>>2486797Yes, they are pretty cool. Although it's niche and not necessary for most if not all night /out/ activities it does open up a lot of neat things. I routinely night hike, bike, star gaze with mine. If you shoot or hunt it's also another layer you can add, although important to remember that it a whole other skill set on top, and so in pretty much all cases it is better (and far cheaper) to be able to do things at night with white/red flashlights first. There are also many tasks that are simply easier with light and so NVGs don't completely eliminate the need for light.
No, prices are likely to remain high for any Gen 3 unit. The ability to make proper Gen 3 intensifier tubes is some voodoo magic shit and it's basically just L3 and Elbit. Photonis makes decent tubes but while they get close they aren't quite the same. I really can't recommend anyone else. What will happen and what has been happening is improvements in digital NV technology. Right now it's too limited to replace analog systems, although they sometimes look very good, even cheaper ones, the refresh rate of the screen needs to be extremely high in order to not give you IRL lag for navigating with them long term. In addition, you can artificially brighten images/vid but it's at the cost of lots of image noise, and as a result IR cameras often need good lighting conditions such as moonlight or supplemental IR. Digital tech at this time remains mostly in the realm of static observation but it is an option if you just want to stand and observe as well as see things like IR lasers, illuminators from security cams etc.
>>2487674This is really the big difference, you can virtually see as far as you could in day time. In addition in mixed lighting conditions the unit may power up or down to adjust but the intensity of light to your eyes is pretty constant, which means that going from lighter to darker areas your eyes do not have an adjustment period with night vision.
