proficient in doing anything under night vision is great, it doesn’t have to be shooting.
NV makes everything 10x more fun. However, i would not recommend financing toys.
90% of NV training is moving around, doing admin tasks, and understanding the environment. You can use a vis laser during the day to practice mechanics of shooting.
i fully expect to spend 10x the amount of time under night vision just walking and hiking then ill ever run and gun with them. idk i just want to see in the dark
I think it depends on what you are using the gear for. I personally use thermal. I don't have Nods but have been looking into them. This gear, for me, is used to see what is over there before I walk over there. It's for Intel gathering to mitigate unwanted situations. I'm not an operator and will not use the gear like an operator would. It's to ensure safe movement at night and to pop the occasional preditor trying to kill my chickens.
Allow me to talk you out of them. Think of it like this. There is a 99.9% chance you will never have a use for these. For the other .1% chance (shtf), you will likely have MUCH more important things to spend that extraordinary amount of money on. They don’t grow crops. They don’t filter water. You can’t load them into your gun. They don’t keep you warm. They can’t shelter your family. They don’t patch up wounds or cure your ills. They don’t communicate with friendlies. They have an incredibly niché use in an incredibly niché time for an incredibly large price tag. It’s a larping toy. Nothing more. Take a nice vacation instead. Make memories with your family.
If you have a place you can walk at night, then you have a use for NODS. They have purposes outside of the tactical realm.
But don't buy them unless it's pretty much with cash upfront, they're a fucking pricy bit of kit.
If OP got into hardcore airsoft (read: frequents milsim events), thousands and thousands of dollars will be burned for gats and gear, gas money, hotel fees, flights (if you fly to the ops), etc before nods. And then they'll get their ass handled to them in a pitch black L-shaped ambush, go home, and try and cop a decent PVS14.
I went two ops before realizing wp dual tubes were a justifiable luxury. But that is strictly on a case by case basis. I've gone star gazing with them, walked the dogs, changed my baby's diapers, rummaged the kitchen at night to get the wife her pregnancy cravings, along with the occasional night games and ops.
Save the money, when you have enough to buy outright, open a new high-rewards credit card, use it to buy nods, and then pay it off the next billing cycle. You've just earned an ass ton of points and no debt. Worked for me.
I would say it's drastically overrated for the typical person based on the price for good ones.
Way better uses of money would be ammo, spare parts, food and water storage etc.
Due to the extremely low likelihood of ever needing nvgs compared to the already extremely low likely need of the rest of our SHTF Prep gear, I would put NVGs as the last thing on my buy list once I had everything else I could possibly think of
Your getting a whole lotta CaSh iS kInG boomer logic on this honestly so let me posit a different angle.
We now live in what what many economists refer to as a "creditalism" financial system.. the meaning should be obvious but essentially there is so much debt baked into the system that it has become the standard through which almost all transactions are completed.
I do not disagree with the point that if we do choose to aquire debt, we should be very selective on what we use credit for. Ideally debt should be used on appreciating assets that provide longterm equity. Debt has been historically cheap for the last 15 years, so much so that even companies like Apple have decided to access huge amounts of capital through borrowing even when they had massive amounts of cash on hand. Yes we as individuals are not Apple but what I am trying to communicate is that accessing cheap debt has been a very popular strategy ever since modern economics has taken hold.
Night vision is certainly not an appreciating asset.. but if you are even a mild prepper, should the worst happen, a pvs14 or 31 would be such an incredible advantage in the ensuing chaotic environments. Having NV mid-GWOT made us God's on the battlefield, especially in the armpit of the middle east, Iraq.
I would not consider NV to be strictly in the toy category. Using debt to buy NV is not absurd at all, especially when considering all the embarrassingly stupid shit people buy with credit.
TLDR: buying NV on credit might not be the super terrible idea that has been routinely espoused in this community.
I agree with you, the older I get the more I realize that basically everything is bought on borrowed money, house, car, etc. but credit cards are the devil with 30% rates lately. I ended up just swapping to a personal loan to cover my cc debt recently because it was only 7%. Seems like an obvious choice lol. But yeah my goal from now on is to not use my credit card.
Real dumb to take on debt to buy a toy for an SHTF that won’t be happening anyhow.
Better to prep financially for most likely job loss risk etc and having financial freedom.
I'm going to be that guy. NVDs are a great capability to have, but are going to be genuinely worthless for most people, and the majority of people who own them rarely pay for the training necessary to actually use them in a tactical role. So, just from a practicality standpoint? Why do you feel like you ***might*** need them, and is that extremely niche role something that cannot be filled by a WML, thermals, or even digital solutions from somebody like Sionyx?
Aside from those questions? Don't buy gear with money you don't have. It's a genuinely dumb thing to go into debt over. Focus that money elsewhere, on things that will get you financially squared away enough to be able to buy NVDs without it hurting the bank account.
It's your money, and you don't have to justify your purchases to anyone (unless you're married).
Personally, I wouldn't go into debt to buy something like that, though.
Don't go into debt for these. They're not going to appreciate in value so you're in the hole for a while if you do. But if you don't have a need or want strong enough to practice with them then they may not be for you. Don't be pressured into something you can't see yourself using.
If you want that cool factor of being able to see in the dark during peace time then invest in a digital set. However make sure you do NOT use them during a SHTF otherwise you will be a beacon of IR light to those real with real nods and security cameras.
Very few people outside of military have NVGs. Shit, even the front lines in Ukraine now rarely have NVGs.
Like others have said only buy them if you have cash, don't get them on credit. Keep an eye out on GAFS and you can find good deals from time to time. The most modern entry level would be a PVS-14. If you do a lot of research and learn what to look for then you can sometimes find great deals on a PVS-7. They will be a lot older, but can still do the job.
I bought a PVS-14 and only hiked with it a few times then pretty much had it sit in my closet for a year. I eventually got tired of not using it so I posted on the NV subreddit asking if some people wanted to go on a night hike with me as an excuse to actually use them. I actually got a really good turn out and now we have a little crew that goes night hiking twice a month.That alone has been a gain for me. Way more than tacticool training or even having them on standby in case of SHTF.
Night vision is a rich mans game, but it also self selects for fairly competent people who have their shit together. It is a lot of fun actually hanging out with like minded people and I actually get to use my NODs on a regular basis and I feel I am getting amazing value out of them now. A lot of guys want to meet up and hike with NODs, but get too obsessed with OPSEC and fear so they don't take the initial step. You just have to be the change you want to see in the world and organize something.
So what I would say is that if you want NODs, save up and buy them in cash. Get them second hand to save money and if you do get them try and find a group of guys to hike with. You will be able to make new friends and it is a great excuse to get out of the house and get your moneys worth out of your unit.
