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Prices of night vision have gone down quite considerably even for Gen 3 -In the United States of course
I did some research into this as I was interested in it as well here's my findings: (keep in mind this is only looking on internet)
Gen 1:
Armasight SPARK CORE does seem promising offers a typical Gen 2 resolution without the cost. The draw back is the fish bow effect and the lack of Automatic Brightness control (you can burn the NOD if a flashlight hits you for long term)
For Gen 2+, (Typical Gen 2 resolution seem to go anywhere from 35lp/mn to 72lp/mn)
Night Optics D300 SHP appeared to be the winner with the 51-70lp/mn and a price of $2200+Tax CDN, (FOM I'm suspecting 1000-1250)
Armasight's NYX-14 HP seem to be another good contender (55-72lp/mn, $2000+Shipping+Tax USD) It has sacrificial window and demist option but it uses its own propiertary helmet mount from my understanding. (FOM 1000-1250)
I'm not exactly sure if these two were technically allow to be exported. The US no longer play the Gen 3 = no export rules. They use Figure of Merits (Resolution X Signal to noise ratio), if the number exceed 1400, export permit will not be granted. Certain threshold would require export permit. I've tried asking multiple Canadian armasight dealer to get the Hight definition Gen2 and they stated its not allow for export. -> I don't know what's exactly going on.
In terms of Gen 3 options...
In Canada to buy a new one you're looking either at DEP-Photonis (European brand) or Kato'd (Russian), the benefit of buying a Photonis or Kato'd from what I've been told is that you can bring it to the states for games (provided you have receipt and proof of documentation indiciating its not made in US)
DEP-Photonis are offered by Alpha Optics and General Starlight Co. (both Canadian NOD manufacture)
The Photonis XD-4 has a typical resolution of 64lp/mn, some people say its resolution is competitive to the OMNI III spec.
Photonis XR-5 (essentially Top of the line) list resolution of 72lp/mn, its autogated people claim it can be compared to OMNI IV or V
The downside of photonis: Cost and Light sensitivity. The XD-4 runs about $2400+TAX CDN while XR-5 is around $3500 at very minimum (typically $4-5000) The light sensitiivty of the photonis are not as good as Gen 3 that's its drawback.
Kato'd is a Russian brand, its offered by GSCI. The FOM listed minimum from 1200 min (57lp/mn SNR>21) to tubes that are 1800 (comparable to OMNI VII) I tried finding out more info, the manufacture would NOT disclose about it. From the internet research, they had issues in the past with electronic failure) Most of these tubes are also not autogated
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