Bushnell Stealth View night vision monocular

[The_War_Wagon]

That's an interesting setup, as most monoculars over the years have been so useless as to not be worth the purchase.

Having dabbled a bit in NVS (I had an old Gen. 1 Yukon unit for basically doing what you're doing with that one, and a Gen.II+ unit I keep mounted on my PTR91), I'm curious what the Generation designation IS for that unit. It might not be a bad little item to keep in a BoB, or the glove box.

[Adondo]

They claim gen 2+ but I'm guessing that's with the IR lighting things up and the pretty good resolution of the little B&W screen. A true gen 2 scope would be that bright withOUT the IR source. Either way, it's SOoooo much better than the old gen 1 tube scope, IR or not. It's actually usable as you can see something besides vague silhouettes shimmering in a distorted green circle. What I've never liked about the tube type scopes is the "swimming" the image does as you pan around, and the fuzzy edges that you can never get focused. There's none of that crap with the digital scope. If the object is not lit well enough with IR, then there's a little "TV snow" but even that beats out the tube scope's images.

I got mine from eBay from what turned out to be a pawn shop in Ohio. The original box has a price tag from Norton's Sports with $599.95. I paid 'only' $269 for mine, and it's used, but in nice condition. Most of those (Bushnell Stealth) and a similar Yukon Ranger are on average $350 ~ $375 on eBay. For what it does, I think it's worth the price. It wasn't worth the $$$ for the old tube scopes.

You do have to watch out for the rip-off artists though, as some are as high as $800. Or... something like $325 and $70 shipping. The high S&H has always annoyed the heck out of me, because it's just a profit-padding device sellers use to bypass eBay and Paypal seller's fees. (The final sale fees do not include S&H charges) You see lots of point and click cameras that you know weigh 5 oz. with $35 shipping, and that's why - they're not padding the packing box with lead bricks, they're padding their wallets with your dough.

[Adondo]

On a semi-related note, I bought a set of Canon IS binoculars last year. http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/p...zer/10_x_30_is

Got those on eBay too, for I think close to the same price. (Less than $300 anyway) I will say that one good long look through those, and you're all done with non-stabilized binocs for life, I don't care if they're a pair of $1,200 Carl Zeiss 'nocs.

You'd think 10x30 would be on the low end of binoc specs, but A) we're talking Canon glass here, and B) they're steady even while driving. I've had buddies use them while we're out in the Jeep, while off-roading. Having them on a 'virtual tripod' while hand-holding them, and you can see well in dim lighting too. I've studied bird feathers on birds IN FLIGHT with those babies. The image 'shifts' to catch up as you pan something moving as the gyros compensate.