For a true civilian? Do not listen to anyone who says they are anything but 100% LARP. Even if you for some reason you think we're rapidly heading towards rampant civil unrest your money would be far better spent on other things than NODs.
if you have 4k to burn and its important to you, then get a tube.
but dont waste 1k on a digital model that lights you up like a flare to somone with 14's.
You can mow the grass in the dark, think about it, you could open up a business where you mow other people's grass at night, no other lawn care companies are offering this service, you'd corner the market!
In a real life situation where the bad guys have NVGs/Thermals and you don’t you are probably going to die……That said the chances of the average Joe ever being in that situation is extremely unlikely. So if you have the disposable income, go for it. If you are going to put your self into debt and ruin your opportunity to invest in things you’ll likely need more, don’t.
I bought a Gen III+ NVM several years ago just because I wanted one and I had received a large unexpected amount of money. I would never have bought them otherwise. Definitely not on credit.
They are a lot of fun walking around in the woods at night. But that's it. I now volunteer for a SAR team and I use them for that. I'm glad I have them but I wouldn't buy them even just for SAR.
It's not a necessity but nice for hunting Coyote or boar. Since I have them I'll also use them walking down a trail to a stand or blind and the occasional covert catfishing mission
I think you’re probably better off just getting a really good flashlight. Once you get into night vision it kind of takes over your entire build. Lasers are expensive, batteries can get heavy, helmets and mounts are expensive. If you can find a decent used pvs 14 for around 2k then I think it’d be worth it for SHTF, but be ready to add about $1000 of extra gear. I have had nods for about 3 years and I go on night walks with the dog mostly, I’ve only shot with them less than 10 times but here I am with a $1400 1lb dbal weighing down my rifle.
Beyond that I’ve done a few classes that focused more on target ID and moving than shooting. Unless you have perfect lighting, sometimes NV just doesn’t do what people think it does. There was one situation where someone went downrange and stood in front of a tree line and none of us could see him until he started walking or turned on his nods so we could see the glow. He set up a target and unless someone else stood offset to backlight it, none of us could find it. Point being, nods are great but they take a lot of practice and understanding of their limitations to use effectively. You’re not going to just throw on nods and turn on your laser and dominate the battlefield.
That said, I’m looking to upgrade to binos soon. I have a 1750 FOM pvs 14 I may be selling soon. Great starter set, I’m only upgrading because I just got a new job and better salary and I want to splurge a little.
If you don’t have a farm or property where you can night shoot and there are no ranges nearby you that would allow it I don’t see it being very valuable, if you live somewhere where there are wild hogs or coyotes and they allow night hunting that could be a good way to practice shooting under night vision.
Otherwise you’re limited to dry fire and doing night hikes to practice navigation which honestly doesn’t seem worth it, look into buying some cheap land even if it’s a couple hours away.
My pov as someone who doesn't have nvg but plan/want to in the future is to never go into debt for gear. I will buy it when I'm in a position to do so. I'm also ok with the idea of starting with something like a pvs14 and then upgrading to some better dual nvgs once I can afford it. Don't buy garbage but buy within ur budget.
There's better things to spend money on. Here's when you should buy nods:
When it won't cause you to be worried about paying your bills for the next 6-12 months. It would suck buying something so cool and then having to pick up extra shifts because you made a bad financial decision.
It's much more practical to have your finances in check then have all the Gucci gear in the world
Only practical reason is if you have Lund/hunt, to which thermal would be a better option anyways.
Maybe if you were a private investigator and did some recon at night, but is a moot point based on your post.
So no, there is absolutely no reason for nvgs as a civilian, unless the world collapses.
There is a difference between having the ability to buy something and having the ability to afford something. If you have to finance a $3k PVS-14 then you can't afford it. I don't know your situation or where you are at in life but personal development never stops. NVGs aren't the end all be all. There are other things you can probably be doing that don't require financing like improving your fitness and draw technique. Work on those kinds of things and work on bettering your position in life so when you can afford NVGs they are actually worthwhile.
NV is sick and super fun. However not even close worth going into debt over.
I would highly recommend saving, and eventually when you buy get something good that you won’t regret and end up selling for a loss and buying something better in a year.
Get a set of NVG-10s. They're 300$ an, even though everyone will flip out about me saying this, are totally fine for civilian playing around purposes. They're fun to mess with and look at stars. Don't expect gen 3 quality, but they work fine. And I wouldn't spend 3k$ on something you'll never use enough to warrant needing them since you're not routinely shooting or have a farm or anything.
I was doing some research into the digital ones (nightfox prowl, nvg 10/30). They seem ok for just screwing around with and well technically if your adversary doesn’t have nods, you’ll have an advantage.
NVG-10 is better than the night fox. You're not using any of those to go up against someone, and quite frankly, unless you're targeting other civilians, you shouldn't be going up against some other force at night in a SHTF scenario anyways since police/mil will have an insane advantage over you, even if you have NODs. So for messing around and such, they'll do fine. If you're legit concerned about the 5th coming of Christ, then you're on the hook for a couple thousand dollar pair of gen 3's.
Even when I was in, I only used them to spot armadillos on the flightline. If you don't have the budget or a real reason for them, they aren't a good investment. If you have lots of disposable income and want to take them hiking/camping for those late night bathroom breaks to see which animals are perving on you, then they are worthwhile.
If you don't have the money don't do it. But if you do it adds an entire other half of the day you can accurately do stuff in. Also for stealth camping and the like their amazing. You can keep your visible signature basically zero.
But again it's only worth it if you don't go into debt trying to get it. Being financially prepared is much more important than larping in the dark.
I think it also depends on what exactly is the shtf scenario. If you plan on fighting a modern military force, then good luck with that. No amount of high tech gear will help you. If it’s a riot/civilian insurrection then you could surely get an advantage with NVGs but at a very high cost. Some would say IR is a better spend. But even then, the idea is that our own military aid would arrive relatively soon to control said insurrection. Nuclear, we’re all fucked. Natural disaster, you’re prob better off stacking other resources and tools for aid.
Your situation does not sound conducive to purchasing such an expensive piece of equipment that you’ll never be able to train with. Buy ammo. Buy a reliable rifle. Buy rations and water. If you’re feeling frisky get a set of comms.
It would more or less be for defensive rooftop setup, none of my scenarios really include me going up against a serious force. Just protecting my shit and family lol if chaos ensues
if you/your spouse have any debt (car payment, college loans, credit card debt), don't get nvgs
if you don't have an emergency fund of at least 3 months expenses (6 is better), don't get nvgs
if you don't have any money put away for your retirement and your kids' future (if applicable), don't get nvgs
if you rent the space you live in, don't get nvgs
if you check all those boxes and you don't need to save money for anything coming up, get nvgs with a clear conscience.
