Everyone’s financial situation is different, and what one person can reasonably afford may be very different from the next. The guidance in this section is based on our experience working with hundreds of customers and reflects our honest, real world recommendations. Not marketing fluff.

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Our goal is to help you spend wisely, avoid bad purchases, and get into a device that will serve you well long term.

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Realistic Entry Level Budget — Monoculars:

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If you’re balling on a budget, you should expect to spend a minimum of around $2,000 for a quality monocular.

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At this price point, you’re typically looking at:

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• A Generation 2 device, or

• An older surplus Generation 3 unit

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While we do carry other entry level options, we strongly recommend trying to get into a PVS-14 rather than a proprietary device. The PVS-14 has:

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• Excellent parts availability

• Long term serviceability

• Upgrade flexibility

• Broad mounting & accessory compatibility

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Realistic Entry Level Budget — Binoculars:

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For binocular night vision, a realistic minimum starting point is:

$4,000–$5,000.

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This typically puts you into a Generation 2 binocular system.

The advantage at this price level isn’t image quality — it’s the fact that you’re gaining:

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• Two 40° fields of view

• Better depth perception

• Easier visual adjustment & adaptation

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That said, we still recommend aiming for a non-proprietary binocular housing whenever possible. This ensures:

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• Long term support

• Parts & tube compatibility

• Upgrade flexibility

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Monocular vs. Binocular — Our Honest Take

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There are a lot of voices online claiming:

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• “You should only buy binos,” or

• “If you’re buying a monocular, don’t invest much into it.”

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We disagree.

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Here’s our position based on real world use:

 

A well set up monocular makes you easily 90% as capable as a binocular system for most applications.

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Where binoculars truly shine:

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• Driving under night vision (you have to scan less.)

• Tight movement environments (you have to scan less.)

• Coordinated team movement / CQB (you have to scan less.)

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With that said you can still do all these things. You just have to slow it down and scan… Something you should be doing anyways.

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Our Personal Experience (Why We Believe This)

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Our first introduction to night vision was through an older surplus PVS-14 used in an investigative role. No helmet, strictly handheld.

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Once we understood what the technology was capable of, we saved for months before purchasing an L3 PVS-14. That device served reliably for years, and we still use it today.

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One of the biggest force-multipliers was using a repositionable J-Arm, which allowed rapid switching between the dominant and non-dominant eye as needed.

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This experience cemented our belief that a properly configured monocular combined  with an individual who is willing to put in the time to train is just as capable.

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Additional Benefits of a Monocular:

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With a monocular, your unaided eye remains exposed to the natural light environment. This allows:

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• Better detection of ambient lighting changes

• Improved light to dark awareness

• Reduced tunnel vision.

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This can improve situational awareness in certain environments when compared to a bino.

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When We Don’t Recommend a Monocular

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We typically advise against a monocular configuration when a customer:

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• Is prone to vertigo, dizziness, or motion related discomfort

• Has difficulty processing split field visual input (this can be overcome with time.)

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This is because using a monocular requires the brain to process two different images at once:

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• One eye sees a bright intensified image

• The other eye sees a dark natural scene

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Statistically, this affects approximately 2 out of every 100 people.

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In those rare cases, a bino would be advisable.