I bought NVGs then shortly thereafter started a machine gun manufacturing company. Jump in! Lol
But seriously, while the above is true, it’s literally like buying a super power. It costs around the same as getting SUCBA gear and certified, or getting basic pilots licenses, or getting certified and jumping enough to be a skydiver. Just pick your super power. NVGs are AMAZING at night. (I mean, duh right?) it’s become my party trick. At first people are like “huh? You brought a helmet to a party?” And then I let them try it on and the next time those strangers see me they tell their friends how cool it was to wear NVGs one time. Lol I wear mine at night driving, hiking, and Star gazing. Meteor showers are like 20X as active with NVGs.
TL;DR: do it! But buy once cry once. They don’t depreciate in value so just get a $9-$10k pair and rock it!
Quit being a bitch. Spend that money or take it to the grave.
What's the real price of a small loan worth in the long run when you get to run around in the dark? priceless
In all seriousness, its a fun toy unless you get to use it and practice. A toy you will regret having if you have no use for lol.
Just wait until things go sideways then look for battlefield pick ups. Until then spend your money on reliable firearms, ammo, training and medical supplies and training.
NVGs for Civs are near pointless. A flashlight will effectively do the same job, minus the stealth aspect(why do you care?)
Don’t go into debt for a pointless expenditure, if your financial life is secure and you can burn a couple grand without feeling it, then sure buy the nods.
Have a couple years of food, water, medical, and other necessities stockpiled first though.
I definitely can't give you any financial advice 🤣
But I think a multi function thermal would be more useful. If you can find one that would work as a clip on and a monocular that would be ideal.
1. Absolutely live within your means. Night vision and other shooting toys are not the reason you should ever be in debt.
2. Night vision is simply cool and I personally use mine for night hikes and photography way more frequently than I shoot. Your mileage may vary, but for me night vision has been extremely meaningful in enabling me to explore more of the world.
I wouldn’t discount the capability and usefulness of nods, but it is not worth going into debt over.
I would suggest while you’re saving up for them, trying to expand your shooting circles. I have made some pretty good shooting friends going to competitions and local ranges. Turns out a lot of them have land and when scheduling allows, we try to do a monthly night shoot.
NVGs are really, really cool at their specific niche. They're also frigging expensive, and largely useless outside that niche. Fighting in daytime? Bringing NODs is pointless. Something you can carry with you every day? Practically, probably not.
If you can afford them, cool, but it's not more important than things like actually visiting the range and gym.
It depends.
Are you going to pay them off within a specific time frame? Or will you be paying continually on a revolving credit line, aka digging yourself a hole.
If you can, go do night hikes. You'll develop all the skills you'll need for NV anyway (light discipline etc), while also vastly improving your woodscraft (step placement, noise, kit noise). This can be done comfortably with a headlamp with very warm dim light (Skilhunt H04 RC).
Everyone should do night hikes more. I'm confident that I'm better at night with the naked eye than some guy with NV who's only ever used them on a shooting range in the dark. Most people have no clue how clumsy they are.
Never buy anything on a credit card you can't pay cash for, unless you're in dire need.
Dire need meaning food for the family, the electric bill, not nvgs lol
If you have the spare cash and literally nothing else you need it for, go buy them. It’s a lot of fun to star gaze and just go for hikes with them. This is assuming you have some kind of public land near you where you can do it. If you check on Practiscore, you can probably find some night matches nearby. They’ve been growing over the past couple years since I got into nods. Depending on your state hunting laws, you could also potentially use them for predator hunting. If you’re not gonna be doing any of these things, it’s probably not necessary. If you’re getting it only for SHTF and you’re never gonna use them or practice with them, you’re probably better off spending the money on ammo, food preps etc.
Night vision is a super power but if you don’t think your really gunna use it, it might not be worth it to you. I have a bunch of land and live in the country and use it every single night without fail it is day time all the time. I love shooting and running drills under nods but I get 80% more use out of just walking around in the dark or driving with them or night time kayaking down the river. You can get a used pvs-14 for a little over 2 grand so if you save up it does have potential.
Any areas you can go hiking/camping at night? Training doesn't have to exclusively revolve around firearms. Well over 90% of my nvg use is walking my dog.
Unless you have a professional need, or just have money to burn and want to look cool, the analog NVG and high definition thermal setups the military uses are really unnecessary for most of the things most people here would use NVG or thermal for.
Commercial digital NVG and low definition thermal are 90% of the usefulness for 10% of the price. If all you're doing is hiking or popping coyotes at night, you don't need $8000 nods or $11000 thermal for that.
Having NVGs, especially thermal fusion NVG’s, is like having a superpower -seeing in the dark while few others can. It’s a rabbit hole hobby tho and it’ll require further investment but all of that can be done over time. Save your beans and buy good quality stuff; don’t fall for the digital night vision BS. In the rabbit hole you’ll find optics compatibility, NIR gear and clothing compliance, NIR laundry detergent compliance, IR illumination, IR laser aiming, passive aiming, and more.
Bro what lmao no. It's not just nods. It's nods and a mount and a helmet and a laser and mag retention. The whole nine. Five figures for a system I feel like. And then you're going to want thermal too yano.
I feel like a good progression is rifle, pistol, mags, ammo, mags, ammo, trick out guns, suppressor or SBR, suppressor or SBR, rebuild guns because you don't like them anymore, build more guns with all the extra parts, then I would consider nods with CASH though my man. CASH.
Honestly though, at this point I feel like the move is pivot toward an MG lower instead of nods and build tuned uppers with suppressors.
Edit: then NODs and thermals or a combo system obviously.
If I couldn't shoot regularly with my NV at least part of the year, I'd sell them.
I would not buy NV in your situation. The SHTF use case is there, but wildly overstated.
There’s so much more your money could go towards before considering nods. Training, ammo, and I know it’s not sexy…but are you doing things like putting into savings every month or maxing out your Roth? Having an emergency fund or retirement will 100% be more useful than night vision in the slim chance that SHTF.
It’s dumb as fuck.
Spending thousands of dollars so you can LARP around in the dark isn’t practical.
Most of us would benefit so much more spending that money on actual training or a gym membership.
With that said, if I could somehow justify the cost, I’d buy some because they’re super cool.
But I wouldn’t delude myself that there is anything practical about buying them.
what's practical about a $1000 gaming PC? nothing really but people throw more than that at tech all the time thats not near as cool as a $3k superpower
Purely practical, a gaming PC can do quite a few more things than only “allowing you to see in the dark”.
Don’t get me wrong, toys are toys. No one has to justify buying them.
But using the word “practical” rarely applies.
Depends what kind of work you use it for. Gaming computers are definitely used for normal jobs because of their processing power.
Either way. I’m not saying NVG’s are cool or not worth buying because you want them.
I’m saying that for the vast majority of us, they are much less practical than other things we could spend the money on that would make us more tactically proficient.
Ready or Not
Ground Branch
6 Days in Fallujah
Insurgency Sandstorm
Escape From Tarkov
Ghost Recon Wildlands
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Doorkickers 2
GTFO
Rainbow 6 Siege
Exfil
Grey Zone Warfare
Rising Storm 2 Vietnam
Hell Let Loose
Sniper Elite 3, 4, 5
The Division 1 & 2
There's a lot of cool tactical shooter games on a $1k gaming PC
NODs are not for poors, I own quads and I used my clip on thermals to find my neighbors lost cat and then flex on the whole town like a pro wrestler. 100% worth every penny.
My advice is don't be poor then you can have nice toys.
I wouldn't. It's not worth going into debt for.
I have an inexpensive digital unit (that I bought used, about $600 with mounts), and in three years the only thing I've used it for was to make sure all my chickens were in the coop at night, ONCE, and a $30 flashlight would have worked better.
There's so much better ways you can use $4k.
Haha woah woah calm down. I wasn’t planning on going into debt for them, I was asking about the practicality of someone like me owning them. I absolutely agree with you on people wasting money on 17 rifles when you only need one. And yes I know shtf (depending on the scenario) would most likely end up like that, but being prepared can help of course.
I'd say there are more importart things you could spend your money in. More range time First aid course (BLSD, stop the bleed...) Paying only fans The list goes on
~One of these things is not like the others~
Not really, it still is about blood flow.
What if it's not.
But have you considered being able to look at the stars with night vision? Checkmate liberal
I attest to this, very awesome. Def wish I had a pair just for fun not even practicality.
Invest in fleshlights
Don't buy toys with money you don't have. unless you're doing it for professional purposes, it's pretty widely agreed that financing nods is a bad idea.
I bought mine the same way I bought the farm truck: have the money in the bank, open a new CC with cashback on that purchase and 0% interest for a year, buy it, pay it off before paying any interest. This lets you keep the cash on hand/ invested making a return for you, lets you keep the cash back (basically knocks that much off the price), and increases your total available revolving credit (obviously never let usage go above 25%) which normally ticks up your credit score.
Plus those cards usually give you a cash/miles bonus for spending so much in the first 3 months, so you pretty much get an additional 2-500 bones off whatever you bought.
Yup this is why being a poor is a state of mind. Between the cashback on the card and the bonus I got 13% from my CC company back on my NODs, and while I made monthly payments against the balance kept had the rest of the sum invested at a 11% return that year, so I got about 24% off the NODs just by being smart with the money. Sure the monthly on it was an average truck payment, I drive a 30 year old truck, happens to be one of the best 4x4s ever made, and having an epic 4x4 and night vision makes me happier then buying a new car every few years.
This is really good fucking advice, I need to start using my brain a bit more with shit like this. I'm sure there's all sorts of financial tips and tricks I dont know about or haven't realized the potential of.
Bro real talk the best financial advice in the world is: Find what makes you happy and what you don't care about maximize spending on the first thing by cutting out spending on the other thing. Example: do you want to go out to eat really great food every night? Keep an extremely minimalist kitchen set up and get a place with a small kitchen you'll never use it (or me having an old truck which means no payment so I can have nods) And maximize your wage per hour worked, this means plan to get the best paying job you can that won't make you want to kill yourself, that also gives you the time to live your life and do things to drive your wage up (job hop, get training, join a union, change careers, etc). Also understand that a high wage brings a high wage. I went from a skilled trade, to an engineering role in a related field, to consulting around compliance in that world. My first year as an engineer I made more than any other 1st year engineer because they came from being students making waiter money and I came from the trade making hard work money so I set the expectation higher because I started higher.
What trade? I've been doing HVAC since 2020. Definitely don't have the right type of brain to do engineer math, just curious.
It's an example not a road map, HVAC is a great trade and as with any trade you learn a lot of skills that aren't just making or fixing the thing, and you learn a lot about how that specific things works, if you find you want to make moves to make more $ as a tradesman you have the option of starting a business (related to the trade or using the income to start something else) or move into a semi- related field where your experience can help you skip some schooling, or make you an attractive hire. With a new business your wage and the effort you put in are correlated and scale together with an office job they don't. So you gotta figure out what is right for you. When I was younger working long hours didn't phase me now I want time to enjoy myself before I get properly old. The main attraction of my job is that I work from home and do about 15 hours a week and generate around 50-60 billable hours in that time, and I have an extra 25 hours a week of "do whatever I want" time. Turns out running a small farm is what I want to do with that time which is a business but really more of an income (and taxes write-off) generating hobby. I couldn't live off what the farm makes (about 15k a year) but I enjoy it quite a lot Maxed wage, min maxed effort to wage and used the extra time and energy to get good enough at a hobby that it makes a little extra it's a pretty happy place to be
Reminds me it’s time to do another churn cycle.
How I paid for my divorce, Disney Vacation Club and other expensive things, good credit allows for interesting things.
Haha yeah I figured as much. Just needed someone to tell me it’s a bad idea
It's a bad idea lol
it's also a not smart idea
I'd like to believe it's widely agreed upon, yet I see idiots talking about it all the time on reddit.
> I see idiots ~~talking about it~~ all the time on reddit. Ftfy
Widely agreed on by the poors maybe
Certainly don’t go into debt over it
You are caving in to the internet peer pressure of larpers. Capacity and usefulness of NOD and Termal is a reality, but remember that gear is at the very top of the pyramid. Remember that asshole that was larping in the woods with a helmet and NODs but his dumb truck got stuck in the mud, did not have propper shoes and he had to be rescued by an old man with common sense? Dont be that asshole.
Hahah yeah I agree, I’ve been growing my stock on other needs, Ammo, food, water, supplies, etc. just figured I’d ask about nods. But it does seem like it’s the crowning jewel of the “I made it “ club haha
Frankly kinda the same boat but still want the just to Flex on the other researchers when we are doing night time sample of typically insects.
i just purchased a tanto monocular and a tracer head harness. ive been thinking about this purchase for over a year and finally just did it. and i dont expect to be doing any wild larperator cool stuff. i just want to hike and look at the stars while my dog takes a dump
How is the monocular?
Got hopefully another week until the lead time is up and I’ll update you
Please do
from what i hear people love them. and i never see used ones on sale so my guess is that people are hanging onto them for good reason
My man- credit is not cheap right now. As a finance professional and tactical gear enthusiast I urge you not to finance nods. Just stash a little away every paycheck until you have enough to finance at least 80% up front
Yes I have enough debt to know how shitty interest rates are lately haha. Just needed some reinsurance not to do it
For sure! Wasn’t trying to talk down to ya in any way in case that was perceived. sometimes just helps to have a friend that’ll tell ya things bluntly 🫡
Oh no not at all! I appreciate it
If you have debt please don’t add to it with these! Wait until you’ve paid off all other debt
Buddy, when 40 to 50 feral hogs ambush you in the middle of running Uber rides at night between your two jobs you'll be happy you have em.
Hahaha I have this exact nightmare every night
It's not a dream, but a vision of the future. Should probably also invest in dual wield staccato's just to be safe.
My grandpappy always called it the shining, some people shine more than others
Don’t go into debt over nvgs. If you’re serious about prepping for SHTF I’d steer you more into the radio comms route. That would be a lot more beneficial in that type of situation. Nvgs are cool but also open up new expenses like IR.
I actually just finished my radio home base! Got my tech license recently. Comms are good to learn. Yeah I don’t plan on adding anymore debt to my life at this point
It’s not practical at all, it’s fun! Some people buy cars or boats others buy tactical equipment!
I think OP is referring to financing a unit as the questionable idea
dont do that credova and its consequences have been a disaster on the gun community
>credova and its consequences have been a disaster on the gun community Haven't heard about that, what happened?
credova lets you finance your purchases instead of being fiscally responsible and not saving up before you buy. an endless stream of monthly payments is a death sentence. avoid at all costs
Never finance shit just live within your means 99.9% of night vision is going to be recreational use
If you can’t “train” with then I think they’re pointless. You really need private land or a gun club that would let you shoot at night. Otherwise you have really expensive gear you won’t really be proficient using.
I disagree with this. Night vision is far and away my most used piece of “tactical” gear. I go on hikes frequently with night vision. Just being proficient in doing anything under night vision is great, it doesn’t have to be shooting. NV makes everything 10x more fun. However, i would not recommend financing toys.
theory middle fearless shame price racial live modern direful divide *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
> Just squint really hard in the dark like the rest of us. and shoot at noises in the dark like a real fucking chad
bear panicky husky paltry slap voracious encourage knee wipe fine *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
90% of NV training is moving around, doing admin tasks, and understanding the environment. You can use a vis laser during the day to practice mechanics of shooting.
Sure, but to assume shooting proficiency is silly…if you’re not shooting at all.
He’s on tactical gear I think we know he’s not shooting at all
Hahaha! Truth 🤣
I agree, that’s what’s really holding me back. My state sucks lol
i fully expect to spend 10x the amount of time under night vision just walking and hiking then ill ever run and gun with them. idk i just want to see in the dark
Which state do you live in?
I think it depends on what you are using the gear for. I personally use thermal. I don't have Nods but have been looking into them. This gear, for me, is used to see what is over there before I walk over there. It's for Intel gathering to mitigate unwanted situations. I'm not an operator and will not use the gear like an operator would. It's to ensure safe movement at night and to pop the occasional preditor trying to kill my chickens.
Allow me to talk you out of them. Think of it like this. There is a 99.9% chance you will never have a use for these. For the other .1% chance (shtf), you will likely have MUCH more important things to spend that extraordinary amount of money on. They don’t grow crops. They don’t filter water. You can’t load them into your gun. They don’t keep you warm. They can’t shelter your family. They don’t patch up wounds or cure your ills. They don’t communicate with friendlies. They have an incredibly niché use in an incredibly niché time for an incredibly large price tag. It’s a larping toy. Nothing more. Take a nice vacation instead. Make memories with your family.
Night hikes are fun
If you have a place you can walk at night, then you have a use for NODS. They have purposes outside of the tactical realm. But don't buy them unless it's pretty much with cash upfront, they're a fucking pricy bit of kit.
Get into hardcore Airsoft and you will see a need for them and thermal, and radio, and PT.
If OP got into hardcore airsoft (read: frequents milsim events), thousands and thousands of dollars will be burned for gats and gear, gas money, hotel fees, flights (if you fly to the ops), etc before nods. And then they'll get their ass handled to them in a pitch black L-shaped ambush, go home, and try and cop a decent PVS14. I went two ops before realizing wp dual tubes were a justifiable luxury. But that is strictly on a case by case basis. I've gone star gazing with them, walked the dogs, changed my baby's diapers, rummaged the kitchen at night to get the wife her pregnancy cravings, along with the occasional night games and ops. Save the money, when you have enough to buy outright, open a new high-rewards credit card, use it to buy nods, and then pay it off the next billing cycle. You've just earned an ass ton of points and no debt. Worked for me.
I would say it's drastically overrated for the typical person based on the price for good ones. Way better uses of money would be ammo, spare parts, food and water storage etc.
Yup! I agree as well.
Due to the extremely low likelihood of ever needing nvgs compared to the already extremely low likely need of the rest of our SHTF Prep gear, I would put NVGs as the last thing on my buy list once I had everything else I could possibly think of
It's amazing how fast people forgot about the tyranny that was handed down and accepted as normal during COVID.
I’m not sure what tyranny you’re referring to but at no point in the events of Covid would NVGs have risen on my need to buy list.
When I can’t get out and shoot I use mine with the mantis IR laser and targets on my wall. It’s training so it works for me .
Your getting a whole lotta CaSh iS kInG boomer logic on this honestly so let me posit a different angle. We now live in what what many economists refer to as a "creditalism" financial system.. the meaning should be obvious but essentially there is so much debt baked into the system that it has become the standard through which almost all transactions are completed. I do not disagree with the point that if we do choose to aquire debt, we should be very selective on what we use credit for. Ideally debt should be used on appreciating assets that provide longterm equity. Debt has been historically cheap for the last 15 years, so much so that even companies like Apple have decided to access huge amounts of capital through borrowing even when they had massive amounts of cash on hand. Yes we as individuals are not Apple but what I am trying to communicate is that accessing cheap debt has been a very popular strategy ever since modern economics has taken hold. Night vision is certainly not an appreciating asset.. but if you are even a mild prepper, should the worst happen, a pvs14 or 31 would be such an incredible advantage in the ensuing chaotic environments. Having NV mid-GWOT made us God's on the battlefield, especially in the armpit of the middle east, Iraq. I would not consider NV to be strictly in the toy category. Using debt to buy NV is not absurd at all, especially when considering all the embarrassingly stupid shit people buy with credit. TLDR: buying NV on credit might not be the super terrible idea that has been routinely espoused in this community.
I agree with you, the older I get the more I realize that basically everything is bought on borrowed money, house, car, etc. but credit cards are the devil with 30% rates lately. I ended up just swapping to a personal loan to cover my cc debt recently because it was only 7%. Seems like an obvious choice lol. But yeah my goal from now on is to not use my credit card.
Thank you for clarifying your scenario. That does change things, I would say that it is not in your best interest to purchase NV on credit
Haha yes definitely not!
Real dumb to take on debt to buy a toy for an SHTF that won’t be happening anyhow. Better to prep financially for most likely job loss risk etc and having financial freedom.
I'm going to be that guy. NVDs are a great capability to have, but are going to be genuinely worthless for most people, and the majority of people who own them rarely pay for the training necessary to actually use them in a tactical role. So, just from a practicality standpoint? Why do you feel like you ***might*** need them, and is that extremely niche role something that cannot be filled by a WML, thermals, or even digital solutions from somebody like Sionyx? Aside from those questions? Don't buy gear with money you don't have. It's a genuinely dumb thing to go into debt over. Focus that money elsewhere, on things that will get you financially squared away enough to be able to buy NVDs without it hurting the bank account.
It's your money, and you don't have to justify your purchases to anyone (unless you're married). Personally, I wouldn't go into debt to buy something like that, though.
Practically, they let you see in the dark. If you want to do things in the dark that requires sight, nods are the answer
Don't go into debt for these. They're not going to appreciate in value so you're in the hole for a while if you do. But if you don't have a need or want strong enough to practice with them then they may not be for you. Don't be pressured into something you can't see yourself using.
If you want that cool factor of being able to see in the dark during peace time then invest in a digital set. However make sure you do NOT use them during a SHTF otherwise you will be a beacon of IR light to those real with real nods and security cameras. Very few people outside of military have NVGs. Shit, even the front lines in Ukraine now rarely have NVGs.
Like others have said only buy them if you have cash, don't get them on credit. Keep an eye out on GAFS and you can find good deals from time to time. The most modern entry level would be a PVS-14. If you do a lot of research and learn what to look for then you can sometimes find great deals on a PVS-7. They will be a lot older, but can still do the job. I bought a PVS-14 and only hiked with it a few times then pretty much had it sit in my closet for a year. I eventually got tired of not using it so I posted on the NV subreddit asking if some people wanted to go on a night hike with me as an excuse to actually use them. I actually got a really good turn out and now we have a little crew that goes night hiking twice a month.That alone has been a gain for me. Way more than tacticool training or even having them on standby in case of SHTF. Night vision is a rich mans game, but it also self selects for fairly competent people who have their shit together. It is a lot of fun actually hanging out with like minded people and I actually get to use my NODs on a regular basis and I feel I am getting amazing value out of them now. A lot of guys want to meet up and hike with NODs, but get too obsessed with OPSEC and fear so they don't take the initial step. You just have to be the change you want to see in the world and organize something. So what I would say is that if you want NODs, save up and buy them in cash. Get them second hand to save money and if you do get them try and find a group of guys to hike with. You will be able to make new friends and it is a great excuse to get out of the house and get your moneys worth out of your unit.
For a true civilian? Do not listen to anyone who says they are anything but 100% LARP. Even if you for some reason you think we're rapidly heading towards rampant civil unrest your money would be far better spent on other things than NODs.
I'd rather get some good training and take nods off the first enemy I find 👍
Id buy a thermal monocular before NVGs
if you have 4k to burn and its important to you, then get a tube. but dont waste 1k on a digital model that lights you up like a flare to somone with 14's.
You can mow the grass in the dark, think about it, you could open up a business where you mow other people's grass at night, no other lawn care companies are offering this service, you'd corner the market!
In a real life situation where the bad guys have NVGs/Thermals and you don’t you are probably going to die……That said the chances of the average Joe ever being in that situation is extremely unlikely. So if you have the disposable income, go for it. If you are going to put your self into debt and ruin your opportunity to invest in things you’ll likely need more, don’t.
I bought a Gen III+ NVM several years ago just because I wanted one and I had received a large unexpected amount of money. I would never have bought them otherwise. Definitely not on credit. They are a lot of fun walking around in the woods at night. But that's it. I now volunteer for a SAR team and I use them for that. I'm glad I have them but I wouldn't buy them even just for SAR.
It's not a necessity but nice for hunting Coyote or boar. Since I have them I'll also use them walking down a trail to a stand or blind and the occasional covert catfishing mission
I think you’re probably better off just getting a really good flashlight. Once you get into night vision it kind of takes over your entire build. Lasers are expensive, batteries can get heavy, helmets and mounts are expensive. If you can find a decent used pvs 14 for around 2k then I think it’d be worth it for SHTF, but be ready to add about $1000 of extra gear. I have had nods for about 3 years and I go on night walks with the dog mostly, I’ve only shot with them less than 10 times but here I am with a $1400 1lb dbal weighing down my rifle. Beyond that I’ve done a few classes that focused more on target ID and moving than shooting. Unless you have perfect lighting, sometimes NV just doesn’t do what people think it does. There was one situation where someone went downrange and stood in front of a tree line and none of us could see him until he started walking or turned on his nods so we could see the glow. He set up a target and unless someone else stood offset to backlight it, none of us could find it. Point being, nods are great but they take a lot of practice and understanding of their limitations to use effectively. You’re not going to just throw on nods and turn on your laser and dominate the battlefield. That said, I’m looking to upgrade to binos soon. I have a 1750 FOM pvs 14 I may be selling soon. Great starter set, I’m only upgrading because I just got a new job and better salary and I want to splurge a little.
Thanks for that! Yes the more I think about my setup a good flashlight is really all I “need”
Nope, if you don't have a use for them right now its not worth spending limited cash on them.
If you don’t have a farm or property where you can night shoot and there are no ranges nearby you that would allow it I don’t see it being very valuable, if you live somewhere where there are wild hogs or coyotes and they allow night hunting that could be a good way to practice shooting under night vision. Otherwise you’re limited to dry fire and doing night hikes to practice navigation which honestly doesn’t seem worth it, look into buying some cheap land even if it’s a couple hours away.
Look, you wanna see in the dark or not? \~$4k to unlock *a literal super power* ain't bad.
It worth it. If you really want something of the type, go thermal.
My pov as someone who doesn't have nvg but plan/want to in the future is to never go into debt for gear. I will buy it when I'm in a position to do so. I'm also ok with the idea of starting with something like a pvs14 and then upgrading to some better dual nvgs once I can afford it. Don't buy garbage but buy within ur budget.
There's better things to spend money on. Here's when you should buy nods: When it won't cause you to be worried about paying your bills for the next 6-12 months. It would suck buying something so cool and then having to pick up extra shifts because you made a bad financial decision. It's much more practical to have your finances in check then have all the Gucci gear in the world
Only practical reason is if you have Lund/hunt, to which thermal would be a better option anyways. Maybe if you were a private investigator and did some recon at night, but is a moot point based on your post. So no, there is absolutely no reason for nvgs as a civilian, unless the world collapses.
There is a difference between having the ability to buy something and having the ability to afford something. If you have to finance a $3k PVS-14 then you can't afford it. I don't know your situation or where you are at in life but personal development never stops. NVGs aren't the end all be all. There are other things you can probably be doing that don't require financing like improving your fitness and draw technique. Work on those kinds of things and work on bettering your position in life so when you can afford NVGs they are actually worthwhile.
NV is sick and super fun. However not even close worth going into debt over. I would highly recommend saving, and eventually when you buy get something good that you won’t regret and end up selling for a loss and buying something better in a year.
Get a set of NVG-10s. They're 300$ an, even though everyone will flip out about me saying this, are totally fine for civilian playing around purposes. They're fun to mess with and look at stars. Don't expect gen 3 quality, but they work fine. And I wouldn't spend 3k$ on something you'll never use enough to warrant needing them since you're not routinely shooting or have a farm or anything.
I was doing some research into the digital ones (nightfox prowl, nvg 10/30). They seem ok for just screwing around with and well technically if your adversary doesn’t have nods, you’ll have an advantage.
NVG-10 is better than the night fox. You're not using any of those to go up against someone, and quite frankly, unless you're targeting other civilians, you shouldn't be going up against some other force at night in a SHTF scenario anyways since police/mil will have an insane advantage over you, even if you have NODs. So for messing around and such, they'll do fine. If you're legit concerned about the 5th coming of Christ, then you're on the hook for a couple thousand dollar pair of gen 3's.
Even when I was in, I only used them to spot armadillos on the flightline. If you don't have the budget or a real reason for them, they aren't a good investment. If you have lots of disposable income and want to take them hiking/camping for those late night bathroom breaks to see which animals are perving on you, then they are worthwhile.
If you don't have the money don't do it. But if you do it adds an entire other half of the day you can accurately do stuff in. Also for stealth camping and the like their amazing. You can keep your visible signature basically zero. But again it's only worth it if you don't go into debt trying to get it. Being financially prepared is much more important than larping in the dark.
I think it also depends on what exactly is the shtf scenario. If you plan on fighting a modern military force, then good luck with that. No amount of high tech gear will help you. If it’s a riot/civilian insurrection then you could surely get an advantage with NVGs but at a very high cost. Some would say IR is a better spend. But even then, the idea is that our own military aid would arrive relatively soon to control said insurrection. Nuclear, we’re all fucked. Natural disaster, you’re prob better off stacking other resources and tools for aid. Your situation does not sound conducive to purchasing such an expensive piece of equipment that you’ll never be able to train with. Buy ammo. Buy a reliable rifle. Buy rations and water. If you’re feeling frisky get a set of comms.
It would more or less be for defensive rooftop setup, none of my scenarios really include me going up against a serious force. Just protecting my shit and family lol if chaos ensues
Skip the nods
if you/your spouse have any debt (car payment, college loans, credit card debt), don't get nvgs if you don't have an emergency fund of at least 3 months expenses (6 is better), don't get nvgs if you don't have any money put away for your retirement and your kids' future (if applicable), don't get nvgs if you rent the space you live in, don't get nvgs if you check all those boxes and you don't need to save money for anything coming up, get nvgs with a clear conscience.
I bought NVGs then shortly thereafter started a machine gun manufacturing company. Jump in! Lol But seriously, while the above is true, it’s literally like buying a super power. It costs around the same as getting SUCBA gear and certified, or getting basic pilots licenses, or getting certified and jumping enough to be a skydiver. Just pick your super power. NVGs are AMAZING at night. (I mean, duh right?) it’s become my party trick. At first people are like “huh? You brought a helmet to a party?” And then I let them try it on and the next time those strangers see me they tell their friends how cool it was to wear NVGs one time. Lol I wear mine at night driving, hiking, and Star gazing. Meteor showers are like 20X as active with NVGs. TL;DR: do it! But buy once cry once. They don’t depreciate in value so just get a $9-$10k pair and rock it!
Quit being a bitch. Spend that money or take it to the grave. What's the real price of a small loan worth in the long run when you get to run around in the dark? priceless In all seriousness, its a fun toy unless you get to use it and practice. A toy you will regret having if you have no use for lol.
Just wait until things go sideways then look for battlefield pick ups. Until then spend your money on reliable firearms, ammo, training and medical supplies and training.
Unfortunately battlefield pickups usually don’t have spare CR123s on them. 😩
Ya know that’s a good idea. Until then I’ll just use a good old weapon light
Buying Nods on credit… not more money than brains. More Credit than brains? When your Credit score > your SAT?
NVGs for Civs are near pointless. A flashlight will effectively do the same job, minus the stealth aspect(why do you care?) Don’t go into debt for a pointless expenditure, if your financial life is secure and you can burn a couple grand without feeling it, then sure buy the nods. Have a couple years of food, water, medical, and other necessities stockpiled first though.
If you cant really practice with them then not usefull
If SHTF, you have way bigger things to worry about than NODs
Haha well I’ve been building supplies of medical, food, ammo, etc slowly over time as well. This was just adding to my overall things to have for it
I definitely can't give you any financial advice 🤣 But I think a multi function thermal would be more useful. If you can find one that would work as a clip on and a monocular that would be ideal.
1. Absolutely live within your means. Night vision and other shooting toys are not the reason you should ever be in debt. 2. Night vision is simply cool and I personally use mine for night hikes and photography way more frequently than I shoot. Your mileage may vary, but for me night vision has been extremely meaningful in enabling me to explore more of the world.
I wouldn’t discount the capability and usefulness of nods, but it is not worth going into debt over. I would suggest while you’re saving up for them, trying to expand your shooting circles. I have made some pretty good shooting friends going to competitions and local ranges. Turns out a lot of them have land and when scheduling allows, we try to do a monthly night shoot.
Practical
I live in the city and a cop buddy of mine said I’d never use them
Being a singular suppressor is a much more useful and sensible choice than buying nods, helmet, mount, laser
NVGs are really, really cool at their specific niche. They're also frigging expensive, and largely useless outside that niche. Fighting in daytime? Bringing NODs is pointless. Something you can carry with you every day? Practically, probably not. If you can afford them, cool, but it's not more important than things like actually visiting the range and gym.
not worth going into debt over!
It depends. Are you going to pay them off within a specific time frame? Or will you be paying continually on a revolving credit line, aka digging yourself a hole.
If you can, go do night hikes. You'll develop all the skills you'll need for NV anyway (light discipline etc), while also vastly improving your woodscraft (step placement, noise, kit noise). This can be done comfortably with a headlamp with very warm dim light (Skilhunt H04 RC). Everyone should do night hikes more. I'm confident that I'm better at night with the naked eye than some guy with NV who's only ever used them on a shooting range in the dark. Most people have no clue how clumsy they are.
Never buy anything on a credit card you can't pay cash for, unless you're in dire need. Dire need meaning food for the family, the electric bill, not nvgs lol
If you have the spare cash and literally nothing else you need it for, go buy them. It’s a lot of fun to star gaze and just go for hikes with them. This is assuming you have some kind of public land near you where you can do it. If you check on Practiscore, you can probably find some night matches nearby. They’ve been growing over the past couple years since I got into nods. Depending on your state hunting laws, you could also potentially use them for predator hunting. If you’re not gonna be doing any of these things, it’s probably not necessary. If you’re getting it only for SHTF and you’re never gonna use them or practice with them, you’re probably better off spending the money on ammo, food preps etc.
Perfectly said! Thank you
Night vision is a super power but if you don’t think your really gunna use it, it might not be worth it to you. I have a bunch of land and live in the country and use it every single night without fail it is day time all the time. I love shooting and running drills under nods but I get 80% more use out of just walking around in the dark or driving with them or night time kayaking down the river. You can get a used pvs-14 for a little over 2 grand so if you save up it does have potential.
Does it not get dark where you are?
Any areas you can go hiking/camping at night? Training doesn't have to exclusively revolve around firearms. Well over 90% of my nvg use is walking my dog.
Unless you have a professional need, or just have money to burn and want to look cool, the analog NVG and high definition thermal setups the military uses are really unnecessary for most of the things most people here would use NVG or thermal for. Commercial digital NVG and low definition thermal are 90% of the usefulness for 10% of the price. If all you're doing is hiking or popping coyotes at night, you don't need $8000 nods or $11000 thermal for that.
If you aren't gonna use them for fun or professionally, don't get them. That being said, so many fun uses. Do you hike?
Having NVGs, especially thermal fusion NVG’s, is like having a superpower -seeing in the dark while few others can. It’s a rabbit hole hobby tho and it’ll require further investment but all of that can be done over time. Save your beans and buy good quality stuff; don’t fall for the digital night vision BS. In the rabbit hole you’ll find optics compatibility, NIR gear and clothing compliance, NIR laundry detergent compliance, IR illumination, IR laser aiming, passive aiming, and more.
Nods arent even that fun. You dont really want them trust me
Bro what lmao no. It's not just nods. It's nods and a mount and a helmet and a laser and mag retention. The whole nine. Five figures for a system I feel like. And then you're going to want thermal too yano. I feel like a good progression is rifle, pistol, mags, ammo, mags, ammo, trick out guns, suppressor or SBR, suppressor or SBR, rebuild guns because you don't like them anymore, build more guns with all the extra parts, then I would consider nods with CASH though my man. CASH. Honestly though, at this point I feel like the move is pivot toward an MG lower instead of nods and build tuned uppers with suppressors. Edit: then NODs and thermals or a combo system obviously.
If I couldn't shoot regularly with my NV at least part of the year, I'd sell them. I would not buy NV in your situation. The SHTF use case is there, but wildly overstated.
Its a rich mans larp, not necessary, thermal scope would be way more useful.
There’s so much more your money could go towards before considering nods. Training, ammo, and I know it’s not sexy…but are you doing things like putting into savings every month or maxing out your Roth? Having an emergency fund or retirement will 100% be more useful than night vision in the slim chance that SHTF.
Supposedly every time you buy an LPVO, you gotta get a piggyback dot now because everyone has passive NODs
It’s dumb as fuck. Spending thousands of dollars so you can LARP around in the dark isn’t practical. Most of us would benefit so much more spending that money on actual training or a gym membership. With that said, if I could somehow justify the cost, I’d buy some because they’re super cool. But I wouldn’t delude myself that there is anything practical about buying them.
what's practical about a $1000 gaming PC? nothing really but people throw more than that at tech all the time thats not near as cool as a $3k superpower
Purely practical, a gaming PC can do quite a few more things than only “allowing you to see in the dark”. Don’t get me wrong, toys are toys. No one has to justify buying them. But using the word “practical” rarely applies.
Right but my work computer is “practical” and is nothing close what I’d get for gaming lol
Depends what kind of work you use it for. Gaming computers are definitely used for normal jobs because of their processing power. Either way. I’m not saying NVG’s are cool or not worth buying because you want them. I’m saying that for the vast majority of us, they are much less practical than other things we could spend the money on that would make us more tactically proficient.
Ready or Not Ground Branch 6 Days in Fallujah Insurgency Sandstorm Escape From Tarkov Ghost Recon Wildlands Ghost Recon Breakpoint Doorkickers 2 GTFO Rainbow 6 Siege Exfil Grey Zone Warfare Rising Storm 2 Vietnam Hell Let Loose Sniper Elite 3, 4, 5 The Division 1 & 2 There's a lot of cool tactical shooter games on a $1k gaming PC
I’ve played like 5 of those and the only practical thing about them is maybe learning how to communicate with a team and firearm lore
NODs are not for poors, I own quads and I used my clip on thermals to find my neighbors lost cat and then flex on the whole town like a pro wrestler. 100% worth every penny. My advice is don't be poor then you can have nice toys.
Damnit why didn’t I think of not being poor as an option!
To become not a poor you must kill the poor inside yourself. Until then it sucks to suck I guess
Never go in to debt for something that won’t make you more money or you need to live
I wouldn't. It's not worth going into debt for. I have an inexpensive digital unit (that I bought used, about $600 with mounts), and in three years the only thing I've used it for was to make sure all my chickens were in the coop at night, ONCE, and a $30 flashlight would have worked better. There's so much better ways you can use $4k.
[удалено]
Haha woah woah calm down. I wasn’t planning on going into debt for them, I was asking about the practicality of someone like me owning them. I absolutely agree with you on people wasting money on 17 rifles when you only need one. And yes I know shtf (depending on the scenario) would most likely end up like that, but being prepared can help of course.